NitroEddie

I'm going to be picking up a VXL Stampede next week or so and was wondering what lipo/charger/balancer most of you are using. I am mainly a nitro guy, but I do have a number of e-powered models (modified SV27 boat and an Align TRex 450 3D heli). The most popular lipos for helis are mainly ThunderPower, FlightPower and AirThunder (no puffing!!). ThunderPower seems to be about the most popular for chargers and balancers (1010C charger and 210 balancer are probably at the top).

I'd like to keep it as simple by using a changer with a built in balancer, but will go another route if need be. I'm all ears, guys![8D]

Ktbone

My Feedback: (3)

I'm a big fan of the Zippy H packs and the Zippy Rhinos and for a charger you can't beat one of the Cell Pros (4s or 10s).

nitroade

I've got a few different lipos I'm running in my VXL cars. I have a 2S Yuntong, no name 3S, and Losi 3S. I have a 2S Flightmax as well as 2 Losi 2S on the way as well. As for a charger, I am using the Venom Procharger with built in balancer.

vge

I have the Venom Pro lipo charger which I LOVE. It comes with so many adapters and options and looks cool to boot. It came with deans, classic tamiya, new traxxas, glow plug starter battery adapter, bec adapter, and probably more I did not name. I pick up the cheapie lipos off ebay and i love em all. I would not trade them for anything. I had picked up some name brand before I got the cheapies off ebay and I have vowed to never buy a name brand lipo again due to the insane over pricing.

overrev

Best battery would be thunder power 5000 40c then you can use your charger. It's expensive but worth the money.

CarGuy7a

I'm running 2 SPC 2s1p 5000mah packs and a 3S1P 5000mah pack and they are awesome. Great performance and decently priced. Don't let their low C rating scare you though, their packs have tons of power and IMO are "UNDER-RATED".

I also use the Onyx230 charger and an Astro Blinky Balancer and it's a great combo.

HeliStyle

My Feedback: (2)

turnigy accucell 5 charger, best charger for the money

Jeremy Z

One thing to look for in a LiPo charger Eddie, is to find out how the balancing function works.

a) Does it series charge them until any one of the cells reaches its voltage limit?

b) or does it continuously discharge the high cells to be even with the low ones?

If it is a), keep looking.

If it is b), you're good to go.

NiMH and NiCd batteries are a much better value. No fancy charger needed.

For LiPos, brand name doesn't necessarily mean the best value. The packs with the higher continuous C ratings will seem more powerful, but are also more expensive.

After seeing what damaged LiPos can do, I'd get hard case LiPos or NiMH/NiCd packs.

If you're racing, LiPo may be necessary to be competitive I guess.

vge

Wow thats a lot of misinformation chief thats based on pure opinion.

For starters if you get your batteries from the right place NiMH and NiCd batteries these days are more expensive than many good lipos out there. Lipos dont have to be expensive at all. You can get good lipos for a great price all day long. You just gotta know where to look. Just like everything else in this hobby.

Also you say these batteries "seem" more powerful. Chief they are. You can take a 2000mah NiMH and compare it to any brand 2000mah Lipo and you will see a night and day difference instantly. I dont care what the C or V rating is. They just pack more punch.

Also you dont need to buy hard cases for your lipos. As long as you secure them your fine. Again its no different than securing your NiMH batteries.

Also you are wrong when you say you have to have lipos to be competitive. Most club races have rules for races. They make them fair. They put limits on the batteries to make sure they run the same.

The problem with this area dealing with lipos is that people put out so much misinformation that the general public is afraid of lipos still. As was I until I decided to make the judgment call myself. You know what I found that 99% of what negative stuff people said was wrong. Yes you do need a good charger. But those chargers are not very expensive. People say lipos are easy to blow up and catch fire. Well guess what? I had a NiMH battery blow up a few weeks ago for no reason it seemed and I have never had a lipo do the same. There are some safety precautions you can take like getting a lipo bag. But you know what, after you learn what to do correctly you wont need one of those either. Just in the beginning. But it is cool to have one.

As far as learning how the charger balances lipos. That is not necessary. Just do a little research and get the best for your cash. It took me many months of research before I dove in and now I wont use anything but lipos and I save so much cash!!! They are much cheaper than any NiMH battery I have. Lipos will breath life into those slow rc's you have and give you more enjoyment in the electric hobby. They have been around for almost 5 years now maybe more and the technology has gotten better and safer.

Heck you can get my charger I posted for $99 bucks now. I paid $124 last summer. Thats a great price for what it does and what it comes with.

fusebmx13

Duratrax Onyx 230 charger
Electrifly Equinox balancer
Zippy 3s 25C 5000 packs (I have 2 and love them)
Also I have an old SPC 15C 5000 pack that is still kicking after over a year now. Get the Zippy's though, they are cheap and have tons of punch.

fusebmx13

Comming from the guy that doesn't even own a lipo .

NIMH batteries are not a better value. You can get a lipo for the same price and it will have twice the power. A charger is about 30 bucks more than a NIMH charger and it can charge everything...

I agree about the brand name and the C rating, but the hardcase is BS. The hard case only hides the fact that your pack is about to explode. You wont be able to see if it is puffing or what is going on with it. Softcase ones are better because you can actually see if the pack is puffed.

Lipos are not dangerous. They are only dangerous if you make them dangerous. If you puncture them, sure they are going to fizzle. But I have had more problems with NIMH packs than lipos. I have had an NIMH pack catch on fire in my truck and burn most of the chassis. Pretty much burned my hand trying to get it out too. With my lipos... as long as you stay away from Maxamps then you wont have any problems. I have dropped my zippy's and bent them. they still work fine. I use my maxamps pack once and it puffs up like a balloon.

Jeremy Z

vge - It is not misinformation just because you disagree with it. With an equivalent C rating, capacity, and voltage rating, they pack the same punch.The weight difference makes it seem like the LiPos are more powerful.

fuse - Thanks for keeping inventory for me, and doing a crappy job of it at that. I do own LiPos, and I was running them long before you were. In the plane world, we had them first, because of the 50% weight savings. Nickel chemistry battery packs are all but extinct in the plane world. But some of the hotliner sailplanes still use high-end NiMH packs because of their higher instantaneous ampacity.

I have also seen them burst into flames. If they get slightly smooshed and you don't notice it, then you go to charge them, they can burst into flames. In my case, it was a 6S3P 6 Ah pack for a 40 size Piper Cub, and it shot out a green flame a foot long.

The danger is very real, whether the adolescents here know it or not. Be careful that you don't burn your mommy's house down. I would feel sorry for her.

The plain fact is that nickel batteries offer good performance at a much lower price, and a much higher safety margin. Yes, LiPo performance can be better, but prices are not equivalent.

NitroEddie

What balance connector does the Venom charger accept?

I think I'm leaning towards perhaps the Triton EQ balance charger.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...3&I=LXVRS6&P=K

vge

First off it is very rare to find a NiMH and Lipo with the exact same ratings. Its not just about weight. I have 2000 11.1v lipos that blow the boots off my more expensive 3300 and 4000 NiMH batteries. Don't even compare them to the 2000 NiMH batteries.
Second I have personally seen just a week ago my NiMH battery blow up right in front of me. First it was warm them all of a sudden poof then fire. I had been using the same peak charger i always used for my NiMH batteries, this battery did not look and seem any different. Then out of the blue it was on fire. So that can happen either way.

These so called issues have nothing to do with age. At any age you have to be careful, research, and be cautious. I mean heck for that matter we are all playing with electronics, soldering irons, dangerous chemicals etc. Would you discourage someone from using Nitro because it could catch fire? There are so many different ways and reasons something can go wrong. But the bottom line is all the same. Be careful, read, and research.

vge

It comes with a multi port balancer. Basically you have nothing else to ever buy when you buy this charger. It even has a temp gauge.

vge

That Triton EQ balance charger is nice, but for the money you get much more from the Venom one.

NitroEddie

Any issues with the Venom charger. I have read quality is hit or miss with Venom products.

Do the Zippy balance connectors plug directly into the Venom balance ports or is an adaptor required?

vge

That Venom charger is Top Notch and I have had nothing but flawless usage. I am not familiar with the name of the connectors. But the multi-port balancer has the same connectors on it that all my various batteries use. I also have a couple Venom Lipos and have had no problems from those either. I will take a photo of it for ya.

john01374

Nitro - I've only had the Venom charger for about 2 weeks but i've charged about 30 packs on it so far. It's operated perfect and once you understand how it works it's pretty simple and gives you a lot of good info. YES the Balance plug on the Zippys plugs right into the balancer that comes with the Venom charger. No adapter required.

Traxxas4fun

My Feedback: (3)

can you guys give me a link to a 3s lipo that would fit in a rustler chassis? zippy or rhino under 50 bucks..
would this one work? not trying to thread hijack

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...0mAh_3S1P_20C_
if i change to trx connector

Jeremy Z

It really does depend on the C rating of the LiPo vs. internal resistance of the NiMH batteries. I have an 8C 3S 2100 that is not in the same league as some NiMH packs. On the other hand, I had a ThunderPower 23C 2 Ah pack that blew the doors off of any nickel pack of the same weight.

Also, it is worth noting that LiPo typically weighs 1/2 as much as NiMh for a given voltage and capacity level. So by comparing a 2 Ah LiPo vs. a 4 Ah NiMH, that weight advantage is doubled. It may be putting out less power, but still be quicker due to the 75% weight savings in the battery. but you have to make sure that LiPo has a C rating that can handle the max. continuous current draw of your motor.

This is much more rare in NiMH than LiPo. It is the first I've heard of that happening, but I've heard of it multiple times on LiPos over the years.

Agreed that reading and following instructions is paramount.

Jeremy Z

That Venom charger looks like an updated version of the venerable Multiplex LN5014. Same shape, LCD, and button configuration.

It has a cooling fan, more jacks, and integral balance jack too. Pretty nice.

vge

I have (4) of these batteries and they work great. The guy will have them to your door in less than two weeks. These batteries can handle anything you can throw at it. Thats all I have been buying recently.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-11-1v-4000mAh-15C-3S-Li-Po-LiPo-RC-Battery-11-1-WF_W0QQitemZ260330265059QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRadio_C ontrol_Parts_Accessories?hash=item3c9ce499e3&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

NeoGenesis

My Feedback: (27)

Instead of using Lipo, I went with a 3s2p A123 packs. This way I don't have to worry about running the packs too low. I run them till they are dead and charge them as fast as I can. They are great for bashing with none of the lipo safety concerns.

But as far as lipos, I like the Zippy and Rhino lines. Great quality at a fraction of the cost of the name brands.

I balance charge all my lipos with the Bantam BC6. I own a pair of them.

Neo

vge

Here is a little vid of the Venom Charger. Also I have some pics of the cheap batteries I love along with the Venom Lipos.





Here is a pic of my NiMH battery that blew up on a standard 15 min charge at 3a.