yeaklet4

iTrader: (34)

well ive got 7 packs of 42wc packs 4 smc and 3 brand new 1 run then trayed and put charge back in them well 3 of 7 packs had a cell go out while dischargeing them today not happy with 400 bucks of junk they all are matched packs and they are tooking care of. any one else have this many problems with ib's

beltdriven

iTrader: (-1)

what kind of discharge tray are you using? What do you mean a cell went out?, light on the discharger?

Sean B.

iTrader: (13)

yes
they suck
only matchers or people who get their stuff for free or people that don't know any better will say otherwise

they run nice the first couple times

sometimes you might be one of the lucky ones who's cells seem to hold together, but the consensus from most people is..... junk... at least for the money they want for them

But, gota have em gota have em

yeaklet4

iTrader: (34)

yes on the smart tray set at .09 as soon as oyou turn it on that light goes out for that cell and i seen the stuff come out of the end. so ive got 3 out of 7 packs down for a cell change i cant aford to buy batts like this.

LBSR415

with the smc packs bring it up to the dudes on there thread,,,they usually make it good,,,,now i use 4200 wc cells from Ohp and have never had an issue,,,but I have had bad packs from smc,,,,,,click on the Ohio hobby plus site in my signature and give Jerry a call for some new stuff,,,tell him Matt sent ya,,,you will not be dissapointed

Sean B.

iTrader: (13)

rcpaintworks

You're right. IB Cells are a pice of shit. After trashing lots of their 3700 cells now it's the same with the 4200. They have a unblieveable self discharge rate, so you must recharge them nearly every 2 weeks. After 1 charge and discharge one or more cells in statistically every 3rd pack blow. After 10 cycles most of the packs are gone. In our shop, we stopped selling IB cells (we had Orion, VTEC and Peak) because customer complaints can not be handled any more.
Seems all matchers are comitted to buy these chinese junk batteries till year 3000 and prevent with their influence on the reulatories the use of lipos.
But the regulatories have lost contact to the people for a long time.
Best example ist EFRA 1/12 bodies list: A drunken britsh idiot has made a list with only 3 availaible bodies - the rest in the list has been disconinued for a long time. Availaible bodies are explicitely marked as not legal.
So after the last paying customer has sold his complete racing equipment, we don't need these people any more.

LBSR415

Are the Ib cells the red and black ones? if so they do suck

minnesh

ok then which would be the best battery 1.10 scale
thanks

YR4Dude

iTrader: (44)

I had a pack with one cell going bad on me but that was after I left it on a 0-30 tray a little too long (I just plain forgot about it. ) Anyways I guess I can break it down to a 4-cell for my 1/12.

I have a new set that has been doing good but I've had no more than three runs on it each. I tray them on my DPD with a .9 volt/cell cut-off and then I charge it to race. After each race, I let it cool then charge it again without any discharging for the next race. After the last run for the pack, I just put it away. I don't discharge it until I bring it out next time before I race again. This has worked so far as I have been told by many who use their IBs successfully.

I will say this, everytime I discharge them, the discharge rate on each cell within a pack is not consistent. I would have some cells ending sooner than others and the difference is not a small margin but substantial by more than 30seconds. When in a hurry I still use a 0-30 to discharge but just until one of the lights start to go out. Even when I do that I would have one go out sooner than another with at least three cells still with strong lights on. This didn't happen with the GPs and of course I didn't have to worry about GPs sitting on a 0-30.

Basically its just too much maintenance and spoiling the fun. No wonder onroad is dieing! If people were allowed to run Lipos with the weight compensated (with lead weights), it would be a lot easier to race and have fun. People would be able to spend more attention on their car's set-up rather than what is happening with their battery. And since Lipos can be charged in advance, people can get to the track and get practicing right away rather than sit for a hour waiting for their battery to charge. Not to mention the extra weight of the 2-3 packs plus charger plus dis-charging equipement to lug in the box.

I've said this before with Lipos, one charger, one battery and thats it. If you want lug around all sorts of extra parts like a mobile hobby shop thats your choice but so far I haven't had a need for spares so in my XRay.

Rick Hohwart

All IB cells come from the same place. The only difference swithcing to a different matcher may make is in the area of customer service.

IB cells are very fragile. One could say they suck. But in the efforts to make better cells for the customers (who demand better), reliability has suffered. Competitors can make more reliable cells, but they may not perform as well as faster unreliable ones. Racers tend to buy fast before they buy reliable.

LiPo is an excellent option at this time. The prices are reasonable and you do not have to deal with problem cells.

rcpaintworks

Thanks Rick, glad to read your opinion.

So it would be important to legalize lipos as fast as possible to keep raceers at the hobby.

Sad truth is for 2007 no big race allows them.........

YR4Dude

iTrader: (44)

The hobby industry will suffer a big blow if everyone starts buying Lipos over IBs. Think of all the chargers and dischargers that will be obsoleted. And I'm talking about the highend ones that don't have Lipo capability. But not only that, who needs some big honkin over-featured charger like say a Turbo 35 or Integy charger to lug around when all you need is a compact Lipo charger like a Triton Jr or Multi-plex to charge your Lipos. Also the cottage industries geared towards matching IBs and tuning brushed motors will go by the wayside once Lipos and brushless takes over. Then only the larger more technologically established companies will be around because they will be the only ones who can afford to make the change to Lipos and brushless.

On that thought, its good because we'll all benefit from technologically advanced products with greater reliability and performance. However, it will also reduce competition in the hobby market place. It may result in a tri-opoly, in which prices will go up. I hope not because this hobby doesn't need anymore high costs to scare away newcomers.

AxiomJacob

iTrader: (27)

From what i have heard some of the Ib cell issues are in the way the cells are zapped during the matching process.

CAlbrecht

Lipo is not an option for us guys that only race big races, or on the club level that only run Roar rules..Lipo sucks too, the cars of today will never have the balance to support both types of cells..

Sell your lipos to people that dont race , until Roar hands out lipo packs at ALL NATIONALS keep them..

BL and Lipos are the future but until then BUILD BETTER CELLS GUYS...

The cells of today suck Im totally shocked how many guys have bad cells out there, Right now the only good cells are the ones that arent built yet..