Originally Posted by
MUDVAYNE
I second that statement. All I have been hearing from the Lipo guys is that this technology is going to save the hobby, when in fact lipo is more dangerous than NiMH. I have only seen two different packs vent and I have been racing competively for close to five years now. I have also heard about many more lipo packs melting down, exploding etc. There is nothing wrong with the four cell rule as it stands now. Just like I have quoted above from Cypress, the NiMH cells are very reliable and very low maintance. Also, you get much more voltage from a four cell NiMH battery pack than you will a Lipo.
There also has been discussion about putting a voltage regulator in a 7.4 Lipo pack. Anyone want to start a pool as to who will be the first to fool around with this "regulator or resistor" to get slightly more voltage supplied from the pack?
Interesting. You compare how many nimh's you've seen vent versus how many lipos you've heard gone up, not that you saw in person. Great comparison!!
But seriously, I don't think Lipo is going to save the hobby. It's just going to provide a new option that is cheaper and easier to maintain then nimh's. I've seen both go up, and 9 times out of 10 it's user error. Also, it depends on the type of cell for both cases. I've had an orion cell puff up, but not catch on fire or anything (apparently running one in a touring car on a 100 degree day with a 3.5 isn't good). Meanwhile, I've had IB cells vent and witnessed one IB pack blow up. Likewise, I've seen a maxamps pack melt a car due to it not being charged in a lipo sack. EP and EG cells seem to be more reliable.
In both cases, I think we read and see about the extreme cases. I don't think there were any incidents at ROAR nationals this past weekend and plenty of drivers were using both technologies.
Paul