yeah, that's a wive's tale. every slow charger is a trickle charger, so half the RTRs that come complete with battery and charger must have been wrong too. nope

ok just got off the phone from trinity. They are going to replace it. Im going to send them an email once i receive the new one asking what rate of charge they want me to use for the first charge. i thought i was doing it right. i read alot of info online and i came up with a 4600 should be charge for its first time at .46 amps. So last question

What do you think i should charge it at. I know one of you put let it have it right off the get go but what do u all think. Also thanks for everyones help and time.

Unless something has changed recently, don't bother to e-mail Trinity, call them. Past track record shows they don't get back to their e-mails in a timely fashion (hardly ever). You may have better luck going to Tech Talk and posting the question, if you only want to communicate online.

Hi all.
I recently purchased some Trinity 4600 6cell team packs,,
They were crap?
I had to go to the local R/C shop, and pay a premium price for some SMC 4600 packs..At least 100 secs run time difference..heaps better cells..but they were iffy on consistancy..we had to basically change cells around after a run to get the discharge/charge times right....The numbers on the packs didnt mean too much to me as they were wrong....After full charge, some only had 1.13-1.17 volts straight off the charger..using muti meter on each cell..

It wasnt me either, a few others who waited for the 4600's had duds as well...
The shop I got them off was willing to break apart packs to replace dud cells..That was good..but i needed them during the event,, not after...He done the best he could,,Thanks ..
Tried all week before a major event, 1/12 mod brushless..couldnt get run time..Changed a lot to find the problem..
Then borrowd someones "old 4200's"..and i made the time..Wasnt i pissed.
I never abuse my cells..I took it for granted that "Team matched" packs would be fine..Ha!!!!!
I usually buy my cells in bulk and match my own..cheaper and easier.
I had some 4200..but was waiting for the 4600..as they were being legal in Aus on that weekend. 1st july.
I was running out of time..so i orded some off the net, paid fast freight..
And the rest is history..
I dont know if they are pushing the limits for capacity, but it seems that IB at least arnt doing to well..
I had some IB 3800...bought bulk..they were prety sad as well..ran my old GP3700..they were sooo much better...(where is GP now?)
any way,,the 4600's vented real bad...wasnt too happy about that either,,,
Just my little spit..
mike

The major problem with the current sub-c race cells is that they pack to much capacity in a size that is to small. It seems that battery manufacturers seem to think that they need to beat each other by releasing the highest possible capacity cell. When you combine this capacity with low IR and high average voltage you get a cell that is not very consistent and has a short shelf life.

To get more reliable cells we would need to go backwards in capacity but it has been my experience that once there is a higher mAh cell available racers want to buy it so going backwards is not an option. We could go to bigger cells but the sanctioning bodies wouldn't allow this as EFRA and BRCA went the opposite direction buy forcing the cell manufacturers to make the cells smaller for 2008.

With the current improvements made in the Lipo market Lipos will give you the same or better performance than sub-c cells and they are defintately more reliable but proper care and charging is a must.

+1


bring back a 3300 max rule
-or-
go lipo

no pictures?

Back a few years ago when IBs first appeared in the R/C scene, everybody bought them right away because of the capacity.... And just about everyone at the track I raced that bought them had this happen..

I have pretty much stuck to GPs... never had a cell pop or go bad before its time.

A lot of my buddies are using the EP cells.. but they seem to have some probs too.. cells going bad.. The EP 4200 and 4500 have some exceptional voltage though.. seems to be a gamble..

I'll stick with my GPs if given a choice.

I'm very surprised that Trinity gave you the time of day.. let alone offered to replace a pack! Maybe they have realized that if you are charging 2-3x the amount for a pack... ya better have some decent customer support!


Jerome