school me on lipo batteries

[Mongo63]

What are the pros and cons to lipo batteries? I already have scads of nicads and the proper chargers for them. Are run times greater with lipos? Is maintenance less? Do they require specific chargers? How does cost compare? My main use will be just playing around, no competitions yet. I've been an avid R/C guy for a long time but have just recently become interested in crawling and am trying to learn all I can. Thanks for any help you can offer.

[romulus22]

im no expert but for me it was the light weight and size that made me start using them. i haven't had one rig use lipo and NiMH to compare the two so as far as performance i cant help you out there

[specv510]

If your nicads are stick packs it is hard to put all that weight down low. Lipos have more power in a smaller/lighter package. You do need a lipo specific charger and preferably a balancer.

[kgf]

u will see a big difference both on run times as well as on power-torque. ive switched to lipo on all my electric cars and the difference is unbelievable.alot less maintenance as they can be stored longer without being fully charged.u will need a charger with ballancer or a seperate ballancer that will hook to ur current charger and to the battery.the only con i can think of is that theyre more expensive.depending on the mah u choose but they are well worth it imo.

[fuyutime2]

only one problem wiht lipo. it will blow up if you abuse it. NiCd/Nimh will just crack open and spill. lipos wiht blow the @#$% up in your face. the blow up is enuff to weld 2inches of metal together. dont ask me how i know this, just lemmesay that my experience with abusing lipos HURT. with a burnt and broken wrist too.

[701 Technique]

I am also trying to make the switch. I love my NIMHs The problem I am having is when a balancer is needed. I have read that people always and never use them. I understand what they do but do lipo cells continually go out of balance? I just bought a duratrax onyx charger and now I need a balancer too? Anyone have one they recommend (cheap)?

[Slowkrawl]

Look for a blinky balancer, they are about $50.

If you havn't already bought the charger, I would look into a charger that has a built in balancer. That way it should shut itself down at least if things do start going south.

As far as lipo's, if you respect them and use them properly they will work great! They have more power in a smaller and lighter package.


Pro's:
They (can) have high-discharge rates for power hungry brushless set ups
smaller
lighter
more power
can be found cheap(hobby city)

Con's
If you draw too much current out of them they can puff
they have been known to light on fire due to out of balance cells

[bikeman]

You need them!

[Mongo63]

Thanks guys, that gives me the basics. I'll be making a trip to the hobby store tomorrow for some packs and a proper charger.

[Duuuuuuuude]

I use the Onyx 230 charger, it will handle nearly anything (nicd/nimh/lipo/life). For balancing I use the ElectriFly Equinox. If you shop around, you can probably get both for just under $100.

Lipo's are great batteries as long as you respect them. Yes they will catch fire/explode, but they won't do it on their own. Any abuse/misuse will damage them and make them potentially dangerous.

You also need to figure out how much power you need and shop accordingly. Here's the math...

To find the amp output: move the decimal point over 3 places on the mah rating (2000mah becomes 2.0a) and multiply that by the C rating (2.0a X 20C = 40a). That is the current capacity of the battery. Keep in mind that you can get away with a smaller than normal battery in crawlers because they spend very little time at WOT or under heavy load.

[DarkFrost]

Read and learn

http://www.rchelisite.com/lipo_batte...fety_guide.php

http://www.hooked-on-rc-airplanes.co...ery-packs.html

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.html

[bberryuza]

Onyx 230 charger w/ a blinky works great. I also use, a liposack !!

[EeePee]

Originally Posted by Slowkrawl

Look for a blinky balancer, they are about $50.

Uh, more like $30

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMRZ9&P=ML

[Phylodog]

Is anyone running this charger/balancer? Price is definitely right but these are obviously not something in which you want quality to suffer.

http://hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store...lancer/Charger

[JeepinOR]

I'm using this $55 unit and like it so far: Thunder AC6

[Katon]

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...=Product-Feeds

This is what I bought just got into crawling, never had a real need for lipo, now as I move on all my vehicles will be converted to lipo.

You are supposed to monitor the battery and charger while charging... I be the first the admit im not gonna sit in the garage for 1 hour plus watching this thing charge, and Im not gonna charge it in the house. So sorry, im a bad man. Secondly dont charge it in the vehicle, this way if you lose the battery it wont turn your car into a pile of plastic and metal.

[tuesdaysfall]

lipos confuse the hell outta me...

heres my situation...

finished my build a few days ago...

went out and got thetriton eq electrifly charger and a a battery from common sense rc that is 7.4v- 2000mAh

i plugged the battery is and it is telling me that the cells are too low?

does this mean i cant charge the lipo or what?

im new to the lipo stuff and not sure really how to charge this battery...

all the help as usual is appreciated!

EDIT: Figured things out!i placed the setting of the charger to NiMH and slowly charged it for 5 minutes on 1 amp...went to balance and charge...now everything is working

if this was improper can someone let me know what i should do... i dont want to mess this pack up since it is brand new

[olvegrn]

what is it about lipos that make them so touchy? ie: blow up in your face.
Wouldn't it be better to just run a NiMH? is the runtime THAT different?

[masterofdeth]

yes runtime is definitly different i know in my airsoft gun i switched to lipo and i went from playing 6-8 hours to playing 12-14 hours without charge