billjacobs

iTrader: (65)

I have 5 smc batteries (hard cased), 2 of the original 5000 28c red packs (wires out the side,) 2 3200 40c packs, 1 3200 28c pack. Of the 5, 3 are swollen (not ballooned, but swollen.) These batteries were always charged using lipo chargers, balanced every run, and never fully discharged.

Virtually every smc pack older than a few months at the local track is swollen. On the other hand, the thunderpower packs seem ok, even ones more than several months old.

Also, the instructions that you cannot keep the pack fully charged even overnight defeats one of the benefits of lipo (charging beforehand.)

The smc packs do run really well initially, and seem to run well after they swell a bit, but the swelling isn't a good sign.

I think the thunderpower/fantom are the best of the "brand" packs.

TheFcuddy

iTrader: (12)

I bought an SMC 5400mAh 4S 40C+ softcase battery in the fall. I used it a few times in my 8ight-e 2.0, never to full discharge. Stored it at 15 volts or so, I went to the track the other day and it started puffing. It got up to 110 degrees.

I contacted SMC and told them about it. They said to send it in and they will replace it with a hardcase. I paid top dollar for the pack and I feel I received top dollar customer service. Hats off to Danny and the SMC crew for keeping their customers rolling!

WheelNut

iTrader: (5)

At a regional final event I was at a few weeks ago the guy pitting at the table beside me had 2 SMC packs swell on him. He wasn't using a balance charger though, he was using an external balancer after every 3-5 charges.

My SMC 4500mah S-max pack has taken a beating all season long and it is performing very well still. I usually charge it at around 7amps. I use a Thunder Power 610C balancing charger and I don't normally use more than 75% of the pack during any kind of running.

vr6cj

iTrader: (124)

I like both SMC and TP. I own both SMC and TP. The 40c's SMC I had swelled and Danny gave me new 50c's no charge. And zero issues with the 50c's after months. Now the Tp's I own work great too but there cases crack very easy, but the pack still goes strong. I'm not bias at all to the brands.

GOING FAST

iTrader: (20)

I know how you feel. Before I swicthed to lipo's I looked up all the imfromation i could on them so I would have a better understanding of them. So I bouhgt 8 max amps liopo's and they all started to swell up while in the car racing, with in 30 charges. I balanced charged them every time with max amps lipo balancer. I never ran any longer then 2 or 3 laps before the start of the race then 4 minutes. Because they say the less you take out before you charge the longer the life span is. So I decided to buy smc lipo's to replace them. Before I bought them I talked to Danny and told him that I could not afford to buy 12 to 15 new lipo's ever year, and how well his lipo's held up. Then I asked him what was the best way to charge and maintain his lipo's. I ended up buying 12 smc 5000 28-c lipo's and followed his instructions. They lasted 90% of the out door season before they started to swell. I use disappointed in how short the life span of the lipo's were, Because after talking to danny I felt that I should of got at least 2 season's out of them. I had one orion 3800 lipo That was ran for 2 years and never balanced, it never swelled up. I have replaced them with pro match lipo's and have got over a season on them and they are holding up fine. I have stopped useing the balancer on my lipo's as I feel they are part of the problem.

Benzaah

iTrader: (24)

I reckon that SMC are the Victim of fake sales by the bigger Hong Kong shops. Here is a picture of 3 x 40c 5200 smc packs.



I bought the top one from a USA shop and the bottom two from Hong Kong. The USA 1 is fine and the other 2 are beyond stuffed. The good one has a slight bit of swelling but it has been used on hot dry 36 degree race days and has around 80 great runs on it. It only suffers now because of all the strain the Tekin is putting on the battery. It has the same amount of power as my new 50c thunder powers but drops off at about 3 minutes in. The other 2 have less than 30 runs each with the bottom one suffering excessive swelling and both are now disposed of. I could not be F#$*ed stuffing around with warranty or after sales but will not buy these products again until there is a sure fire way of knowing if i'm getting genuine SMC cells.

I know a few more guys who have bought good SMC packs from this one USA retailer and everyone else at the club who has packs out of Hong Kong are stuffed. Its not rocket science. SMC IMO need to have some sort of identifying mark on their packs other than whats on there now so they can prevent this happening as im sure that there are thousands of happy SMC customers and not so many new customers who are being burnt by these inferior cells.

WIITA

iTrader: (43)

I personally have seen 5 single cell 4900 lipos swell like pillows in our club alone and that is no joke. 3 of them were just this last weekend. I sure hope smc replaces all of these batteries since it is a chronic problem and needs to be fixed. lipos are supposed to be the next gen battery and not last 1/2 a season.

Send this guy a pm maybe he can help you: Danny-SMC

JIM1

Benzaah, my SMC's also look like the ones in your pic. I have just thrown them in the bin.

Bye bye SMC. Never again!

Nova F1 Racer

iTrader: (3)

here mine....

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

I've gone in on SMC packs twice now and both times they have let me down. All my Orions, ProMax and Intellect packs are perfect after hundreds of charges. The SMC packs were C-Max 40c and 28C red packs...One died with no swelling, the red pack had swelling after the 2nd charge. I've always played it safe and charged at 1c and never heated cells. All other cells have lasted very well...SMC....not so much.

BTW I will say the red pack was worlds ahead of any other 3200 pack Ive used ...but that means little when they die. I could handle maybe 50-60 charges, maybe...1....uhhh no!

Matt_N

I personally have had no problems with my SMC 5200mah 50C Marc Rheinhard edition pack. It gets used weekly in my Mi4 with great performance, always balanced and charged at 10.4amps, sometimes even 15amps. I think part of the problem with some packs are cheap chargers innacurately balancing the packs. I've heard stories of cheap chargers, such as the Imax B6, causing batteries to swell as they don't balance very accurately.

Matt

Nova F1 Racer

iTrader: (3)

Mine were stamped with "Made in China".....

defcone

iTrader: (15)

Same here, my 5.2A Marc packs have been running strong since april and have almost been used every week.

mikecatts

iTrader: (18)

mikecatts

iTrader: (18)