Jason/TPRC

Hello everyone,

We’d like to take a moment to thank you all again for your continued support! Response to the release of our Sport Race 22-25C and Pro Race 40C series batteries has been nothing short of overwhelming, and although it will take us at least a few more weeks to hopefully catch up with demand, we certainly would not have been successful during the last few months without your interest in and support for our products!

And as Jim already mentioned, one of the most exciting things for us in recent weeks was attending the Snowbirds Nationals where our 3200mAh and 5000mAh Pro Race 40C series batteries were in action at one of their first “big” race events. Jim, Charlie and I had the pleasure of meeting many of the industry’s leading manufacturer reps and drivers, along with a large number of dedicated and talented drivers from all levels and classes of racing. We were fortunate to come away from the event with a number of wins for both the 3200mAh and 5000mAh batteries, but also (and even more importantly!) with a host of new relationships and an incredible wealth of information about touring and oval racing (I’ve only raced touring cars so getting to see and learn about oval racing first-hand was invaluable!). Thanks again to all those we met at the race and we hope to see you again at other races and events later this year and for years to come!

Since before and after Snowbirds we’ve been making a lot of progress on many things, including trying our best to keep up with demand for Pro Race 40C series batteries, as well as shipping a number of 2S and 3S Sport Race series batteries (like the now very popular 5400mAh 25C and 8000mAh 22C series batteries) for the first time. We’ve also made a lot of progress on development of new products, including the following which will debut at the Cactus Classic race this weekend in Scottsdale, AZ (final specifications, availability and other info for the items listed below will be posted here in the coming weeks):

TP5200-2SPRS; 5200mAh 2-Cell/2S 7.4V Pro Race 40C LiPo Saddle Pack – MAP/street price; $129.99

This is the first release in our Sport Race and Pro Race 40C series of Saddle Packs, and quite possibly the number one item we receive requests for at the moment.


TP4300-4SSR; 4300mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V Sport Race 25C LiPo – MAP/street price; $149.99 (40 x 47 x 138mm)
TP5400-4SSR; 5400mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V Sport Race 25C LiPo – MAP/street price; $179.99 (45 x 47 x 138mm)

TP4200-4SPR; 4200mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V Pro Race 40C LiPo – MAP/street price; $199.99 (40 x 47 x 138mm)
TP5000-4SPR; 5000mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V Pro Race 40C LiPo – MAP/street price; $249.99 (45 x 47 x 138mm)

Along with the many requests we receive for saddle pack batteries, we also receive many requests for 4S 14.8V batteries that can be used in the increasingly-popular 1/8th scale electric buggy racing arena. Hopefully this range of 4S 14.8V batteries well-suits both sport and pro racers alike!


Also very exciting for us is that our 2S 7.4V 5000mAh Pro Race 40C series battery (TP5000-2SPR) was recently approved by EFRA (European Federation of Radio Operated Model Automobiles) for use at their sanctioned racing events that take place throughout Europe. We are proud to offer one of the dimensionally smallest and most powerful 5000mAh 40C capable batteries available (a result of our use of the best Japanese-manufactured materials and an industry-leading, well-matured chemistry), which allowed our battery to be EFRA approved in the same exact ROAR-approved form it’s sold in here in the US. Now racers world-wide (and those that travel to races throughout the world) can use the same battery that’s making such a huge impact on the performance standard at tracks all over the US!

All this in mind we still have a lot more battery and charger projects in the works (in the midst of trying to get caught up with and to hopefully keep up with demand for our previously released products!), including potential single-cell offerings, a number of new crawler and 1/18th scale offerings and more, and will do our best to keep everyone as informed as possible on our progress. Our web site is still out of date, but will indeed be updated soon to better reflect our many current and new offerings for the surface and aircraft markets.

Here also are some answers to various questions posted here in recent weeks:

Hello reenmachine,

To further elaborate on the info Jim posted regarding charge rate, all Sport Race and Pro Race series batteries are approved for charging at rates up to 3C when using a proven good quality charger and balancer/built-in balancer that constantly “communicates” with the charger (such as the TP610C or TP1010C and TP210V combo). It’s much more reliable and safer to charge at rates of 2C and above when using a balancer that constantly communicates with the charger regarding the status of the individual cells in the battery. In the case of our TP610C for example, if the built-in balancer ever “sees” an imbalance greater than it can correct in timely manner at the current charge rate, it will “tell” the charger to reduce the charge rate to allow it time to properly balance the cells during the charge cycle. It can also “tell” the charger to stop the charge cycle entirely if any cell reaches a voltage beyond 4.2V in order to prevent a potentially damaging and dangerous overcharge condition. And although a high-quality, precisely-matched LiPo battery (assembled using quality cells matched by true IR, capacity and voltage) that is properly maintained and used should remain well-balanced even when charged at rates up to 3C, there are still instances when a cell can fail unexpectedly (due to inadvertent abuse on a recent cycle, an unforeseen defect, etc.), and without using a balancer that communicates with a charger during the charge process, charging at even a 1C (or lower) rate could be considered unsafe by some.

That said, we and many of our drivers see little to no performance gain when charging at rates beyond 1C, meaning the most significant benefit of charging at a higher rate is simply a shorter charge time. However (and we are still investigating the actual effects in further detail by cycling and comparing performance of the same model of cells charged at 1C, 2C and 3C then all discharged at the same rates), we do know that charging any LiPo battery at higher rates will reduce its available cycle life when compared with charging the same battery at lower rates. And while almost everyone understands this to be the case with just about any chemistry/type of battery, some manufacturers still claim higher charge rates to have no affect on their given battery’s cycle life, yet in just about all cases when a claim like this is made little to no testing to prove its merit has been conducted.

Keeping all of this and what we’ve found to be common practice for most racers in mind, our official recommendation is to charge at rates of 1C (or even less) whenever possible to achieve maximum cycle life, or at a rate up to 2C if you’re in a hurry (and only when necessary). 3C (or even higher) charge rates should only be used in emergency and extremely time-sensitive situations that hopefully most will not encounter. And on a related note, our safety/instruction sheet will be updated to include this and other more current/relevant info in the coming months.


Hello timmay70,

As noted above, we are investigating the possibilities of developing single-cell offerings and will likely have at least one (and maybe more) available in the coming months as we better understand the needs and direction of the market.


Hello marksp,

After shipping a few thousand Race series batteries in recent months, we’ve only received a handful of returns, most of which we received because the case was damaged (usually in shipping and there were no problems with the cells, wiring, etc). This means the actual failure rate is well below 50% (and even 0.5%!) as a result, and you would most certainly see more reports of failures here if this was not the case. Also, regarding the durability of the case, we’re already working on tooling and/or material changes that will further enhance the protection our cases offer the cells inside.

And in our experience with LiPo battery product support over the last 7 years, the vast majority of “initial charge” problems some customers experience are usually related to faulty connections (main power leads and/or balance connector leads) between the battery and charger...which is almost always the case when one person has an issue with more than one battery. However, because all of our products carry a 1-year warranty, anyone that experiences an issue of any kind is welcome to visit our web site to fill out the online RMA form and follow the instructions we send in response to return the product to us for review. If found to be defective it any way, it will of course be replaced at no additional cost, as quickly as possible.


Thanks again everyone!

Jason