Confused Little Lipo Rookie

[latemodelstampede]

ok guys, so tomorrow i plan on ordering some lipos. turnigies. like 30 c 1200 mah i think. 2s or 3s again not decided yet. But I'm totally confusedddddd!!!!!! Please help here. I still need to find a low price lipo charger think ******* again. So what i'm confused on is all this balancing and discharging and low voltage detection and puffing and then all of this fire because of the lipos and blah. Just someone please explain this and help me haha! Thanks!

[Jimmie Neutron]

Battery:
I suggest 2S.
3S will require a lot of parts due to breakage.
More specifically, I suggest ***** 2S 2200mah (Z22002S20C)

Charger:
I cannot recommend any ******* because of two reasons..
1) I have never owned one.
2) I do not read many real world reviews on them, good or bad.

I do, however recommend the Thunder AC6.
I read about a lot of people owning these with very few issues.

LiPo Care:
1) Always balance charge.
Is it required? No.
Is it safer? Yes.
2) Discharge/Charge to storage voltage (3.8v/cell) if you are not going to use the LiPo for a few days.
There is no need to discharge to "flat" (3.0v/cell) then recharge to storage.
3) Low Voltage Detection is a must when running LiPo. Overdischarging a LiPo pack is dangerous. If you have the stock brushless ESC, you have LVD already. The manual will show you how to activate this feature.

LiPo Rules:
1) Do not charge unattended
2) Do not charge above 4.2v/cell
3) Do not discharge below 3.0v/cell
4) Do not puncture


Any more questions??

[corey52587]

Well the balancing deal when u charge them the two or three sells are not gonna be at the same voltage so ur charger charges the sells seperatly to bring them to the same voltage at the en of the charge which will be 4.2volts for each sell they have to be ballanced or the sell with higher voltage can balloon or puff an blow up with fire works an some bad fumes pretty cool light show but not that cool for the money i dont discharge them anymore when ur esc cuts the power to ur car from the low voltage protection i just disconnect it let it cool down if its warm an charge again if u do discharge them keep an eye on the voltage of each sell to make sure they dont go below 3 volts on each sell or u could get puffing an a fireworks show an check ur pack for any deffects after driving each time other than all the hassals listed above they are awesome an u wont ever go back to nimh! But in all reality u just plug it in an charge ive never had a problem with one!! Look lipos on youtube an watch some vidoes an u can see some fireworks an what they look like when something is wrong with one its pretty interesting! Oh 2s is fast an 3s insanly fast!

[Zigz07]

Just something to think about, If you want longer run time go with the 2s, if want fast and like fixing things go with the 3s. Either way there will be plenty of power to flip it on its roof....Have fun

[Nkracl]

So zigz07 or anyone, what 2S lipo(s) will give me 30+ speed but amazing run time. What gives you longer run times, the volts or mah? Keep in mind I plan on running 2 lipos parrallel for the longer run times. 2 2s 2200 mah good or is there different options.

[liquified56]

MAH is milliamp-hours or how much power the battery will hold.. Voltage = speed so for long run times you want 2s at the highest MAH you can fit in parallel.

[Jimmie Neutron]

I run 2S 2200mah in parallel with 23/50 gearing and stock tires for 1 hour run times at ~30mph.

[corey52587]

I run 2s 1800 an get 20-30 min runt time with23/50 gearing the higher the mah the longer ur runtime will be

[kuskye25]

I run 2S 2200mah in parallel with 23/50 gearing and stock tires for 1 hour run times at ~30mph.

seriously 1 hour run times, i have on order 2s 2200mah x2 and parallel connector, so if i have your gearing ill get that, thats insane i had no idea......

[Nkracl]

I run 2S 2200mah in parallel with 23/50 gearing and stock tires for 1 hour run times at ~30mph.

Sorry to ask because I'm sure you have said Jimmy, but what brand do you run?


corey do you run 1 1800 for 20-30 or 2 1800's parallel for 20-30 mins?

[corey52587]

Yup u get one hour an if u hav two chargers u can run every other hour!!!!!!!!! Thats what i do charge them both at the same time

[corey52587]

I run 1 2s pack at 20-30 min of runtime i like to let the motor cool down a bit before i run the other pack. An it takes the risk of damging two packs at once if u totally trash ur car in a wreck

[Nkracl]

I run 1 2s pack at 20-30 min of runtime i like to let the motor cool down a bit before i run the other pack. An it takes the risk of damging two packs at once if u totally trash ur car in a wreck

yea thats very true on all of that. random lipo question, say I do a run and drain the battery, can I leave the battery if im done for the day or do I have to charge it before im done? and how do you know when to stop driving? will my merv go really slow like on nimh's?

[corey52587]

If ur not gonna run for a while put it on storage mode on ur charger it will charge the pack to 3.6 volts for each sell or if ur like me an drive it everyday i just charge them all the way. An on ur esc u will have to set it for lvp low voltage protection u plug a fully charged battery in an hold the on button down for ten seconds an a rising chime will sound an that means it is in that mode. What that does is when ur driving an ur battery gets to three volts per sell it shuts the power to ur motor down to 50% an if it goes bellow three volts it will shut the power down completly so u dont over discharger ur lipo.

[corey52587]

So do be worried when it does that an think ur battery went capoot its suppose to do that. An another deal it has is thermal shutdown it shuts the power off to the motor if it gets to hot to prevent a total motor meltdown.

[Nkracl]

Well i will run daily, can i just leave them uncharged once I'm done at night since ill be driving the next day? I knew about the LVD thing. Did you mean dont be worried lol? Thanks for all the tips, i appreciate it. I used to know all this at once haha

[corey52587]

If it were me i would put them on charge thats just my opinion tho im no expert on lipos but i know i dont want to buy another lipo if i dont have to

[corey52587]

An when i want to drive my car i want to drive right then i dont want to have to wait an hour dor them to charge so i just charge them after i get done running

[Nkracl]

ok so after im done running, charge it up before i got to bed so its ready for tomorrow and it will be ok to sit charged over night? just want to make sure im getting all this straight, sorry for all the questions

[corey52587]

An yea i meant dont haha! I get on the internet with my iphone cuz i dont have cable an internet so i hav a lot of typos lol! Anys have fun when u get ur badboy itll bring back memories of ur other rc cars an make u turn into a kid again haha i know it did for me

[corey52587]

Yea its ok to have them charged i dont recommend leaving them charging an then go to bed lol that is a bad deal

[corey52587]

?'s ?'s ?'s thats what everyone is here for!!!! Im still askin ?'s an ive been into rc for 10 yrs lol!

[Nkracl]

no ik, i wont go to bed while its charging, im just wondering if its ok to charge it and have it charged over night.im good for now i think, thanks corey!!!!

[corey52587]

No prob have fun an tear it up!

[tyler13]

******* accucell 6 is a great 22 dollar charger charges 6amps and up to 6s lipos. Nimhs life well worth it. I've had it for over a year been running great.

[EXP831]

[QUOTE=corey52587;5022336 An on ur esc u will have to set it for lvp low voltage protection u plug a fully charged battery in an hold the on button down for ten seconds an a rising chime will sound an that means it is in that mode..[/QUOTE]

Do you do the same to switch back to NIMH mode because I still want to use my NIMH packs as well, thanks.

[corey52587]

Yes hold for ten an a untill it chimes

[Rps662001]

Here are a few things I know or think i know. Someone correct me if i am wrong. When corey52587 said when it will chime your esc will also turn red or green, lipo=green nimh=red. When it is red you have no voltage safties. This is how some people (on youtube) can run them on 2-2s in series. I have done this and ran it to long and over discharging one of my batteries. I balloned one of my maxamps. I was confused for a while on the low voltage cut off. I have been running 2s lipos and every time it would cut off on low voltage the battery would only be at 7.4 volts, so i thought my lvd was set wrong. But what i have learned is that the lvd will cut it off on loaded voltage which will be lower than the 7.4 volts.

[corey52587]

I have heard that the traxxas lvc cuts the power to soon but when i checked mine the volts were at or about 3.5 volts so yea around 7.4 volts but ur battery is an 8.4 volt batery in lipo mode ur esc has a limit of 12. something volts but when u shut the lvc off the limit is 14.4 volts thats how the run dual 2s an then the esc wont kill the power when u get close to over discharging. Now for me id rather my esc cut the power early than later anyway an yea when u hold the setup button down for ten sec u will hear an acending chime an the lvc is on an when u hold it down for another 10sec an hear a decending chime its ofF

[Rps662001]

When you say yours is at 3.5, is that per cell?

[corey52587]

Yea per cell

[Rps662001]

That explains why i dont get the long run times like some other people do, and agree better early than late. For the OP i use a Hyperion charger and i love it, but i havent used anything else so i cant compare it another charger.

[corey52587]

I still get 20 min of run time tho