prestonlal

hey there VGE,
i have only been using nitro in the past. i recently started a nitro - electric conversion on one of my super nitro rally, and i picked up the Traxxas VXL brushless system. i have been eyeing that venom charger from tower hobbies and trying to decide which lipo pack to use. i have no experience with the electric side of rc, so im on a major learning curve here. so maybe you can give me a few pointers? after reading your post on the venom charger, im definitely gonna pick one up. can you point me in the right direction for the lipo packs? this is not for racing, just for bashing. initially i was thinking of the venom 3s 5000mah...but those are like 150.00 or so...what do you suggest ? and if possible can you give me a link to it?
also you mentioned lipo bags, i guess that after reading a lot of warnings about lipos i was getting cold feet but again, after reading your post, i feel somewhat more confident. what exactly are these lipo bags? do you use them to charge as well as store the lipos? are they supposed to be fire proof?

Traxxas4fun

My Feedback: (3)

LOL how much are a123 and a charger?

vge

Cool glad to see your gonna dive into the electric world. Its gonna save you some cash in the long run. I have a couple of those VXL systems and they are very nice. One good thing about the VXL is that it can really take anything you can toss at it. They are very powerful to be so small. I have one in my Slash and its mad fast. If I am not mistaken that Super Nitro Rally is a HPI 10th scale car. I guess any 7.4 with at least 3000mah would be good for it. If you really want to see it fly pick up a 3000 or better 11.1v battery. As far as batteries go, I vowed to never again buy a name brand battery after i paid almost $200 bucks for those two venom 5000 packs I have. WOW did I get ripped. As stated in some of my previous post, I hope on ebay quick and buy the nice import Lipos from HK all day. For $40 shipped you can get (2) 4000mAH 15c 11.1 batteries. Those batteries are nasty!!!! You cant beat the price at $20 bucks a pop. Heck for the price I paid for my (2) venom packs I could have picked up 10 of them!!! Thats crazy now that I actually think about it. As far as the lipo bag goes I picked mine up from Impaktrc. Here is a link http://www.impaktrc.com/product_info...oducts_id=1676. They are out of stock right now, but they do have another one in stock for $23 thats just as good. Dont get my lying here I do recommend getting one for the Lipo Noob. But once I became more comfortable with the charger and the lipos I stop using mine. They are fire proof. I actually have seen a video of a guy over charging a lipo in one and it ballooned up then went out. But I really should use it all the time. Its kinda like a seat belt. You should use it every time, but we all know we don't all the time. Again get the best for your buck. Don't believe what people try to make you think that going lipo will bleed ya dry. You can do it and save a buck or two. Also if your like me, you will enjoy it so much you will stop using your nitros and end up converting or selling them off for the electric counter parts.

vge

When I did my research I found that a decent A123 charger and battery combos were more expensive. Also they are not as powerful as its lipo counter parts. I really think they are a fad that will die out once people get more comfortable with lipos.

prestonlal

Sweet! hey thanks for the info...gonna look for the lipos tonite and pick up a few, as well as the lipo bag. will posts some pics later when i done with my conversion.
thanks again!

Jeremy Z

FYI - LiPo bags are rip-offs.

Just put the LiPo in a glass baking dish and make sure it isn't next to something flammable. It worked for preventing a house fire with that LiPo fire I mentioned.

vge - I got one of those Shark 1500 NiCd packs "free" with my Lunch Box from ebay. The only thing I did was put a Deans on it and charge it up. All is well so far, it took 1300 mAh of charge. I'll keep an eye on it though.

I may try one of those Hong Kong LiPos too. Did you say they have PolyQuest/Hyperion balance taps? You're using them with your Velineon system and they work OK? Do you know how much current you're drawing from that brushless system? Because 15C 4 Ah LiPos are only good for 60 A. How warm are they after a hard run in the grass?

john01374

A 1500 pack at 3A. I think I know why it popped. There is also a good chance the 15 min charger had an issue. I've had a couple of those go bad over the years. I do believe that Nimh is just as dangerous as Lipo. I've popped a pair of IB packs. One popped a cell in a tamiya re-re with a stock silver can. The other popped on the charger at 2.5A. It was a 4200mah battery. Funny thing is I've never had a Lipo do anything bad. I've had one die and early death but nothing happened. it just wouldn't take a charge. I've been around packs when they've been crushed, torn open, holes in them etc. The worst i've seen is smoke and a spark. he fear or Lipo's is seriously over hyped. After the Nimh pack popped I learned not to leave any of my batteries laying around unattended. Just store them in a safe place when not in use.

prestonlal

umm...by the way... how long does it take generally to charge a lipo..like that 4000mah 11.1v pack?

NitroEddie

That's good to hear, thanks for the info. I don't like messing around with adapters if I don't have to. I'm glad the Zippy batts use a common balance connector (looks like the Electrifly/Align connector).

The balancer is built in to the Venom charger, correct? No messing around with a balancer seperate from the charger?

If you guys want to try LiPos that you don't have to worry about running too low, you should try Air Thunder. They are as expensive as the big brand name batts, but they can be run down pretty far without worrying.

vge

Jeremy Z - They work great, I never had any problems out of them. They dont get any warmer than any other batteries I use. I usually run them and pull them so they can rest then move on to others. They work great with my Slash which has the VXL system in it.

I guess the lipo bag is to each his own. I like having it. I have seen a battery catch fire inside it and I liked how it handled the fire. I dont think I want to just toss it in a bowl for me an open flame is asking for it if something does happen. The lipo bag will put the flame out. For $20 - $30 bucks it just some extra insurance I guess.

NitroEddie - The balancer plugs into the side of the charger. I guess they made it that way so you dont have to use it. When I am doing NiMH batteries or anything else I dont have it plugged up. I kinda like it hanging off a little because those balancing leads are never very long.

Traxxas4fun

My Feedback: (3)

man 20 bucks for two no name lipos that could be potentially dangerous... uhh dunno bout that one..

vge

Why would cost have anything to do with safety? Did you know that there are only a couple manufacturers that actually make lipo batteries. So the companies just buy them and package them the way they want to and charge you based on their name. Have you noticed that under the pretty boxes and plastic they all look the same? Its not like regular batteries or NiMH. What exactly makes a $100 battery more safer than a $20 battery? You see I have 5 of them and 2 more on the way and not once have I had any issues in a year now. Man thats just silly. Thats just the consumer market telling you daily that name brand means quality. Personally I want to be a smart consumer and get the absolute best bang for my buck. Hey for the price, try one like I did and you will see. Nothing to loose.

NitroEddie

vge, for some reason I can't get your video to work.

vge

Here is a direct link. for some reason the end of it got cut off. I was just babbling so I misnamed my alligator plugs But here ya go.
http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p...t=100_1527.flv

NitroEddie

Got it, thanks. Looks like a good value for the money.

Does anyone else know what other LiPo brands use the same connector as the Venom charger? So far we got Zippy and I would assume Venom LiPos use the same connector.

CarGuy7a

Lipos you want to charge at 1C unless the manufacturer specifies how much you can charge their battery. At 1C that battery would charge at 4.0Amps and should take around an hour or a little longer.

Jeremy Z

By the way fellas, vge's burnt-up battery pack was a NiCd, not NiMH. It is perfectly OK to charge 1.5 Ah NiCds at 5 A. (If they're assembled properly and of decent quality) NiCds aren't as picky as NiMH, which is one of their virtues.

traxxaspede

I use two 4000mah 2s1p 25c zippy flightmax hardcase batteries. And I love them! half the price of my 7 cell nimh and a lot more punch and half the weight and 30+ minutes of runtime with VXl in my stampede geared 19/86. I charge them at 3.5A (just under 1c) and they barely get warm. I think about 23C was the hottest it got, and after 30 minutes of straight hard running they were barely even warm. and the charger I use is a Thunder AC-6. Its cheap $75 shipped to my door with a lipo bag and has a lot of features like built in balancing, Nimh, nicd, liion, lipo, Life, lead acid, temperature sensor, AC/DC power, lots of differect connectors, USB/PC connection, charge/discharge/balace/cycle, it shows each individual cell voltage while balancing, up to 6s lipo forgot the lead acid and nimh/nicd, differect balance/peak detection settings, its small, has a really easy to read LCD, timer and charges .1A to 5A.

fusebmx13

Price has nothing to do with quality. You can get Enerland labeled batteries from hobbycity. Enerland is one of the best cells out today, yet they are cheap at that site. Does that mean they are not as good?

NitroEddie

Couple questions while I have your attention...

Is it necessary to use the optional ESC fan while running 3S in grass? Also, what is the stock gearing on the VXL Stampede? The gear/speed chart says 25/86, but elsewhere on the Traxxas site it says the truck uses a 19T pinion stock.

vge

Personally I put those fans on all VXL esc's. For the price it is just worth the extra insurance ya know. I also always put extra heat sink or fans on all my motors.

NitroEddie

That's my line of thinking as well. I had a 'pede converted to brushless with a Novak 5800 system a few years ago and ran a Novak ESC fan on it.

Do you know for sure what the stock gearing is?

nitroade

19/86 is the stock gearing.

NitroEddie

Thanks. Is a 25T pinion also included in the kit?

prestonlal

hey VGE,
do you have a recommendation for a motor heatsink for the velineon motor? i couldn't find one on towerhobbies site specifically for this motor, and the other brands of heat sinks on there site doesn't have enough info that tells me if they will fit. any assistance here is appreciated...