sturmgrenadier

Hello, folks. Earlier this year, I purchased a new IMEX-branded 5000 Mah 7.2 V NIMH battery pack. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been able to get it to work properly yet The problem I am experiencing is that when I turn my tank on, it starts up fine. But then, all of a sudden (within thirty seconds), the motherboard fan stops spinning and the tank shuts down (I hear the engine cut off sound). This happens when I try using the battery with both of my tanks (I have a Panzer IV and a Tiger I (built from kit).

I later purchased a Black Onyx (Hobbico) battery pack, and it works fine with both my Panzer IV and Tiger I. I tried taking my IMEX battery pack to my local hobby shop, and one of the techs noticed that the white plastic (Tamiya) connector on my battery pops right off (it was pretty loose). So, he replaced the white plastic connector with a new one. But alas, I am still encountering this automatic 'spontaneous' shutdown problem It's kind of a bummer, because I paid full price ($40) for the IMEX battery pack, and I still haven't got any run time out of it. I should point out that because I basically put this problem to the back burner (I bought this battery several months ago), I'm sure that by now, I can't return it to IMEX (that's just my fault for not wanting to deal with it sooner).

But in thinking about it recently, I'm thinking to myself that it is a shame that I can't get this battery working. It holds a full charge (I don't think that's the problem), because each time I try to recharge it, it only charges for ten minutes before my Prophet Precept charger tells me fully charged. I notice that when I push the connector of the IMEX battery and my tank's power wire together, touch the wires at all, the motherboard fan on either of my tank's will start up again. So i think the problem lies in the wire on the battery pack? If anyone can advise me here, I would be grateful. I'm wondering if it is possible for me to try replacing the entire red and black wires on my IMEX pack (could they be defective)? Thank you for reading.

Markocaster

sturmgrenadier

Markocaster, thanks for the reply/suggestion. You know what? I should explain: originally, I wasn't going to ask Erik at Imex, because I figured since it's been several months plus since I bought the battery pack from Imex that it would definitely be too late for me to return/exchange it. But upon reflection, Erik has been a really fair and reasonable guy to deal with in the past (I've bought two Taigen tank kits and my RTR tank and a lot of Taigen parts from Imex). So maybe (as you point out) he can give me some suggestions on how to fix the battery. So thanks again for your post!

Imex-Erik

My least favorite connector... the Tamiya plug. I personally hate the plug, it does easily fail after just a few mating cycles I've found. I highly suggest using Deans connectors or even XT60 plugs instead of the stock ones but only out of preference, not necessity. The mating cycle rating for those plugs is much higher. I always seem to break the Tamiya plugs myself too, I even make Deans plug power cables here for people. Send me and email and reference this this ok? I might have a simple solution for you

Crius

Come on now, Erik, the rest of us want to hear The Simple Solution, too.

Imex-Erik

Ok so the magic fix is.... change plugs The Deans or XT30/XT60 plugs are more than plenty for this task and have a much better mating cycle count.

However, there are small fixes for the Tamiya/Molex plugs like opening the pin on the male side for more contact, closing the female pin receptacle for better contact, removing the pin from the plug and adjusting the little plug holder tabs, and of course replacing the whole pin. I personally use XT30, XT60, Anderson Powerpoles, and some Deans connectors on all my stuff. For the tanks Deans plugs are plenty enough though I hate the charge lead on the Deans plugs. I have about 2000+ or so Deans plugs here so if you guys want or need any let me know.

Crius

About 5 years ago I got a message from my buddy Erik that said, hey man, check out these xt60 connectors. And since then I haven't looked back. They're absolutely great, easy to solder, make a great connection, and the best part is they're cheap. When I went to the 6s lipo for the hetzer the XT 60s weren't big enough so I stepped up to the xt90. Same plug, just bigger. I've looked at Dean's and Tamiya and all the other plugs and in my humble opinion, nothing beats a good xt60.

Crius

Oh yeah, almost forgot, one of the great things about the xt60 connector is that all LiPO batteries from HobbyKing that are 3000 mah or under come stock with an xt60 connector right out of the box.