NiMH veteran, needs a crash course in LiPo
 

I can't say I dove into LiPo, more like tripped & fell into the pool. I was down to one NiMH pack and said "when this one goes south, I'll go LiPo." So that was last night's financial episode at the races when I showed up with one battery that refused to take a charge. :sweat:

So twenty minutes and $150 on the credit card later I'm the proud owner of a Track Power 4900mAh, Deans lead, and one of those LiPo-proof bags. As luck would have it the guy I was pitting across from had an extra charger, so he ran it up to a full charge and I raced on it all night.

Now I need to ask some questions, because until now all my stuff's been really old-school simple & I really don't know much about using and maintaining LiPo packs:

1. I need a new charger/chargers. For the longest time I've used a couple of DuraTrax IntelliPeak AC/DC Pulse chargers, $55 a pop, and they're plug-and-go. Just a button, a knob to set amperage, and 4 LED lights that go on to tell you what charge mode it's in. All but brainless operation, and I'd like to keep it that way. I really don't need anything like an ICE or a Turbo35 or a Pulsar, what I need is something I can set the amperage, plug the battery in, push a button, and it charges the pack. Bonus points for AC/DC and if it has a balance lead.

2. If the charger doesn't have a balance lead, are there stand-alone LiPo balancers available? And how often should my LiPo pack be balanced?

3. I've heard LiPos don't trail off like nickel packs do as they discharge, they run at full power until they go empty and then just dump. I've also heard you do NOT want to take them past this point, but short of buying one of those LiPo cutoff modules or a new ESC does a LiPo pack give any kind of warning before it dumps (ex: all of a sudden you've got no top-end speed, etc.) and if so about how long can you keep driving without damaging the pack once you notice that warning?

4. I live in Wisconsin and race indoor electric in the winter, so how resilient are LiPo packs to very cold temperatures? I know whenever I would try driving one of my trucks in the cold with a NiMH the pack would drive almost as if it was in the process of dumping, but it would run like that for the full 5 or 6 minutes I'd normally get out of it. Warm it back up and it's just fine. But with the level of care people take with LiPos, would there be any real harm in leaving my LiPo pack with my toolbox in the back of my 1:1 truck while I'm at work?

5. As far as electric goes, I race weekly offroad during the winter and on-and-off in the summer with my TC dirt late model. I always had a plan for my NiCd and NiMH packs when they weren't going to be run for, like, a month or more. Is there anything I should do before I shelf my LiPo pack for awhile? During the week between races in the winter?

6. I would think they've been around long enough for someone to know; assuming it's taken care of what's the typical life span of a LiPo before they go bad for good? And is there a way to tell, like how one dead cell in a NiMH pack would get noticeably hotter than the other 5 during a charge?

7. For a pack like this, a 3 cell 4900mAh, what's a "safe" amperage to charge it at? I'm racing Stock Truck so I don't need to do anything like the crazy 10 amp charges guys were blowing up NiMHs with.

OTE

life span of Li-Po

I ran a couple Orion Carbons hundreds of runs for over a year and they perform just as good as the day I brought um..
Never balance them but once just to see if it helped.
Balancer did`nt inprove much BDW ,found another 20 sec runtime thats all they were off...

TrakPower has some good Lipo info here Mike & should answer most of your questions. http://www.trakpower.com/index.asp?page=lipoExpert.asp

I am considering a 2nd budget charger myself and found out rctech member Bulldawg R/C has TrakPower Lipo chargers for $60 + shipping. Seems like a great deal, and small size makes it nice too. http://www.bulldawgrc.com/trpitpro50li.html

I was wondering pretty much the same thing as OTE. I don't know much about LiPo's and wanted to know about the Amps for charging.

For a charger get the Duratrax Onyx 230.

1. I need a new charger/chargers. For the longest time I've used a couple of DuraTrax IntelliPeak AC/DC Pulse chargers, $55 a pop, and they're plug-and-go. Just a button, a knob to set amperage, and 4 LED lights that go on to tell you what charge mode it's in. All but brainless operation, and I'd like to keep it that way. I really don't need anything like an ICE or a Turbo35 or a Pulsar, what I need is something I can set the amperage, plug the battery in, push a button, and it charges the pack. Bonus points for AC/DC and if it has a balance lead.

TRAKPOWER MAKES A VERY CHEAP IN PRICE DC CHARGER THAT WORKS GREAT. YOU WILL NEED A POWER SUPPLY. $59.99 FOR CHARGER. I RUN TWO OF THESE OFF OF A LRP 14AMP POWER SUPPLY AND IT IS FLAWLESS

2. If the charger doesn't have a balance lead, are there stand-alone LiPo balancers available? And how often should my LiPo pack be balanced?

YES THERE ARE STAND ALONE LIPO BALANCERS, COMMONSENSE RC CELLS 2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF BLINKY BALANCERS THAT CAN PLUG RIGHT INTO THE TRAKPOWER BC6 CHARGING HARNESS

3. I've heard LiPos don't trail off like nickel packs do as they discharge, they run at full power until they go empty and then just dump. I've also heard you do NOT want to take them past this point, but short of buying one of those LiPo cutoff modules or a new ESC does a LiPo pack give any kind of warning before it dumps (ex: all of a sudden you've got no top-end speed, etc.) and if so about how long can you keep driving without damaging the pack once you notice that warning?

LIPO FOR THE MOST PART WILL GIVE YOU CONSTANT POWER UNLIKE NIMH THAT WILL LOSE ITS PEAK PERFORMANCE AFTER THE FIRST COUPLE MINUTES. YOU CHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL WHEN YOUR LIPO BATTERY IS LOW BY THE WAY THE CAR FEELS, I WOULD NOT TRUST THIS METHOD AND WOULD GETA LIPO CUT OFF AND INSTALL IT IN YOUR ESC. YOU DO NOT WANT A LIPO CELL TO DROP BELOW 3V PER CELL.

4. I live in Wisconsin and race indoor electric in the winter, so how resilient are LiPo packs to very cold temperatures? I know whenever I would try driving one of my trucks in the cold with a NiMH the pack would drive almost as if it was in the process of dumping, but it would run like that for the full 5 or 6 minutes I'd normally get out of it. Warm it back up and it's just fine. But with the level of care people take with LiPos, would there be any real harm in leaving my LiPo pack with my toolbox in the back of my 1:1 truck while I'm at work?

LIPOS DO NOT HEAT UP LIKE NIMH DO, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WARM UP THE CELLS PRIOR TO RUNNING. YOU DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE THEM IN EXTREMELY HOT TEMPERATURES. LIPO TECHNOLOGY HAS COME A LONG WAY AND ARE BECOMING VERY PLUG AND PLAY BUT BE SURE TO NEVER LET VOLTAGE DROP BELOW 3V AND TO KEEP THEM BALANCED WHEN CHARGING

5. As far as electric goes, I race weekly offroad during the winter and on-and-off in the summer with my TC dirt late model. I always had a plan for my NiCd and NiMH packs when they weren't going to be run for, like, a month or more. Is there anything I should do before I shelf my LiPo pack for awhile? During the week between races in the winter?

If storing for a prolonged period, charge battery to about 4v per cell and they will be fine

6. I would think they've been around long enough for someone to know; assuming it's taken care of what's the typical life span of a LiPo before they go bad for good? And is there a way to tell, like how one dead cell in a NiMH pack would get noticeably hotter than the other 5 during a charge?

some companies are claiming up to 200 charge cycles and 100 race worthy charge cycles

7. For a pack like this, a 3 cell 4900mAh, what's a "safe" amperage to charge it at? I'm racing Stock Truck so I don't need to do anything like the crazy 10 amp charges guys were blowing up NiMHs with.
this all depends what brand of battery you are charging and what its rated to charge at. trakpower can be charged at 2C but i normally stay at the 1C mark so this would mean 4.9Amps

Hope this helps and you can find lipo info on my webpage that may help out some more.

http://www.BulldawgRC.com

Great info there, now I see how balancing works. I'm used to using trays to bring NiMH's down to the same level, but balancers use the charger to bring them up that way. Interesting :cool:

Both those chargers look good too, simple, functional, & easy on the wallet :D I'm just wondering, if I got the Onyx 230 could I use the TrakPower balancer with it, or is that a charger-specific thing?

the v-balancer is not a charger specific balancer. it can be used with any charger that has 4mm female bullet (+) (-) connectors. Otherwise you can remove the 4mm male connector on the v-balancer and use whatever connector you may want to use.

If you are running a 3 cell LiPo, you should have one FAST stock truck! It's like running a 10 cell NiMh!

Usually to be fair in stock only 2 cell LiPo packs are allowed.. Check with your track to make sure they allow it without cheating!

Bulldawg gave you a lot of good info!

Just be careful when charging.. make sure the charger you get is set on the correct profile for LiPo and amperage. You'll find them much easier to use and maintain than NiMh.


Have fun!

Jerome :tire::tire:

Well it's a 2S1P, and they seem to be the hot setup in the oval field around S&N's Trackside and are run alongside the 6-cell NiMHs.

I built a new motor for my late model just before going racing last night, and at first I thought maybe something was wrong with it. The guy pitting behind me loaned me a charged NiMH for a couple laps, idea being if I used his pack and the car ripped, well then my battery was the problem. Sho' nuff, as soon as I set down for the second run the power was back. When I put the LiPo in and set down for the first time, the only real difference I could feel was the weight shift in the car now that it had a light little LiPo in it, the power felt about the same.

But yeah, thanks for all the tips & links guys, keep 'em coming! The more info the better :cool:

1. I need a new charger/chargers. For the longest time I've used a couple of DuraTrax IntelliPeak AC/DC Pulse chargers, $55 a pop, and they're plug-and-go. Just a button, a knob to set amperage, and 4 LED lights that go on to tell you what charge mode it's in. All but brainless operation, and I'd like to keep it that way. I really don't need anything like an ICE or a Turbo35 or a Pulsar, what I need is something I can set the amperage, plug the battery in, push a button, and it charges the pack. Bonus points for AC/DC and if it has a balance lead.

I know what you're saying, but going too idiot-proof on a charger usually leaves you with a lesser quality unit, and since you're going with high tech batteries I'd advise that it's time for a higher tech charger. The Duratrax ICE charger has been a fan favorite for a few years now, and its versatility of NiMH and LiPO charging makes it a good choice. It also has a programming section where you can log in seperate charging/discharing specs for up to 9 different packs if you have more than one different kinds and capacities of batteries. Once you have it set, all you have to do is plug in the pack and just push the button and go.

2. If the charger doesn't have a balance lead, are there stand-alone LiPo balancers available? And how often should my LiPo pack be balanced?

Yes, there are several different balancer options on the market. But I've found that LiPOs aren't near as sensitive to the need for regular balancing, as NiMHs are, and I only do mine once a month.

3. I've heard LiPos don't trail off like nickel packs do as they discharge, they run at full power until they go empty and then just dump. I've also heard you do NOT want to take them past this point, but short of buying one of those LiPo cutoff modules or a new ESC does a LiPo pack give any kind of warning before it dumps (ex: all of a sudden you've got no top-end speed, etc.) and if so about how long can you keep driving without damaging the pack once you notice that warning?

You're right, LiPOs don't trail off and generally have a constant discharge rate. But the problem is that you can kill one fast by over-discharging it and they really give no hint that you've exceeded the limit. A Low Voltage Cutoff module is pretty cheap, $25-ish, and keeps you from making the mistake and wasting the money a lot of people have.

4. I live in Wisconsin and race indoor electric in the winter, so how resilient are LiPo packs to very cold temperatures? I know whenever I would try driving one of my trucks in the cold with a NiMH the pack would drive almost as if it was in the process of dumping, but it would run like that for the full 5 or 6 minutes I'd normally get out of it. Warm it back up and it's just fine. But with the level of care people take with LiPos, would there be any real harm in leaving my LiPo pack with my toolbox in the back of my 1:1 truck while I'm at work?

Personally I've always kept my batteries in the house. That way they don't get too cold during the winter months or too hot during the summer months. While LiPOs don't tend to get as hot as NiMHs, they are a bit more sensitive and need a more stringent eye on care --- so that means the toolbox in the back of the truck is out. Checking one of my "spec sheets" they note "when transporting or temorarily storing in a vehicle, temperature range should be greater than 20 degrees F but no more than 150 degrees F."

5. As far as electric goes, I race weekly offroad during the winter and on-and-off in the summer with my TC dirt late model. I always had a plan for my NiCd and NiMH packs when they weren't going to be run for, like, a month or more. Is there anything I should do before I shelf my LiPo pack for awhile? During the week between races in the winter?

Most LiPOs come with some sort of instruction sheet that recommends maximum charge rate and storage voltage rate, and if not you can probably check the makers' website. Checking one of my "spec sheets" they note "do not store fully charged, best store at 3.8 to 3.9v per cell."

6. I would think they've been around long enough for someone to know; assuming it's taken care of what's the typical life span of a LiPo before they go bad for good? And is there a way to tell, like how one dead cell in a NiMH pack would get noticeably hotter than the other 5 during a charge?

I don't know because I've yet to kill a pack. Just like NiMHs they tend to be really fast when new, but once they have a few runs on them they level out and perform well for a long time. But considering a LiPO pack has only 2 or 3 cells (2s or 3s) per pack, the drop off in performance would be noticable enough to make a highly noticable difference.

7. For a pack like this, a 3 cell 4900mAh, what's a "safe" amperage to charge it at? I'm racing Stock Truck so I don't need to do anything like the crazy 10 amp charges guys were blowing up NiMHs with.

Most battery companies suggest different charge rates, so check with the manufacturer to make sure. Are you sure you bought a 3-cell (3s, 11.1v) or is it possible it was only a 2s (2-cell) 7.4volt model?

OK, it appears you have a 2s (2-cell) 7.4volt battery and not a 3-cell as you first suggested?

Yup (I guess). I highly doubt my ESC is capable of 11.1v (Futaba MC330CR) and I'm POSITIVE I would've noticed if it was :lol:

Like I said, these exact same packs are being used alongside 6-cell NiMH's at this track by other people for awhile now. :cool:

mike, for safety purposes a genera rule is charge at 1C for a 4900mAh, 4.9 amps. I have orion plats and tthey are 4800 and I charge them at 4 amps, although they could withstand 4.8amp charge rate.

return the bag, you wont need it unless you deliberately try to over heat the battery.

use a duratrax ice if you can afford it, they are liek 120-130 depending where you shop.

I charged my lipos before I closed shop last winter. I got back out there in march (maybe april) and topped one of them. it still had 8.4 volts in it and only charged for like, a minute. it was cold and the thing held the charge for 3 months. and no, im not kidding. lipo are faaaar superior to NiMH. and I guarantee youll never go back.

I have never balanced the cells, but if you built a simple comparator circuit, you could balance them yourself.

I saw the sliverado slammer in action when you ran both of PJs lipos in it on that one video.

it sure seemed to have more get-up than i had ever seen before.

for weight issues at Crackside when your racing, you can simply offset the weight difference with a 100g slab of brass plate in the bottom of your battery tray. Thats what matt sunderladge did, and I drove his losi desert truck with that setup, and it seemed fine.
in my trucks, I dont use additional weight. I just got used to the handling differrences.

When you come over again, you can review Erics Hyperion charger ( which is totally over the top) and also if you have lipos, but no chargers yet, we have about 7 ICEs in the house you can always heat up when you get there.

Pete

Good advice Pete, except for the "return the bag" part. After running lipos for a couple of years now, and watching a few other folks' go up in smoke and start quite a blaze, IMO it's an item well worth having if for no other reason than a safety precaution. Better safe, than sorry. ;)

Yeah I think I'll hang onto the bag. I'd like to keep using the phrase "I'm on fire tonight!" strictly as a metaphor for my on-track performance :D

That and I think lipo's have a tendancy to make people lazy, and they leave their packs in their cars and trucks while charging them since they only need one pack per vehicle. In hte last year I've watched two people catch their cars completely on fire, when a pack had a problem, and watched the car melt to the ground. And I heard about another guy that burned his Caddy's engine compartment out when he had his charger and pack hooked to his car battery. These things burn and spark and skyrocket like they're napalm and not just blow up like nimh's. Using the bag just develops good, safe, habits.

szakcajaru, im sorry anout that, you are correct...and I understand. I guess I have just been really fortunate then not to have one burst or see it happen near me.. Mike sorry, keep the bag. i dont need a fire at my house you lipo noob. :D

Hehe, you're also talking to the guy that had 2 throttle return springs, an O-ring wrapped around the carb neck and throttle arm, and a failsafe/onboard temp gauge in his 1/8th Buggy.

It's like helmets or racing seats, they're just not things you should cheap-out on :nod:

eww.not you got me thinkin about it, and maybe i should require the bags.. but then I would have to sell tham at my shop...
and I think they are like 20$ arent they?

I also need a fire extinguesher down there...
man., now im all worried.

1. I really can't recommend a charger with the specifics you set out, because i've been using an ICE for a couple years now and never really looked at another charger.

2. yes. the one I use is an astro blinky balancer. does the job pretty well.

3. yea it'll just dump but without a cutoff you'll run the risk of ruining your pack.

4. lipos do work under cold conditions. they just output more power when they're warm. Some packs do warm up during discharge and it's perfectly normal. Now, leaving it in your truck won't harm it, just as long as you don't short out the terminals. if that happens then your lipo goes bye bye.

5. All you have to do to store your lipos is discharge them down to 3.7v per cell and you can even toss them into the freezer. for some reason they LOVE the cold when stored.

6. Depends on the pack really. some claim between 100-200 cycles. others have 300 cycles. The first sign of a lipo going south is they don't take anywhere near the mah during charging they once used to.

7. 4.9 amps. never more than 1C for a pack. It doesn't matter if the manufacturer claims otherwise, you never charge over the rated mah. to find out the charge rate you take the mAh of your pack; in this case 4900mah, and divide by ten which gives you 4.9 amps.

besides, there is no benefit to charging higher than 1C. Do you really need to risk the pack puffing up on you just so you can save twenty minutes on a charge? not in my book it's not.

ROAR rules require them ;)

Sometimes sand is the preferred method of suppression.

ROAR Event Safety Specifications

Rule 1.5.16: At all ROAR events, functioning portable UL approved 2-1/2 pound minimum, ABC rated dry chemical or halon fire extinguishers, equipped with capacity gauges, must be in the pits and at trackside.

Tracks must have two (2) 5 gallon buckets of sand one at pit entrance and pit exit. Also, the track must have several 5 gallon buckets of sand placed
in the racers pit/table/chair area.

ok. Im on the case.

I gotta get the latest rules downloaded.

Im still working on the spectator barriers to be roar legal.

but yeah. Mike. LiPo


youll never go back.:nod:

Oh I know that. Remember I'm the one running with the theory that the NiMH batteries being produced today are low quality so that the battery companies can put more funding into LiPo packs and push the public to buying them.

I mean c'mon...I used to get two years out of my NiMH packs before they got too slow to race with, this last one I bought halfway through last winter electric season about 6-7 months ago and now it's 100% toast :weird:

Hell, those Epic Dreadnaught 3000 sticks I bought for the 6x6 some 4 years ago were next to useless when they were new...but they haven't got much worse in all that time.

OK, so until I get my own charger...my Old Man has a Dynamite Vision Peak that has a LiPo setting rated for 2-3 cells, but it can only go up to about 2.5 amps.

Thoughts?

No biggie, it will just take longer to charge them up. It won't hurt them to charge them slower, and it has been my experience that LiPOs don't really get any benefit by charging them at a higher amperage rate as the old NiCD and NiMH cells did.

Cool cool :cool:

Now, something else I'm wondering as I worked on my late model last night:

Say I'm charging my pack, it's in the bag and all, and for whatever reason it goes off. Is there anything at all that I can or should do or try to do?

Unplug the charger/charge lead, try to get the bag on the ground or at least move it so the vents aren't pointed at anything that could catch fire? Or should I just get the hell away from it and go for the nearest fire extinguisher/sand pail?

Sand sand sand......... it has to be extinquished somehow, things don't burn without oxygen. Halon I suppose would work, others might be questionable.
I use a bag at the track but at home I have a clay pot I stole from the wife I put them in while charging, and my plan is, if a problem develops I just take the whole thing outside and flip the pot over in the dirt.

So you don`t really need a balancer ? I`m gonna be making the switch soon and learning about lipos as I go .

Sounds to me like lithium balancers serve the same purpose and have the same importance as a nickel tray: do you absolutely need one? No, but will they increase the useful life and consistency of the pack? Definately.

pretty much.
the thing with balancing any pack is that you have to consider the number of cells involved. with the older style nimh and nicd packs you had 6 individual cells the worst or lowest of which affected the rest of the pack's performance, a lot of variables considering the number of cells. with a lipo in most cases you're only dealing with 2 cells (2s) so while balacing occassionally is a good thing there really is no need to be as paranoid about it as its been my experience that lipos are more stable and remain more consistent within a pack than nimh's. once a month max should be plenty.

Only observtion I'd add is the more expensive lipo cells are less likey to get out of balance - these are being closely matched at assembly and will remain in balance by themselves for quite awhile. Apogee maintains that high quality cells do not need balancing, period. Mot sure I buy that totally, but for top quality cells, I think balancing may be a touch overhyped.

Less expensive lipos use cheaper cells and are not matched -these are much more prone to get out of balance. These need more attention.

Just thought of something; I've got an old Traxxas E-Maxx with an EVX and a pair of Titans. This was made waaaay before people put LiPo packs in R/C cars & trucks, so no LiPo voltage cutoff.

But if I get a pair of external cutoffs and put one on each LiPo pack in the truck I'd protect the LiPos from dumping, BUT, according to the manual the EVX will blow if it only runs on one pack.

Didn't someone make LiPo cutoffs with a siren that went off before the cutoff kicked in?

good point

Just to make you more comfortable with Lipos. I have run an Orion 3200 and two 4800s for more than a year and raced them every week. They have never been out of balance more than .001 volt between the cells.

We have several guys running Lipos at our off road and at the carpet oval and never had a problem with a Lipo batt yet. We had three NIMHs blow up in the last season. One blew part of its case onto the track from the pits and burned a small hole in the ozite.

Our track requires that all Lipos must be hard cased but does not require sacks. We have fire extinguishers and sand but haven't needed them for Lipos just NIMH.

They sold me an open package battery (without telling me it was open package), then refused to take it back when I contacted them the day I received it.

Don't buy from a company that sells used items and represents them as new. You could be getting a potentially explosive battery, or one that is just plain dead.

Worst service around, and very crooked.

So what are average charge times for a Lipo battery? I guess it would all depend on you charge settings but lets just say in general.

And when they say its a 2S2P battery, its a 2 cell battery wired in parallel?

and 7.4 volts and 11.1 are the average size batteries people are running, I'm guessing the 11.1v batteries are what the monster truck guys use or for really wild brushless setups?

They don't make a charger with a balancer built in?

What is the "C" rating they use when rating batteries, like a 20C constant?



Thanks for the info.

"C rating" is the pack's capacity divided by 100.

For example, if you have a 5000mah pack, 1C would be 5. 10C would be 50.

So you've got 2 numbers to remember:

Charge rate should almost be always 1C so if you're talking that 5000mah pack then it will charge at 5 amps. SOME manufacturers(thunder power is one of them) say you can charge at 2C... With their own charger and batteries. I've never tried it, I know some do. Mainly charging at a higher rate will shorten the pack life from what I understand.

Discharge rating is also rated with the "c" rating. So if that same 5000 mah pack has a 20C(continuous) rating and a 25C(burst) rating, then it can discharge at a rate of 100 amps continuous with a 125 amp burst before you start to over-stress the pack. Exceeding the recommended discharge rate can result in much shorter pack life and in some cases damaging or "puffing" the pack.

Usually if you're charging at 1C you're looking at around an hour to charge a lipo unless it's been barely discharged.

As far as balancing, I use a balancer that goes inline between my charger and lipo. It gets balanced every charge... MAY not be necessary but it sure can't hurt.

For a charger I use the Triton Jr. and the Equinox balancer... Around 85 bucks for the charger and something like 30 for the balancer. The balancer is a direct plug in to the charger and Great Planes makes many different balance leads to fit the plug on your lipo. Here's a pic, as you can see the battery charges through the balance lead and balances at the same time:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...1/IMG_1521.jpg

There are better chargers out there with more bells and whistles, this one has worked fine for me. If I could do it RIGHT NOW, I'd get the FMA Cellpro 4S charger. Built-in balancer, tons of features and the price is awesome:

http://www.fmadirect.com/products.htm?cat=45&nid=4

My second choice(for a larger budget) would be the Bantam BC-6, this can charge up to 6 cells.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ducts_id/26730

OR for a few bucks more, the Cellpro 10s is also a nice choice:

http://www.fmadirect.com/new_applica...0s_charger.htm

Likely you won't need anything more than a 4-cell charger for car stuff. Being a helicopter guy, we use all sorts of different cell counts up to 12-cell lipos(well not me, I am not that rich ah hahaha).


All the info is a little much at first, I know it was for me. But once you digest it all you realize that lipos are way better than anything else:nod:

That info really helped! I've been into nitro for 7 years and the only electric stuff I've touched are my two Helis and my RC18t. It just seems like electric has gotten sooo much better(obviously) with the brushless motors and Lipo batteries over the years, it really has gotten my attention and wanting to give it a try.

Thats nice you can just plug a balancer right inline with the battery and charger.
And when you balance a battery, it refers to making sure the voltage is the same in each cell so they are even correct?

That triton charger, balancer setup looks pretty decent, I looked up the specs for the charger off tower hobbies, that nice you can charge other batteries too like nimh. To bad its not A/C and D/C.
You think the Super brain 989 is overkill?

a 7.4v 4000mah 2s lipo should give me pretty good run time right?

Some lipo manufactures say not to use any superbrain chargers . Not sure why .