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Hi, I've been away for almost 30 years and plan to race at my nearest club next month.

Question, how many lipo packs do I need? I only have one at the moment, prudence says at least one more.
Any advice from 21st century racers?
Thank you.

I started club-racing with one lipo lately, just for the heck of it. Works ok, but as you say, you need a backup. Then, once you have two, might as well use them anyway rather than cycle that lone one again and again. So my recommendation is two lipos, knowing that one can die and you're still ok to finish the day with one in case something happens

Thanks for the reply, also how do you maintain your lipo between races? Do you do a storage charge once a week or just once and hope for the best. What about balancing, how often?
Lipo is so different from NiCd, I feel a little lost.

I'd say three lipo batteries. I run shorties. Our local track only allows 2s, so make sure whatever you buy will work at your track.

I figured shortys was the way to since B44 et al mainly only accept these. The one I have is an orion EFRA approved, its a shame because it has 4mm tubes and the new ones I just ordered have 5mm ones. I'm going to have to make a little support for soldering the male connectors. No biggie I remeber BITD soldering my NiCd every race.

bluewormx wrote:Thanks for the reply, also how do you maintain your lipo between races? Do you do a storage charge once a week or just once and hope for the best. What about balancing, how often?
Lipo is so different from NiCd, I feel a little lost.

Balance 100% of the time, this is only a tad slower to charge with balancing than without, so why wouldn't you?

throw it on the charger in storage mode right after the race. Modern lipos like to be stored at 3.8 to 3.9V/cell.

The more packs you have for a day, the less they suffer, but frankly, these things are tough. As said, I've done my last few racedays on 2 packs, sometimes one

Great days for RC racing, this and brushless, never been so simple!

With the performance of lipo packs, you can get away with one depending on how much time you have between races. I run 17.5 buggy and I can have the pack recharged between my races (10-15 minutes to recharge I believe, haven't timed it but the voltage is around 8-8.1 after a 5 minute heat).

I use SPC batteries and they consider anything over 2 days to be storage and then cycle the pack every 5-6 weeks if it hasn't been used. I also balance every single charge.

They have 5mm to 4mm adapters.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek-rc-5mm-to-4mm-bullet-reducer-2-ptk-5005/p14566

I would say 2 lipos are a good for one class.

I'm only using one currently but that's only because the LHS only had one left and I went to the slim shorty's

I find LiPo's to be pretty resilient to mal-treatment

I have never used a 'storage charge', and I have LiPo's going on three years old - I let some of my batteries sit with a full charge (not 'storage charge') for 2-3 weeks at a time, use them for a day, fully recharge and let 'em sit for another 2-3 weeks.

I have had zero major problems with any of the LiPo's I handle in this way, some of them have lost a bit of mAH capacity over the years, but voltage and general usability are unchanged.


* I do balance charge 100% of the time.

soniccj5 wrote:They have 5mm to 4mm adapters.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek-rc-5mm-to-4mm-bullet-reducer-2-ptk-5005/p14566

I would say 2 lipos are a good for one class.

I ordered some to give them a try, put not sure if having another connection could cause problems in the long run.

As far as Lipo goes, wikipedia says that they are the same chemistry as the batterys in our phone laptops etc... The only real difference is perhaps the larger current draw on them compared to say a phone, which everyone uses and abuses.

At the same time RC use is not daily so if you have the time to be more methodical with their care, why not.