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PSA: Valence U1-12RT 40Ah Lithium Ion Battery


r111

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Ebay has a number for sale - from $160 for TESTED good, delivered to $70 for untested "working pulls". There's a cat that sells them from Long Island location, dont tell anyone, but he accepts $55 offers, some might be able to pick it up in person and avoid the $15 shipping fee. Frugal acres here ...

 

Anyway, this is a true LifePo4 gem, uber light (1/3 of weight of equivalent lead battery) and small to where I carry 2 of them in the center hatch of my PA14. Full protection for overcharge, overdischarge, shorts etc on and on. It is qualified for use in medical carts, so you know they are excellent. Since it is LiFePo4, it can not catch fire like typical Li ion.

 

In my PA14, using Watersnake ASP T24 trolling motor, that draws about 17Amp in full power on quiet water, I can cover around 10 miles on 1 battery going full speed.

 

Read my seminal treatises on batteries etc, for more than u ever wanted to know.

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For the lucky few that got these, these are made 22nd week of '17 (!!!).

 

Chances are the light is off, meaning the battery is discharged and is in self-preservation mode. There's a PDF guide online, you can find it by googling U1-12RT

 

To revive, you need to charge it at low current. 1A is recommended.

 

The built-in controller will watch the cells and as long as they recover to certain voltage when slow charged (should take may be 20 mins), it will unlock the battery and then you're back in biz and  can use regular charging.

 

If this is too much for you, simply attach a battery charger to it and as long as LED blinks green, you're good. The built-in controller will make sure the battery cant be damaged.

 

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Bumping up an old thread because, well, google took me here and i couldnt find any of the answers elsewhere.  Just got delivery of my valence battery. It didnt come with terminal screws, so far ive figured out its m6-1 but what length?  I had some 25mm bolts but theyre way too long. 

 

Voltage read 13.3 as soon as i got it home. Going to charge it with a schumacher 8a/2a charger/maintainer tomorrow when i can get appropriate bolts.  Also have a battery tender jr and regular battery tender.  1 is 750ma the other 1.5a.  They obviously would take way longer but is slow better if i dont know how long this battery has been sitting around?  The green light is on so it seems good.

 

Are you guys putting this in a drybag or pelican/ammo box type case?  Ive done that in the past with my ff sla 12v batteries.  Dont know if its needed for this.

 

Im assuming i can use regular ring terminals to a 2pin quick disconnect.  Going to use an inline resettable 50a breaker as per the specs for my minn kota c2 endura 30.  Thats all i have for now.  Thanks in advance.

Edited by gobigblue
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Connector: I use  XT60 Male Female Bullet connectors (amzn). Gold plated, dont corrode, a sure contact, cheap, very ez to solder, rated for massive current.

 

You dont need a battery tender for LiFePo4, they keep the charge forever

 

In my case, the batts are safely inside of center hatch of my PA14. So they are protected from spray and even if I turtle, as long as boat is righted quickly, not enough water gets into hull to swamp the batts.  Yyyyuge side benefit of this arrangement: it lowers center of gravity, which makes the already excellent PA14 even more stable. 

 

If kept on outside, you definitely want to protect the battery, it is not exactly waterproof

 

I mostly highly recommend to add a $15 "RC power meter" between the battery and the motor. This way you know exactly how much juice was consumed and how much is left. Use the same meter, in reverse, when you charge the battery, to see how much charge went in and how much is left.

 

The batteries are usually spot-on 40Ah. If you get lucky, you may get one that is more like 42Ah

 

The battery has a built-in protection against overload and shorts, you dont need to add inline fuse

 

So my setup is:

 

battery --> 2 x 12Gauge marine wires -> XT60 -> XT60 -> RC power meter -> XT60 -> XT60 -> 2 x 12G -> Minnkota female connector (attached to the deck) -> Minnkota male connector -> Minnkota rotary switch (speed/direction control) -> trolling motor

 

You can also add in-line PWM power control, to have fine control of speed, but not really a must

 

Few folx know of boldepot dot com ...  The terminals are metric. Do you own a hacksaw ? :)

 

 

Edited by r111
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1 hour ago, r111 said:

Connector: I use  XT60 Male Female Bullet connectors (amzn). Gold plated, dont corrode, a sure contact, cheap, very ez to solder, rated for massive current.

 

You dont need a battery tender for LiFePo4, they keep the charge forever

 

In my case, the batts are safely inside of center hatch of my PA14. So they are protected from spray and even if I turtle, as long as boat is righted quickly, not enough water gets into hull to swamp the batts.  Yyyyuge side benefit of this arrangement: it lowers center of gravity, which makes the already excellent PA14 even more stable. 

 

If kept on outside, you definitely want to protect the battery, it is not exactly waterproof

 

I mostly highly recommend to add a $15 "RC power meter" between the battery and the motor. This way you know exactly how much juice was consumed and how much is left. Use the same meter, in reverse, when you charge the battery, to see how much charge went in and how much is left.

 

The batteries are usually spot-on 40Ah. If you get lucky, you may get one that is more like 42Ah

 

The battery has a built-in protection against overload and shorts, you dont need to add inline fuse

 

So my setup is:

 

battery --> 2 x 12Gauge marine wires -> XT60 -> XT60 -> RC power meter -> XT60 -> XT60 -> 2 x 12G -> Minnkota female connector (attached to the deck) -> Minnkota male connector -> Minnkota rotary switch (speed/direction control) -> trolling motor

 

You can also add in-line PWM power control, to have fine control of speed, but not really a must

 

Few folx know of boldepot dot com ...  The terminals are metric. Do you own a hacksaw ? :)

 

 

ill check out those connectors, thanks.  suprised about not needing a fuse, but then again everything about this battery has me suprised.  im going to be putting this in the front compartment to balance out the weight so will probably put it at least in a bag for now.  im using the tom kirkman pvc rod holder idea.  super simple and cheap.  going on a revo11 so not the ideal yak, but looking to get an outback this winter.  was going to wire up a pwm, but seeing as this battery is already the bees knees will wait on that. the rc watt meter is a cool idea but then im just adding another pair of connectors which im not to keen on.  thanks again.

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Those RC connectors are the bees knees. Having them in the mix gives you the flexibility: you can go from batt straight to trolling motor, or optionally add  watt meter and/or PWM control.

 

Power meter, IMO, is a must - it tells you how much juice is consumed/left.

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7 mins ago, r111 said:

Those RC connectors are the bees knees. Having them in the mix gives you the flexibility: you can go from batt straight to trolling motor, or optionally add  watt meter and/or PWM control.

 

Power meter, IMO, is a must - it tells you how much juice is consumed/left.

i was going to use a simple voltage meter indicator wired in next to the motor controls.  just to measure % battery left and voltage#.  but im all ears as to why the rc power meter is a better product.

 

something similar to this

junction box.jpg

Edited by gobigblue
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