2s Lipo in a Digger?

[toyota2]

Does anybody use lipo in their 1/16 Grave digger? I ordered a LVA and 2s 30c 2500mah battery, will I have any problems using them with the stock XL 2.5 and Traxxas 12t motor?

Thanks and remember all of those who have given so much for all of us!

[Jimmie Neutron]

Even though the 2.5 is rated for more voltage than a 2S LiPo, it has been known to puff the magic smoke when running LiPo batteries... you have about a 50/50 chance of it surviving the first trigger pull.

[Jakey]

Why would a 2S LiPo cause a problem?

[felixx4]

According to Traxxas:

"Note: the XL-2.5 speed control does not feature Low Voltage Detection and is not compatible with LiPo batteries."

If you dont have low voltage detection and cut-off you will destroy your LIPO pack and possibly your ESC.

[bruggar]

According to Traxxas:

"Note: the XL-2.5 speed control does not feature Low Voltage Detection and is not compatible with LiPo batteries."

If you dont have low voltage detection and cut-off you will destroy your LIPO pack and possibly your ESC.

You can use it in the Mini Summit, correct?

[Strykeviper]

You can use it in the Mini Summit, correct?

If it is the Summit vxl with the VXL-3M speed control you can. I run 2s lipo in my merv with the stock vxl setup.

[Jakey]

Sorry guys, I should have been more specific. What I meant was, how does a 2S LiPo; "known to puff the magic smoke"?

[toyota2]

I am using a LVA and with a very short run this evening it did good ran very strong. A lot better than on nimh batteries. No smoke yet. I guess time will tell. Thanks for the responses.

Is the only reason the XL 2.5 not compatible with lipo batteries is because it does not have low voltage detection.

[Jimmie Neutron]

While in theory the 2.5 is LiPo compatible with a LVA;
Quite a few people have used 2S LiPo on the 2.5 and the ESC smoked on the first pull of the trigger.
Myself included.

Just wanted to warn the OP before they see smoke... if they see smoke.

[Strykeviper]

My vxl-3m did that once also. But it was as soon as I pushed the button on the esc.


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[Jakey]

As long as the power source does not have excessive voltage, it does not make any difference what so ever what type of battery pack is used, Nimh or LiPo.

[reod12x2]

jakey not to be certian but your compainy is the only ones that makes a 2s 2500mah lipo that fits in the 1/16 chassis
and not to say it is th cuase becuase other xl2.5's have blown

well guys the only diffrence i see that could cuase the xl-2.5 to blow would be the amprage the lipo dishes out or its a certian voltage that system just self destroys its self

[Jakey]

A fully charged 2S LiPo has less voltage potential than does a fresh charged 6-cell Nimh pack. Regardless of who manufacturered the 2S LiPo pack, 2S LiPo voltage is not a problem for a system designed to operate off of a 6 to 7 cell Nimh pack.

[randy0050]

not.. maybe at first , but a lipo continues to push harder and harder ... trust us on this one

[ksb51rl]

A LiPo does not "push" at all. Trust me on this one.

[KingSize]

2S lipos in parallel i too much for the stock XL 2.5
NiMH in parallel is fine all day long but with 2 2S the XL2.5 died after only a few second.
I know becaus I have smoked two of them in a few days.

What is "too much" with 2 x 2S lipos ?

[mulepic]

2S lipos in parallel i too much for the stock XL 2.5
NiMH in parallel is fine all day long but with 2 2S the XL2.5 died after only a few second.
I know becaus I have smoked two of them in a few days.

What is "too much" with 2 x 2S lipos ?

I think you mean series. In parallel will be just fine.

[KingSize]

No. I'm talking about parallel (extended runtime). Series will be all to much voltage for the XL2.5, lipo or nimh.
As I say: My NiMH in parallel is just fine but if I try my 2 x SPC 2S 2500mah in parallel the XL2.5 gave up after few second.
#3064
http://traxxas.com/gallery/Accessori...ess-Connectors

[mulepic]

Parallel will not harm the esc, it had to have been a coincidence when yours gave up.

[toyota2]

I finally received all the parts for me to run lipo in my digger. I have a SPC 2s 30c 2500mah battery, low voltage alarm set at 3.4 volts (is this right?) and a 2s extension cable to hook up the LVA.

I mounted the LVA and charged the battery, modded the battery door, hooked it up and ran for about 15mins last night. So far no smoke and it ran really good. As I said I guess time will tell and I hope that this works out.

If the 2.5 does give up what other ESC can I use that is (1)lipo ready and (2)will run the stock motor and brushless motors when the time comes?? This is actually my sons truck and he is only 5 so I do need to keep it relatively simple though he does not run it without me there.

Thanks for the information guys!

[Jimmie Neutron]

3.4v is a good setting. Just double check your cells right after a run and make sure none of them dropped below 3v/cell.

Not sure on what ESC will work for you... hopefully someone will chime in.
Keep in mind that most (not all) brushless ESC's will run a brushed motor... and that might be your best option for running LiPo and spending the dough on one ESC instead of two when (not if... lol) you decide to upgrade.

[mulepic]

.
Keep in mind that most (not all) brushless ESC's will run a brushed motor.

Please provide examples.

[ksb51rl]

Please provide examples.

All Hobbywing ESCs I have bothered to research state "Compatible with sensorless brushless motors." Nothing about brushed motors.

[Jimmie Neutron]

I forget which ESC I was even researching... in any case, it was a brushless ESC and it stated in the directions that it could run a brushed motor in a multitude of ways... all with a combination of the 3 "brushless" wires and the negative battery lead.

[toyota2]

Well as stated by Jimmie Neutron the xl 2.5 is not up to the task of lipo power. About 2 minuets into my son's first run with it, it gave up the ghost. Jimmie told me and as usual I did not listen. Oh well, I had to try and I paid the price at the cost of my son's disappointment not to get to run. It only took out forward as reverse still works and so does the steering.

As far as finding a different ESC that will run brushed, brushless, lipo ready, and still fit the 1/16 chassis that will have to wait. I found a good deal on a new xl 2.5 and it is on its way. I will just keep him on nimh for the time being and just let him have fun with it. The only plus side to this is my daughter now has another battery to use in her MERV.

Thanks for the information and help.

[mulepic]

I forget which ESC I was even researching... in any case, it was a brushless ESC and it stated in the directions that it could run a brushed motor in a multitude of ways... all with a combination of the 3 "brushless" wires and the negative battery lead.

I'm not sure how you conclude 'most' esc's support brushless and brushed motors. I can say I've never seen an esc support most.

[mulepic]

Well as stated by Jimmie Neutron the xl 2.5 is not up to the task of lipo power. About 2 minuets into my son first run with it, it gave up the ghost..

From reading your post above I'm confused, was it 2 minutes or 15 minutes?

[toyota2]

I ran it the Saturday before for about 15 minutes for a test after I got the LVA mounted and hooked up. Sunday, my son ran it for about 2 minutes and the ESC quit responding. So I guess you could say The ESC held up for about 17 minutes.

[Jimmie Neutron]

Traxxas has an excellent program for replacement parts...
http://traxxas.com/support/Warranty-...ge-Electronics
$25 plus shipping them the old ESC will get you a new one.

Not all brushless systems claim they can run a brushed motor, but I have been told that most can by whom I consider electronics geniuses; whether they claim to be able to or not.
I think it was a Castle ESC that claimed to be able to... not 100% sure on that though.

[rustlervxl4life]

your application is like a mouse on steriods

[toyota2]

@ Jimmie, thanks for the information and yes they do have a good replacement program and customer service but I found a new xl2.5 for the same price as sending this one in so I went ahead and picked that one up. I may send the other one off and have it for a spare. Per your posts I knew I was playing with fire but I was wanting to switch over to all lipo and not have any nimh batteries anymore.

I have done a little reading on Castle's web site and you can run brushed and brushless motors on lipo with their SV2 ESC. That is the only one I looked at but they stated it would do it. I have decided not to go this route yet and this is a 5yr. olds truck and like I said it needs to stay as simple as possible for now.

[xrcris]

Add me to the list that Lipo has smoked the cl-2.5. I upgraded to a Xl-5 with the built in lvc.

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[toyota2]

xrcris- I thought about doing that also, do you have any pics of where and how you mounted it.

[xrcris]

xrcris- I thought about doing that also, do you have any pics of where and how you mounted it.

Here you go:



I used a flat piece of Al. sheet folded over to fit into the chassis tabs and stuck ESC to that using some 3M double sided tape.

[RC-nightmare]

WOW i am lucky I had a custom mount and i put a gens ace 65c 5000 2s2p lipo and nuthing happen, wow i wont be trying it again and i have the digger and the esc is now LVD