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Battey Woes - Anyone help

Battey Woes - Anyone help

Old 12-14-2011, 11:43 PM
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Angry Battey Woes - Anyone help

I am a complete newbee to RC cars. I brought a Turnigy Hardcase Lipo Battery | 7.4v | 6000 | 25C of an online retailer here in New Zealand.

I told the vendor that I was a newbee. He recommended this battery and also that I buy a ICharger 30amp unit from hima as well. I found the same charger on the internet brand new for almost half the cost but thought that I had better buy the battey from him.

I charged it as per his instructions using the balanced charger lead and temp probe. There was no issue charging it within a little over an hour at a 6amp charge rate on the lipo setting of the charger.

Everything was fine. The battery was fantastic. I ran it in the bugggy until I noticed the performance starting to decline. The vendor had told me not to run them totally flat.

After the first use I noticed a gray powder has 'splattered' over the hard case. Looked as if it had fizzed out of the battery but nothing too serious.

Since then I have charged it a total of 6 times. On the last outing after I had finished I noticed that the hard case seam had split. There was no other explanation other than the battery had swelled and forced the case open from within.

Anyway I contacted the vendor who right from the outset started accusing me of abusing the battery and told me the only way for the battery to swell was due to my neglect.

I explained to him the exact usage of the battery and tried to convince him that I had not abused it in any way. I asked him what constituted abuse but in return got a whole swag of vague technical gargon that was not in any way specific to real world use.

I have asked him if he would take a look at the battery as I feel that unless my charger or brand new brushless buggy are faulty then the only other piece of the puzzle is a potential fault in the battery.

I offered to send it back for him to test. I am reasonably technical and could eventually work out how to test it but feel that given its his business he should be the one responsible for testing the product.

I just want to know what you guys think. Tell me if I am missing something but I would have thought that a 80 dollar battery would last for more than 6 charges.

I dont know if I have missed something but I would have thought that general use of the buggy would come no were near destroying a battery after so few uses. I have a perfectly mown 3 acre paddock with grass that looks like most peoples lawn.

I wouldn't have expected that driving the buggy over such a manicured terrain would have caused any drag that might have put too much load on the motor or the battery.

Am I being too hard on the vendor here. He has told me that the battery is a consumable item and that once you start returning it basically it isn't returnable. He gave me a really wierd analogy about an printer ink catridge that was half used.

Any help, advice or opinions on this appreciated.
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:13 AM
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If you are running the battery down below 6.4 volts when you run it... yes, you destroyed your own battery. You must use a low voltage cutoff when running a lithium P battery. 6.4 volts is essentially "empty" on a lipo... you CAN run them lower, but it will ruin the battery... with a risk of fire thrown in. I'm surprised you got 6 runs.
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:16 AM
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Default Blown lipo

First off you need to see if your esc is set up for lipo's. You should only be running the voltage down to 6.0 to 6.4 volts total. You should be able to turn on the lipo cutoff on your esc by reading the instruction book.

Second, charging a 25 c battery should be done a little slower, 2.5 amps not 6.

Third, what vehicle are you running this in and what are the temps of the esc and the motor? What kind of run times are you getting?
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:22 AM
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Originally Posted by jaybird95
First off you need to see if your esc is set up for lipo's. You should only be running the voltage down to 6.0 to 6.4 volts total. You should be able to turn on the lipo cutoff on your esc by reading the instruction book.

Second, charging a 25 c battery should be done a little slower, 2.5 amps not 6.

Third, what vehicle are you running this in and what are the temps of the esc and the motor? What kind of run times are you getting?
Wrong, discharge C rating has nothing to do with the charge rate, the mah does. Which he listed as 6000 so 6 amps is charging at 1C..perfectly fine.
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:25 AM
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Smile

Thats right, I havent delt with a battery at 25 c in a long time.
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:26 AM
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Next time buy The SkyLipo batteries from Hobbypartz.com. 5000Mah 40C packs for $27 each.
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:38 AM
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how about just make sure the cutoffs are set properly on the battery since I doubt a different brand with the cutoffs not set properly would have faired any better.

Something to keep in mind when you buy these cheaper packs, at least from what I am hearing of in the USA, once you buy them, you basically are on your own. Now, considering the cheap price you can get them for thats not a bad thing as usually you don't have issues, its when you do, then you got a problem.

As for the price you paid, maybe its the exchange rate that is goofing me up but the IP 6200mah 60C battery I have hear was only $83 new.

Please post the setup you are running exactly so we can help you check your cutoff settings and if you have the right battery for what you are doing.
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Old 12-15-2011, 08:43 AM
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It sounds like it may have been user error. Use it as a learning experience, the cost of that pack isn't worth the hassle of shipping it back and forth in the hopes of getting them to give you a free one. Which isn't likely. Do some research in the Radio/Electronics thread and you'll find tons if info on what to do and what not to do with lipos. Try not to let this one instance turn you off from the hobby.
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Old 12-15-2011, 09:07 AM
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Originally Posted by jaybird95
First off you need to see if your esc is set up for lipo's. You should only be running the voltage down to 6.0 to 6.4 volts total. You should be able to turn on the lipo cutoff on your esc by reading the instruction book.

Second, charging a 25 c battery should be done a little slower, 2.5 amps not 6.

Third, what vehicle are you running this in and what are the temps of the esc and the motor? What kind of run times are you getting?
His charge rate was fine. A 6000mah lipo charged at 6 amps, is 1C, which is correct.
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Old 12-15-2011, 10:52 AM
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you must use a lipo cut off if you over discharge a lipo once, its junk lesson learned




my lipo cut off is set at "3.6v per cell" yes this a little high but it doesnt seem to affect runtimes much at all (try it and see the runtime is like two min less) and my lipos last years running them this way
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Old 12-15-2011, 10:56 AM
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hmm, something I just thought of.

I am assuming that the vendor sent you the lipo with some charge on it, like 50% or so, why would it take over an hr to charge at 6 amps?

Do turnigys normally come that low charged?
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Old 12-15-2011, 11:09 AM
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MAYBE he just got a bad one? I have heard of that happening...
Since they are so cheap I wouldn't care if I got one bad one.... They are so cheap I get 2 or 3 at a time at that price! The 6000mah 65C packs are $40 each, that why I have 4 of them! If one goes bad I would just toss it and get a couple more, thats why you pay less, shotty customer service but still pretty good packs! A lot better than spending $120+ on a pack with ok customer service.... Just sayin...
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Old 12-15-2011, 11:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Cain
hmm, something I just thought of.

I am assuming that the vendor sent you the lipo with some charge on it, like 50% or so, why would it take over an hr to charge at 6 amps?

Do turnigys normally come that low charged?
It did come with a half charge. The first charge took around an hour and a half as I had not yet figured out how to up the charge current. I took the defaults which was 2 A
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Old 12-15-2011, 12:43 PM
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ok that makes sense then.
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Old 12-15-2011, 01:35 PM
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I have owned 3 of those 25C 6000mAh Turnigy 2S LiPo's. They are really tall, and wider than their other batteries, so they dont fit perfectly in a slash 4x4 without some light sanding of the battery. I will also say they are heavy and the plastic cases on their non nano-tech batteries crack (I cracked all of them).

I bought the new 6000mAh nano-tech's that have the female sockets for the banana plug connectors. I will say a few things to try to get you to upgrade to them
1. the plastic case material is superior to the black plastic stuff you have now
2. discharge is 65-130C. Awesome
3. the connector style where you plug in to the ports of the LiPo is superior
4. they are lighter and smaller
5. they have an 8C charge rate. The best of the best charger out there can be thrown at it with the max rate any of them can do.
Win-Win.

They do cost a little more, I think bout $40 or so each and are backordered at the current moment, but get some.
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