Good Affordable 2s LiPo Batteries......

[Blazermark]

What is the best LiPo battery for the money... I need one with a Traxxas plug, affordable, durable, and one that works well. Any suggestions would be very helpful!!


OHHHH YEAH!!!!

[Blazermark]

And Post pics of your rides too!!!

[asheck]

Sounds like SPC would be a good choice for you. http://www.spcracing.com/index.php?productID=129

[jdboothman]

I purchased a Gens Ace a couple months ago and have had real positive results with it.

[RC-Fan]

I purchased a Gens Ace a couple months ago and have had real positive results with it.

+1 got two of those hard case.

[Hughes500Bob]

SPC will put the Traxxas plug on for you. MAXAMPS will also but much higher prices.
Otherwise their are lots of different LiPo manufacturers and you will need to have a Traxxas female plug soldered to the leads.
There are dozens of different power plugs used on lipos and at least 6 different types of balance tap plugs!!

[Lamboman123]

I use the venom 3S and i got it for $58 at my LHS

[airmaxx23]

+1 got two of those hard case.

+2 on the Gens Ace 40c 2s 5000mAh hard packs...only $37.50 each. I've got 2 of them and they are working fine for me.

[Blazermark]

+2 on the Gens Ace 40c 2s 5000mAh hard packs...only $37.50 each. I've got 2 of them and they are working fine for me.

Do they come with the Traxxas plugs??

[E-RevoVXL]

Do they come with the Traxxas plugs??

If they don't, you can always get a Traxxas adapter to be able to use it with your Traxxas R/C.

[jdboothman]

Do they come with the Traxxas plugs??

The Gens Ace hardcase come with open banana plug ports (their words, not mine). So you need an adapter plug for them to go from the banana to traxxas. I know they are called something other than banana as well, but I can't remember.

[twistedracing]

+2 on the Gens Ace 40c 2s 5000mAh hard packs...only $37.50 each. I've got 2 of them and they are working fine for me.

+3 on the gens ace. I run 7.4v 2s 5000mAh 40c's and 11.1v 3s 5000mAh 30c's. Excellent for the price

[airmaxx23]

The Gens Ace hardcase come with open banana plug ports (their words, not mine). So you need an adapter plug for them to go from the banana to traxxas. I know they are called something other than banana as well, but I can't remember.

They are also called bullet connectors.

[jdboothman]

They are also called bullet connectors.

Bullet connectors! I knew they were called something else! Thanks airmaxx23!

[jefferson]

+3 on the gens ace. I run 7.4v 2s 5000mAh 40c's and 11.1v 3s 5000mAh 30c's. Excellent for the price

+4 i am running Gens ace 2s 5300mah 30c hard case! bought 2 from hobbypartz @ $33 a piece, free shipping = homerun. I did have to solder on traxxas connectors (came with deans).

[dkaiser v2]

Well, I'm gonna have to say +5 on the Gens Ace. Just got a 3s 40c hardcase for $50.48 shipped and it just plain rips! Very powerful and can be charged at up to a 5c rate! Awesome. Came perfectly balanced and my first cycle through it took 5298mah of charge, so it has more capacity than even advertised!

Just solder on a Traxxas connector and your golden. Even if you don't solder, take it to your hobby shop and they can do them for very cheap or even free. Luckily my hobby shop does it for free and it takes them about 5 minutes.

[dkaiser v2]

What's the mah of the battery to begin with ? YOu never told us how big the battery is ?

Ooops, sorry it is a 5000mah capacity.

[airmaxx23]

Well, I'm gonna have to say +5 on the Gens Ace. Just got a 3s 40c hardcase for $50.48 shipped and it just plain rips! Very powerful and can be charged at up to a 5c rate! Awesome. Came perfectly balanced and my first cycle through it took 5298mah of charge, so it has more capacity than even advertised!

Just solder on a Traxxas connector and your golden. Even if you don't solder, take it to your hobby shop and they can do them for very cheap or even free. Luckily my hobby shop does it for free and it takes them about 5 minutes.

The 5000 mAh packs from them seem to have more punch than the 4000 mAh packs.

[dkaiser v2]

AND you put 5298 mah in the car initially ? That's strange.............

Are you asking if I put that much charge into the battery right out of the box? Because no, this was after I charged it once from the nominal voltage (3.82 per cell I believe when I got it), ran it, and then charged it completely. So it was run down to 3.0-3.2 volts per cell, then it took 5298mah to charge it back to 4.2 volts per cell.

So for the Gens Ace to have more capacity than expected is awesome! My SPC never took over 4400mah to completely charge, so about 900mah more capacity is a thumbs up in my book.

[dkaiser v2]

I know what your saying dtnel, because I was the same way. I figured I would never put more than 4500mah back into a 5000mah capacity battery since you aren't supposed to drain them all the way anyways. But then I heard and saw that some batteries are either bigger capacity than advertised or their cells are better. Either way, I guess it is possible with packs to take more than the actual advertised capacity. I've seen some Hyperion and Thunder Powers take very close if not a tad bit over 5000mah when they were charged, but I didn't expect that from a cheaper Gens Ace pack, so I was pleasantly surprised.

[Jakey]

A questionable way to get comparable Amp-discharge performance out of a pack than what the cells are truly rated for is to over-state the "C" number then use slightly larger capacity cells. For example say a vendor wants to sell 5,000mAh, 30C packs but instead he specs cells that are actually 5500mAh, 20C and less expensive. The extra capacity helps to support the performance lost by the falsified C number and as a side benefit the customer thinks they got a bargin because the pack accepts more than 5,000mAh.

[Jakey]

Yes I have heard of them, seen them and tested them.

I do not understand the point you were trying to make, sorry.

[crusey]

Tests I have seen show they stack up quite well

Very low cell IR values and almost accurate discharge ratings

Cheers

[mpbowyer]

I know a lot of people scoff at them, but I got 6 ***** 2S LiPo batteries and they are wonderful. 4 were for a mini e-revo, but the 2 I got for the slash "***** ********* 5000mAh 2S1P 30C hardcase pack (USA Warehouse)" were less than $22 each for 2S 5000 mah 30c hardcase packs. If you go to the page and just scroll around for 5 minutes a popup comes up with a reduced price!

Here's the thing though. I got an older lipo charger (intellipeak ICE) without a balancer. I checked the voltage when the batteries came in, and of the 6 batteries, all 12 cells were within .01 volts of each other. They were all either 3.77 or 3.78 volts. I WAS BLOWN AWAY. These were in different packs, different sizes, different mah different C rating, they were charged exactly the same.

Then it gets weird.

I'm an engineer, so I'm comfortable using a voltmeter and my brain to determine if I actually need to balance these things. I've gone through 16 charge/discharge cycles (lots of full throttle) and the cells are STILL within .01 volts. I know eventually I might have to balance them, but they are looking pretty good for now.

If you pay $60 for a maxamps pack that's great, but I just drive the thing around in my yard and on my home track, for $60 I can have 3 of these things. The way I drive I only need two because I usually break something on the truck before I'm done with both batteries. I get about 20 mins per battery (a guess, I haven't timed it).

I have an IR thermometer, my ESC gets to 150F, the battery gets to about 90F (hardcase), and the motor is getting a little hot at 218F (hottest I've measured). The motor was running under 200, but then it got warmer out. I think I'll try a heat sink with a fan, because I don't want to gear it slower. I honestly don't know how people do it with 3S packs.

They ship from somewhere on the west coast, I ordered them Sunday to 44321 (Northern Ohio) and got them the following Monday with standard shipping.

If they're out of stock you can always get the 40C ones.

You'll have to make the traxxas connections work, but if you want to ship them to me at 44321 i'll solder them for free.

[crusey]

Plenty of us here on the forums run similar packs

I use the ******* 5000mah 40c (2s, 3s and 4s) and cant fault them

I would try the Gensace packs but they never seem to be in stock when I look, of the current crop of cheapies out there they get a good wrap

Cheers

[crusey]

They have been around for a while, rc plane and heli guys have been using them with good success

They seem to be adding more car sized packs to their inventory every week

Cheers

[Jakey]

I was just merely asking about them as I noticed they popped up pretty regularly here in the forums over the last 2 weeks or so. Thats all. Wasn't trying to make any points. I'm use to hearing *****, ******* , venom, spc, smc and a handful of others.

I understand now. Thank you.

[Jakey]

Tests I have seen show they stack up quite well

Very low cell IR values and almost accurate discharge ratings

Cheers

Except for decent IR readings, the 5300/30C packs I tested were average at best, especially for 30C.