Mike01

I've heard a couple of people say that the E-Maxx is very hard on batteries...that it kills packs.

It killed, or at least I think it did, four of my NiMH packs (as in reduced performance due to one or two bad cells that had to be replaced). Now I'm not sure it was the E-Maxx exactly, but I'd love to hear other people's opinions on this.

Have any of you E-Maxx owners expereinced your Maxx being hard on batteries?

camra88

From what you have described, it sounds like your using those cheapo battery packs. The emaxx demands too much power then those weak batteries can reliably supply. good GP3300 or sanyo 2600's should be used. I have 2-yeah old Sanyo 2400 7-cell battery packs for my max. I dont drive it like a wussy, but i dont drive it like a maniac either. The batteries are still going strong, but i think i may need to replace them soon, since they are starting to loose their punch. You hear alot about people frying batteries because those cheap battery backs have become widely available. I hear about this ALL THE TIME on the traxxas forum.

Mike01

Two of the packs it killed were Radio Shack 3000s. The other two were matched GP3300 packs.

How long have you used those battery packs that are "losing their punch" in the E-Maxx?

Right now, I am using two 7 cell 1900 NiCD packs with no ill effects. Then again, NiCDs are much more resilient than NiMHs.

camra88

The batteries are 2 years old. But maybe they seem to be losing their punch, because i drive the thing like once a month now, and the batteries are probably crytsalized, and i only drive it once, so the batteries dont get cycled. Dunno tho. But you lost 2 packs of gp3300's huh? I cant explain that. but the radio shack ones, i fried a set of those the first day i had my emaxx. [>:]

sarge00

My Feedback: (1)

I have 2 sets of 3000 mah NiMH Orions and 2 sets of 2400 mah Nicad Orions and I've had one of each kind go bad, but I beat the crap out of my maxx and I'm not sure that it wasn't a connection problem within the packs. In either case Orion replaced them no questions asked so it wasn't a big deal. Are you running the NiMH's more than 2 times a day and are they cooling down completely between charges?

Mike01

I usually run my packs only once per day and follow all recommended cooling procedures. The only thing I can think of is that I did not equalize the packs (I only got my Novak smart tray recently).

My theory is that the E-Maxx drains the packs at a very high amperage, thus one cell always dies way before the others. (when a battery pack dies, the whole pack does not die...one cell always dies first, and the higher the discharge amperage, the sooner that one cell dies, leaving more capacity in the rest) Then, when I go to charge the packs, the cell with the most juice is overcharged, and so on, and so on.

I've learned a tremendous amount about batteries after getting my hands on Futaba's CDR-5000 charger, which tells you more about your packs than your priest tells you about adultery. Too bad I didn't buy it sooner. They say that a good charger will pay for itself, and I believe it now. A good equalizer will pay for itself tenfold.

btw...I didn't lose any of those packs. Pro-Match racing replaced two bad cells, one in each pack, under their six month cell failure warranty. Those guys rock! As for the Radio Shack cells, I took the packs apart and built one good pack out of 2. So in reality, I only lost one $25 Radio Shack battery pack.

The moral of this story?

Equalize your packs, and only buy matched packs from Pro-Match racing.

CR250R

It may be that you are over discharging your packs by running them too long after your Maxx begins to slow down. I found that you shouldn't run an E-Maxx until the batteries are nearly completely discharged. When charged your Maxx will run very strong throughout most of the discharge cycle. As soon as you notice a considerable drop in performance, STOP your Maxx. If you run the vehicle until it barely moves you will permanently damage the packs! Allow the packs to cool for at least 1 hour before charging them again. Check out the Battery Care section on [link=http://www.twinmaxxpacs.com]SPC's[/link] website. "As a pack, always discharge to 0.9 volts per cell, or 3.6 volts total for a 4-cell pack and 5.4 volts total for a 6-cell pack. NEVER run a pack down until your RC car is just barely moving. When discharging with light bulbs, NEVER allow the bulbs to go out. Remove the pack from the discharge bulbs as soon as you notice the bulbs dimming. NEVER dead short your batteries! More packs are killed by over discharging than by over charging. It is better to never discharge your packs after a race than to over discharge them. DO NOT OVER DISCHARGE YOUR PACKS."

I believe this is even more important when running an E-Maxx because a Maxx runs two packs wired in series. I've run 2 [link=http://www.twinmaxxpacs.com]SPC[/link] matched, GP 3300 packs in my Maxx all summer without any problems. They were run several times a week all summer and they still work great. My Maxx can pull endless wheelies in second gear with the stock motors and 19 tooth pinion gears. Hope this helps.