4S 18650 Battery Clip | It works!

Type of battery clip: bit.ly/3mie2g7
Check out the REKON FPV Online shop: rekonfpv.com/
Rekon5 Digital: bit.ly/3sCnyh0 BG: bit.ly/2M1cwBd
Rekon5 Analogue: bit.ly/3qy48I9 BG: bit.ly/3c4PggH
Rekon 5 Frame Kit: bit.ly/3sL80rt
The original MicroLongRange frames & BNFs:
Flywoo Explorer Analogue: bit.ly/36gGF6V
Flywoo Explorer Vista ready Kit: bit.ly/39oEbWc
Flywoo Explorer Frame Kit: bit.ly/2VdQgVX
Hexplorer Analogue BNF: bit.ly/38pz2Lj
Hexplorer Digital BNF: bit.ly/34u7OSz
Hexplorer Frame: bit.ly/2J6L5Vg
16x16 6in1 ESC and F7 FC: bit.ly/3mDfuID
3000mah 4S Liion pack: bit.ly/37ocdrc
Other decent Micro Long Range quads:
Diatone Roma 4 LR bit.ly/3m0pH2f
iFlight Chimera bit.ly/3kQDEhS
GEPRC Baby Crocodile bit.ly/2IWFOPL
Recommended Micro Long Range Setup:
Frame: Flywoo Explorer bit.ly/2VdQgVX or CNCMadness
Motors: 2750kV 1404 Flywoo Dave_C bit.ly/3pSn2Kn
Stack: Flywoo F411 bit.ly/3e9yNFg
GPS: BN-180 bit.ly/2tylVad
Cam: Vista bit.ly/2ynTm1L
Independent Buzzer: bit.ly/2OxeSbz
HD Cam: Naked GoPro Hero 6/7 Case: bit.ly/3m2TZBG
Props: Gemfan 4024 bit.ly/2IZ4abS
LiPo Batteries: Literally any cheap 850mah 4S will be just fine
Li-Ion 3000mah VTC-6 Batteries: bit.ly/37ocdrc

[@aarem01]

I think this is THE solution for everybody who dont dare to solder batteries. 👍👍

[@yannickg6904]

Even if you are comfortable putting a Li-Ion pack together, this is a better solution.

[@hupo]

50 dollar spot welder on ebay. I would advise against soldering because of the amount of heat that is applied.

[@hupo]

@@KAREKINFPV Or get a 50 dollar spot welder and make them yourself

[@KAREKINFPV]

@@hupo bro you say that like everyone knows how to connect balance connectors, like everyone has the right heat shrink, like everyone feels safe to connect it all. By the time you buy all that shit and make them, you could have had 4 batteries, ready to go at your place, with no time spent learning anything, or screwing up.

[@KAREKINFPV]

@@hupo i mean, i can buy 1300mah 1s lipo flat packs for pretty cheap, but do I make all my own freestyle packs??? no... because for a few more dollars they're at my house ready to fly.

[@GKR_Video]

Cool Man. You should put the amp draw in the screen and monitoring to keep less than 30A

[@SpiralEyesFPV]

I have 4 lion batteries I've been needing to solder together but it seems my procrastination was helpful because now I don't need to solder them. Great solution keep moving the hobby forward!

[@gravelyetigravelyeti4284]

perfect, you are on the right track with these modular batteries

[@70cad22]

Great work Dave! I have used the same cells from old drill battery packs and they work great. I bought just the contacts so I can custom print the holder right into the quad frame or make custom packs. Another benefit is independently charging cells so their health can be monitored easily. Thanks for the video.

[@changeagent228]

This if developed properly could help solve the problem of replacing bad cells without having to release spot welds. I think properly shaped low resistance contacts and insertion/hold tension is key. At present although seemingly adequate could introduce problems in certain scenarios.

[@endliberalism4305]

Hey , I bought all the goods. Will you make a tutorial on how to properly put these packs together? Thank you

[@IshamPadron]

I tried this a while back but I couldn't find good enough battery holders so I decided too scrap the idea. I've never seen a holder with gold clips. I'll have to revisit this again.

[@bergfpv6486]

I bought a mixed pack of 18650 holders (single, double, triple and quadruple). I tried to fly my chimera 4 with three batteries and when I tried to take off it went about two feet up and sagged back down immediately. I'm guessing my mistake was that I used the power leads it came with. Way too thin. I'll put some 3S appropriate wires on and try it again.

[@stocki_esy625]

I just built such a clip and did the first indoor hover. Seems to work and nothing is getting too warm for now Will see how it holds up in the cinelog 35 soon

[@karanzaberni]

Apart from the weight difference, what are the disadvantages or risks of using clip batteries like this? Compared to soldered batteries, is there also significant power loss?

[@TheEviling]

This is such a nice self-serviceable solution to batteries, nomore having to bin a battery when just one cell is bad :)

[@elin4650]

Finally!! I’ve been scouring the internet if someone has done this! Thank you for the video!

[@BOTGRINDER]

holy shit this is awesome! great job dude!!

[@DaveCFPV]

Thanks !!

[@chronologie2]

To wire this all together, Is it just the case of putting the holders back-to-back, soldering the bottom ones together where they touch (as in 0:28 in the video) then bridging two of the top connectors together with a wire (as in 0:24 in the video), and finally connecting an XT30/60 to the last top two connectors. Thus creating a series connection from Positive to Negative?

[@jonathancharlesferriols1208]

Wow good idea. Do you have a video on how to solder that case?

[@michey7822]

Same idea as im doing currently. Bought separate and 2pcs of LiOn batts holder for holding total of 4batts. Not really happy soldering directly on LiOn batts. I prefer to charge them separately and allow me to play around with different brands of LiOn for testing

[@AsgardStudios]

I really enjoy all your experimentation. Fascinating stuff!

[@adinwalls]

Do you think we could use something like this for the Flywoo Explorer LR4? Maybe a 3s system?

[@eraldylli]

I'm a bit unclear about the length of the flight. Was it 5 minutes or 20?

[@alperenozgur]

i know this is very old post but im thinking about something similiar for my 1 meter wingspan fixed wing, will use 40A t-motor motor. What you think? It will melt the plastic or even springs etc?

[@gajun9197]

Is the battery holder SMD/SMT type? Because I have tried other holders but they are not able to channel large currents please tell me thank you

[@ErikWerlin]

I'm really late to finding this video but is there a video on how to make this 18650 Battery Clip? I would love to make one and see how well it works for my needs and possible sell a few lipo batteries. I don't do any racing or freestyle only smooth cinematics and would love to get 15-20min flight time on my 5" fpv. Also if there some sort of covering you could use or make incase of a crash so the batteries wont fall out and to protect the exposed wires and contact points?

[@ethkid8925]

Moin! Would you say this exact quad flies better with 3S 18650 instead of 4S 18650? Background: I am just trying to build the lightest O3 quad that easily flies for over 15 minutes for exploring on trips. Saw all the 4" LR Models but all seem to recommend 4S instead of 3S. (3S is minimum to have enough voltage for O3..). I though the extra 50g make it more sluggish. (I know +1 18650 is 15% more weight for 33% more voltage & energy, but then you could argue, get a 7" lol)

[@IzokatAdventures]

Hello Dave, I know this is an old video but I built one of these packs inspired by you ...the question is, what are the eligible drones I can use it with? can I use it with any 4" that takes 4S like a Chimera 4? I just need some reference for my next build... Thank you so much!!

[@yho12]

Hey Dave have you tested this with 21700 instead of 18650? should provide even longer flight times

[@mbusche98]

The 21700 have roughly the same energy density. Only advantage is higher ampdraw on some 21700

[@fitzflightz1407]

If you kill a cell just swap it out! I hope those springs maintains electrical connectivity after exposure to the elements for a while. Gold is good but the batteries might oxidize a bit. Also this spot is awesome!

[@alexmcmanigan9643]

how do you make a 4s out of it , would love a wiring demo on it

[@slapjackftw]

I believe you just wire them in series. Since you charge them separately, there's no need for a balance lead.

[@nfnworldpeace1992]

@@slapjackftw would this work the same for lipos? i own a novice 2 that works by hooking up 2 1s batteries in series im upograding the flightcontroller to be 3s capable the motors are already 3s capable can i just hook in another connector and go? or is there battery balancing nessecary?

[@MissingNumb]

It's like using ph2.0 on 1s toothpicks vs xt30 (For convenience, slight power efficiency loss.). I've used blossom sleds for RC trucks before, quality stuff. Shoe goo the solder joints and your good. For longevity get the nickel plated contact version. The brass oxidizes and loses efficiency faster.

[@gonebdg]

for this kind of topic ... I really miss Analog OSD

[@andreuamaya3556]

Gantastic Dave🙌🏽 I think that's a great idea, and we are waiting the little video to how weld 2 or 3 slots to make 4 and 6s. So, one question, which what charger do you charge a lot of 18650 cells together??

[@iboqi]

There are 18650 chargers online. I've seen them used to recharge vape 18650 batteries for quick swapping. Otherwise you can find various setups for charging them all at the same time.

[@DaveCFPV]

To be honest I'm intentionally never making tutorial about building batteries. I don't want the be the reason someone has this blow up in their face because my tutorial wasn't perfectly clear 😅

[@rolliseventeen]

My conclusion is, I take a mid kv LR Setup for 6s and try a 5s 18560 pack or 21700? This would go 30min of cruising I guess.

[@Orca_Blacksail]

Was surprised to see somebody has made these. Ive had some for a while printed out with fuses as the contact points. Bottom balanced no worries about fires or shorts. Poor mans bms.

[@Ekirea]

Do you take them out of the case and charge the cells one by one?Please could you make a video of the build/charge?

[@jameswhite4102]

From what I see, yes as there's no balance cable added to the battery setup

[@MIMPIINDAHSTORIES]

hey, can i see the detail about the battery, because i want to build it too

[@Joshuah2012]

How do you get the cells out of the trays? I’m gonna be running a 2s setup in my defiant Sprite but because I had to mount the tray in the foam, I need a way to get the cells out. Plus I’d rather charge them individually than as a pack.

[@MultiResca]

Hi Dave! It's a very good job, will you make a tutorial on how to properly put these packs together? Thank you! :)

[@taylorsukoshi6126]

4 cells in series.

[@DerFrickler]

Great to see that this works! Did you find any Battery Holders that have some kind of mechanical reverse protection when inserting the Cells? Gets even trickier the more cells you use...

[@DaveCFPV]

Unfortunately not since the cells are completely symmetrical. It makes me a bit nervous too 😅

[@DerFrickler]

@@DaveCFPV well, with 2 cells there are 4 possible ways, one will fly, 2 should sum up as zero volts, one will smoke - think I can live with that...will mark my battery's positive side.

[@flaverusSam]

hi. where can i find this case for 18650? I need one like these, can you send me a link, please?

[@seeithappen1]

So now with 4 batteries, what is the flight time ?

[@bastianschwartze9126]

Kannst du bitte dein PID setup vom Rekon 6S für die 4s Lion packs teilen

[@rsmgaming4384]

I just want to know that the li-on 18650 batteries are much cheaper than lipos but still most of the fpv racers uses lipo for fpv flying . So is there any difference between the two in terms of performance ?? Please let me know.

[@brezovprut4431]

If you are freestyle /racing guy you would prefer Li-Po, if you are longrange cruiser you'd prefer Li-Ion (18650/21700). LI-Ion - longer flightime, less power output Li-Po- less flightime, better power output

[@rsmgaming4384]

@@brezovprut4431 Great Sir . Really appreciate your answer

[@quentinorhant5219]

@Dave_C FPV Can you give us the PIDs for the 6S version with 4 li-ions ?!!

[@pandrews01]

Do you have a connection diagram for that 18650 set up, the connection points for the clips?

[@charlesmarseille123]

the osd would have been a good reference. why not dave? quick and easy way to get 18650's in the air

[@Waikhom007]

hello sir,i have 5 Inch quad with 4s.can i use like this?

[@furballkimfpv9365]

That was not to bad with the 18650 interesting results. I been thinking of trying those batteries. To charge them do you charge them like a lipo ? Very cool video and enjoyed watching and the info. Thank you left a like

[@jhughes2286]

You could charge them up to 4.2 volts like regular light post but the extra capacity gain is nowhere near the cost of battery degradation charging from 4.1 to 4.2 volts only yields about 5 seconds extra flight time, nothing else and you're just killing the lifetime and cycle time of your cells

[@ChadKovac]

I want a recon. Your site says they're in stock on the banner but the pages all show sold out.

[@MrJasonodonnell]

Why are the Tress Elevated at this park?, is it to combat frost or snow etc?

[@proxlamuz4591]

Hey Dave! I received my Rekon 5 last week and it's a 4S setup. After seeing this video I'm having regrets, wishing that I went with 6S instead. To convert over to the 6S motors, do I need to change anything else? Example voltage regulators for any of the components or a different PID profile?

[@DaveCFPV]

Just the PIDs :-)

[@proxlamuz4591]

@@DaveCFPV thank you sir. I love the Rekon5 so far! I'll be flying at 14,000+ feet in the mountains of Colorado so I'll definitely be drawing more than 30amps against the windy peaks with a li-ion so 6S is the way to go it seems like. Would you mind sharing the PIDs or would the Rekon website have them available ?

[@inspirefpv7213]

@@proxlamuz4591 Colorado ❤️

[@quentinorhant5219]

@@DaveCFPV Pleeeease, give us the PIDs (for the 6S version with 4 li-ions) !!

[@drze7910]

Man that's crazy, I had the same idea few days ago because I will never solder together little bomb like 18650! I had found other battery clip but now I will definitely follow your lead =) ! Did you solder a balance cable or you don't need it if you charge them separately?

[@drze7910]

I did it today and it works! If you have question about wiring it, I will be happy to answer

[@IAmTheCraftsman]

@@drze7910Just bought a 2 pack of these battery holders. How do you wire it up?

[@IAmTheCraftsman]

@@drze7910 I found a KZbin vid on how to make 4s packs out of these 18650’s…. My Amazon order for the battery holders has been cancelled! Some 18650 cells, a spot welder, and all the trimmings are on the way as I type this. KZbin got me again!! 😂

[@drze7910]

@@IAmTheCraftsman Hahaha I know this feeling 😂! I think it's for the better that your order has been canceled, just be carefull with this batteries!

[@bsvdoom]

Hey, great vid! Just wondering how to calculate, theese batteries can discharge at 30A tops (if put in serial(4S)), so this 13A ESC would eat 4*13A=52A, this is 22A more than the batteries can handle. Wont you damage the batteries? If I am not miscalculated.. Thanks!

[@DaveCFPV]

That's just the maximum rating of the ESC. Doesn't mean the quad also pulls that many amps :-)

[@bsvdoom]

@@DaveCFPV Yeah but if you do a punchout it would, right?

[@spikester]

Would this rekon 5 build be practical in 6S Li-ion using t-mount 2203.5@1900kV?

[@frankdoingthings8511]

can you balance charge these packs ? i didn't see a balances leads ?

[@rickytolentino961]

How did you connect the holders and attach the xt60 connector?

[@alanhobbs4879]

I hope they make a 20 to 30A 14500 soon. I'd love to have a much lighter 4s Li ion pack, like around 85g.

[@GTARC_au]

I only seem to get 10 to 12 minutes on my Rekon 5 with the 18650 4s. 😥

[@daveimsi3593]

so i ordered the GEPRC CineLog 25 4S and searching for a battery pack that i can fligh for 10min - 30 min. Can i take the same pack like you for this drone?

[@DaveCFPV]

it will probably work but handle pretty poorly and flight times will be on the lower end compared to a long range drone

[@daveimsi3593]

@@DaveCFPV Do u have any idea what i can do instead?

[@sonny52]

How's the flight time compare to lipo?

[@toodlesg1c]

Hi, bei der rekon35 ja. Bei der rekon5 habe ich es noch nicht ausprobiert. Sie ist heute erst gekommen. Habe aber schon ein 6S 18650 gelötet.

[@dummygamer4848]

I was waiting for this video !!

[@DaveCFPV]

Nice! 😁

[@dummygamer4848]

Am gonna try this !!

[@marc_frank]

in normal liion packs, the cells are usually (?) joined with spot welded metal strips i guess the small cross section of those welds is comparable to that of the contact points of the clips if the cells were soldered with thick gauge wire, they might have less sag

[@mirkowaechter]

why is the sag bigger when the contact points are smaller? as long as the metal strips dont get hot, there shouldnt be too much loss, right?

[@DaveCFPV]

I think the welds aren't the only contact area, the metal strips have full contact to the cell :-)

[@marc_frank]

@@mirkowaechter the resistance of a conductor depends on lenght, crossection and the conductance of the material R = L / (k * A) if the crossection decreases, the resistance increases smaller contact points increase the effective internal resistance of the battery same thing with inappropriate connectors, if you were to use an xt30 on a full size 7" quad, maybe they would just melt the metal strips might not get hot, since they themselves have enough crossection, but maybe there would still be a voltage drop over the weld spots this voltage drop increases with current draw U = R * I

[@mirkowaechter]

@@marc_frank But if my quad pulls 60A and the battery is at 15V that means the total resistance from battery to motor and back is 0.25 Ohm. I doubt that the resistance of the spotwelds is somewhere near that. Or am I missing something in this calculation?

[@marc_frank]

@@mirkowaechter idk what has been calculated by that diatone has their motor internal resistance on the website ~50ohms 4 in parallel is still not 250mOhms there might be something weird going on with the conversion of dc to ac internal resistance of batteries is also measured in mOhms usually

[@Citnos]

Hi Sir, what do you think is the best combination for a 4" inch drone, (motor and Li Ion battery), I just want to do some cruising, I will be happy to fly around 20 minutes, I saw a 1404 3000kv or a 2004 1700kv

[@NeverenCH]

Awesome, im really considering picking up a Rekon 5 in the Future. Dave you were saying that the 6S version does also work on 4S, or which version are you flying here ? Saw AndyRC put a 6S 3000mAh Liion pack on his 1800KV version and he flew for about 30 minutes. Pretty insane for someone who can only fly the "normal" 3 minutes per pack like me :P

[@DaveCFPV]

That is the 6S 1800kV version. It's the best option for 4S Liion too :-)

[@daudaibrahim9413]

Please where did you get the battery holder?

[@admiral_kai3107]

A question about the freestyle quad. Is there also a build in Step up, so you could theoratically use a Li-ion down to like 2.5V?

[@Schlaegel]

I hope retailers start selling these. I can make a LIION pack, but then it is single use. I use LIPO much more than LIION, and really only need a few LIION cells I could put in whatever pack matchs a quad when I want to fly it long and flat...

[@TERBANGFPV]

Wait.. you fly 6s version of rekon 5 with 4s li-ion pack?

[@DaveCFPV]

Yes

[@TERBANGFPV]

@@DaveCFPV wait.. so i dont need 6s lipo or 6liion for my 6s rekon5 ?

[@hustled644]

I really want that battery clip, where can I get one?

[@gus8378]

I would like to see something like this replacing battery straps

[@corner8394]

Hehe Dave your antenna orientation from your Tango is off😅 Thank you very much for you testing! Schöne Ostern

[@marianofpv]

Did you reinforce the contacts or is it untouched?

[@DaveCFPV]

No it's all standard

[@KAREKINFPV]

This is cool, and thanks for the video, but man it's a bad idea, I can see soo many things going wrong. Exposed electrified metal, exposed 18650 batteries, a crash would be catastrophic, batteries flying everywhere, now you've lost a cell, or more. If you're in the us, there are companies who make ready made liion packs for FPV.

[@jordan1991r]

Is Dave__c actually a custom salesforce object?

[@elishahodgson1635]

How much range would I get on with th nano long range on frsky with a tx16s?

[@divingfalconfpv4602]

Trying to get arm braces designed for the Rekon5. My motors only have 2 mounting holes and they dont line up with the braces. I emailed cncmadness with no response. They are basically the holes that go straight front to back. I designed a pic showing what holes. I dont know how to message you email or discord

[@dhackens]

I had the same idea but you did it . now I got try it .

[@DivergentDrones]

Oh wow, how did I miss this. This is great. 👍

[@laszloszell8753]

I think not a good idea ,because when you crash the battery can losse contact with pads or even flip out from holder and you never gonna find your drone again without beeper.

[@theminh535]

Thank you so much! It is a greatest solution for 4s battery for drone.

[@shaneellasdaicastrestorati3675]

How was the temperature of the battery pack and your quad ?

[@DaveCFPV]

It was cold

[@Duraltia]

Mhh... How about a set of 3D Printed Endcaps with reliably Cell contact making inserts already soldered to Balance and Charging leads? All the wiring would remain on the 3D Printed Parts out of which the Cells could easily be popped off. Securing the Endcaps to the Cells would be done via a suitably sized Heat Shrink that could be cut open for access to the Cells - I imagine the 3D Printed Endcap & Heat Shrink solution could shave off a some more weight compared to two of those carriers.

[@piotrj.9497]

Hey Dave! Could you please share a tune for the li-ion provide for Rekon5?

[@syedsultan87]

Wats the flight time

[@birdhz]

flight time?

[@pacman5511]

Where can you get the 4 cell holder ??

[@yannickg6904]

That is fantastic news! I will be ordering some for sure.

[@VictorSeedorsky]

Can you post how to solder this to have that like you?

[@kevinroberts781]

Use some samsung 21700 T40 cells. 40amp discharge. Not much v sag with em.

[@rolisaenz]

Dave, where do you buy genuine VTC6 cells, most of the sites sell fakes :(

[@DaveCFPV]

nkon.nl

[@Clif_Brown]

Thanks for the testing! Cool video an ideas.

[@vitorstreetboys]

Why litium?

[@jcmecatronica]

Have this solution here waiting my LR explorer arrive to test it. 😆

[@theartofflying3108]

Personally, I found this clip thingy packs quite problematic. The key for flying li-ion is a very light drone with low amp ESC otherwise it starts a fire on a drone while mid-airborne. I would not recommend this for heavy and acro quads running on high Amp ESCs, though. An finally - 20grams plus on a small drone which weighs in total between 400- 600grams is actually a lot of extra weight to power.. You can basically forget about mounting an action cam additionally. I do not recommend this solution for regular drone flying. This li-ion is only good on specially designed aircrafts for use of it.

[@iboqi]

I see what you're doing but based on your voltage, it's not in series, and actually parallel. Remember the difference between parallel and series. If you had it in series, it would be 4x3.7 after voltage drop which is 14.8v. in parallel, it would remain at 3.7 and bellow ; ). You'll need to run a system they takes ~14.8v range for this to be a true series. You've raised your 3.7v available amps in the setup you have, which is what you want if it can't truly take a series connection.

[@iboqi]

@@michaelbibby8636 Ah, I see. I must have missed that.

[@JannisDesigns]

You should use „35A continuous current Samsung 18650 2500mAh“ batteries 🤞🏽👍🏽 make a 4S Pack with Balanceleads , then you have normal 14.8V 2500mAh 140A 💪🏽 so it should have enough power for 35A ESCs 👍🏽👍🏽

[@JannisDesigns]

BUT it does weight ~200gr since one Batt is around 48gr

[@WildCaptures]

Do you think this would work on the crappy Eachine Tyro 129? They have 1800kv and Dal 7056 tri blades. It’s rated for 3 to 5s.

[@DaveCFPV]

Probably yes as long as you only cruise

[@acain6803]

Why is there such a tall building in the middle of nowhere? Strange

[@SilverFox80521]

Dave....why did you get to think of this first? You keep doing that.

[@skygroover6692]

Show us how to make one