stop the presses!!

anybody remember the infamous KAN packs that where *the* nicad packs back in the early days of robot combat?

well john hoffman is getting back into it after battlepacks demise and here is what he is offering:

nicads -Sanyo N3000CR's. 3ah full C cells.

24v packs for $50 US
12v packs for $30 US

he also will do 36v packs. and he mentioned that cell prices where somethingn like $2.50 american in a pack.

that doesnt include shipping either. i guess youll have to email john and arrange that.

here is his email - kirwan@pacbell.net make sure you make the topic heading clear as the email gets a crap load of spam.
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
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is this going to be a full time business sorta thing or just a way to make some extra bucks on the side

also is there a website or a thread on a forum (rfl, battlebits etc)

those prices r awesome.

very interested.
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

hmm, just saw this (after posting my update in the other thread).

Are you sure those cells are new cells ? I remember John selling packs on the battlebots forum, and a lot of them were made from a heap of surplus cells he had lying around. If they are, then that might be the go.. anywhere we can find out more about them other than emailing him ?
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quote:

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nicads -Sanyo N3000CR's. 3ah full C cells.

24v packs for $50 US
12v packs for $30 US

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i dont think there is a thread or website, i was just talking to john on chat and he mentioned he could make these packs for those prices, so i asked him a little more which yielded that information above.

but emailing him is the best way to go about things, and for those prices who can complain. ill be ordering a few in lieu of scooters i think.

another thing i forgot to add was that the packs come in a staggered configuration (which is believed to be stronger).

brett - didnt ask if they where new or surplus but at those prices one would think they are.
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http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

well glen if u r ordering some could u order 2 extra for me. saves extra shipping costs etc and ill pay u personally and also chip in shipping etc where needed.

I think this would be the best battlepack subsitute so far and if glen and some others r interested in geting them then we should get it soonish or he may run out.
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

those are full C cells though
i imagine they would be much larger and heavier no?

yeah i would imagine that the cells are marginally bigger.

and as for weight you are talking in only grams at most.
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www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

from power stream
Cell Type Diameter Length Alkaline Weight NiCad Weight NiMH Weight
SC (sub C) 23 43 52 55
C 26 46 65 72 80

so 20g heavier per cell for nicd and 25 for nimh

in a 24v pack thats 400 grams nicd and 500 for nicd

tradeoff is probbly much higher current capacity
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Mechanical engineers build weapons, civil engineers build targets

for the price though i can handle a few extra hundred grams. 50-80 bucks for a 3 amp pack is awesome value.
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

response from John - The builder of the Kan Packs..

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Hi Brett -

The cells I have are Sanyo N3000CR. This is a full 'C' sized, 3000mah, high current cell. You can probably
find full data sheets online somewhere.

I got them used; they were part of a medical device, used for battery backup. The Preventative Maintainence
procedure required that they be replaced after 1 year of age. As such, they have had very light usage.
Those packs are 11 cells, glued in a staggered formation, with thin spot welded tabs.

When I remake them into combat packs, I either separate all the cells, and glue into the desired configuration,
or use the staggered setup - which I prefer as a stronger shape. I use high temperature hot melt glue to fill the gaps and
hold the cells together, then wrap the pack with high temperature tape; Kapton, when I can get it.
Then I remove all the welded tabs, clean the ends, and solder on interconnects.
For this, I use braided copper strap - this is roughly equivalent to about 12 gauge wire.
I've made many dozens of packs and never heard of a single failure of the interconnects.
I get heat shrink tubing from a surplus source - it's really heavy duty, much stronger than the plastic wrap
commonly found on RC packs - or even what Steve Hill uses (although I do think he double wraps his packs)

The interconnect wire is usually 10 gauge wire and powerpole connectors, but this can be modified as needed
by the customer.

All packs get three cycles of discharge and recharge using my shultze charger. A few deep discharges seems
to really help these cells; the capacity goes up with these cycles.

I've lost track of how many packs I've made and sold - might be as many as a hundred. I've used the name
'K-packs' - you could search the forum for references to them. Because they aren't new, I can't give any
guarantees on them; that's part of why the price is so low. But I really haven't had any unhappy customers.

I don't see a problem with shipping to Australia - except that it sounds expensive. I'd rather do a few larger
shipments than a lot of smaller ones - maybe you guys can get together and decide what you want.

My standard pricing is essentially $3 (US) per cell in packs; and the buyer pays the shipping.
$30 for 12V
$60 for 24V... and so on.
Basically, I try to stay under half the price of Battlepacks.

I have a paypal account, that's pretty convenient for me, but if you wanted to do a mail order or other form of payment
that's fine too. It might take a bit longer, but it will take me some time to build and cycle the packs anyway.

Let me know what you think - and give me as much warning as possible, this is just a hobby for me.

John

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They sound like they might be worth giving a go, so maybe we should arrange a group buy on these as well.. I'll still get some of the new ones for comparison purposes, but I might go for a few of these.. who else wants some ?
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i will have 4 12 volt packs please
as my gws charger can only charge 1-14 cells i think or something and i can have more variation.

Also for that price i wont complain, for what u get its fine and dandy to pay that much.

please reply with payment info.


Also Jeff Ferrara, whats happening with the power supply for my gws charger please. havent seen or heard of anything for a while.

THanks yall and thanks glen for leading us to this source.
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

Can we get any quotes on shipping to Aus? Also, if we buy a big bulk order, will we get slogged with customs?

Just roughly guessing, I would say it will be a minimum of USD$40 per 12v pack including postage, this brings it roughly to AUD$58 per pack.

If we order in about 3 weeks time, I'm definately up for 2 x 12v packs.

EDIT: Welchy, why don't you just get a car battery for your GWS charger? That's all I run my Omni on
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Last edited by Knightrous on Sun Sep 12, 2004 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

I've bought battery packs from John. He does excellent work. The heat shrink he uses is phenominal. I found them to be of excellent quality.

Mutt

@ aaron, getting a high amp battery costs abut the same as this power supply anyway's plus u ahve to recharge the batts. i would rather plug it all in and walk away and not have to worry bout anything. for 30 bucks for 4 amp power supply its not bad too which is all i need anyway's
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics