Hey guys,

Just got my Leo 2 tracks from Impact via Mitosal and they gave a Impact LiPo & Li-ion Lo-voltage Detector suitable for 2S, 3S, 4S, 5S. Where would I use and mount this? What does 2 to 5S mean? TIA

Derek




In the Tank Barn

Leopard 2A6, Leopard 1A4 (Some Assebly Required), a parts Leo 1A4 and a Tiger 1

The S number is the number of cells in series of a Lipo battery. 1S = 3.7V, 2S = 7.4V and so on. You connect the voltage detector to the balance plug of a lipo battery. The balance pug has S+1 pins, so 2S has 3 pins, 3S has 4 pins and so on. 1S batteries don't need a balance plug. You can plug the voltage detector to the balance plug and leave it on while your connected tothe main power plugin to your model. This is important if your voltage detector has a low-voltagealarm, which you would could hear while driving the tank, and then know that the voltage per cell of your lipo is as low as you want to take it.

Russ

Thanks Russ for the quick reply. Are these batteries better than the 7.2 NiCad that I'm using now? Thanks.

Derek

http://www.rcabs.com/forum/index.php?topic=790.0
all of our club members used LiPo or Li-Ion batteries, since 2009
The oldest tank in the club was bought in 2002.

So far, LiPo batteries outperformed the NiHM batteries. That's what we saw in our club.

That's a big question. First, I'm assuming you have a Tamiya, and I think I've heard that the newer ones can use lipo batteries, but not the older ones. I don't really know for sure.

Lipos have pluses an minuses. The pluses are that they hold much more energyfor a given volume, and especially for a given weight. This makes them indespensable for airplanes and helicopters, but not manditory for cars and tanks. Lipos can deliver far more amps of current than NiMH or NiCad, but for most tank applications, the extra current really isn't needed. I will say that Lipos are the current state of the art for powering RC vehicles of all types, but tanks are probably the slowest to adopt them.

The only big minus is that there is some danger of fire using Lipo batteries. Some people are very concerned about this, and will only charge or store the batteries in fire-safe bags. Most people believe that fires mainly occur with damaged batteries, either while being charged or rapidly discharged. Nevertheless, mostbelieve that lipo batteries should not be leftunattended while charging.

That link tells us that your voltage sensor does have a low-voltage alarm, which would be nice to have. But really most receivers also have some kind of low voltage shut-off (not sure about Tamiya) so it would be a back up system for that.

Final word is if you are happy with what you have, don't change, or maybe get ahigh capacity NiMH. If you like to exeriment then try lipo if your electronics can handle it.

Russ