Advil

iTrader: (19)

Face melting could be a topic of its own...

i.e. I was standing on the drivers stand working on a TQ run when (name withheld to protect the guilty) ripped one and the stench made my face melt off!

rmdhawaii

iTrader: (4)

There seems to be a concensus that Kokam and A123 batteries are safer than the "Chinese" variety - but what about MaxAmps? Any comments or opinions about their cells?

johnnywhopper

They're awesome. i've been running them all summer in my off-road truck. no drop in performance at all yet and they seem quite safe. my truck's been "tackled" by 8th buggies, truggies, and monster trucks in open practice multiple times and the batt is the only thing that has held up well. I've even accidently over-discharged them twice, and they keep going strong.

John

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

There is/was a guy posting in the offroad lipo threads that said he has personally seen two cases of Orion fires. One he intentionally did and another which was t-boned by a 1/8th scale. User name is RURC. Claims to be in the lipo testing industry but can't give details. It's hard to take it too seriously with so little verification though. At least linger is a known quantity to us.

syndr0me

iTrader: (32)

There was a story in the off-road thread recently about a MaxAmps pack going up in flames after severe abuse in a touring car by a newb. I got the impression it was impact damage that caused it, which to me further advocates putting these cells in a hard case since they're soft, and prone to impact/puncture damage. There's plenty of guys that think they're getting a real bargain by buying cells without the hard case. What they're really doing is overpaying for whatever cheap Chinese cells they're using, and sending the wrong message about LiPo. A search for "HECELL" on eBay is quite telling for those able to connect the dots.

I did read one story about an Orion pack catching fire, but I think the guy said he set his soldering iron on it or something, and actually started the fire with... a fire. I don't think that exactly counts.

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

He PM'd me a little while back about that. It almost sounded like the case itself lit instead of the cells. Anyway, I don't think I would quite count that one either.

bxpitbull

iTrader: (6)

RURC is the dude, sought of the Marcos J of the bashing world on rcuniverse.net. He is an engineer by trade and knows his stuff. He sent me prototype pics of the Schumacher EP 1/8th scale months before it was showcased. He races converted nitro to electric 1/8th scale buggies.

rmdhawaii

iTrader: (4)

Thanks

The primary reason I'm primarily looking at MaxAmps, is because I like the dimensions of their 4000 pack. It's only 14mm high. The one thing that bothers me about MaxAmps, is that I could not find any safety info, information about the cells themselves or how the packs are assembled at their Web site - unlike Kokam. This is not to say that their cells are unsafe or not properly assembled - but more on the fact that their is no info.

With regard to the hard case, can you always tell that the cells are damaged by visually inspecting the case or is it possible that the cells are damaged and there be no indications on the case? How about slight expansion due to overcharging or overheating? Is it more easy to detect these things with a "soft" case?

I've been doing research on Lipo cells for about two weeks now and the fact that something could possibly happen still bothers me. Primary for my families sake and the fact that I don't want my house to burn down. Yes, I know if I follow all the precautions I should be just fine - but there is always that chance that something unexpected might happen. I wish I had some hard stats - like 1 in 10,000.

Inside joke: If I don't have any pets, then I guess using lipo is okay, right?

Leodis

iTrader: (16)

The hard case protects the cells and lets you know if the cells ever expand by pushing the case halves apart. With my Maxamps 8000, I really don't know if I would be able to see with the naked eye if the pack expanded a little bit. Something to think about...

I know the feeling. The first couple times I charged a lipo, I was pretty nervous. That just goes to show how well the anti-lipo propaganda worked on me. Buy a hard case pack with Kokam or Enerland cells, treat it with the same respect/fear you have for NIMH's, and you'll be fine.

tyreguy

iTrader: (148)

Why does everyone seem to think LiPo is the only option.

What about LiMn? Much safer and has all the same benefits of LiPo....

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

I'll take that as confirmation then. I didn't feel like doubting him publicly when the 5 cell stuff was going on. Nice to hear he wasn't blowing smoke up my a$$. He is relatively new here so I was not too sure.

kuzo

iTrader: (11)

Who is making them other than Apogee right now? I don't know why but I can't think of anyone who's claimed to run them. It probably isn't price as Tower has a 3800 20C pack for $75.

Anyone know why I shouldn't pick a pack up? The size is reasonable. Any discharge curves compared to platinums? LiMn was supposed to be safer but any issues without a hard case?

hanzo3

iTrader: (55)

Maxamps sucks. They are using no name cells?

huskerfreak

iTrader: (5)

.


Well I have watch IB cells at our track blow up like M-80's. I think that I would rather have a small fire than fly metal projectiles. This has happen more than once. If anything these batteries are more dangerous than Li-Po ecspecially now when everyone charges at such high amperages.

UN4RACING

iTrader: (22)

Him and I didn't agree on Novak vs. Mamba but he has done a lot of trial and error testing and he tests motors for Mamba to. he almost converted me to 100% Mamba.
Shew close call. Hes a smart dude. We could learn a lot from him as well.
I would trust what he says. And John to of coarse.