upgrade a h-160 to li-ion or lipo battery???

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frenchexplorer

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Messages
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Location
Comox, British Columbia, Canada
# of dives
200 - 499
I was wondering if an upgrade (lipo or li-ion battery) would be available to the current h-160 scooter in the near future?

or will the h-320 be in the market anytime soon? or that model won't be available???

just curious cuz i'm aiming toward the h-160 or the h-320.


thanks


Eric Gilbert
 
I was wondering if an upgrade (lipo or li-ion battery) would be available to the current h-160 scooter in the near future?

or will the h-320 be in the market anytime soon? or that model won't be available???

just curious cuz i'm aiming toward the h-160 or the h-320.


thanks


Eric Gilbert


Hi Eric,

There will be a future upgrade for the H160 to a Lithium pack. Until then, it comes standard with the NiMH pack.

Thanks,
 
I,ve heard rumor that the upgrade kit for the h-160 should come out in early summer this year, is it the case?? if yes how much $$$ it would cost for the kit.

just wanted an update about the lithium battery for the h-160 that's all.

thanks
 
I just did a DIY upgrade to LiFePO4 batteries and it's going well. I used twelve A123 20Ah LiFePO4 cells and I just did a full burn test that gave me 2h40m of trigger time on second speed, pitch 7, in a sidemount configuration with dry suit. The costs were less than $1,000 to upgrade the scooter. The original NiMH battery pack was rated at 480 Wh of energy, the new LiFePO4 is 800 Wh, almost double.

Because the new batteries have a different voltage I needed a new speed controller. I probably could have bought a Venom controller from Silent Submersion but I decided to create my own custom speed controller to reduce the 40V of the new battery down to the 18V, 24V, and 30V used by each speed. I took the opportunity to program the new controller to start in 2nd speed, to beep to indicated which speed was in and to beep to indicate a 20 minute battery warning before limp mode.

I'd be happy to provide the schematic, source code and PCB layout for the controller. The components can be purchased for about $50.

There are some small issues.

The H160 already had poor trim in fresh water and this battery made it worse. I added 2.5 lbs of lead to the nose and added two 2"x10" capped ABS pipe to the tail to compensate, it's now back to normally bad trim. On the positive side the 2.5 lbs, placed offset, reduces torque force on the handle quite a bit.

There is a slight wobble in the motor that I have to try and work out.

I didn't hook up the LED light since I don't use it.

The original battery pack was waterproof, this one would be exposed to water if it were to enter the hull.
 

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