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TDI SL Battery Pack Up Grade


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White's for the past couple years, I was told, has been working on an up graded battery pack for the TDI SL which will allow it to operate at to 14 volts or more. There is plenty of "home made" stuff out there that seems to work very well but I  keep waiting for a factory product that should have been out by now. I'm just a breath away from buying a reputable model from a guy making /selling them on eBay. Has anyone heard anything concerning this matter from White's?  They sure can make it tough to be a loyal customer.

 

 

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I've been using the Reidman pack for a couple of years, with no problems. There was a recent post on another forum saying that resistor #9 got too hot to touch when he used the 4-cell pack. I haven't checked mine, but am going to keep using the 4-cell. It may be that Whites don't want to produce a pack capable of 16.8 volts when the capacitors in the power supply are only rated for 16.0v. Using the 4-cell pack is counting on the safety factor built into the capacitor rating. I'm using a charger that lets me set the max voltage, and I'm now keeping very close to 16.0v, just in case. Staying at 16v also increases the life of the pack.

Jim

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If there were such a beast I would expect it would be in the newly released TDI SL Special Edition. That unit appears however to ship with the same NiMH battery pack as the prior TDI SL so my guess is that it has not happened. Or not happened yet at least. Hopefully Tom will chime in to help you with your decision.

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Hey guys. Not much I can say on this other than we looked into it, and it seemed the best option was to leave it up to 3rd parties like Reidman (or users themselves who don’t mind tinkering).

I run a 16 volt pack in my SL. I accept the risk due to the performance gains. Up to you if you want to do the same, but it’s not something he company can directly promote.... if you catch my drift.

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I increased the voltage of the nimh package that comes standard in the SL.
I bought a voltage booster on eBay for less than $ 1 and adjusted the output to 15.8v.
The voltage will be constant at 15.8v until the battery pack delivers less than 2v.
The nimh batteries can be discharged at a lower voltage than the lithium ion without suffering premature death. I have dozens of eneloop at home and I plan to make another package with them. I know that lithium-ion batteries offer greater intensity and less weight, but I will deplete all existing resources before investing in more unnecessary batteries.
According to the manufacturer it has an efficiency of 93% in the conversion. If the voltage of the battery is closer to the voltage set in the voltage booster, the conversion efieciency will be greater. I want to think that the real efficiency is 85%. So you lose about 30 minutes of operation. Assuming that the voltage increase has a real benefit, it's worth it.

I can’t show pictures because I do not have the Tdi with me.

 

7C53C214-4F6A-490B-8569-BF07D2AC3348.jpeg

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Will running higher voltage wear harder on the processor?

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NO

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