On 4/29/2013 4:01 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 4/29/2013 5:08 AM, Papa3 wrote:
Most of the folks (myself included) who have switched to the LIFEPo4
seem to be using the K2 Energy 12V/10ah with included BMS based on
what I see at the charging station at contests. Today, a club member
showed me a competing product from StarkPower which is a 12V/12ah
including BMS that's about $50 cheaper. I haven't been able to find
the technical documentation on either company's Website to do a
detailed comparison of their performance specs (especially the
discharge curve), but let's assume they are similar. 20% more
capacity for 25% less cost seems attractive. Does anyone have any
experience with the StarkPower product?

I couldn't find a datasheet, either, so I requested one using their
website email form.

I won't buy a battery of this type from anyone that does not have a
comprehensive datasheet for it. For me, that is the absolute minimum
effort they should go to, especially for a relatively new and unknown
company.

I regret to say the "datasheet" the company provided is just a copy of
the information on their website: no charts, no temperature characteristics.

These batteries are complex devices compared to the SLA batteries we've
been using for decades, but even the SLAs have comprehensive datasheets
available. I expect even more testing and information from the
manufacturers of the newer batteries that include electronic management
systems.

If the batteries were manufactured by a company with a decades-old
reputation, like Panasonic, Powersonic, Yuasa, etc, I'd be much more
willing to trust them, unfortunately, they come from small companies
with very short histories.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz