LIPO Questions
 

Hey,

I want to get a lipo for my T4 and i was wondering with the novak 2-cell smart stop when the battery gets down to 6v does it just not move? or do you have an alarm that goes off?

Also with a premium power 4700 how often does it need a balance? and also what is balancing (know it gets the cells to the same voltage but what does it help with)?

Lastley what charge rate?

Thanks

1) I've never gotten down to the point that the cuttoff worked but its my understanding that the car just shuts down, kinda like a thermal; no alarm.

2) You'll get lots of different opinions, some say to balance every charge others say thay never have, I balance every ten or so charges. The goal is to keep the cells even so one does'nt get overcharged/discharged and this will help extend the life of the battery too.

3) Again lots of opinions but 1C is the safe charge rate; I've been told by a relible racer that he's charged as high as 3C but anything over 1C and you will reduce the life of the cells and have a greater risk of the battery exploding.

Really lipos are not that much different than minh except that you dont have to do all the maintiance fo discharge/tray/charge every run. I've charged a lipo let it sit for over a month and it was just as good as if I just charged it.

The Novak smart stop has a blue LED that goes on when the voltage is at the threshold of shutting off. It then cuts the signal to the ESC while allowing the steering servo to function for a little longer.

also wait does the c rating mean? ie 1c=?

Drifting101 - The quick and dirty answer to your question about C rating is this: The 1C rating for your Premium Power 4700 is = 4700. If you had an Orion 4800 Platinum pack the 1C rating would be = 4800. Very simple. :D

Ha?!?! i mean cris moore told me to charge it at 1c meaning how many amps?

new to the lipo scene guys so that is why i am asking such noob questions

I have had orion plats for about a year now. I charge them at 4.0 amps although the 1C rule means that I could charge at 4.8Amps.

I had one that I charged in January. I pulled it out in May, topped it and the Ice said it was already full. I ran it, AND IT WAS FULL.
the charge stayed in it for 4 months and had little/no noticable degradation.

I've read a post by one of the MAXAMPS support folks that it isn't good to store LiPo with full charge as it could ruin the battery. The post was in response to someone who had stored his LiPo for about 6 months in a cold climate and was having problems getting a charge into it.

label on my LiPo indicates it should be stored at a particular voltage...I guess I still need to check and see if that is the voltage I would see at about 50% capacity. I'm assuming as much at the moment.

LiPo rocks!

Only problem is stuff starts falling off the truck before my LiPo reaches cuttoff so I have to remind myself to reinspect the car a few times during the run!

Sorry should have pointed that out, for your battery; 4700; you would charge at 4.7 amps for 1C. 2C would be 9.4 and so on, I charge my lipos on my GFX thats been updated to charge lipos.

I have a charger that is sitting here is is swallow ac/dc 2 and it can do lipo does anyone know if it is any good? it can only put in 5000 mah though

thanks for the help so far guys