Finally made the jump to LiPo

[ROH73]

I finally took the plunge and bought some LiPo batteries and charger. I think these exact items are scattered around here in other threads, but I thought I'd post what I bought in one place in case others want to do the same thing. I'm just bashing, with no plans to race, so I went the budget route.

Batteries: Turnigy 4000mAh 2S 30C hardcase packs from HobbyKing. Overall dimensions are very close to those on a Nicd or Nimh pack and fit very well in my cars. Although HobbyKing has US warehouses, these batteries were not in stock here, so $15 shipping took almost 3 weeks from Hong Kong; not great, but not awful. Battery performance and runtime is excellent; no issues. I bought two to start and may get more, because Nicds and especially Nimh now just seem so inferior compared to LiPo .

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11598

Charger: Thunder AC6 from HobbyPartz. This charger works really well. It's very basic, but easy to use and has charged every pack I have with no problems. It barely gets warm. For on off-brand charger, the quality and fit/finish seems very high. Free shipping was about 5 days from California to Pennsylvania.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html

So far overall, I'm very pleased. I wouldn't expect this hardware to compete with some of the high performance stuff out there, but I don't need it to.

[Charlie don't surf]

You will love the switch more and more every time you run!

[ROH73]

I think you're right!

[soniccj5]

That charger looks like it is running the same firmware/hardware as the SkyRC Imax B6 I bought.

http://www.skyrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=3

Nice charger.

[WillyThickfoot]

Are you brushless?

[ROH73]

No brushless yet. One step at a time .

[flipwils11]

Cool, thanks for posting. I'm also on the cusp of this transition but the other way around as I have brushless ready to go into my cars with 4500mah nihms. But I have the charger and balancer ready for lipo so need to get some from hobbyking to try out.

Is the difference in runtime and performance noticeably better? I heard the 7.4v of lipo have more punch to them. And can you charge lipo over and over in a 24 hour period unlike nihm?

[Coelacanth]

The runtime and power vary the same as with NiMH and NiCd batteries; the higher the mAh, the longer the run-time; the higher the volts, the more power. A 7.4V LiPo has .2V more punch than a 7.2V battery, no matter the chemistry inside.

I think the biggest advantage of LiPo is the battery doesn't slowly lose power over time--the more charges you put through NiCd/NiMH batteries, the more they lose their charge capacity. LiPos also maintain their full power through to the end of the charge cycle, unlike NiMHs which get slowly weaker as they run out their charge.

I've also made the transition to a brushless motor but not yet LiPo. Soon, budget permitting!

[civilguy]

Is the difference in runtime and performance noticeably better? I heard the 7.4v of lipo have more punch to them. And can you charge lipo over and over in a 24 hour period unlike nihm?

I think what most people notice is the continuous power without dropoff and a perceived increased 'punch', which I would attribute partly to the slight power increase but mostly to the extreme weight savings with a lipo on board.
And the whole lack of memory and limited static discharge is great. I have had my lipos sit for 2 months at a time and they lose less than 1% of their charge vs all my nimhs and nicds which completely die within that same period.
I actually gave away most of my old batteries and will never go back.

[ROH73]

There is definitely the feel of more power with the Lipo. Like others have said: more voltage, less weight, no drop-off, etc. Basically, it performs continuously like a freshly peaked NiCd (which drops off in 1 minute). Runtime is the same as a similar capacity NiMh, but again no performance drop-off during that time.

I love it!

[WillyThickfoot]

Get yourself a ezrun. Cheap and you WILL NOT regret it!

[ROH73]

Get yourself a ezrun. Cheap and you WILL NOT regret it!

That's my plan; maybe sometime this Summer.

[Coelacanth]

If you already have a brushless-capable ESC, check out some of this seller's Speed Passion motors, some of them are priced very low. I just bought a 17.5T 2500 kV motor from him. He also has a 13.5T 3000 kV motor for the same price--only about $30 shipped.

17.5T: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Speed-Passion-Sport-Tuned-2500KV-Motor-F1-17-5T-/180649912910?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a0f92ea4e

13.5T: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Speed-Passion-Sport-Tuned-3000KV-Motor-Ready-Run-/180587894579?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a0be09733

[Rootdown4594]

i can't beleive that battery is less than 20 bucks!

i've dug out my rc stuff that's been sitting in the attick for ten years and it seems that my batteries are shot. i need new batteries but of course i would like to go the lipo route. would my old Novak Fusion esc and old trinity spec 19 turn motor be able to handle lipos? would a 30C lipo be too strong? would a lipo even fit into a B3?

everything is so different now compared to ten years ago in regards to the electrics. lipos, brushless, 2.4ghz... everything seems so much more hassle free!

[ROH73]

Yes. No. Yes.

There is one issue, however: old ESCs do not shut down to prevent the Lipo voltage from getting too low. Each cell in a lipo (a 2s, 7.4 volt pack has two cells in series) should not discharge below about 3.3 v to prevent damage to the pack. Therefore, you have to really monitor the performance of your car; as soon as the car starts to run slower, it's time to stop. I've been okay so far doing it this way, but I'm planning on picking up a couple of these to be safe:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Maxpro-2S-Lipo-Battery-Low-Voltage-Monitor-LED-ALARM-/220773406998

Has anyone ever tried one like this?

The move to modern brushless ESCs will also solve the problem, but I'm not there yet and probably never will be for most of my cars.