Help me pick a 2S lipo
 

Hello all,

I've been sifting through the incredible selection of lipo batteries trying to determine what would best suit my needs. I'm returning to racng and when I last raced everything was brushed motors and Nimh cells. At that time, I was pretty comfortable with Nimh cells and felt confident in making a pack selection. Well, not the case with lipos for me. Let me do this, I'll give you what I'm looking to do and I'll ask your opinions from there. Please respond in terms of capacity and "C" rating first, then if you have a favorite brand you can fill in after.

I will be racing onroad in RCGT, so 17.5 brushless motors. I may also race 17.5 TC and at most 13.5 TC. I really doubt I'll be racing any "mod" sedan. Racing for me will only be at the club level at a local track...maybe the occasional 2-day race if the local track offers something. I will also get out for the occasional parking lot race. I believe most racing in RCGT around here is 5 minute heats, but I hear that some tracks will occasionally run the mains a little longer...maybe 2-3 minutes longer? When I left racing, I was racing at the Sportsman level...though I'm sure I'll be starting over a little lower.

So, what type of pack am I looking for? "C" rating? Capacity? Any recommendations on brand?

Thanks in advance.

everyone will have there personal favorites, so I will comment on what I have now that I am happy with.

I use the new RFI lipos that MRC is distributing. I use the 4000mah 25C 7.4V battery packs. These cost about $65 a pack. They are ROAR approved. They come with a deans style connector and align balance tap.

I use these in classes from 2wd offroad mod, to VTA class and I really like these lipos. They also have a nice warranty on them as well.

For the money, I really like the packs.

4000 to 5300 mAh.
25 to 40C (there are some 45C out now as well)

No brand recommendation, lots of the batteries are coming from the same source...but going with a good brand name like SMC, Team Orion etc will not hurt (support etc)

You will find that with LiPos the choice is not as critical as with NiMh...(although a good battery is always useful in stock racing)


...

Thanks for the input guys. Good to hear that there shouldn't be as much of a difference in packs...much like the Nimh days.

Any others? Please keep it coming!

Lipo
 

Right now the Thunderpower 40 c 5000 is the best but expensive. You do however get what you pay for.

Thunder Power / Fantom 40c 5000mah

+1 - You can find some good deals on the 40c packs right now.

I've been happy with SMC. If I were in the market for a new battery I'd go for 5000mAh 40C, but stick with major brands.

An important consideration I've run into is the charger. I switched from a charger that could only charge a 5000mAh battery at 1/2C (2.5A) and upgraded to a charger that could easily charge at a 1C rate (5.0A) and the battery seems to deliver a noticeable amount of more power. I went with the Duratrax ICE charger which recently has seen a price drop. The only bad thing about this charger is it charges at 8A max. So you basically can't charge a 5000mAh battery much over 1C, but I'm not worried about that myself.

My point is though, the charger does make a difference.

Why not to try new Orion 5400 45C?
Somebody used 5000 45C then confessed to me it is OK, just remain try by myself!

This is the same pack, and is considered the best performing pack on the market ATM. The SMC pack (5000 40C) is second. Both will cost you a decent chunk of cash. If you want to be as competative as possible then go for these packs. Otherwise it is hard to beat the performance/cost ratio of the IP (trinity) packs. There are heaps of different capacity's and ratings but generally speaking buy capacity first then C rating second for a more competative pack.

I have also been doing my research and there was mention of the Orion 45C packs having problems. Something about voltages fully charged of only 8.24 volts.

Really?:weird:
Ok, well, how about LRP 5300 40C?

My LRP 5300 28C has great power, and charges to 4.2V on both cells every time.

SMC 5200 50C

I had two and could run all day and maybe charge them once. My Bantam always balance charged them to 8.4.