Spektrum "smart" batteries: yay or nay?

[slick2500]

Definitely not on the charger itself, I know the bigger charger TRX offers has some bluetooth connectivity, not sure what info it gives though.

Just voltage information, charge rate, time remaining that kind of stuff.

 

[yaboyhamz]

4 out of 5 of my 3s spektrum batteries dropped the 3rd cell. one of my friends said it's because the auto voltage drop and sometimes the chips mess up and instead of dropping all 3 cells down to 3.8 they just drop the 3rd one down to 0

 

[KnowAir]

4 out of 5 of my 3s spektrum batteries dropped the 3rd cell. one of my friends said it's because the auto voltage drop and sometimes the chips mess up and instead of dropping all 3 cells down to 3.8 they just drop the 3rd one down to 0

You mean the auto discharge? I haven't used that feature on mine yet.

Just voltage information, charge rate, time remaining that kind of stuff.

I see, so no ir readings? Why am I not surprised?

 

[slick2500]

You mean the auto discharge? I haven't used that feature on mine yet.

I see, so no ir readings? Why am I not surprised?

Meh the built in ir meter in most chargers in not very accurate anyway. If you want accuracy you need something like a Wayne Giles meter.

 

[KnowAir]

Meh the built in ir meter in most chargers in not very accurate anyway. If you want accuracy you need something like a Wayne Giles meter.

Oh man, you didn't just say that!? You know how many folks round here love those ir readings? It's how all good or bad batteries are judged?? Now you tell me they're not accurate?

 

[ARA8611V5]

Hey whatever works for you.
$280. just for the S2200 charger alone, is rather expensive for only 200w x2 on AC Only. If charging smaller 5kmah 2s packs, yeah they will charge faster. Depends what C rate you charge at.
I prefer single 6s bricks. All depends if you like running doubles or one brick.

Edited for corrections.

I have the s1200 not the s2200. I use 1 battery 6s per run.

 

[KnowAir]

I have the s1200 not the s2200. I use 1 battery 6s per run.

Oh, a DC charger. I just looked it up. What are you using as a power supply? 200watts is plenty to charge a single 6s. I hooked 2x6s to the S2100 and it gave one battery the full 5a I set it to, the other battery got whatever was available. I think around 2a? I used 50 and 100watt chargers for over a decade without any issues. I found that having a crapton of cheap batteries and keep on charging while I bash works just fine.. of course that's if you're bashing at home or somewhere you can charge while bashing.

 

[ARA8611V5]

Oh, a DC charger. I just looked it up. What are you using as a power supply? 200watts is plenty to charge a single 6s. I hooked 2x6s to the S2100 and it gave one battery the full 5a I set it to, the other battery got whatever was available. I think around 2a? I used 50 and 100watt chargers for over a decade without any issues. I found that having a crapton of cheap batteries and keep on charging while I bash works just fine.. of course that's if you're bashing at home or somewhere you can charge while bashing.

My S1200 G2 is an AC charger but I also have 2 DC chargers for my 8s rig. The DC I run off of a 1200W 50 A power supply.

 

[yaboyhamz]

You mean the auto discharge? I haven't used that feature on mine yet.

I see, so no ir readings? Why am I not surprised?

afaik auto discharge is on with all batteries and has to be manually turned off

https://www.spektrumrc.com/product/...ipo-battery-2-s2200-g2-charger/SPMXG2PS4.html

i bought this combo on sale for $230 and sold the batteries asap. its def a good charger

afaik auto discharge is on with all batteries and has to be manually turned off

https://www.spektrumrc.com/product/...ipo-battery-2-s2200-g2-charger/SPMXG2PS4.html

i bought this combo on sale for $230 and sold the batteries asap. its def a good charger

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175667499324 found one left for that price

 

[KnowAir]

afaik auto discharge is on with all batteries and has to be manually turned off

https://www.spektrumrc.com/product/...ipo-battery-2-s2200-g2-charger/SPMXG2PS4.html

i bought this combo on sale for $230 and sold the batteries asap. its def a good charger

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175667499324 found one left for that price

That's a great price considering Spektrum wants $279 for the charger alone. I'd buy if it was what I wanted no doubt. Good find, thanks for sharing.
I got the S2100 along with a Hota S6 in rotation at the moment. Plus my old standby, a Hota AC6 or whatever it is.. 50watts, it works great though.
I haven't used the smart battery discharge function because I run them down in a rig. Haven't needed the auto function yet. I know it's on by default.

 

[Xpress..]

I had an 8s power pack gifted to me by my brother. S2100 charger and 2x4s 5000mah 100C G1 smart batteries. He bought 2 of the kits on sale at $200 each. I think they perform okay, nothing special though. The key is simplicity I guess. Some folks don't want to learn the ins/outs of lipo but would rather plug and play. Both Spektrum and TRX offer similar products. Both work reasonably well, performance is average I'd say. The TRX chargers give zero information on battery "health" though. Perhaps there's an app or something needed? IDK.
Plug and play ends up being 2 or 3 times the cost though so, not worth it to me. The auto discharge feature from Spektrum's batteries is nice. I'll just stick with my amazon specials.

I think almost everyone here forgets that Horizon/Arrma and Traxxas are the two biggest competitors in the RC surface market and are always trying to out-do each other. Traxxas offers their ID battery system, so naturally Horizon offers a comparable and more competitive SMART system that interfaces better than the Traxxas units do. These products are not aimed directly at the serious modeler, they are all aimed at beginner modelers and modelers who honestly don't give a flying duck about top tier performance or the ultimate in price savings- they just want to plug it in and it work whether it gets plugged into the charger or the car. And both systems do just that.

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I use the Auto Discharge all the time on my Smart packs. There was a production run of the smart chips in batteries that were draining almost 200mAh a day, Horizon put out an update that fixes this so you don't wind up with dead batteries anymore. since the updated, myself and many others who use the spektrum surface packs haven't had issues with cell imbalances or over draining beyond the programmed self discharge level.

 

[KnowAir]

I think almost everyone here forgets that Horizon/Arrma and Traxxas are the two biggest competitors in the RC surface market and are always trying to out-do each other. Traxxas offers their ID battery system, so naturally Horizon offers a comparable and more competitive SMART system that interfaces better than the Traxxas units do. These products are not aimed directly at the serious modeler, they are all aimed at beginner modelers and modelers who honestly don't give a flying duck about top tier performance or the ultimate in price savings- they just want to plug it in and it work whether it gets plugged into the charger or the car. And both systems do just that.

---------------------------

I use the Auto Discharge all the time on my Smart packs. There was a production run of the smart chips in batteries that were draining almost 200mAh a day, Horizon put out an update that fixes this so you don't wind up with dead batteries anymore. since the updated, myself and many others who use the spektrum surface packs haven't had issues with cell imbalances or over draining beyond the programmed self discharge level.

I agree, and also feel that both offer a decent product. Worth it? Well, not to me, but I'm tighter than two coats of paint with my money soo
I just haven't left my Spektrum packs in a full charge state thus far. I always run them down or just let my chargers put them to storage levels. I have no doubt the auto discharge works.

 

[yaboyhamz]

I agree, and also feel that both offer a decent product. Worth it? Well, not to me, but I'm tighter than two coats of paint with my money soo
I just haven't left my Spektrum packs in a full charge state thus far. I always run them down or just let my chargers put them to storage levels. I have no doubt the auto discharge works.

well i mustve had the bad batches and their replacements were also bad batches too

 

[KnowAir]

well i mustve had the bad batches and their replacements were also bad batches too

Are you referring to them over discharging, or just unhappy with them overall? I run stock power in most of my stuff, the Spektrum batteries do fine by me. Like I said, I never actually used the auto discharge feature. Never turned it off either, maybe I should? My batteries seem to be well balanced between cells whenever I check. For the money, I can buy 3 amazon batteries to one Spektrum so, not my favorite by any means.

 

[colt45]

I like the new Spektrum Pro Basher line. They're a little pricy but for the size of the packs, you get more mAh's of a similar sized battery and they're all 120c discharge rate. I haven't had an issue with them yet. I can fit the 6800mah 120c 6s pack into my Kraton 6S... it's 1mm wider than the battery tray but you can squeeze it in without any issues. What are y'all's thoughts on the gensacearespammers Basher Lipo Batteries? They're around $40 - $50 cheaper the Spektrum's Basher line.

 

[Dan B.]

The Gen’s Basher lipos are probably the single best batteries I’ve ever used in my bashers. The oldest pair I have are four seasons old (going into the fifth) and their cell counts are still really good and have always stayed very consistent. Zero complaints. For bashing, boom.

 

[Jerold]

Not arguing if they are any good or not (performance) but they are more expensive. You need to pay for the extra electronics in the batteries and the charger support. It may seem like only $5 in parts per battery but they have engineering cost, testing, certifications (UL, CE, etc), packaging, quality testing an conformance and tons of liability insurance.

As the name gets bigger they are more likely to get sued, and we all get to pre-pay that bill. Just a reality.

If you sue CNHL - good luck.

For me, I looked at that those when I switched to LiPo. But as someone stated I figured it out in about 20 mins and saved $100 on a charger and $10+/battery.

Also, as far as I know, Spectrum and Traxxas don't have a 10,000 mAh 4S battery. Nor do they have anything but 1S4P packs. I could be wrong, but I've never seen it.

Not arguing if they are any good or not (performance) but they are more expensive. You need to pay for the extra electronics in the batteries and the charger support. It may seem like only $5 in parts per battery but they have engineering cost, testing, certifications (UL, CE, etc), packaging, quality testing an conformance and tons of liability insurance.

As the name gets bigger they are more likely to get sued, and we all get to pre-pay that bill. Just a reality.

If you sue CNHL - good luck.

For me, I looked at that those when I switched to LiPo. But as someone stated I figured it out in about 20 mins and saved $100 on a charger and $10+/battery.

Also, as far as I know, Spectrum and Traxxas don't have a 10,000 mAh 4S battery. Nor do they have anything but 1S4P packs. I could be wrong, but I've never seen it.

I stand corrected, by myself. Spectrum has a drag pack, that is 2S4P.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/produc...4585032214881007&utm_content=AllProducts_MOFU

 

[colt45]

Not arguing if they are any good or not (performance) but they are more expensive. You need to pay for the extra electronics in the batteries and the charger support. It may seem like only $5 in parts per battery but they have engineering cost, testing, certifications (UL, CE, etc), packaging, quality testing an conformance and tons of liability insurance.

As the name gets bigger they are more likely to get sued, and we all get to pre-pay that bill. Just a reality.

If you sue CNHL - good luck.

For me, I looked at that those when I switched to LiPo. But as someone stated I figured it out in about 20 mins and saved $100 on a charger and $10+/battery.

Also, as far as I know, Spectrum and Traxxas don't have a 10,000 mAh 4S battery. Nor do they have anything but 1S4P packs. I could be wrong, but I've never seen it.



I stand corrected, by myself. Spectrum has a drag pack, that is 2S4P.

https://www.horizonhobby.com/produc...4585032214881007&utm_content=AllProducts_MOFU

Spectrum does have a 10000mah 4S. https://www.spektrumrc.com/search?q=Basher

 

[slick2500]

I like the new Spektrum Pro Basher line. They're a little pricy but for the size of the packs, you get more mAh's of a similar sized battery and they're all 120c discharge rate. I haven't had an issue with them yet. I can fit the 6800mah 120c 6s pack into my Kraton 6S... it's 1mm wider than the battery tray but you can squeeze it in without any issues. What are y'all's thoughts on the gensacearespammers Basher Lipo Batteries? They're around $40 - $50 cheaper the Spektrum's Basher line.

Don't get suckered into the c rate trap they can put whatever they want on the pack doesn't mean anything in the real world
https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/c-rates-what-is-the-deal.17174/

 

[Jerold]

Spectrum does have a 10000mah 4S. https://www.spektrumrc.com/search?q=Basher

I stand corrected.