Battery temps 4S vs. 6S

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L3phturn

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Arrma RC's
  1. Kraton EXB
  2. Notorious
Hi Asylum peeps.

So I have this new Notorious 6S. LOVING it. Only run 6 packs through it. So far only on 4S. A single HRB 5000 mAh 50C. Yesterday evening we had our longest bash session yet and I was checking temps. We ran the pack down to 3.7v /cell. After the run I noticed the battery itself was 110-115 degrees F and much hotter than the plastic battery box around it.

Some details. Stock pinion - not the speed pinion. Good 20 minute bash session on gravel, dirt and doing jumps etc. At the end of the run I did a half dozen speed passes on the street out front. I have a Hobbywing 150 amp Quickrun ESC. (soldering mistake and I fried the BLX185). Transmitter and ESC calibrated. Punch 6. The motor got up to 145 F after the speed passes at the end, but had been staying 110 - 120.

Anyway - what temperature will damage the battery? Is it the speed runs that heat it up? Will putting 2x 3S packs in keep the battery cooler?

I'll start temp checking the battery from now on as I dial this beast in. Planning to go to 6S this weekend as the boy and I are getting comfortable with 4S. Later that night I checked and all 4 cells were 3.70 so voltage is very consistent.
 
You are pulling max amps for a relatively long period of time on a speed run compared to just bashing.
Every cycle uses up some of its life. The hotter you make your Lipo the more wear/damage you are doing.
I've read that 140F is the real danger point but even at 115- 120F range you are definately reducing its life a lot faster.

Using 2 packs may add a little more surface area but will probably make little difference being quite insulated.

The higher the Lipo C rating the lower the Lipo temp will be... for general bashing.

My Turnigy graphenes offer more punch but they do also heat up just the same when you use all the available amperage... but with general bashing they do stay far cooler.
 
You are pulling max amps for a relatively long period of time on a speed run compared to just bashing.
Every cycle uses up some of its life. The hotter you make your Lipo the more wear/damage you are doing.
I've read that 140F is the real danger point but even at 115- 120F range you are definately reducing its life a lot faster.

Using 2 packs may add a little more surface area but will probably make little difference being quite insulated.

The higher the Lipo C rating the lower the Lipo temp will be... for general bashing.

My Turnigy graphenes offer more punch but they do also heat up just the same when you use all the available amperage... but with general bashing they do stay far cooler.

Thanks for the info. I think the lesson is don't do a bunch of speed runs. It's a basher and doing a run or two is fine but 6 back to back was probably a bad idea. I have a construction area that is a great bashing spot a few minutes walk from the house but I tend to drive the Notorious back after bashing (unless I hit LVC which I have yet to do) and on the paved streets it's tempting to mash the throttle and see what it will do. I'll try to restrain myself. On second thought the best idea is to keep bashing until 3.7v and then drive it back slowly or carry it. I can use the exercise. ;)
 
What was the ambient temperature like? How do you know the battery was 3.70v per cell? Why did you stop then?

6s isn't going up keep your motor temps down, it will help with airflow if you're going faster, but you'll be likely doing a similar speed when bashing just with more head room for jumps. This may help your battery temp as your using a smaller percentage of the available power in the battery.

The motor temp is still in the good zone.

In 2 and half years I've not destroyed a battery and I can still have fun with any pack I have, there is one battery I have which is rubbish and that is due to brand quality not my treatment, the way my bank of batteries has been treated is disappointing on my part, but what it shows is that they are pretty robust even under bad conditions. The IR is starting to increase on a couple of them, but the life I've got out of them I'm not feeling ripped off. They would have been way above the temps you measured, but it does get very hot where I drive a lot in summer.
Thanks for the info. I think the lesson is don't do a bunch of speed runs. It's a basher and doing a run or two is fine but 6 back to back was probably a bad idea. I have a construction area that is a great bashing spot a few minutes walk from the house but I tend to drive the Notorious back after bashing (unless I hit LVC which I have yet to do) and on the paved streets it's tempting to mash the throttle and see what it will do. I'll try to restrain myself. On second thought the best idea is to keep bashing until 3.7v and then drive it back slowly or carry it. I can use the exercise. ;)
Drive it like you stole it, you shouldn't have to be worried about doing those kind of runs on 4s, if the temps are really getting high in future i would think maybe that battery isn't good enough. The value for performance battery to me has to be the Hobby King Heavy Duty lipos, they are really well priced and give a lot of run time and are smaller and lighter than the graphene only sacrificing a little on the c rating. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy...ah-6s-60c-lipo-pack-xt-90.html?___store=en_us
 
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What was the ambient temperature like? How do you know the battery was 3.70v per cell? Why did you stop then?

About 85 F. I know the battery ended at 3.70 v per cell because I have a bunch of voltage checkers/alarms. I also plugged it into my HiTech RDX pro after it cooled down to bring it up to storage voltage. I stopped because the flies started coming out!
 
About 85 F. I know the battery ended at 3.70 v per cell because I have a bunch of voltage checkers/alarms. I also plugged it into my HiTech RDX pro after it cooled down to bring it up to storage voltage. I stopped because the flies started coming out!
Great answers! It is important to know why your choosing to do something, I had a battery fail yesterday, well at least it was evident it is failing. The Max 5 really pulls some serious current and i think your ESC will be doing a similar thing, any battery that is weak or not really up to spec will struggle under heavy load. I've never killed a graphene battery before, hope it is the last. It's good you're aware of the state of the equipment you run. Many people abuse their gear and wonder why all of a sudden it stops working or worse.

I've never been too worried about the low voltage cut off before, but it can't be a bad thing to stop using the car when it starts to drop off, i just hope you're getting a decent run time. I've run a 4s lighten race Kraton for ages on heavy throttle with no issues at all, that was using a blx esc. It does surprise me that your having this problem.
 
For battery temps, I have heard to keep them under 120, so at 110, they are warm, but safe.

Batteries warm up when they are loaded near, or over their max amps. This may be a sign that your HRB 50C cells are not up to the task.
 
For battery temps, I have heard to keep them under 120, so at 110, they are warm, but safe.

Batteries warm up when they are loaded near, or over their max amps. This may be a sign that your HRB 50C cells are not up to the task.
Heck my Turnigy Graphene Panther 5.0 6S pack gets pretty hot on the EXB with the 1717 combo on 21T. I actually thermalled twice last night and when I got home from bashing, the lipo was still pretty warm. I forgot to take my IR with me to take an actual temp, but it was warmer than I felt safe putting on the storage charge right away.
 
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