Lunchboxer

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail asking if I was interested in testing out some new LiPo from ACE ( www.acepow.com ). I have never heard of the brand before, so I thought it must be some kind of scam. Free LiPo for LB?! I never have this kind of luck! But a few e-mail exchanges w/ the ACE rep and the offer seems legit. The story is that they are new and want to break into the hobby field, and saw my threads in RCU and thought I am somewhat experienced w/ RCs (?! ), so I might be a good candidate to test out their products for them.

So I told the rep okay, and gave him my office address. Sure enough, a week later, I received a package, UPS Global Express. It appears that the batteries are made in China and they are clearely labeled that way as well.

Here's what the box looks like.

Lunchboxer

They are hardcased 4,000mAh LiPo. They are listed as rated for "25C", meaning it will let you pull 100A. I have no way of verifying that. I will try to run them in my higher drain BL setup to see if it gives these LiPo any problems.

Note the case are of good quality construction. The pack also comes w/ the Deans style plug. The lower side of the hardcase shell has the round protrusion to emulate SxS pack.. to locked into chassis that has the cut out.

Lunchboxer

They also sent me some NiMH AAs for the TX. I usually don't like NiMH for the TX as they self discharged rather quickly, so I usually just stick w/ the Futaba NiCD pack. But I will give these a try when I have time as well.

Matt_Gruizinga

My Feedback: (1)

look nice, do they have a price on them?

Lunchboxer

I have no experience doing reviews, so I will just call it the way I see it. More reporting back my experience and observation. I won't have any instruments to test the amp draw, resistence, etc. So this is just to set the expectation.

First thing I do is to charge them up. I configured a profile on my charger. For the first couple of cycles, I will charge them at 2A. Afterward, I will go up to 1C, which is 4A in this case.

Astro Flight Blinky ( http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMRZ9&P=ML ) is what I use as balancer, and charger of choice is Team Checkpoint TC-1030 ( http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXPYT8&P=ML )

Lunchboxer

Charged both up. One took in 1462mAh and the other took in 1469mAh.

Usually LiPo packs are shipped w/ about 60% charged. So this sounds about right.

Lunchboxer

I don't believe that they are even on the market yet. They are just asking me to test the products to see how they compare to the others.

Lunchboxer

Many knows that I am a big Tamiya fan.. so it would be great if these LiPo work for my Tamiyas. My 5,000mAh Team Associated pack does not fit into those battery slots on Tamiyas that were designed to take the stick packs.

These are PERFECT! Check it out. TA-03F and Wild Willy 2, which both uses the round slots for stick packs. This is GREAT news for people who runs their older generation vehicles!

Lunchboxer

A quick side by side comparison between the ACE 4,000mAh LiPo, GP3300 stick pack, and the AE 5,000mAh LiPo.

CustomTamiyas4Life

My Feedback: (34)

Lucky you!The case looks identical to that of some lipos I have seen on ebay but for free, it's always a good opportunity to test them even if the performance is not the greatest.

Lunchboxer

Some weight comparison:

1500mAh NiCD = 283g
4200mAh IB NiMH = 433g
3300mAh GP NiMH = 396g
5000mAh AE LiPo = 299g

Lunchboxer

..... and the ACE LiPo pack?!

4000mAh ACE LiPo = 218g!

Power-to-Weight ratio there... (IF, it lives up to the 4,000mAh capacity and actually provides 25C, ha!)

Lunchboxer

My first actual run w/ these packs => in my Clod.. LOL! Not your usual candidates for LiPo power, I guess.. I bet when Tamiya designed this 20+ years ago, they were not expected the truck to be powered by 14.8V, dual LiPo...

Lunchboxer

Finished the first run.. since I don't have a LiPo cut-off on my Clod setup, I just stopped before it even slows down, just to be conservative. So I never really drained these packs. (I stopped when it was still full power, or at least, felt that way)

Charged them up again at 2A. One took in 2264mAh, the other 2468mAh. At least we know they are good for 2500mAh now, right?! LOL! I will try to run the packs in my BL setup and run them until the cut-off kicks in, and see how much mAh I need to put in..

Anyway, the performance of the Clod was very good. I am sure it was not working the packs hard. (dual silvercans being driven at 14.8V or whatever the voltage put out by these packs) Not exactly a very high drain application.

Next up I will try them w/ my Mamba Max ESC and 7700kv motor and/or Mamba Max ESC and the Trinity N80 motor..

But for the first test, these packs worked really well. And they certainly did not DOA!

Will continue to report back on other test results when I got time.

Krazy Chicken

lucky you got free lipos

fusebmx13

Yea really haha. Send me some of those lipos guys. I will test them for ya . A 3s pack would be nice though.

kistner

My Feedback: (10)

and my favorite brand (FREE). here's hoping they are good cells and dirt cheap when available to the rest of us

redfisher1974

they look good so far....

Lunchboxer

I just did a 3rd charge after my bash tonight. The packs took in 3100mAh+ (forgot to take some pics). So it looks like I bashed more tonight.. I used them in the Clod again.. no cut-off, so again I stopped before the packs are drained..

Sampson0420

My Feedback: (7)

wow, this review blows, 13 posts in, no useful information other than battery weight. no wonder you have 35000 posts... sweet.

NjBasher

^ wow whats his problem, anyways they look like a sweet pack i wonder how much there gonna go for

Lunchboxer

I have no idea.. I am just happy that they were not DOA.. and now on their 3rd cycle.. it is too early to tell about the longer term relability for now..

ArildS

If I know my Lunchboxer, we'll have all we need when he's had time to check it out fully.

So far I know which of my RCs it will fit perfectly. Even those for stick packs only. It has a low weight, and takes a better charge than some of my brand new NiMhs have done compared to what was promised. This is certainly not useless to me. I'll definitely check out ACE when I transition to LiPo after my NiMh all die.




edited out quoted post that was deleted.

86waterpumper

Considering these packs aren't even on the market yet, and there are no other reviews around to read I don't guess we can complain very much about Eric's review haha. He has a job and other obligations I'm sure he will post more as he gets time to run these Plus we did get more than weight. We know that they will fit in a smaller space than the reedy, and have detailed pics etc. They look to me to be of a better construction than the flightmax (hobby city) packs. If these come out and are priced somewhat reasonably they might be a good option for those of us like me who don't want to spend 100 bucks a pack on lipo batteries quite yet. Oh yeah heh, and let me just re-iterate that you stink for getting free batteries

cornel4web

I use to have 2 almost the same...but different brand...please check your TB-02 if it will fit...mine hard cases is a little too long...