gman1

Somebody please enlighten me.

guver

My Feedback: (325)

I use nimh "to go" because they set in my vehicle afterwords while I'm at work. I also have battery trays that are not conducive to square batts that I use nI batts in.

I have lots of lipos for my off-road vehicles.

rcdudegermy10

cheaper and safer

I picked up two 3300 nimh batteries from tower about a month ago for $26.

Lipo, to me, means spending a ton of money on batteries, chargers, a new esc etc etc, and since I just bash I prefer to stick to cheap reliable nimh cells

I don't have the money or the care to switch over to lipo

Chris_RC

Well NiMh is cheaper to get into than LiPo. I dont have LiPo but I just bought a Duratrax Onyx 230 advanced charger that charges lipo, a123, nicad, nimh, and li-ion. Can you tell me what li-ion cells are????? So im ready to go lipo for my next pack. Just need a balancer.

nitrosportsandrunner

i know lipo seemed scary to me. i only went lipo cause i got a used vxl with a 3s lipo for just $235. after doing some reaserch on a low cost lipo charger, i bought a dynamit vision peak ultra. long story short, iv had no issues with lipo. i love the power, and really the runtime. my charger takes 2 hours(can only charge at 2.5a max) and i get 1/2 hour of runtime. makes my 3300mah nimh seem like a nice paper weight.

suburban_hooligan

hell im running 8 year old NiCd's (amp max 1500's or something like that) can't afford anything else right know. you think thats bad im still running trinity speed gems 2 motors, and novak explorer esc's, and old hi-tec lynx AM radio's.

Chris_RC

Im running a Novak Explorer 2 esc. and it is horrible.

nitrosportsandrunner

the trinity speed gems motor i had was the best brushed iv owned. holds up well even when geared high! very much worth the money. doesnt compare to my vxl motor, but thats apples to oranges.

drevil

My Feedback: (5)

Cost. Its just overall cheaper to run nimh. I run nimh because I already have everything I need to charge, and run them. For me to goto Lipo I'd have to upgrade my charger (actually thats a lie, but i'm speaking for the majority of hobbyists), buy a balancer, buy the lipos, and then buy some type of voltage cutoff for each of my vehicles. Do the math, it starts getting expensive quick. I can easily buy another vehicle for the same price...LOL

At some point I'll probably upgrade to lipo, but then again by that time there will probably be an even better battery technology on the shelf. Believe it or not, I still run nicads that i've had for years. Sure they aren't going win me any races, but for bashing a clod buster or running a touring car in a parking lot they do just fine.

The fact that I had a lipo nearly explode in my face doesn't help either. [:'(]

drevil

My Feedback: (5)

As long as you're having fun that is all that matters. I don't get these people who think you must have the latest equipment to have fun. I've been running cheap AM radios the entire time I've been in this hobby and it has never hindered the fun factor. At my local track they look at me like I'm an alien because I didn't buy a $500 radio system. The joke is on them.

I've also got 1500 mah nicads that I still run (along with various other batteries) and up until a couple of years ago I was still charging my packs with a 20 year old 15 minute timer charger.[X(]

nitrosportsandrunner

drevil, when you do go lipo, you will love it. face it, rc is like anything else, the newer/better technologies will cost more.
nimh and lipos are like.....a 91 civic hatchback, and a 2008 honda s2000. the civic is great, fun to drive and affordable, but only 100hp. the s2000, well its costly, but worth it! at 240hp, itll snap you head back.
i had a rusty with a 15t motor on 6cell nimh, and it was fun. now i have a vxl rusty on 3s lipo and its a blast. but, the newer tech also has longer life...less repaires ect(at least in my case)

cubmaster

My Feedback: (51)

Cost Cost Cost

Consider yourself enlightened

drevil

My Feedback: (5)

Sure, but with that reasoning Ferraris have more technology so everyone should go out and buy one. It all comes down to how much you're willing to spend for the power you want. I have run lipo in touring cars before and sure they were somewhat better than nimh but IMHO not for the money. When Lipos come down in price I may consider the upgrade, but for now I'm happy with my nimhs.

As for longer life, that depends on who you talk to. I had a lipo pack for a heli and it ballooned up after the second flight.

nitrosportsandrunner

from what iv seen, a high quality 6cell 4000mah nimh pack can cost $50, and a 2s 20c 4000mah pack can be $60. thats $10 more for a higher discharge, lighter weight, longer runitime pack. granted, you will need a lipo capable charger. but thats a one time cost. and my lipo capable chager was $95 with tax.
if you have rc's meant for nimh, than the cost can be high...lipo/charrger/cutoffs ect.
but if you have a brushless rtr vehicle, then a 2s lipo will cost only $10 more than a quality nimh. so, it just buying a lipo capable charger really.

Chris_RC

What LiPo charger do you have nitrosportsandrunner?

Always Dreamin

Many people have stayed NiMh. I believe it's because people already have NiMh capable chargers. Most people also don't know where to find Lipo for cheap.

nitrosportsandrunner

i have the "dynamite vision peak ultra"
LCD screen, shows charge time, voltage, charge current and charge status
1-8cell nimh
1-3s lipo
adjustable charge rate, 0.1-5a(2.5max for lipos)
AC/DC
auto trickle charge
built in fuse and fan

i got it at the local hobby shop. it it probly not the BEST, but is a good price for what it can do and is really simple to use. im very happy with it.

Always Dreamin

2.5a max for lipos? I thought they were supposed to be at a 1c charge?

Chris_RC

I just got a Duratrax Onyx 230. It has a:
LCD screen with backlight
charges NiMh, LiPo, NiCad, A123, and Li-ion
AC/DC
.1-7 amps selectable charge rate AC or DC
10 programmerable battery memories


I got it for $80.

nitrosportsandrunner

so did i, but there is more. multiply 1c, by the rating of MAH. this means, my 5400mah 3s lipo could be charged at 5.4a saftly. works the same for nimh, a 4000mah battery can be charged at 4a, or "1c X 4000mah". thats why any good charger has a adjustable rate. i can charge a 800mah battery for my zigzag boat at 0.8a, or charge my 3300mah 6cell nimh at 3.3a. of course, charging any battery slower than the max rate will help it last longer. i charge my 3300mah nimh at 2.8a. they get only slightly warm, while charging at 3.3a gets pretty warm.
racers will charge higher that 1c. using a battery right after it has been charged higher than 1c will give the battery more punch, important for racing. not good for the life of the battery tho.
iv read that some racers are charging 4000mah lipos a 8amps! safe? they havent blown up any yet, but its not worth the small gains in power if you ask me.

chris rc, that sounds like a really nice charger for the price. way to go. i got what i got partly cause i knew if i didnt like it the LHS would exchange it. but iv been happy with it.
charging my 3s lipo at 0.5c seems to help it stay balanced, and should give it longer life. 2hours to charge is good enough for me.

hands without shadows

Ni-mh cells are more forgiving.

nitrosportsandrunner

really? accept for having a lipo sack, and balencing every 4-6 charges, i do nothing different with my lipo than with my nimh. my lipo has already lasted as long as my nimh batts. iv even flung a 3s lipo out of a 4wd truck as it flew off up a jump on my lawn. the battery was fine. i hadnt straped it in[X(]

hands without shadows

But have you shorted, overcharged, or connected your Lipo backwards?

nitrosportsandrunner

nope, i use traxxas connectors, so its not possible to connect wrong. my charger wont overcharge, it has peak detection.
i did put on traxxas connectors on my 2s lipo, and touched the 2 wires for a split second. the big spark was scary, but the battery was fine. if used it many times since then with no problems. it acted just like a nimh would.

fullauto4u

That's $50 for a higher end 4000mah Nimh and $60 for a lower end Lipo. A good 4000mah Lipo, such as a Maxamps is $80

I get Duratrax DTX4200 packs for less than $40 and I get 30 min run times from the Slash, Bandit and Evader BX. (what's wrong with that?)

I personally run the Nimh batteries for bashing, etc. but I do use Lipo for my race cars.