wanting to get into lipos ..whar shouls i get??. what do u like??

[spewya]

I am wanting to get into lipo and I don't know what brand to get. I want decent speed 11.1volt 3s .what c rating,mah, . What do you guys like
I've got a budget of about 50 bucks

[AZ Racer X]

SPC and Gen Ace are probably the top 2 favorites on the forums.

You can get a 5000mah 40c 3s lipo from hobbypartz - they carry Gens Ace it's around $45.

SPC has about the same deal. I wouldn't get lower then 30c rating and if you want good run time shoot around 5000mah.

What motor is it going to push ?

[strangways56]

I've got 2s and 3s batteries and the only time I wreck stuff on my rustler is when I use the 3s pack, it's fast. I prefer my 2s battery. The one I like is a speedpack 2s 5300mah 30c and a 3c charge rate. I taped a gps to my rustler and got 39mph on the 2s battery with stock gearing. I got 46mph out of a 3s 5000mah 20c battery but I think it needed a bigger parking lot to get higher speeds.

[pavmentsurfer]

Im a BIG fan of SPC batteries. I trust their quality and I trust that the ratings written on the pack and advertised on the website are actually TRUE... not exaggerated to sound great. A 30C SPC pack will almost always outperform a similar price and spec pack from almost every other company.

I agree with the above comments about 2s VS 3s though. If youve never run lipo before, maybe start with a 2S, throw a little more gear at the truck and see how you like it. A 3S is a SERIOUS battery... its WAY faster than you think it will be and when things go wrong on 3S they go wrong in a big way. Not to mention you now have to be very careful with motor heat. just a suggestion.

Ive personally recorded 47+ mph on a 2S on my stampede and 71.4 mph on a 3S. Verified by GPS and uploaded to Youtube. 2S can be FAST.

[AbSoLooT1]

Make sure that u really read up on Lipos. They can, and have many times burned down peoples homes. They are no joke. Nothing to be affraid of, Just well respected. The only issue is using them without proper knowledge. Also, get urself something to charge it in safetly. Once they catch on fire, they cannot be put out until they are done burning. Ul need a Lipo bag, or some folks use a money/safe cash box.

Also, I recommend promatch batteries. Good ones also...

And ya, 3s is alot... Even though 2s has the same 'voltage" as a ni-mh pack, The power is instant and constant. Where a Ni-mh can get to a point where it wont make u wheelie no more, the same voltage lipo will flip u over on ur lid at 20% throttle or something. Its MUCH faster, and is a blast.... if u dont really have alot of experience, starting out with a 2s would be a great idea.

[spewya]

i think i have enough experience to know when i can go fast or when i need to go slow but i can see how they make ur car go crazy fast and it will serously mess something up in a crash but i

i have a rustler vxl with the stock velineon motor and esc

how often would i need to check motor and esc to see if they are to hot with a 3s

[skaterpie]

i think you should start of with 2s lipo and if you want a faster lipo get something like a 50c 2s 7.4v lipo the traxxas ones are very good.And you will defernantly need a good balance charger the lx60b and it can charge up to 6 lithium cells!(for a good deal try http://www.jespares.com/ )

[WildCard]

Iv heard good things about SPC. its what i got to replace my venom brand lipo. so far so good. i use 2cell 5000mag 25c. works fine. my last was a venom 2cell 5000mah 20c. as far as performnce, i cant tell 5 cents worth of def. but the spc cost half the price of the venom wich is a good thing . the venom ran fine but the ballence charge wires came lose and would not allow for reliable chargeing. the bat lasted the better part of 7 or 8 months with fairly rough off road bashing. no major crashs or super big jumps but lots of fast*ish* speed over rough hard clay. lots of hard bounceing ect. iv only ran the spc a few times so far so i cant comment on how it will last. it charges and runs the same though. even though its rated at 25c vs the venoms 20c i can tell no def in performnce.

As others have said you need to be carefull with lipo's. read up on them and learn how to charge them. make sure you have a charger that will ballence charge lipo's.i use a thunder ac680. its nothing fancy but its cheap and it works great. Also as others have said be sure to ether charge it in a lipo safe bag ect or/and keep a close eye on it. i keep a fire extingisher as well as a bag of cat litter near by JUST IN CASE. if it catchs fire dump the litter on the lipo and use the fire ext. to put out any things that catch fire like walls ect lol.

As far as what size lipo, for bashing i say go with 2cell. it gives good power but its cheaper and easier on your drive train. of course what one person finds fast another might be less impressed. but ether way a 2cell will be easier on your cars drive train and esc/motor. But if your set on 3cell nothing wrong whith that. just make sure to keep a close watch on your motor and esc temps. a 3cell is going to gen a lot of heat.

[WildCard]

i think i have enough experience to know when i can go fast or when i need to go slow but i can see how they make ur car go crazy fast and it will serously mess something up in a crash but i

i have a rustler vxl with the stock velineon motor and esc

how often would i need to check motor and esc to see if they are to hot with a 3s

to start with id check as often as i could untill you get a good handle on what temps its going to hit at any given amount of driveing. maybe every 5 min at leasty. how fast the temps rise has lots of variables, how you drive,terrain,ambient temps ect. its much better to over check than risk burning up costly parts . i use a duratrax flash point for checking temps my self. its simple and easy to use. be aware though from what iv read and heard your going to have shorter drive times with 3cell do to heat. wich is another reason i prefere 2s for bashing. Also if yoyur going to be bashing or off road driveing you might want to get a hard case lipo.

[chadkillzone]

Agreed with wildcard. I started off with 3s on a stock gearing wow nice and fast! And things do happen in a big way when you do crash. But with stock set up and a few good high speed passes you can get really hot fast. I highly recommend a aluminum transmision case if you do feel the need still for 3s IMO to help disapate heat. If I where in your shoes I would pick up a 2&3s pack one of each. If I had to do it all over again and know what I do now with these packs that's what I would do.

[spewya]

so if i went to a 2 cell what are the precautions i need to take on heat control and are 2cells hard on drive train conponents.. i like bashing and jumping rams and stuff but i want more speed and power than the 4500mah nimh that im using..

also i have a "dynimite -vision ultra" charger .. it has the ability to charge lipos but how do i know if it has a built in balanceing feature

[chadkillzone]

You will run lower temps on 2s, and it will not beat the snot out of the truck as bad (esc motor drivtrain etc etc) Once you get the hang of the 2s And with the up grades that you will be adding down the road . Then I would step up to the 3s but that just me ..... And I run 3s spc packs. I think you would be more then happy with the power if you have never run lipo's before IMO. And your charger should have a balancing board most are external but you need to look into the manual for this charger or call them. It's not a traxxas product and your post could get shut down by marshals.

[Brian8891]

I was running 3s batteries on my vxl until I overheated the motor and blew the esc. Horrible fail on my part for not checking temps. I haven't ran 2s or stock batteries on this thing, but I was getting around about a half hour of run-time. I should also mention the reason I blew my esc was also because I was running a 32p, 16/54t. Up until it blew, that car was stupid fast. I'm waiting on my MMP 5700kv motor to come in, just this time I think I'll be a little bit more careful.

-Hope this helps.

[spewya]

how fast can i go with a 2s??

[chadkillzone]

Look at what is in the specs on the site here or in your manual. they brake it down for you with batteries/gearing, that is pretty close to what you will see.

[skaterpie]

There is not really any more speed just more acelration and punch.

[WildCard]

so if i went to a 2 cell what are the precautions i need to take on heat control and are 2cells hard on drive train conponents.. i like bashing and jumping rams and stuff but i want more speed and power than the 4500mah nimh that im using..

also i have a "dynimite -vision ultra" charger .. it has the ability to charge lipos but how do i know if it has a built in balanceing feature

Youd take the same basic precations as you would or should with a 3s. get a temp guage, i use the duratrax flash point. simple and easy to use and relativly cheap.check temps every 5 min untill you get a good idea of how the heat is going to build. also keep in mind it will heat up faster in the summer vs winter. out side temps can make a huge def. unless of course you live in a cold place all year round .

as far as being hard on the drive train, yes, but from my understanding not nearly as bad as 3cell. your going to wear out parts no matter what, its just something you cant escape unless you drive it real easy and then whats the fun in that . my drive shafts lasted me about 6-7 months and thats with maybe 4 or 5 30min runs a week. but i drive pretty hard so YMMV.iv also had some bearings in the tranny and rear wheels come apart but i think that has more to do with hiting bumps while going fast over hard clay and doing a lot of "drifting" over rough hard ground.replaceing the drive shafts and the drive shaft ends is easy and not to pricy.bearings in the tranhy is a pain if you dont know what your doing, i had mine changed at a LHS and replaced with ceramic ones in the tranny.

as for more power, the mah has little to nothing to do with that. think of the mah as the size of the gas tank. the higher the number the longer the run time. power more or less comes from the voltage/cell count. when i went from the stock 7cell nimh to the 2cell lipo i did not see a BIG def in peak power. What you will see is a MUCH more consistent Lv of high power threw out your run. if you notice, when driveing on your nuimh the car gets notecably weaker threw out your run. with lipo there will be some loss of power as you drive but its not any wear near as bad as with nimh. the car will be very powerfull, nearly as powerfull as it was when you first started driveing all the way till the LVC kicks in. its been about 6-7 months sense i switched to lipo and even then i had only ran nimh for about a week so maybe there was a bigger jump in peak power than i remember. all i can tell you is im 100% happy with my 2cell lipo for bashing,in fact i wish it had a bit less instant tq wich is why i run a little looser slipper clutch than some people recommend.once the new wears off poping wheeles on command and fliping the truck over on its lid with all that tq i droped my slipper just loose enough to keep the truck fully planted under full throttle starts. also gear ratio and slipper clutch settings can effect the performnce a great deal.

speaking of gears to reduce heat you can switch to a lower pinion gear or higher spur. in winter when its 15-65 dagrees F out side i run stock 25t pinion and LOVE it but as summer kicks in i go to a 21t wich is more torqy but less top speed but still fast and then a 18t as temps out side go up past 90f , 110f in the dog days of summer wich puts a hurting on motor temps . the 18t pinion is way to torqy for my taste and not very much speed, i dont care for it but it beats haveing a burned up motor.also for dealing with heat you can get a alum tranny case wich i hear helps a lot, i plan to get one this summer. also you can add the traxxas esc fan to keep esc temps down. i have that on mine and it does help. makes about a 10 to 15+ dagrees f* maybe more. i run it on warm and hot days, on really cold days i dont to incress the fans life time.

I tried to google that charger but could not get a result for that model. it should have a ballence board. you really really need to read up on chargeing lipos, lipo basics ect before you jump in. watch some how to ballence charge lipos on youtube or something to get a good idea what to look for . you charger may have a hook up for a ballence bord but did not come with one . if u still have your manual read threw it good. read as much as you can find on lipo use,safty and care. its very important.i dont mean to harp on the subject but it is important and some good people on this forum and others did the same for me when i first started "im still a n00b " to wich im very greatfull. lots of darn good folks on this site. the others posting in this thread are all amoung them. Also keep in mind you may need to ether have a traxxas style plug added tro the new lipo or use an adapter. if you cant solder find a local hobby shop to dod it for you. spc lipos give you the option to have a traxxas plug already installed. that way you dont need to deal with adapters.

[spewya]

ok thanks everybody.. i found out my charger doesnt have a ballencer .i bought it used and it didnt come with the book on it

will any 2 cell lipo be faster than a 7cell nimh??

also what will i have to do if i dont have a ballencing lipo charger

[JayMcGill]

I run an SPC 2s 5000mah 25c Lipo in my Rustler. I love it. It has plenty of power over my 3000mah Traxxas nimh and much longer run times. I could not get a wheelie on nimh, but the 2s lipo will wheelie whenever I want it too. I also have a SPC 3s 48000mah 25c Lipo. It is just crazy fast.

[Dadx2mj]

I too am a die hard SPC fan have been for years and have yet to be let down by them.

My son loves trying everything and recently ordered a Gen Ace pack. I was shocked when the first thing he did when he got it was split the hard case to have a look inside. The solder joints on it were terrible, they were ALL cold solder joints that looked dull and of very poor quality. He re soldered every joint in the pack. He is very pleased with the performance of the cells now but the quality of the solder joints is very questionable and reason for concern IMO.

[PMDRACER]

SPC all the way. Have 4 of these and will be ordering at least 2 more in a few days. http://www.spcracing.com/index.php?productID=59

I've owned *****, Trinity and have used Venom LiPos. The SPCs easilly eclipse them all.

[Rustler_vxl_3396]

My friend has has the same lipo as pdmracer and my gens ace 5000 mah 2s 40 c out preforms him and his 6000mah too i prefer gens ace

[WildCard]

ok thanks everybody.. i found out my charger doesnt have a ballencer .i bought it used and it didnt come with the book on it

will any 2 cell lipo be faster than a 7cell nimh??

also what will i have to do if i dont have a ballencing lipo charger

buy a charger that will ballence chare your lipo's. from what iv read its not a good idea to charge multi cell lipo's with out ballenceing them. i use a thunder ac680 and it works just fine. it sells for around 60$ there is also a thunder ac6 wich is roughly half the price but has less the chargeing abilty.

[rag6]

im a big fan of spc batteries. I trust their ...

'nuff said!

[spewya]

is onyx a good brand charger ..do they take a long to charge batteries

and what would you rather a 2s 6000mah 30c or a 5400ah 50c

[WildCard]

id go with the 6000mah i think. from what iv heard and mind you this is just what iv heard said by some people, that anything above 20c on a stock VXL system is unneeded. wether or not thats true i cant be 100% sure. i know that *so far* iv seen no def between my old venom 20c vs my new spc 25C. wether or not that means any thing i dont know. but my run times,heat,and from what i can tell performnce seems the same as before.

no idea about the charger sorry.

[WildCard]

also you will want to check the size of the lipo vs the size of your bat tray. a 5000mah hard case fits super snug in my rusty's tray, if a 6000mah lipo is any longer or wider it may not fit with out mods.

[Jasper483]

I have decided on the thunder ac680 and was wondering what adapter I would need to charge a lipo with a traxxas connector on it. I already have a molex to traxxas adapter, would that work? Or will I need a bullet style adapter?

[JayMcGill]

The ac680 comes with a molex plug, so if you have the adapter you are good to go.

[Jasper483]

Thanks Jay! Hobbypartz here I come!

[AZ Racer X]

Good choice you won't regret it. Might look into some other things they sell while your getting the free shipping

[JayMcGill]

Maybe a FlySky GT3B 2.4ghz rx/tx. I have 2 and love them.

[AZ Racer X]

And light it / dice cam/ servos. Lol list gets long

[spewya]

does the higher c rating and higher mah produce more heat to the motor and esc during use??

[WildCard]

does the higher c rating and higher mah produce more heat to the motor and esc during use??

the higher MAH rateing in of it self should only give longer run times how ever the longer the run time the more heat will likely build up. so keep a check on motor and esc temps.iirc the C rateing should not effect heat unless its to low but im not sure about that. i think the ac680 was a good choice, as i said i have one myself and it works great and has for about 8 months. i would also recommend as soon as you can, swap out one of the conectors on the ac680 with a traxxas connector. LHS's can prob do it for. i had the guys at my local hobbytown do it for me as i dont have a soldiering iron or know how to use one. cost me like 3 bucks for the connector and 5 bucks to have the work done.


also be sure to read threw the manual and info that comes with your charger AND the lipo.

[spewya]

can that ac680 charger, charge 2 batteries at once??

[AZ Racer X]

Nope. 1 at a time. the multi chargers start around $100+

[mike-susieq1]

can that ac680 charger, charge 2 batteries at once??

if you get the traxxas parallel adapter and a balance plug splitter from progressiverc to charge x2-2s lipos. thats one way you can charge 2 at a time.

[willyb26]

Dynamite passport 6s and a venom 5400 20c 3s lipo. Wheelies at any speed. Insane!!

[rag6]

The 30c 6000 from spc is a little bigger, but fits all the traxxas 1/10ths. You will not notice much difference between that and the 50c 5400 while bashing. I do notice a difference while racing though, but its only 10ths of seconds per lap. Go with the 6000 mah.