Teknorc...
I haven't read this whole thread, but has there been any discussion about what a dual pack offers for battery type options, e.g. 2s, 3s, etc. This is one of the main reasons why I chose the Serpent; it had the best quality and performance and a 'style' that I liked
.. for the best cost: I could use same batteries for 1/10 if I wanted.
Honestly, this is a bad idea as are dual pack setups in general. What happens if you forget to charge one pack? The LVC isn't going to protect that one battery. In all honesty, if you have already spent 700 to $800 on the car, motor and ESC why wouldn't you just spend a mere $80 on a battery?
having the dual pack means that I can share 2s and 3s lipos with other cars AND it also gives me a more versatile combination to work with, 2x3s, still gives me 6s when wired in parallel. This is an attractive feature for guys ( and girls ) who race several classes in 1/10 scale, that they "really" want to try the "big track" that the 1/8 scale cars run on.
2 x 3S packs in parallel is still 3s. Again, sharing batteries with other cars is a mistake. If you must use 2x2S they should be dedicated batteries so that they age together.
Some people think they break allot, but with the 'right' car, they are very durable...
and when, with a 2 pack layout, u can use some of your better 1/10 scale packs, or since 2s lipos are typically cheaper batteries anyway ( heck, I paid $40 from HobbyKing for my Turnigy 2s 5800 65c pack ), it makes stepping INTO the 1/8 scale market much easier to justify the extra $ in getting new/more batteries.
So you can get a nice CRC 4S hardcase pack for $80 and you don't even have to order from China! When you do the math, even on Hobby King packs, the lowest cost packs are the ones with the most cells which makes sense. Each case, shrink wrap, wires and set of connetors cost money. If you have 4S worth with 1 connector, 1 case, and 1 length of wire it should cost less than having double of everything. Buying 2S used to be cheaper because they were more common than 4S packs. I wouldn't say that is the case now.
This is the main reason I would like to see Tekno make a dual pack layout... to make the class more "affordable" to get into, thus increasing the class numbers and more recognition, which it desperately needs if e-Truggy will ever even become a class... where 2 pack layout makes even more economical sense, put 'performance', 'balance', 'numbers'.. aside.
Again as I said above, this is not true. 1/8th is not an affordable class to begin with and the dual pack setups are not any cheaper. On top of that, the EB48 and the Serpent are not what I would call intro buggies. They are the best of the class. If you want cheap, go buy a duratrax or a Ofna Nexx8 and use you dual 2s packs. There is nothing saying that you can't use 2x2S in the EB48, but it is much cleaner if you use a single 4S.
a single pack layout means I can only have 1 pack to get me the juice I need. 1 4s, or 1 6s.. and this also means that I must have more batteries for all my cars.. kinda expensive!!! I'm not sure about too many options for 1 5s, but maybe there are and I just haven't seen them.
Were you racing in the NiMH days? $80 bought me a single matched pack that was no longer race worthy after 10 runs. If I was racing mod, the pack was a practice pack after 4 or 5 runs and the total life span was maybe 50 runs at best. Nowdays, $80 buys me a fairly nice 4S pack that will be race quality for 30 or 40 runs and will have a total lifespan of 200 to 300 runs. I really can't consider an investment of $80 to be expensive when it is powering a $1000 car. It is kind of like a radio. You can't go and race 3 classes with only 1 receiver and 1 servo. At the bare minimum you need 3 receivers and 3 servos with 1 transmitter. The receiver and the servo alone with cost more than a single 4S battery.
_