battery brand for 3s lipo

[83trekker83]

Just got my trx4 bronco a month ago, new to the whole rc world.

I have a 2s lipo at the moment.

Want to also get a 3s battery, what brand would you guys suggest for the lipo should i stick with Traxxas battery? I have the traxxas charger right now.

Thanks

 

[4kids crawlin]

Helios rc makes an awesome battery. I have a 3s 5200mah and it holds up very well. They're 36 dollars but you get what you pay for and his company is here in North Carolina.

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[indybama]

I use SMC batteries, theyre awesome! Im not sure prices as of now, been awhile since ive bought new ones. Check them out at smcbatteries.com

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[zohn]

look around a bit. you can buy 2 3s packs with a higher c rating for what your paying for 1 3s traxxas battery.

 

[allanon1965]

valuehobby.com has geforce lipos for great price...

 

[high plains drifter]

Keep in mind that with the Traxxas charger, [as is] you'll have to use Traxxas batteries. Assuming you still have the stock XL5 esc on your TRX4, you'll need an adapter if going with a different battery. Depending on the battery connector, you will need to make sure that it will allow you to connect to your stock esc. There are some lipo batteries out there that come with several different connectors ( incl a Traxxas connector) and there are also some companies ( SMC for example) that will custom solder on the connector of your choice. Just be aware of these things before buying a new non-Traxxas lipo battery. Without changing out your stock esc or soldering up a new connector specific to your particular battery connector, you may have compatibility issues.

Also as advised above... Traxxas batteries are WAY overpriced. I would definitely look at other suggested brands.

 

[Topher Builds]

This fits the front battery tray of the bronco. It is the only battery I run now, 4 hours of run time this past Sunday in a vs4-10.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek...ipo-battery-11.4v-3600mah-ptk-5116-17/p662759

 

[Rekreant]

SMC racing makes the best lipos on the market. Gens ace is a good budget option, but it’s smart to pay the extra 10$ for an SMC.

 

[svt923]

Helios rc makes an awesome battery. I have a 3s 5200mah and it holds up very well. They're 36 dollars but you get what you pay for and his company is here in North Carolina.

Helios batteries are awesome, the 3500mah 3S is my favorite. They are basically the size and weight of your average 2200mah 3S pack but add and additional 1300mah in capacity.

The fact I can pick up my packs at the Helios warehouse 10 minutes from my house doesn't hurt things either. :mrgreen:

 

[4kids crawlin]

Helios batteries are awesome, the 3500mah 3S is my favorite. They are basically the size and weight of your average 2200mah 3S pack but add and additional 1300mah in capacity.

The fact I can pick up my packs at the Helios warehouse 10 minutes from my house doesn't hurt things either. :mrgreen:

I ran a comp last Saturday and I ran all day on 1 5200. I will continue to buy them. I would rather give an extra 10 or so to some local boys before I give it to some Chinese company.

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[JatoTheRipper]

Unless Helios changed they had pathetic C ratings. Fine for crawlers, but if you put them in bashers it's not good news.

I still prefer HobbyKing Turnigy and Zippy batteries above all.

 

[83trekker83]

Unless Helios changed they had pathetic C ratings. Fine for crawlers, but if you put them in bashers it's not good news.

I still prefer HobbyKing Turnigy and Zippy batteries above all.

Which model of HobbyKing Turnigy do you recommend? also will it connect to my traxxas esc?

What exactly is the C rating for, and the higher the number the better?

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Which model of HobbyKing Turnigy do you recommend? also will it connect to my traxxas esc?

What exactly is the C rating for, and the higher the number the better?

I have a variety of batteries from HobbyKing, but right now the stick pack in the link below is one of my favorites. It's 4200 mAh and it's light and low profile for a hard pack. It also fits in my Tamiya cars.

C-rating is how much amp draw a battery can support. The higher C number the better.

4200 mAh stick pack: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-nano-tech-4200mah-2s2p-40-80c-hardcase-stick-pack.html

If you need 3S and compact for crawlers there's something like this.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-flightmax-2200mah-3s1p-45c.html

 

[high plains drifter]

...will it connect to my traxxas esc?

No... not going to connect directly. I would seriously decide which connector you think you want to go with so that you can keep things simpler down the road. I'll give you an example of where I was at:

I wanted to temporarily keep my Traxxas ESC but I also didn't want to keep buying Traxxas batteries even though I already had a Traxxas charger and Traxxas battery. A little like your situation... except it seems that you haven't bought any Traxxas batteries yet.

So in order to be able to keep running my stock ESC for a while with non-Traxxas batteries, I needed to decide what particular battery connector to go with. I chose a Traxxas to XT60 adapter ... meaning that I could now run either Traxxas batteries or XT60 equipped batteries. Probably worth noting here that it would be a good idea to decide at this point if you're indeed going to keep running the stock ESC or not. Anyway... assuming that you plan to keep it...

With a Traxxas to XT60 connector, you can now run XT60 equipped batteries ( 2S or 3S) with your Traxxas ESC. Problem now becomes your Traxxas charger. Not sure what exact charger you have but my Traxxas ID charger doesn't like other batteries that are not ID equipped... SO...

I bought a new charger that came with adapters to run whatever kind of battery I wanted. It's a great charger and was less than $50. So now I charge all my XT60 batteries with that charger, charge my Traxxas battery with my Traxxas charger, and am able to still retain my stock Traxxas ESC by either plugging my Traxxas battery directly into it or by using my Traxxas to XT60 adapter with my XT60 batteries.

 

[83trekker83]

No... not going to connect directly. I would seriously decide which connector you think you want to go with so that you can keep things simpler down the road. I'll give you an example of where I was at:

I wanted to temporarily keep my Traxxas ESC but I also didn't want to keep buying Traxxas batteries even though I already had a Traxxas charger and Traxxas battery. A little like your situation... except it seems that you haven't bought any Traxxas batteries yet.

So in order to be able to keep running my stock ESC for a while with non-Traxxas batteries, I needed to decide what particular battery connector to go with. I chose a Traxxas to XT60 adapter ... meaning that I could now run either Traxxas batteries or XT60 equipped batteries. Probably worth noting here that it would be a good idea to decide at this point if you're indeed going to keep running the stock ESC or not. Anyway... assuming that you plan to keep it...

With a Traxxas to XT60 connector, you can now run XT60 equipped batteries ( 2S or 3S) with your Traxxas ESC. Problem now becomes your Traxxas charger. Not sure what exact charger you have but my Traxxas ID charger doesn't like other batteries that are not ID equipped... SO...

I bought a new charger that came with adapters to run whatever kind of battery I wanted. It's a great charger and was less than $50. So now I charge all my XT60 batteries with that charger, charge my Traxxas battery with my Traxxas charger, and am able to still retain my stock Traxxas ESC by either plugging my Traxxas battery directly into it or by using my Traxxas to XT60 adapter with my XT60 batteries.

OK , so my thought was to change out the esc BECAUSE i keep seeing so many people burn out the steering servo and then when everybody gets a new one they seems to get a different esc and since i am a total newb to this i am just following what everybody else who knows what they are doing. LOL the funny part was i was on vacation and my brother bought the trx4 defender and wanted somebody to run with, so when i got home from vacation there was a brand new trx4 bronco sitting in my living roof for me that he bought! So that is how i have got into rc crawling, and its pretty cool so far. I never even knew rc vehicles were anything like this at all.

FOr the charger it has your normal traxxas port on it, the lipo batt i have has an adapter on it to match to the traxxas charger. The charger is an ID sensing charger BUT with my lipo it also has a couple wires coming from it connected to a little white connector that plugs into the Traxxas charger. I then do a special way of starting up the charger and it works fine with this other brand lipo.

Question do all lipos have this extra wire coming out of them to be able to use my traxxas charger?

I am leaning so much every day , there really is a lot to it all of this.

 

[high plains drifter]

The extra wire coming from your battery is what's called a balance-lead. I'm no expert on all this but a battery with a balance lead is equipped to be able to have each cell balance charged... it's simply a way to keep each cell conditioned/ charged more properly.

If you're so inclined to do so, then I would absolutely get a better ESC... Correct on the criticism of the stock ESC. It's not very good for several reasons. Look at the HobbyWing QuicRun wp1080. It's what a lot of ppl are putting in the TRX4 and other rigs. You'll be a lot happier with the performance as well as the opportunity to tweak, add, delete, or change certain settings. Also no brown-outs when running a higher voltage servo.

I don't think that all lipos have a balance lead... not sure. But certainly most lipos that I've seen ppl running in crawler applications do.

BTW... Please inform your brother that he also has another brother just outside of Austin Texas and that I'll take a RC4WD TF2 whenever he gets the chance!

 

[83trekker83]

The extra wire coming from your battery is what's called a balance-lead. I'm no expert on all this but a battery with a balance lead is equipped to be able to have each cell balance charged... it's simply a way to keep each cell conditioned/ charged more properly.

If you're so inclined to do so, then I would absolutely get a better ESC... Correct on the criticism of the stock ESC. It's not very good for several reasons. Look at the HobbyWing QuicRun wp1080. It's what a lot of ppl are putting in the TRX4 and other rigs. You'll be a lot happier with the performance as well as the opportunity to tweak, add, delete, or change certain settings. Also no brown-outs when running a higher voltage servo.

I don't think that all lipos have a balance lead... not sure. But certainly most lipos that I've seen ppl running in crawler applications do.

BTW... Please inform your brother that he also has another brother just outside of Austin Texas and that I'll take a RC4WD TF2 whenever he gets the chance!

Well i have been reading and you should always charge your lipo balanced, so what i am reading here is that i should be buying one with this lead on it.

Oh if your were close to us he would prob throw in half the money to help you get one just so you can rc with us, lol!

 

[high plains drifter]

Haha! Sounds like a great dude!

Yea... Most of what you'll see will have a balance lead 2S/ 3S. Just look into what's been suggested above. I've got a Turnigy 2200 2S ( 25-35c) and a Zippy 2700 3S ( 60c) along with my Traxxas 5000mah 3S. Both were cheap and the Turnigy is small enough to comfortably carry in my pocket as a trail spare. I'm sure there are better choices out there but keep it in the right ballpark regarding size, price, voltage, discharge rate and you'll be good.

 

[Rekreant]

Always balance charge otherwise you risk a fire. The only people who ever have fires from lipos are the people who dont balance charge or mistakenly charge on nimh mode.

 

[83trekker83]

The extra wire coming from your battery is what's called a balance-lead. I'm no expert on all this but a battery with a balance lead is equipped to be able to have each cell balance charged... it's simply a way to keep each cell conditioned/ charged more properly.

If you're so inclined to do so, then I would absolutely get a better ESC... Correct on the criticism of the stock ESC. It's not very good for several reasons. Look at the HobbyWing QuicRun wp1080. It's what a lot of ppl are putting in the TRX4 and other rigs. You'll be a lot happier with the performance as well as the opportunity to tweak, add, delete, or change certain settings. Also no brown-outs when running a higher voltage servo.

I don't think that all lipos have a balance lead... not sure. But certainly most lipos that I've seen ppl running in crawler applications do.

BTW... Please inform your brother that he also has another brother just outside of Austin Texas and that I'll take a RC4WD TF2 whenever he gets the chance!

im getting confused reading all of this, so ifi got a HobbyWing QuicRun wp1080 do i then also need to get a external BEC too? Also what is the connector name on the hobbywing to match up to a new non traxxis battery?thx

Also thougths on this batt?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-heavy-duty-5000mah-3s-60c-lipo-pack-w-xt-90.html


and charger?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-p403-lipoly-life-ac-dc-battery-charger.html?wrh_pdp=2