edzehner

Ok, my son wants a Kyosho Ultima DB for his B-day. I am familiar with the NiMH, batteries what's up with the 2S1P lipo? He is all about this car and won't consider any other. Is this a good starting point? He is 12 and obviously just getting started. I am sure between him and I we will get hooked on this hobby. If there are any suggestions or explanations anyone could offer, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

rccartips

iTrader: (3)

Hi,

For playing around, I would go for cheap Nicads and Nimh. You can run these batteries down until there is zero power and still be ok.

Lipo need extra care. Overcharge or overdischarge may result in fire. Race organizations require these to be charged in a LIPO sack for safety reason.

Good luck.

racer53

Here is a good site that explains lipo batteries. http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.htmlCredit to finding this site goes to Duster_360.

For a good lipo charger I recomend the Thunder AC6 from www.hobbypartz.com .

Good Luck, Racer53

mx51

iTrader: (8)

Welcome man...There's alot of good info here...

bigben1165

iTrader: (9)

hey buddy, welcome to rctech. lots of good people on here.

CristiLew09

Welcome! I'm new to RC too! My husband knows about everything, but I've found these fourms really helpful in learning about things on my own!

RCaddict0

iTrader: (85)

Welcome... Yea, its a learning experiance. You'll never know "everything". But the longer your in the more you'll learn. This site and others(Beat Your Truck, RC Junkyard, URC, RC Universe) are all great resorces. But I recommend just going lipo. Nimh/NiCd are just as dangerous is used wrong. Ive never had a fire ornexplosion w/ lipo. "knock on wood".. But Ive charged a Nimh pack at to high of a rate and it exploded like an M-80! Fire, metel sparks, smoke. So if not watched and used correctly charging any pack can b dangerous. The only thing with lipo is setting you ESC's low voltage cut off. So you dont discharge them to far. But other than that its not that different. If you have a decent balence charger it will take care of everything. My charger stops when it needs to, moniters balening cells, everything. If it sees a prob. it shuts off on its own.

token

Lipos are fine. just make sure your ESC has a lipo cutoff and get a good charger. Most chargers will have lipo settings. I use Hyperion and all I do is set the cell, and mah. Hit start. No guess work......Lipos are the way to go. Yes you need to be carefull, but I have popped more nihm cells than lipos. Lipo sacks are good the have. I store all my lipos in these.
It sounds like your son will just be bashing (playing round') with this. I hope this is the case. This is not a race buggy at all. just sayin.

battlestarq

I say hobby or sport because there are 2 sides to to the coin.

Hobby if you plan on just running it around the yard or local track for fun go nicd or nimh. Lipo's are great for duration but there are safety precautions more for them than nimh. so that is a choice you need to make.

Sport if you want to get competative and race! the local heats by me are 5 min in length so you could use the nimh just need to gear it properly to last the duration. but with lipo's from what i see there are no concerns for duration and I hear drivers are using the same pack for a few heats on 1 charge. the scary part on lipo's is the chance of burning from damaged packs from being dropped or a serious enough crash that not only damages the car but if the pack is damaged it is strongly cautioned to not use and see if the packs mfg has a decent replacement policy. I run SMC lightning pack 2s 7.4v4100mah and they come with a 3 month limited warranty which consists of an exchange program for damaged or crashed packs at 50% off the minimum advertised price(MAP) plus shipping, the pack will be analyzed and if the report concludes the pack had a mfg defect the money charged for a replacement pack and shipping will be reimbursed

As for the car being good I dont have that one so I couldnt say if its a good starting point. its all in your intentions to go hobby or sport . for hobby i could safely say sure why not if thats what he wants. If your local hobby shop (known on here as LHS) has spare parts for it or if no LHS or one that stocks parts you could still order parts online or thru your LHS and support your local economy and keep your LHS around for a while.

For some like myself i am getting back in this sport after a 20yr hiatus. and while years ago there were many LHS around and tracks to race and bash on, By me in ny on long island out east the closest track is 30 miles away and its an indoor track but there are no organized clubs doing outdoor offroad tracks.

edzehner

Thanks for all the replies and welcomes. I order the car and a lipo 2s1c 7.4v 5000 mah. Wow, I can not believe how fast it charged and the duration. We ran a solid 15 minutes before stopping for adjustments and the battery still isn't slowing down. Also, thanks for the heads up on the lipo dangers. I come from the Ni Cad days...hence the amazement of the lipo. I will certainly research the do's and don'ts of the batteries. I am also a member of a jeep forum. I have been saved many times on there with wisdom, I'm sure I can find the same kind of help here with RC's. It is great seeing people willing to help one another. One more thing, give me a little time to catch onto the abreviations...I will get it eventually.lol Thanks again.

racer53

You're already catching on...

edzehner

The battery is my biggest concern at this point. As I said it is 2s1c 7.4v 5000 mah. So let's break this down. It's wired in 2 series and it's one cell, correct? Do you just run these till they slow like Nicad and NiMh? Are these batteries as high maintenance as they sound? I have been reading up on them a little and they sound very sketchy.

racer53

NODo not run them down till they slow, you will ruin your battery...you really need to read the link I gave on lipo's earlier in this discussion, it will answer alot of your questions.

edzehner

Got it, thanks for the link. I was under the impression these lipo's couold go much longer. Maybe I should have stayed with the Nihd. Oh well we'll see how much life we get out of it. Thaks again!

Cpt.America

iTrader: (52)

Lipos generally WILL run a car a lot longer... they have higher capacity, and far lower internal resistance, but you have to be careful with lipo batteries.

1. They are zero maintenance. NEVER discharge... just run, charge, run.
2. They can be run any number of times in a day, unlike sub-c cells
3. you HAVE to use a speed controller that has a low voltage cutoff, for lipo cells. If you run them down too far without a cutoff, you risk destroying the battery completely, or burning down your model in a lipo fire
4. NEVER charge a lipo unattended. Just do an online search for people who have lost their homes to lipo fires from charging them unattended in the garage or something, and the voltage cuttoff fails on the charger... and voom.. down goes the house

With that being said... Lipos are 10x better than nicd or nimh as far as power, maintenance, and runtime. You just need to monitor them when charging, and make sure they dont get over discharged by using a lipo cutoff on the speed controller.