PlaneHeli

Zippy & Rhino Lipos, How are they holding up.

Ive seen them advertised. Ive read threads on them with many comments on good power, a few reports of puffing and a few about loosing power after a few charges. However many of these reviews are within the first few days of recieving the lipo, (You can get a 5% discount for writing a review on the HC site), but there are no comments on how they last. So these reviews should be taken with a grain of salt.

So how are they lasting. Anyone done 100 cycles with them yet. 200 cycles. The positve comments about them, that I have read, say they have done no more than 5-10 cycles.

Ive had 'made in china', lipos last as little as 10 cycles (Imax) and 35 cycles (Xtreme Power, came with my trex450). Obviously these are not worth the money IMHO regardless of how cheap they are.

Also saw a comment that Zippy and Rhino are the same batteries with different names. Can anyone comfirm this.

I have one Rhino 1750Mah, but have only done about 5 cycles with it so far. I can get more online for less than half the price of my LHS.
The Zippy Flightmax are very cheap online compared to Kong Power & Flight power etc. but do they last?.

I hope they do last as this may be the start of some bigger lipo / brushless planes & 1/10 , 1/8 buggy conversions for me.

Any info good or bad on these two lipo brands appreciated.

Cheers

PlaneHeli

Is there no-one who has even done 50 cycles on these lipos that could recommend them.

Theres heaps of reviews of them on the HCity site. But thats when they are new. No-one has commented on how many cycles before they are tossed.

100 cycles and they coulod be worth it. Any less and your better off going for a known better brand.

Anyone.

powerlines

I had a friend who ordered a 1000 3S and a 1300 3S. I told I would try them for the weekend.. LOL.. I ended up giving him a Thunder power batt for them. They are awesome.. I put the batts in my 51'' Eagle 580 that will pull 60A.. The 25C 1300 pulled 32A.
The 20C 1000 pulled 37A

Now.. That was just a run up test. Just to see the MAX they could pull.. I held it for 5 sec..

I have been flying the same batts now for bout 2 months. AND 2 months with me. IS ALOT!! Guessing bout 50- 75 cycles each..
the weight is good
the size is great
the price is even better..


He got a 4000 4S to put in his hangar9 Pawnee.. It did great also..

I just Skored a used Extreme Flight 58'' Extra.. It had a Zippy 20C 3300 5S It's holding great soo far..


LOL.. I just ordered for me and my bUd

4- 1000 3s
10- MCX batts.. Gave them all to my friends
1- 3000 4s 20c for my Extra
4-2200 4s 25c for his 46 size glow. double them up.. 4400 4s

They are out on alot of the ones I need.. 4000 4s

They are really good for the $$ and I have no complaints YET..

PlaneHeli

powerlines,

Thanks for the comment. 50-75 cycles is getting there. Let us know when you crack 100 cycles.
They were the smaller 1000 and 1300Mah batteries.

How many cycles have you got on the larger capacity 2200, 3300 and 4000mah.

I certainly hope they do last. If they do, It may be time to start getting into larger brushless models.

Flypaper 2

I've been running a pair of Rhino, which are Zippy batts., in a Twist 40 since the middle of last summer. At least 50 flights on them. These are 3700ma in a 2S1P config. Barely warm after some 3D and cruising flight. Flew it a couple of days ago since last fall with no difference in performance. 8 mins flight time. 1730 Rhinos in a LMH heli since last summer too.

powerlines

Ran the ALL weekend.. No probs yet..
These have already impressed me farther than the tennergy and Flight Power batts.. I have had a few FP batts go bad 4 to be exact.

Flypaper 2

Couple of weeks ago I had an old age brainphart and left the Rhino in the LMH. next day the batt. was deader than a doorknob, read 0 volts. Put it on the charger on the NIMH setting till it read over 3 volts per cell then I put it on the FMA charger and it put back in 1680ma in the 1730 batt. All cells showed equal voltage. Been using it since with no noticeable difference in performance. No puffing whatsoever. So they are tough as well.
Shouldn't be telling these dirty little secrets

PlaneHeli

Its good to hear good comments on these batteries. Reasonable quality at a much more affordable price.

Please let us know when you crack 100, 150 & 200 cycles. or at how many cycles they fail.


I havnt seen a thread on how many cycles different lipo brands last. is there one.
May have to start a thread.

Ive had.

Imax 2200.......................= Lasted 10 cycles
Xtreme Power 2200.......... = Lasted 35 cycles
Kong Power 2200 25C....... = 30+ Cycles (still OK)
Flight Power V2 2200........ = 30+ Cycles (still OK)
Rhino 1750 20C............... = 5+ Cycles (still OK)

PlaneHeli

I cannot believe they would not be permanently damaged by flattening them.

Electric RC will grow significantly if they produce cells that are not as temperamental. This and cost are the two things stopping me getting into larger models, both aircraft and cars / buggies.

Flypaper 2

Yes, I was sceptical myself but I have the other one to compare it to. They both have the same run time in the LMH. wouldn/t want to do this to often. Seems like they're making improvements every 6 months with higher C rates, etc. These will be catching up with the A 123s soon.

richrd

Zippy 3 cell-2200's got in 3 filghts this weekend HA and worked great see how hold up this summer. Same here to good to be true but so far ????
Rich

PlaneHeli

I have read a few posts saying Zippy puffed after a few flights, or lost power.

Im trying to get an idea what percentage of these packs fail early.

Judging by the comments so far it appears to be a good % postive. However as mentioned, not many people have put enough cycles on these pack to make an accurate comment.

I see HC are selling some other packs even cheaper than the Zippy packs. eg OEM 2200mAh 3S 20C Lipo Pack. But other threads say other brands from HC are not good. eg ABF.

Anyone using the Zippy or Rhino packs, Please keep us informed how many cycles before failure.

Cheers

PlaneHeli

After reading a bit more on these batteries.

There are four Zippy Lipos:

Zippy-R ===Cheapest
Zippy-Flightmax ===Middle
Zippy-H ===Most expensive, -Are they the best though????
Zippy - Ec ====??
Also reading the reviews from HC. About 1 in 8 batteries arrive with a dead or puffed cell, some puff after the first run. Most guys that have mentioned they have received faulty batteries are from the USA and have said its not worth returning the battery to HC for warrenty, too expensive and HC often reject the claim stating 'It wasnt puffed when we shipped it'. HC might rely on the fact that it is not worth overseas buyers returning faulty batteries, or it may be impossible to return within the stated period.

So you may have to gamble 1 in 8 batteries will be faulty. But at the price, some may still buy from them.

Jim Grunt

I've read a lot about Zippy batteries puffing after less than five flights and I think this is due to neglect. Unfortunately Zippy batteries don't come with instruction sheet. If you read the instruction sheet for other brands like Thunder power and the like there is a break-in time for these batteries. I was told the cell manufacturers put a chemical into the cells for storage and only by charging them at one half C. and discharging them at a moderate rate for the first five cycles will you get optimum power and life out of the cells. I purchased 8 Zippy-H 5 CELL 40 800 milliamp batteries and have finished the five cycle break-in and now have crazy power. I'm using these in a 2 m pattern plane in a 10 cell configuration. I'm curious as to how long they were last some put a mark on the battery for each cycle so I can keep track of the cycles when the batteries get weak. Jim

PlaneHeli

Pattern nut,

Keep us posted on the cycles you achieve. Thanks.

Why did you go for the Zippy H rather than the Zippy Flightmax. Have you tried the Flightmax before. just curious.

blvdbuzzard

I received my order for (8) 3s 2650's and (4) 3s 500's. I have (4) OLD red label zippies. I can not tell you how many charges they have. They are about a year and a half old. They have been in and out of helicopters, foamies. They have held up well. I will see how the new Lightmax hold up. They say they are rated at 20c and my old ones were 15C

Dru.

PlaneHeli

OK, so theres another 'flavour ' of Zippys called 'Red label'. Theyve held up OK.

With (8) 3s 2650's it will take a while to build up a few cycles on those unless your running them in parallel.

Keep us posted how they go.

Cheers

Jim Grunt

Right now I have 16 cycles on each pack, they make excellent power and after flying the intermediate pattern sequence of approximately 7 minutes pushing them pretty hard there barely warm. I went with the Zippy H. just because they're supposed to be the best and for just a little more money I thought it was worth a try. By the way I do have three 1800 three cell Zippy R that I'm guessing I have approximately 60 cycles on and are still going strong. All keep you updated.Jim

speedy72vega

I too bought 4 2650ma 3s 20c batteries, I run 2 of them in series in my 63" Extra 300L. I've probably got 20-30 cycles on them so far, and they're perfect so far. When I recharge them, I recharge them separately, and at about a 1.75c charge rate. The pair that I have just run always recharge to within 10ma of each other, with no detectable power loss so far.

I figure if they last me 1 whole season, i'm ahead. Thunder Power or any other name brand would probably last 2-3 hard seasons, and the Flightmax's are only 1/4 the cost, so I'm ok with that. The worst part about the Zippy's is that HK is always out of stock on the ones I need the most. []

dh7583

I too am planning to purchase several zippy 2200ma 4S packs for my HL F4 and was wondering if anyone could tell me if these packs come with deans plugs. The description or the photo do not clarify this. The supplied HL pack can only be charged at 0.5C and only provided me with 6 cycles before puking. I can't see paying for an OEM pack that is obviously inferior.

speedy72vega

As of right now, the 20C and higher packs come with Deans connectors, but due to legal reasons, they are going to start selling the batteries without connectors on them. I guess Deans didn't like them selling batteries with their connectors. There is a rumor that they might be working on a 'similar' style connector that might be compatible with Deans. By the way, unfortunately the Zippys will be going away, and will be replaced with Turnigy branded batteries . The Turnigys are an in-house brand, and supposedly will be priced lower than the Zippys, but i'm very skeptical of anything with the name Turnigy on it so far.
The very first Turnigy product I ever bought was a big outrunner motor, was crap right out of the box. Same problem as everyone else that wrote a bad review-screeching, and then magnets coming loose. I do have to add though, I have since recieved my replacement, and it seems to be ok on initial static test runs. I also purchased a 35-42-1000 motor, and that one seems to work ok too, LOTS of power on 4S.
I still have that bad first impression on my mind though, so i'll have to wait and see how the Turnigy batteries hold up. As far as I know, the Rhinos will still be available.

bullseye000

I bought 3s 2100 a few months back and have over 15 cycles on it. I was pretty happy with it so I decided to order 3 more. I have a pretty good collection of 3s 2100's so I won't be hitting the 50 cycle mark anytime soon. Incidentally the 3 packs that I recently ordered came with the T connectors already installed. Maybe they'll do the smart thing and quit trying to sell Deans connectors and just sell plain old T connectors.

Josey Wales

My Feedback: (61)

Im glad they are not coming with Deans anymore...I prefer the EC3 connectors anyway..

Flying Geezer

My Feedback: (14)

I'm glad to hear good reports on the Rhino. I just put one in my Trex 450 but have only flown it twice. The Align pack that came with the heli gave me 156 flights before it puffed a week or so ago.

speedy72vega

Here's a quick update on the batteries I purchased. I now have about 40 or so cycles on the Zippy 3S 2650ma 20C packs, no problems whatsoever. The 2 Turnigy 2S 5000ma packs have about 10-15 cycles so far, and working great. I just built an Eratix 3D, with a Turnigy 42-50-650 motor spinning a 14x7E APC prop. After a 10 min. flight (mostly just average flying), the packs take just under 2500ma to recharge. I will post another update when I have more cycles completed.
So far, seems like they can't be beat for the price, only time will tell.