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Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 10:48 pm
by Rootdown4594
i just purchased the same charger as you along with this battery!

http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-40c-5000-2s1p-hardcase.html

im excited!

i will probably move to brushless sometime in the near future

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 8:15 pm
by Rootdown4594
well it seems like that battery has gone out of stock AFTER i placed my order. i requested a refund. can't seem to find a suitable replacement at the same reasonable price.

why are the big name batteries(reedy, etc) so much more????

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:12 pm
by flipwils11
I was excited to get my first lipo, a Reedy 5000mah pack with little use from an rctech member today, but for some reason I fail at the basics of lipo connections for charging. Can someone tell me what I'm not getting here in the picture below? I did the research or so I thought on Tower and this lipo balancer was supposed to work with the Reedy pack, but I see nothing on the Reedy pack that matches this crazy connection plug for the balancer. Help!!

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:28 pm
by ROH73
Rootdown4594 wrote:well it seems like that battery has gone out of stock AFTER i placed my order. i requested a refund. can't seem to find a suitable replacement at the same reasonable price.

why are the big name batteries(reedy, etc) so much more????
How about the one I bought: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11598

It's 4000 mAh (and 30C) instead of 5000, but it's cheap, in stock and fits very nicely in the B3.

I suspect the big name batteries cost more because they actually are of a higher quality and are designed to take the punishment of racing. I also know you're paying some extra for the brand name...that's just the way it goes :D .

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 10:40 pm
by dangermouse
flipwils11 wrote:I was excited to get my first lipo, a Reedy 5000mah pack with little use from an rctech member today, but for some reason I fail at the basics of lipo connections for charging. Can someone tell me what I'm not getting here in the picture below? I did the research or so I thought on Tower and this lipo balancer was supposed to work with the Reedy pack, but I see nothing on the Reedy pack that matches this crazy connection plug for the balancer. Help!!
This might work if the plug at the balancer end is the same.

Image

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 10:54 pm
by dangermouse
Also maybe look at:

Team Checkpoint Pro Car LiPo Balancer 2S Adapter TCPP9151
Team Much More Lipo Cell Balancer 2S Adapter MSB-2S

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 11:27 pm
by Rootdown4594
ROH73 wrote:
Rootdown4594 wrote:well it seems like that battery has gone out of stock AFTER i placed my order. i requested a refund. can't seem to find a suitable replacement at the same reasonable price.

why are the big name batteries(reedy, etc) so much more????
How about the one I bought: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11598

It's 4000 mAh (and 30C) instead of 5000, but it's cheap, in stock and fits very nicely in the B3.

I suspect the big name batteries cost more because they actually are of a higher quality and are designed to take the punishment of racing. I also know you're paying some extra for the brand name...that's just the way it goes :D .
it's only available from the international warehouse. and it would take like three weeks to ship. when i want my new toys i want them NOW! i'm just too impatient...

i'll take a look to see what my local hobby shop has. if they don't have anything. i search again online.

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:20 am
by ROH73
Rootdown4594 wrote: it's only available from the international warehouse. and it would take like three weeks to ship. when i want my new toys i want them NOW! i'm just too impatient...

i'll take a look to see what my local hobby shop has. if they don't have anything. i search again online.
I understand. For me, it was worth the wait...can't beat the price and they work great!

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:01 am
by Coelacanth
ROH73 wrote:How about the one I bought: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11598

It's 4000 mAh (and 30C) instead of 5000, but it's cheap, in stock and fits very nicely in the B3.

I suspect the big name batteries cost more because they actually are of a higher quality and are designed to take the punishment of racing. I also know you're paying some extra for the brand name...that's just the way it goes :D .
Thanks for the link, Robert, I think I'll buy one of those along with an airbrush sold by Hobby King that's currently back-ordered. :)

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 1:35 pm
by soniccj5
flipwils11 wrote:I was excited to get my first lipo, a Reedy 5000mah pack with little use from an rctech member today, but for some reason I fail at the basics of lipo connections for charging. Can someone tell me what I'm not getting here in the picture below? I did the research or so I thought on Tower and this lipo balancer was supposed to work with the Reedy pack, but I see nothing on the Reedy pack that matches this crazy connection plug for the balancer. Help!!

This should also work.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAVSM&P=7

ED

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 3:53 pm
by flipwils11
soniccj5 wrote:
flipwils11 wrote:I was excited to get my first lipo, a Reedy 5000mah pack with little use from an rctech member today, but for some reason I fail at the basics of lipo connections for charging. Can someone tell me what I'm not getting here in the picture below? I did the research or so I thought on Tower and this lipo balancer was supposed to work with the Reedy pack, but I see nothing on the Reedy pack that matches this crazy connection plug for the balancer. Help!!

This should also work.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAVSM&P=7

ED
Thanks, just ordered it.

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 11:22 am
by Rootdown4594
so i just bought 2 of these as they just came into stock

http://www.hobbypartz.com/83p-4000mah-2s1p-74-30c-car.html

couldn't really pass that deal up!

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 1:56 pm
by Coelacanth
This topic has been very informational. I picked up an iMax B6 charger recently, which has a built-in balancer. Is this balancer good enough, or would I need to bother purchasing a separate balancer? Any B6 owners have any tips on usage?

I was also pleasantly surprised to find it has a discharge function--not many of the under $50 chargers I looked into had the ability to discharge.

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 4:28 pm
by THEYTOOKMYTHUMB
Coelacanth wrote:This topic has been very informational. I picked up an iMax B6 charger recently, which has a built-in balancer. Is this balancer good enough, or would I need to bother purchasing a separate balancer? Any B6 owners have any tips on usage?

I was also pleasantly surprised to find it has a discharge function--not many of the under $50 chargers I looked into had the ability to discharge.
Just make sure you buy a lipo with the correct type of balance board connector. There are several types of connectors out there. I think it's strictly for proprietary purposes as they all perform the same basic function. I have a couple different boards strictly for that reason. They're only about $6, or at least for my Hyperion they are. The discharge is nice if you need to set a pack up for storage and don't want to run it down to the storage voltage. Otherwise, please remember not to discharge them. They're completely different from all older styles of cells and charge/run exactly the same regardless of their starting voltage. You will only harm them if you discharge them after a run. I'm sure the charger will know better than to take them too low anyway, but better safe than sorry. Speaking of that, I have a couple of race packs that I had fully charged a while back in anticipation of racing the next day, but didn't make it. It's been about a month since then because I've had an on going project at work that's kept me away from the track. Luckily, I don't get paid any extra for it. :roll: I should probably run them or discharge them a bit. They don't store well fully charged. Guess I need to step away and go get them while it's on my mind or I'll get distracted by a set of car keys or lazer pointer or something... :lol:

Re: Finally made the jump to LiPo

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 1:10 am
by Coelacanth
The discharge function is for my existing NiCad & NiMH batteries. :)