Battery question

[FELS]

Hello,

I'm conidering buying an OSTC Sport which is capable of following batteries:

SAFTLS14500 3,6V allows up to 50 hours (2250mAh)
Duracell Ultra Power 1,5V about 20 hours. (2400mAh)
Energizer 1,5V E2 about 30 hours. (3000mAh)

from what I understand the 1,5V batteries suffer more from thier low voltage.
Is it possible to operate the OSTC Sport with rechargable lithium batteries like the one in the link below?

http://www.keeppower.com.cn/products_detail.php?id=348

* Quality Protected Li-ion Rechargeable Battery
* Brand: KeepPower
* Size: 14500
* Part No.: P1450J
* Nominal Voltage: 3.7V
* Nominal Capacity: 840mAh
* 4.2 volts max voltage and 3.7 volts nominal voltage
* Over 500 charge-discharge cycles

About capacity: 840mAh is about 2.6 from the 2250mAh of a Saft LS14500 which is capable of 50 hours runtime. when I use that one it should do about 20 hours which is about the same runtime of a normal AA Battery.
This is about 60 Cent per 20 hours but bad for the envoironment.

About the Voltage: usually these Batteries get charged to 4.2 Volt max. this is what makes me open this thread since in the manual you describe between 1,5 - 3,6V

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

Yes, these batteries can be used and the latest 10.27 (beta) has an option to choose this as the new battery and calculates the battery % based on 0.8Ah capacity.

See: read.php?6,16918

4.2V are no problem.

regards,
Matthias

[Bubba71394]

That's actually good news. Thanks to FELS for the question and to HW for the quick answer ...

One Hint: Make an update in the Manual which can be downloaded on the product page. In there, no word about using rechargeable Batteries (at least as far as I remember). Many people are looking for the option to change AND charge the battery themselves ==> If the info is missing, you might not convince everyone...

Happy diving

Bubba

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

We update the manuals from time to time and will mention the rechargeable option then, of course.

Besides our real-word testing with specific (Mentioned in the manual) batteries there is another important feature of the battery that should be taken into account: The hard-iron content of a specific model. That influences the work of the compass chip a lot. There some batteries that make the compass almost useless due to the external magnetic field from the battery.

As we recommend only quality brand batteries I can say that both the Sanyo UR14500 and the Panasonic UR14500P emit a quite strong magnetic field and reducing the compass accuracy significantly. We'll test others (But not the typical "2000mAh Super-Cell" for 2EUR/Piece) and report the results.

It's physics: Don't expect more then 800-900mAh for a rechargeable 3,6V 14500 AA battery.

Keep that in mind when using rechargeables...

Regards,
Matthias

[Rob]

heinrichsweikamp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There some
> batteries that make the compass almost useless due
> to the external magnetic field from the battery.

Good to know.
Is there a list, or can we create a list of tested batteries here (with the result of the test)?
I was short before buying a set of rechargeable batteries.

Regards
Rob

[Motardplongeur]

What I can say : with a SOC (state of charge) of 25% on a SAFT LS14500, I have the mentionned issue with compass, see here : read.php?6,16670,16670#msg-16670

Today, SOC is 12% but I do not dive for instance, same issue ; as soon I change the battery (same model SAFT), I'll give you more information about this behaviour.

It seems me that this issue was not on my Sport at the begining ; if yes, at what SOC it appears ?

[heinrichsweikamp]

Magnetic characteristics don't change on the remaining capacity on the Saft batteries.

Regards,
Matthias

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

[img]file.php?6,file=860,filename=batteries.jpg[/img]

We got a selection of (quality) batteries and it seems they all use the same cell. The "Fenix" and "Trustfire" have protection circuity and are longer then the nominal 50-51mm. The "Trusfire" still fits well in the Sport, the "Fenix" is too long (Almost 53mm).

Just to make this clear: The compass calibration will calibrate with these batteries and the compass will work but with a reduced resolution (like 3° or 5° instead of 1°). Tilt compensation won't work as good as before, too.

Regards,
Matthias

[Motardplongeur]

For information, you'll find here very interesting tests for batteries, including 14500.

http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html

[waalx]

I'm also going to order a Sport soon. I teach diving in the tropics and no way I'm going to start using disposables batteries.

From what I read here, the rechargeable Li-ion cells can influence the compass. So that's not OK for me.

What about something like Ni-MH? like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JHKSMJU/

Would it influence the compass as much? and how much time can I get with Ni-MH 2000mAh Eneloop like that?

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

1.2V rechargeable batteries are not recommended for the OSTC3 or Sport. Do not use them.

We recommend four types of batteries:
Saft LS14500 3,6V AA
Energizer E2 1,5V AA
Quality Alkaline 1,5V AA
Rechargable 3,7V 14500 AA (Like the UR14500P, 850mAh)

The last one will be supported with the next firmware releases.

regards,
Matthias

[Rob]

Hi Matthias,

can you specify the Rechargable 3,7V battery?
(Brand, and maybe where to buy in germany)

I cannot find a UR14500P with 850 mAh.

The trustfire 14500 are shown with 900maH but they are not "Protected" (the p in the UR14500P stands for protected?)
I can find protected batterys with 700mah.

regards
Rob

[heinrichsweikamp]

Hi,

This is the datasheet of the battery we have in mind: https://na.industrial.panasonic.com/sit ... asheet.pdf

We buy these from our long term battery supplier (BMZ). They don't sell to individuals but you can find these on eBay, as well.

Regards,
Matthias

[Motardplongeur]

Some of 3,7V / 14500 batteries you can find :
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries20 ... %20UK.html

(I have no interest with this guy ; just his work is fine).

[Finewine]

I have been using the recommended SAFT but have just purchased 2x Keep Power as mentioned in the opening question by FELS and confirmed by Mathias as suitable for the Sport.
I will keep a close eye on battery time but have regularly experienced total and immediate battery failure once below 65% and commencing a dive.
Once the low battery warning appears there is no more than 2/3 mins before a blank screen!!!!
Anything below 80% and I now dive wearing a second back up computer to be safe.
This does not seem to matter what dive conditions are ie warmer or cold water.
I would be interested to hear from HW on this battery power loss etc.

[UKG]

heinrichsweikamp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> [...] there is
> another important feature of the battery that
> should be taken into account: The hard-iron
> content of a specific model. That influences the
> work of the compass chip a lot. There some
> batteries that make the compass almost useless due
> to the external magnetic field from the battery.
>
> As we recommend only quality brand batteries I can
> say that both the Sanyo UR14500 and the Panasonic
> UR14500P emit a quite strong magnetic field and
> reducing the compass accuracy significantly. We'll
> test others (But not the typical "2000mAh
> Super-Cell" for 2EUR/Piece) and report the
> results. [...]
>
> Regards,
> Matthias

Hi Matthias, all, I came across the above and was wondering which rechargeable batteries can be recommended that have a weak magnetic field? Can you maybe post a link to the mentioned test results? Thanks!