Battery choice !?!

[badhoopty]

FORGET lipo, the new life cells are the way to go.

http://www.maxamps.com/Life-4500-66-Pack.htm

no overcharge explosions, no low voltage cutoffs, all the good stuff of lipo without the doomsday scenario.

maxamps.com has always treated me very nice. good guys. they even send you a christmas card.

either way, i would definitely go for lipo/life and not invest in nimh. especially if you a going to be buying all new equipment and all that.

[markt311]

Reedy has a LIFE battery coming out too, only 6.6 volts though. The battery industry really needs to standardize what voltage everyone will run.

http://67.199.85.166/main/productdetails.php?text=723

[Lowgear]

FORGET lipo, the new life cells are the way to go.

http://www.maxamps.com/Life-4500-66-Pack.htm

no overcharge explosions, no low voltage cutoffs, all the good stuff of lipo without the doomsday scenario.

See now this is what i'm talkin 'bout!

[Brandon G]

I have found that my purchase of a balancer was a waste of money. I always buy reputable cells (Orion, Maxamps, Epic) and the need for balancing so far has not been necessary. I have been running a 3200 Peak (Orion/Kokam) for about a year and a half now and it is still running strong.

A low voltage cutoff device is not really necessary either. Just stop running the car as soon as you notice it slowing down indicating the battery is depleted. Bring it in and charge it.

Tried and true Nimh? I have seen so many Nimh packs explode while charging..... Yet to see a Lipo go into meltdown (knock on wood)

Not saying you are wrong,but that is probably not the kind of advice to give someone that has no experience with lipos.I run SMC lipos and they rarely get out of balance at all.In fact the manual states that they only need to be balanced once a year or something along those lines.Most lipos hold a balance very well.Problem is,what if something happens and it does go out of balance?That's when the bad things that we've all heard about lipos happens.Same goes for LVC.You can take your chances and wait til you notice the vehicle slow down before stopping,but running a lipo cell too low will definately damage the pack.Usually they don't blow up from overdischarging,but they will lose capacity over time.

IMO nothing makes switching to lipo more formidable than having a long laundry list of things to buy and do to make it possible to run these cells. My explanation is simple. Buy quality cells, a quality charger (neither of which will break the bank) and play by the lipo rules. I charge my car fully before every run. I know through experience that my buggy will run 15min SAFELY with the pack I use (an Orion 3600 race pack) I get an idea of how close I am by noting the MAH charged into it after every charge (usually 2400 mah after that amount of run time). I have run my car down maybe twice to the point where I notice it start to slow, and then usually about 10 sec later the LVC on my GTB shuts it down.

Of course if you abuse these cells and have no respect for the circumstances that follow from abuse, then be afraid. If you play by the rules, then it is the cheapest and easiest way to get back into electric. This goes for life cells too.

[Bugle]

There's no way Life batteries will get adopted for stock with only 6.6v, should be ok for mod with a low turn motor. Although they are pretty heavy, I like how you can get a Lipo that's only 230 grams and put that 100g of ballast where you need it.
Or in the case of an RC10T it's still 200g overweight even with a 230g lipo

[Lowgear]

Those Life batteries are something pretty new right? If so you can't say they'll remain at 6.6v.

[Bugle]

The voltage is determined by the chemistry of the cell, they can't change it, if they did it wouldn't be a LiFe cell anymore.

[Lowgear]

Ah, I gotcha. Thats kind of a downer in a way than.

[badhoopty]

unless you are racing i dont know why it really matters or why a 9.9v or higher voltage pack wouldnt do ya.

what i like about them (dont have any yet) is that they are completely idiot proof, that being said, i've never had an issue with lipo either.