few questions on Lipo ratings

[m1009cucv]

I'm still learning about all this. Please bear with me. First lipos I got were sky and gen ace. Seemed pretty good and pretty cheap. I bought an Emaxx that came with lipos too.. 2 smc and 2 thunder power.. The to sky and thunder power have the same ratings. I had the day off so i was messing around a bit. all four batteries are very close to new. The sky lipos did okay. I have used them before. The thunder power batteries. Just touch the throttle the truck flipped onto its top.. There seems to be a good difference in power. Thunder power batteries cost a good bit more. I sure would say it's worth it though.

So that's little background. What I'm wondering is how do you know the ratings are accurate on the battery you're buying?? make sense? thanks again

[Charlie-III]

Same ratings....what ratings??

From your description, sounds like the "C rating" is different.

On small packs (lower mah) the "C rating" makes a difference.

On larger packs "C rating" is not as much of an issue.

Punch is a combination of "C" & mah. When mah goes low, the "C" MUST go high.

[Phins Fan]

^^+1^^ I would think the flipping batteries have a higher C rating than the others which give you a bigger burst rate or off the line power vs a smaller C rating

[Trubble]

Originally Posted by m1009cucv

What I'm wondering is how do you know the ratings are accurate on the battery you're buying??

IMO, you don't. I'm sure there are tests that can be performed on load centers, but I know I don't have one lyin' around. I use said numbers to get close to where I need my amp draw to be, but basically regard these pretty much as so much advertising gibberish.
The SMCs I have are so-so, not spectacular, but not worthless either. Heard many other similar comments. Just nice, stable, solid performers, with little flash and fanfare. In my experience, anyways.
But I've heard quite a few reports (from both go-fasts and airplane circles), that Thunder Power batteries are renowned for being robust performers when all-out performance is what counts. If I really needed some 'premium' batteries, these'd be on the short list.

[m1009cucv]

didnt explain very well i guess. all 4 packs are the same 3s and mah. seem the thunder lipos have more punch

[xCoolHandLukex]

I used a carbon pile load tester and an amp clamp to test some batteries just for my own curiousity.Traxxas, Hobby people, onyx, Venom, Thunder power, a silver battery with a red label i cant remember the name of and a couple of nameless packs with the labels rubbed off I got used. The thunder power, Traxxas and hobby people I had two identical batteries of each and running them in my summit I felt the Traxxas and Thunder powers were better and lasted longer.This was by no way a scientific test but I wondered if it was true or I just wanted it to be in my mind since they were more expensive than my other batteries. There was a big difference in the brands. The cheapie no names I had dropped way below the others in a load test. the thunder power and Traxxas were the best. That said I paid double for the Traxxas batteries than the Thunder Powers so I don't think there a good value. I only really only notice the difference in my high speed RCs though in my crawlers the junk batteries don't last as long but I don't find a difference in power. Again this is half my own conjecture and a hill billy load test.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by m1009cucv

didn't explain very well I guess. All 4 packs are the same 3S and mah. Seem the thunder LiPO's have more punch

You explained, we listened, you didn't listen.

Are all the packs the same "C" rating??

It won't matter if they're all 3S with the same capacity (mah), the "C" rating also matters, especially on lower mah packs.

Even if ALL the specs are the same, "some are more equal than the others".

This is part of my issue with MaxAmps. They are 2-3 times the price, but seem to be ~equal on performance.

[m1009cucv]

forgot that one all 35c

[Postclanker]

I've found that the "C" rating was nothing more than a price whore for some bat manufacturers. They could label it whatever rating they wanted and you wouldn't be able to tell if they were accurate or not. UNLESS you were running a go fast rc...you can definitely tell the difference in "C" ratings then, just by the punch factor. Crawlers don't necessarily concern themselves with burn-outs off the line.

[Phins Fan]

Originally Posted by Postclanker

I've found that the "C" rating was nothing more than a price whore for some bat manufacturers. They could label it whatever rating they wanted and you wouldn't be able to tell if they were accurate or not. UNLESS you were running a go fast rc...you can definitely tell the difference in "C" ratings then, just by the punch factor. Crawlers don't necessarily concern themselves with burn-outs off the line.

while i can agree that there are some cheap mfr's that will price gouge you will notice different punches with bigger vs smaler C rates. I have a couple Turnigy 30C packs that work fine and have normal off the line punch. Compare than to the thunder power 70C and night and day. not only will the 70 c's wheelie for me but will also allow me to jump smaller gaps the 30C packs wont

[Arctic Fire]

3s 20c packs are all I will ever need in my SCX-10! In my formula fastech on 4s i need 40c or higher, Thunderpower 70C makes it run cool and fast all day long. I cheap out on the Crawler and spare no expense with the boat. But like the above poster said, Crawling doesn't need much C unless you have a low turn motor, but thats not really crawling then is it.

[Postclanker]

Originally Posted by Phins Fan

while i can agree that there are some cheap mfr's that will price gouge you will notice different punches with bigger vs smaler C rates. I have a couple Turnigy 30C packs that work fine and have normal off the line punch. Compare than to the thunder power 70C and night and day. not only will the 70 c's wheelie for me but will also allow me to jump smaller gaps the 30C packs wont

I agree with the jump factor
I run 1350 or 1300 30C rated 3s in comps. Haven't had to do any gap jumping yet, but I have plenty of wheel speed with a 35t HH.
I would trust Thunder Power C ratings in general, they are a quality manufacturer...

[winnerone23]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

Same ratings....what ratings??

From your description, sounds like the "C rating" is different.

On small packs (lower mah) the "C rating" makes a difference.

On larger packs "C rating" is not as much of an issue.

Punch is a combination of "C" & mah. When mah goes low, the "C" MUST go high.

Hi Charlie.. I have to agree with these comments.. I run a lot of nano tech batteries.. all for the most part.. from 2200 4s (scx-10, 35t HH pro) to 300 2s (mrc, 33t HH mini pro).. most knowledge of the bats come from the xr tho.. for out an bout long crawling to comps. I run 850 20-40c with no issue. Now I like the 460 20-40c for size an weight but doesn't have the juice I was use to in the 850 even tho it was the same C rating.. then I got some 350 65-130C, wow! Watch out! Smaller mah but higher C rating.. really brings the motors alive an work amazing! I had 3 thunder power bats back in the beginning an wasn't hugely impressed with the price to performance value.. with never having a issue or problem with nano tech or there price, ill run the nano tech for as long as they make them.. I have a couple gens ace 450 25c an can tell a big enough diff between the nano tech 460 20-40c to stay with nano tech and at the same price or close enough.. then jump the C rating when buying an I'm a firm believer in the smaller the mah the higher the C needs to be. That's comparing one company to itself.. not to others, I just happen to have these other bats..

[happymachinist]

The amps a battery can supply is based on the discharge c value and mAh.

A 20c 1000mah (20*1.0=20amps) can produce twice the power as a 20c 500mah battery (20*.5=10 amps).

Divide mAh by 1000 and multiply by its discharge rating. I understand not all manf represent their discharge ratings accurately, but as far as plugging in the numbers this is how you figure it.


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