daveyg68

Hey guys, I have a Traxxas Slash and I've been testing batteries for the Tenergy Corporation. I've stuck with the 6 cell batteries to keep the stock parameters for racing. Comparing two batteries that they sell, the Intellect 4600mah 6 cell battery and the Tenergy 4200mah 6 cell battery, this is what I found. Before running each battery, I made the assumption that the 4600 Intellect would have about a 10 to 15% longer run time than the Tenergy brand 4200 battery. What I found was very surprising. The run times were as follows with a stock Traxxas Slash run on a closed course at the same rate and operating temp for each battery:

Intellect 4600mah 6 cell- 20-22 min w/ consistent throttle between 1/2 to full.

Tenergy 4200mah 6 cell- 26-28 min w/ consistent throttle between 1/2 to full.

I honestly was surprised with the quality and run times of the Tenergy 4200mah 6 cell battery. I tried to kill it @ the 25 min mark with full throttle everywhere, but it just kept going. Great battery.

If you are interested in Tenergy batteries, they are located in Fremont, CA @ All-battery.com.

Cheers,

Daveyg68

brofroe

iTrader: (20)

i buy all my batteries from all-battery.com(Tenergy). i have 2 of the 4200s mentioned above that my son runs in a 2wd buggy and they have been great. i've actually an them in my 1/8 scale buggy once and they did fine. i have 3 lipos from them and they run great. one 8000mah 15C-needs some balancing after a few charges. two are 5000mah 20C that never really need balancing although i do occationally. great batteries at great price.

whitrzac

iTrader: (97)

you must have gotten the 6 good cells out of the entire factory

brofroe

iTrader: (20)

I guess I must have gotten the other 12!

Duster_360

iTrader: (21)

Yeah, my luck was the opposite, the two 7 cell packs I bought were junk and not worth having.

lucas

I have been running one of their hard case 5000 mAh/15c lipos for a few months now, and man is it ever punchy- way more grunt than my Losi 5000/20C pack. I have talked to some other guys locally who are running them also and they have had the same results. The C rating must be a little on the conservative side. Over the weekend I picked up an astro blinky, put it on that pack to balance it and the cells were pretty equal, it finished balancing with a full charge in about 10 minutes. If you see one of these cells (they are in a silver case) don't be afraid to give them a try. The price is great and they have tons of power. I have never tried their sub-c stuff but the lipo I have is a really good battery.

rearviewmirror

iTrader: (17)

Until I see actual 3rd party test I'm not buying it. (literally) I run SMC's because they're proven in the lab and on the track. Not saying Henergy and Tenergy and whatever other company you can stick a letter in front of the word "energy" who makes batteries don't deliver the goods. There are so many people importing lipos from China now trying to make a buck. Anyone can find a distributor and start pushing these lipos. Good luck with the Tenergy.. or Henergy... or whatever it is.

lucas

You make an excellent point, rearview. I forgot there are no labs in China, just a bunch of dudes cooking up batteries in tin washtubs.

Folks, you heard it here first- there is no science or testing of any variety in China, currently the largest manufacturing country ON EARTH.

whitrzac

iTrader: (97)

ohh, how does it go, I think it was somthing like "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!!"

wile there are some good cheaper lipos than orion, trackpower, etc most of them are POS's

SMC has there new 5000 24c for <$65

lucas

Wow, that's cheap! Where are SMC cells made?

whitrzac

iTrader: (97)

IDK, were but check out this thread I'm sure the company rep will tell you

http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...ue-untrue.html

lucas

Awesome, thanks for pointing me towards that. There is some good reading in that thread.

cherokee

iTrader: (1)

You will never find out...SMC does not want you to know. I would bet no matter what they say about being the sole customer of some mystery mfg. that is a bunch of BS. If it was true they would tell us who supplies their cells. It would sell more packs for them...We only use X cells in our packs and these tests show they are the best.... But nope we don't see that we just have to swallow what they spew. It is all marketing and these cell matchers don't want you to know that they are not worth the difference in the price.

What you have to know is that none of the RC battery suppliers make the batteries...they are "matchers" execpt Kokam. That is not to say that some are not better then others. I think this is the biggest dirty little secret in the hobby today. Batteries may have inflated ratings put on the package by these matchers, but if you get a true 20C pack is it going to be as good as anyones 20C pack. Just finding the ratings being true is the only question.

lucas

Actually in the thread whitrzac linked to the SMC guy tells where the cells come from. All lipo batteries come from China or Korea. SMC has their cells made in China with a mix of Chinese and Japanese materials. Tenergy cells are also made in China. SMC claims that their cells are made exclusively for them, and I have no reason not to believe them- however, one has to wonder what other applications that supplier makes cells for. It would seem that a battery manufacturer couldn't make enough money to survive if the R/C industry was its only customer. Tenergy makes cells for pretty much every application- not just R/C but cell phones, etc. That being said, I am sure the Tenergy folks make just as good of a lipo battery as anyone else, simply because they make so many batteries for such a wide variety of applications, even if they are not all hobby-based. Tenergy is in the battery business, it's what they do.

Bottom line, I am sure the EPA makes it completely cost-prohibitive to produce lipo batteries here in the states- something that China doesn't really have to worry about. There are all kinds of things that don't get made here anymore for the same reason- vacuum tubes, for example.

The thread whitrzac linked to is really informative, I suggest that anyone who is interested in lipo and C-ratings check it out. It does seem to be a very pro-SMC thread, but that is cool, too- if the SMC folks are testing their batteries to make sure you get what you are paying for, awesome. And you can't complain about a company that has a representative actively posting on these forums. Regardless, I am pleased with the Tenergy battery I have. Granted, I have not been using it for too terribly long, so I have no idea if it will be a good pack over time, but I can tell you that it is currently one heck of a pack.

rearviewmirror

iTrader: (17)

All batteries are NOT created equal, even if they are made in the same country. My point is that you got some guy with one post telling us how great his Tenergy is then pointing to a website where you can buy them. We've got guys locally here telling us how great Tenergy's are AND THEY DON'T EVEN RUN ELECTRIC CARS! So buyer beware, anyone can have one of these companies ship them lipo's. And they are not all created equal over there.