The last few years have really seen some changes in battery technology for the electric segment of the hobby. I remember when a 1000mAh NiCad pack made you the envy of all your friends. Then NiCad hit the 2400mAh ceiling, and NiMH became the hot news item of the day. From there the mAh ratings just seemed to continue to increase to crazy amounts, making it easy to run lower turn motors within a reasonable amount of time in regards to racing. Newer Li-Po technology is trying to give NiMH packs a run for their money, but NiMH cells are still going to be around for a long time to come. Especially with the fact that nearly every popular charger supports NiMH cells, as well as the fact that they are universally legal in racing classes with Li-Po isn't.

So with your decision to go the NiMH route made, who do you look to for a well-built pack? I'm not talking about a budget sport pack, but something that will provide your powerful motor with the punch it so rightly deserves. According to Boom Boom Batteries, you don't need to look any further their lineup, specifically the new IB 3800 cells. They can assemble them for you using your choice of connecting plug, making it easy to mate the pack with your vehicle's existing electronics.

When I received my test pack from Boom Boom Batteries, I spent a little time examining the quality of the pack, in regards to its assembly. I've assembled a few packs myself, and know it's not always the easiest task to perform. This is especially true if you haven't assembled a pack before. A novice can easily overheat a cell with a soldering iron, which will ruin it. This makes assembling packs a bad idea for those who may lack pack building experience.

Boom Boom Batteries uses Shoe-Goo to hold the loose cells together. However, it isn't carelessly applied. A thin bead is all that's needed, when it's applied correctly. Boom Boom Batteries has this down to a science, which means the Shoe-Goo is hardly noticeable. This provides you with a very nice professional looking side by side pack.

However a nice looking pack doesn't mean anything, if it doesn't perform as well as it looks. So Boom Boom Batteries uses Trinity battery bars and silver solder, to keep resistance between the cells as low as possible. In addition, Boom Boom Batteries uses a process where only the smallest amount of solder is used. After all more solder doesn't lower resistance in itself, when compared to the proper amount of solder. What's important is that the connection between the battery bar and the cell is properly made. In short, it's more about quality than quantity. Excess solder simply doesn't make up for a poor solder joint. In this aspect, Boom Boom Batteries excels yet again. The bars are firmly attached to the cells, providing a well made connection.

The cells themselves are IB 3800's, and have tolerances ranging from 1.18-1.21 volts and a mAh rating of 3800. In addition to that the cells are zapped, which involves high current pulses being applied to the cells, giving you the benefit of more punch than the cells would provide otherwise. So in the end, you're getting a pack that should provide you a great deal of performance for what you've put into it!

I should also make mention of the fact that Boom Boom Batteries does not require their assembled packs to be assembled in a single fashion. They will custom build packs for you, if needed. In addition, you can have you choice of either Tamiya or Deans connectors installed on the packs. As you can see from the pictures, I went the Deans route, as the low-loss connector will be much more useful with higher current motor combinations.

Installing a side by side pack from Boom Boom batteries is similar to installing a regular pack. However, aside from the better punch a good side by side pack offers, there's another advantage on most chassis configurations. If your car or truck uses individual rectangular chassis cutouts for the cells, the pack will sit lower on the chassis than a basic sport pack will. This offers a small benefit in regards to the center of gravity, and handling, of the vehicle. The Academy SB Sport RTR used in the pictures above offers this feature, allowing the pack to fit nice and low on the chassis.

Once the pack is on the chassis all that's required is for you to connect it to the ESC, and then secure it with the battery strap. Most battery clips use a body clip to hold them tight against the battery. Regardless of the method used, make sure the pack is well-mounted. You don't want it to come loose while you're running your vehicle. If there's some play between the battery bar and the pack, your local hobby store should have some battery bar foam that will help eliminate the slack.

I first chose to use the pack from Boom Boom Batteries in an Academy SB Sport RTR four-wheel drive buggy that I was reviewing for another article. Since I needed some run time on the buggy, it seemed as if it would be a natural choice for the new pack. Before installing it though, I charged it on my Duratrax Intellipeak Ice charger at a rate of 5 amps. I pulled it off the charger once it was finished, with it having a peaked voltage around 8.5 volts. My Duratrax Intellipeak Ice also showed me a final mAh rating of 3843.

I dropped the pack into the buggy and immediately started making some laps at the local track. The pack provided some good solid power, but the box stock motor in the buggy I was using simply wasn't very performance oriented. So, from a power standpoint, it wasn't a very impressive run. The runtime itself was impressive though, as I found myself having around 16-18 minutes of driving time before the battery showed signs of needing a recharge.

I had anticipated the fact that the battery wouldn't show me much with that particular motor. In fact, even the installed low-resistance Deans plugs weren't even necessary with this particular setup due to the lack of high current draw. So I pulled out a Duratrax Evader I had also brought along, while the battery cooled. I had installed a 13x2 Trinity P-94 in the Evader, which would be a much better test bench for the battery pack. Once the battery had cooled and recharged, I installed it and hit the track once more.

I had driven this particular motor and truck combination before, and knew what to generally expect from it. From the first pull of the trigger, I was not disappointed either. The IB 3800 pack from Boom Boom Batteries ensured the motor lit up the tires when it took off, and helped launch it across the first double, soaring high into the air. I've used quite a few battery packs over the years, and I could instantly see the effects of the cells being zapped had. There was a great deal of punch to them as opposed to ordinary NiMH cells. I was surprised that a $50 zapped NiMH pack would simply perform this well, expecting a trade off in regards to price and performance. There simply wasn't one, as this pack performed just as well as NiMh packs that cost twice the price.

I made many laps around the track, checking out the overall performance of the pack as time went on. While the power started to taper off as the minutes ticked down, it still provided me a lot of punch overall. After reaching the seven minute mark, which is just past the length of a typical electric race, I checked the packs voltage and it still registered a reading of 6.3 volts. While I was on and off the throttle some, which meant the current draw wasn't completely constant, that showed that the cells where still providing some good power even after they had spent some time on the track. Later tests, which I stopped at the five minute mark, showed voltages around 6.7-6.9 when I checked them. The pack's total runtime, with the 13-turn motor, showed itself to be around the 12-14 minute mark.

When the pack approached a discharge state the power level dropped off very quickly and abruptly. This made the fact the pack needed to be recharged very apparent, and is a prominent sign of a very healthy pack. Ideally you want to see very little power drop during the early use of the pack, having it taper voltage off slowly. This provides you with as much useable power as possible during the tie you will be using the pack.

If you're looking to add some new packs to your vehicle collection, Boom Boom Batteries can easily hook you up. They can provide you with individual components, as well as custom built packs with your choice of connectors. If you choose to have the packs built for you, rest assured that the assembly is top-notch providing you with low resistance for higher current situations.

Boom Boom Batteries may not have the presence of some of the more well-known players in the battery market, but they are coming on strong. Given what I've seen, I'd say the consumer is the biggest winner though as Boom Boom Batteries gives the hobbyists out there another viable choice for their power needs. With the quality I've seen, it won't take long before the secret is out!