Er.........The Antares is powered by Li-ion batteries
capable of delivering 42kW, the blurb actually says
limited to 42kW for safety reasons which would imply
it is capable of more. Are we perhaps worrying about
a problem that has been solved?

http://www.lange-flugzeugbau.de/bild...terie-engl.pdf


It is in english


At 18:42 15 November 2005, Bill Daniels wrote:

'Eric Greenwell' wrote in message
...
Bill Daniels wrote:

Can you supply a URL? While I strongly discourage
people from making up
their own Li-ion battery packs for their glider due
to potential safety
problems, a _production_ battery pack with it's dedicated
charger would
likely alleviate most of the concerns I have about
using a large Li-ion
battery in a glider. I don't worry about the little
ones in my PDA, cell
phone, or camera.


Sometimes Froogle doesn't find the same things on
successive searches.
Here
is an example of what I'm talking about.

http://store.linkexpresspc.com/de16liprbafo.html

Specifications:
- Rating: 14.8V == DOUBLE CAPACITY 8800mAH (8.8AH)
- Capacity : 132 WHR 16CELL
$149.00 @ LinkExpressPC

I think this style would be much more suitable than
a laptop battery:

http://tinyurl.com/8zl55

Essentially the same ratings and price ($169 with
charger), it has a
standard output connector and a easier to mount shape.
Google 'external
laptop battery' without the quotes. There is a wide
range of price and
power in this style. Something like this might be
very practical for
gliders, though I still want to know more about maximum
ambient
temperature and altitude allowed, and built-in safety
features.

--
Change 'netto' to 'net' to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Yep, that's a better example. I think I saw that one
on my earlier search
but I couldn't find it the second time. There are
quite a few of these on
the market from a variety of vendors. The price is
falling as they become a
commodity. I think I could build a box for an internal
laptop battery that
would have contacts and a restraining latch. Just
push the battery in until
it clicks - no wires to futz with.

Many laptops and gadgets sit on car seats in the sun
and then get turned on.
I have certainly done that but I don't know of any
problems. I remember
trying to boot a laptop I left on a car seat in Phoenix.
It was so hot I
couldn't hold it. After it booted, I couldn't read
the LCD until the A/C
cooled it down. Generically, Li-ion polymer batteries
are tolerant of
temperature extremes. The laptop batteries are regarded
as 'smart'
batteries in that they have processor chips inside
that manage them. I
think they may even limit the voltage to 14.8V.

Bill Daniels