MrBlack

A Battery pack soldered up with battery bars weighs about:

4200mAh NiMH - 422 gr./14.9oz.
3900mAh NiMH - 371 gr./13.1oz.

Our Lipo batteries without the harness weigh:

3200mAh LiPo - 198 gr./6.6oz.
4800mAh LiPo - 266 gr./9.4oz.

Tim K

In the past when I've taken my r/c cars from country to country I usually put the nimh batteries in my check-in luggage along with my cars, charger, transmitter etc. Is it safe to do the same with my lipo's?

MrBlack

As long as it does not trigger any issues with anti terror security do to there lack of knowledge on the product yes.


The Orion Lipo's are all IATA certified which means they are cleared for air travel and shipping by the Internatinal Air Transport Association.

To my knowledge the Orion/Kokam is only Lipo battery in our Industry that can be air shipped, another testament to the superior safety and benefits of a qwuality LiPo cell.

aus jd 2703

iTrader: (5)

hey how long should u let the carbon spec lipo reat between rest and recharging?
im only using the stock 540 (johnson/tamiya) motor?
finally is the novak smart stop a good investment?
finally whats the highest charge rate i can safely use? and not shorten the life?
cheers, hoping to buy some packs as my club is possibly allowing lipo soon

Tim K

Thanks for that

I was worried that I'd have to smuggle them onboard in my carry on

On a side note, great product, I've been running 2x 3200 since February, no problems. Have a 3rd on the way. My IB 4200 pack that I bought in April had a cell die within 3 weeks ... long live lipo!

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

- If you mean rest after running before recharging, don't bother. You can charge immediately.
- The smart stop or something similar is a great investment - it can't hurt after all, only help.
- Highest charge rate is 2C which equals 6.4A. Depending on your charger this may be easy or you may have to trick it. Some chargers are fixed to a 1C rate.

syndr0me

iTrader: (32)

The balancer is tiny! I need to get the plug wired up and give it a shot.

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

Did you finally get around to getting one? I still haven't had to use mine bit I'm sure you are running more than me. Out of curiosity, can you check the individual cells' voltage on you pack(s) and give me the numbers before you balance? Also an estimate of how many runs they've had.

MTX3-B

iTrader: (5)

Hi Guys,

Just want to add some enthusiasm and appreciation to this thread and in particular the superb product that we know brought about by Team Orion...

i got my first pack of 3200 (approx US$85 in currency) early this month along with an orion advantage advanced flight charger (US$110) which is rather small in size. I have done months of readings and finally decided that LiPo is the way to go considering the fact that the current batch of IB4200 WC cells are synonymous with short lifespan..having a shortlifespan requires periodic battery maintenance which i totally abhore...and what irks me the most, i am a casual basher and racer and my budget is rather limited...its the fun factor i am looking at...plus, i would need to purchase some extra equipments to keep the voltage of IB cells within the threshold level...sucks!

Local races here in Malaysia have yet to embrace the legalisation of LiPo batteries...perhaps in the near future i hope...with one exception in one of our local track which has promoted the use of LiPo in their organised races since last year...unfortunately, not many are using it.

Overall i am very impressed with the LiPo. I have no second thoughts of buying other brands and i am very confident of the quality Orion has brought to this world..
My minor complain would be that the LiPo battery lacks the power in comparison to IB4200 cells. From my testing and bashing session for the past few weekends, i could only conclude that the LiPo has tremendous runtime - almost double or triple than that of IB cells (i'm using Tamiya Sport Tuned motor). After almost 10 packs todate, both cells are equally balanced and the voltage drop is nothing to worry about if the batt is kept partially charged for one week.

One battery, one small charger, one descent power supply....woo hoo....thats all i need for a fun bashing weekend...there is nothing better than this arrangement....now, if only i could dispose some of my older IB stick packs to other fellow bashers...(damn, some of the cells are already dead....)

to Mr. Black and the other contributors, thanks a lot!

syndr0me

iTrader: (32)

Found a cheap one on eBay so I picked it up. I feel guilty though, my shop had one in the case and I never even knew until it was too late.

I actually don't have a multimeter, but I've been meaning to grab one. I don't know if the cells even need to be balanced to be honest. I'll throw this thing on the balancer in a few days and report my findings. I've been spending 100% of my time finishing a garage remodel project, which is where my work area is, so I'm without time or space to do much.

The instructions on this thing make it sound a little complicated. The lack of an LCD screen means you get to decipher lots of flashing lights.

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

So far the only times I've used mine, it didn't need to do anything. For whatever reason I've decided to only use it in passive mode since my charger is working great with the batteries and I don't want to introduce another element to the charging process. Especially since I'm the one that rewired the harness. Can't trust me to do something right with a soldering iron.

aus jd 2703

iTrader: (5)

should i ballance my carbon spec or do they nt need it?

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

It would not hurt to have a balancer but I have not had to use mine yet. I've had the platinums for about a year now and still no need for balancing. I have not been running as much as I should though. I also need to pull a few that are still in storage from the winter and check them out though.

GymBeam

iTrader: (4)

when is the 3200 Heavier Version expected to be out?

jobo_ph

iTrader: (11)

Well, when Tower had the Peak Carbon on sale, I got two pieces. One didn't need balancing but the other one I always have to put in a balancer.

I'm thinking of returning it because it looks like it has a problem.

I also have two other Orion Platinums that didn't need to be balanced so far.

If you don't have a balancer yet, get one for piece of mind. I got this and modded the harness.