Good supplier of small capacity 30-70mah lithium polymer batteries in US? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: gus789
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2018, 03:10:50 am
content: Hi,Does anyone know a supplier of small capacity (30-70mah) lithium polymer packs in the US, preferably with good volume discounts? I have come across numerous sellers from China, e.g. on Aliexpress, but am hesitant/concerned about customs, export restrictions, delays, etc. on those. it seems that places such as Mouser and Digikey do not source their lipos from the manufacturer, but rather resell stuff from Adafruit and other such brands at a substantial markup. Thanks! Gus

author: Dave3
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2018, 06:25:51 am
content: Last year I spent some time looking for just that.Can't remember the suppliers. There are a lot of junk batteries being sold so I was looking for top-tier units. The suppliers to RC cars and drones were the most obvious as they provided some guarantee to power and quality.

author: Old Printer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2018, 01:23:54 am
content: I have been into flying micro indoor radio control air plans for years, it's what got me interested in electronics as a hobby. Horizon Hobbies is a manufacturer of ready to fly small models. Their smallest cells are 70 mAh but are available in some hobby shops or from them at:https://www.horizonhobby.com/category/drone/drone-accessories/batteriesThere is a guy with a small cottage industry online business that sells even smaller cells, 10, 20, 23, 50 mAh and larger. These are mostly Full River brand which is pretty good quality. His battery page is here:https://www.horizonhobby.com/category/drone/drone-accessories/batteriesThere used to be several others but most have closed up shop. Hope this helps.

author: Dave3
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2018, 06:54:49 pm
content: I found some small LIPO battery references from prior projects. As Old Printer noted, suppliers come and go. I can't vouch for any but maybe this gets your research started.Rogers Hobby in Michiganhas a good guide below and you can speak to their store lipo specialist. The day I called the lipo specialist was not there but the guy I spoke to was incredibly informative and provided a lot of great out of the box tips during a 5 minute call. Call them first.Also, you need to dig around the websites to find specs. And website specs are just examples of what you can buy. Contact the company as specs can be customized. Ask if there are some discounted similar to your specs in the warehouse from a recent big order.You should expect a good percentage of cheap batteries from eBay, Amazon, Alibaba, Banggood to be junk (e.g. low capacity, low lifespan and/or dangerous construction).From a practical perspective the latter point matters a lot due to fire hazards.Also, note the "buyer protection" from eBay and PayPal are terrible; Amazon might be slightly better.I imagine some of the good US suppliers import, test, label batteries from verified Asian sources. For my projects, that is worth paying a premium.US SUPPLIERSUtah - batterieshttps://www.powerstream.com/li-pol.htmCalifornia - batterieshttp://www.roaringtopusa.com/customer-assembleMassachusetts - batteries (maybe nothing below 160 mha - call to ask)https://www.pulsebattery.com/batteriesMinnesota - huge electronics parts supply househttps://www.digikey.com/products/en/battery-products/6Texas - huge electronics parts suppy househttps://www.mouser.com/Michigan - r/c hobby store with VERY helpful lipo sales teamhttps://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/Everywhere - retail chain storeshttps://www.hobbytown.com/lithium-batteries-airplanes/c5649New York - batteries (maybe no small lipos)https://www.thebatterysupplier.com/rechargeable-batteries/Penn - batteries (maybe no small lipos)https://liionwholesale.com/collections/batteriesASIAN SUPPLIERS(lower price but higher risk of receiving garbage or nothing). Worth looking at spec sheets to see what configs are popular right now).http://sz-battery.com/lithium-polymer-battery/#p-conthttp://www.ufo-battery.com/data/attachment/file/20150123/a5d86932188951eae2494823e538b705.pdfhttp://www.pdbattery.com/li-polymer-battery-cells-list.htmlAlibaba Group, Banggood, ebay, Amazon...LIPO INTELLIGENCEhttps://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/https://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.htmlhttps://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2565699-Best-1s-lipohttps://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2868603-Best-source-for-cheap-lipos-today

author: gus789
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2018, 05:13:18 am
content: Thanks Dave3 & Old Printer -Dave3 - Awesome list, BTW. Much appreciated! These should be able to get me going.I was starting to redesign my product around an ML-2020, which can be bought from Mouser/Digikey and requires a simpler charging circuit. The LiPo definitely has the extra oomph in terms of peak current though, so I will persist along the LiPo route for now.Cheers

author: Dave3
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2018, 01:49:37 pm
content: Beyond capacity, I principally looked at package dimensions, discharge rating, and supplier quality. Match discharge rating to your application. Extremely light batteries might not make stated capacity but you need to test.For my projects, I was looking to make sure the batteries had onboard protection boards.Finally, a senior engineer at the worlds-leading battery maker told me his industrial battery packs generally used round rathar than flat cells MAINLY because round provided better thermals, so better performance and lifespan. Not sure if that applies for very small batteries like those you are working on.