What is your RC LiPo of choice in 2022

[CrashBoom]

I've done everything that you are supposed to do correctly from my end.

Could just be bad batteries, any number of things really. You want to let them rest a couple hours before taking a reading as well.

I would think if the readings are whacky you'd see similar things on on all batteries.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I would not be surprised if the right physical damage could increase resistance.

 

[Armarookie43]

Could just be bad batteries, any number of things really. You want to let them rest a couple hours before taking a reading as well.

I would think if the readings are whacky you'd see similar things on on all batteries.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I would not be surprised if the right physical damage could increase resistance.

Yeah. Most likely it's the way I use them. If I didn't bash as hard, they would most likely be good right now.

 

[jkflow]

Bashing is very hard on them, and Zeee quality in general has decreased significantly over the last 2 years. I was happy with mine when I got them ~ 2 years ago, the ones I bought ~ a year later are relative junk. Never again. Amazon lipos are only good for 1 season, not worth the savings imho.

 

[Adiabatic]

I even put gorilla tape around the them. They still look new on the outside for thats reason.

Tape will keep them looking good on the outside, but won't do much to stop microfractures from forming in the anode and cathode plates inside the cells, increasing internal resistance over time.

LiPo pouch cells really aren't made for bashing, and the fact that they work in our cars is incidental. Cycle life of a given battery will be much lower than in virtually any other application where you're not doing the equivalent of dropping it on the ground from 10' up numerous times.

 

[jkflow]

Fractures are not the issue. Over discharge and heat above 130F will do it.

https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/anatomy-of-a-dead-lipo.47738/

 

[dk10438]

well not to marginalize this situation but batteries are consumables and they're going to wear out. Less than a year does seem kinda short but you're going to have to buy new ones. I've repurposed some of my old batteries by using them as a power source for my charger in the field. CNHL was having a pretty good sale so maybe you can pick up something there for not too much more than the zees

 

[Armarookie43]

Not blaming the batteries again for this, since I do extreme jumps as mentioned before. Last time I ran my PowerHobby 4s 7000MAH 120C graphene batteries on my X-Maxx, they only lasted for like 5 minutes just like the Zee ones. I'm assuming that they had the same issue. I should have checked TBH. But I thought I didn't charge them correctly (bad mistake), so I balance charged them and tried again. One of them started smoking within 5 minutes. I had to burn my finger to disconnect this thing before the whole thing caught on fire. I made several mistakes today . So far the damage was my finger, battery straps and the battery :

Aftermath of the lipo smoking :

 

[Armarookie43]

Let me know if this is not a good idea. I have a 8000mah 120C PW battery that I can use with the 7000MAH PW battery. Everything else is the same (same battery, same C rating, same company), except the MAH. I was thinking about charging the 8000mah battery with cutoff on the MAH at 7000MAH. Or do I just balance charge it at 100% capacity like the 7000MAH one? I checkers the internal resistance and it looks fine on both of my batteries (what I should have done with the other one that went up on smoke). Thoughts?

 

[Diem Turner]

Let me know if this is not a good idea. I have a 8000mah 120C PW battery that I can use with the 7000MAH PW battery. Everything else is the same (same battery, same C rating, same company), except the MAH. I was thinking about charging the 8000mah battery with cutoff on the MAH at 7000MAH. Or do I just balance charge it at 100% capacity like the 7000MAH one? I checkers the internal resistance and it looks fine on both of my batteries (what I should have done with the other one that went up on smoke). Thoughts?

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If you're talking about connecting them in series, yes. You can do that. Just charge them both up as normal (4.2V/cell). I would however check them occasionally with a battery tester to make sure you don't go under 3.5 or 3.3V/cell. Other than that you should be fine.

That's my understanding anyways. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

 

[Armarookie43]

If you're talking about connecting them in series, yes. You can do that. Just charge them both up as normal (4.2V/cell). I would however check them occasionally with a battery tester to make sure you don't go under 3.5 or 3.3V/cell. Other than that you should be fine.

That's my understanding anyways. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

I have my ESC to cut off at 3.5V anyways. I'll run them tomorrow then I'll check the voltage on all the cells. I don't see a problem either. Thanks

 

[jkflow]

I don't recommend connecting different battery capacities in parallel or in series during heavy use.

I can be done but if I had a choice, only in parallel. You will stress the higher capacity more.
In series, you will get a large voltage drop on the lower capacity towards the end, while the other one will still be relatively high. That might cause issues in detecting LVC.
If you keep an eye on voltages and don't overdo it, you can get away with it.

In short, can be done, but not recommended. I'd always go with equal pairs.
I've done it if I had stuff on order to bridge the gap.


The IR values look as what I would expect after some use. Always a little tough to tell, any time I've seen anything above 10mOhm it's a several degraded Lipo. That applies to the bigger packs. I do have small lipos that are in the 10-20 range, and they are fine.

For what you are doing, your lipos can't handle the load. Check your ESC log (Castle?) and check what's happening.

I highly recommend SMC, but check the dimensions.
https://www.smc-racing.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=67_96&product_id=642
Stay with the DV Extreme if you take that route or check the other car recommendation on their site.

So far, I had SMC, CNHL, Zeee and Gen Ace, Zeee and CNHL destroyed themselves, Gen is great but twice the price. SMC still performs.

 

[Armarookie43]

I don't recommend connecting different battery capacities in parallel or in series during heavy use.

I can be done but if I had a choice, only in parallel. You will stress the higher capacity more.
In series, you will get a large voltage drop on the lower capacity towards the end, while the other one will still be relatively high. That might cause issues in detecting LVC.
If you keep an eye on voltages and don't overdo it, you can get away with it.

In short, can be done, but not recommended. I'd always go with equal pairs.
I've done it if I had stuff on order to bridge the gap.


The IR values look as what I would expect after some use. Always a little tough to tell, any time I've seen anything above 10mOhm it's a several degraded Lipo. That applies to the bigger packs. I do have small lipos that are in the 10-20 range, and they are fine.

For what you are doing, your lipos can't handle the load. Check your ESC log (Castle?) and check what's happening.

I highly recommend SMC, but check the dimensions.
https://www.smc-racing.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=67_96&product_id=642
Stay with the DV Extreme if you take that route or check the other car recommendation on their site.

So far, I had SMC, CNHL, Zeee and Gen Ace, Zeee and CNHL destroyed themselves, Gen is great but twice the price. SMC still performs.

Thanks. I honestly think that for bashing, it's not worth getting the most expensive batteries out there. Even they will get damaged eventually with really huge jumps and these heavy beasts, including the Xmaxx. I just might pick up a set of the Zees or something like that around the $120 mark. From my experience, I see my batteries lasting around a year or less due to the abuse from the jumps. Now if I just ran around with smaller jumps, which I should do!, then it would be worth getting the basher batteries from the higher end makers. Or for speed runs. Heck, I don't even jump my Mojave EXB trucks too high, and they can still damage batteries because of crashes, but that is totally my fault. Maybe something like this? :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3142040440...2mtILn0RTS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Actually these hard case look more attractive :

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3638735310...2mtILn0RTS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I think that the Zees are the best choice because of the 1 year warranty :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3737133867...2mtILn0RTS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[CrashBoom]

I've had good luck with SMC, CNHL, Zee and Ovonic as far as reliability, but SMC and CNHL have the best punch. SMC being at the top of the list. I mostly run Ovonic in my crawler because they fit. Pretty ho-hum for bashing, though.

 

[Diem Turner]

So far my SMC-SRDs have been my battery of choice in 2022. I do have a set of ONYX on the way though and, I suspect, they will supplant them.

 

[jkflow]

SMC for $52 (x2) or Zee for $100, I know what I would get.
My Zeee barely have 70% of the advertised capacity.
Stay far far faaarrr away from those ebay marvels but it's your money.

SMC has been the most cost-effective for myself.

 

[Armarookie43]

I've had good luck with SMC, CNHL, Zee and Ovonic as far as reliability, but SMC and CNHL have the best punch. SMC being at the top of the list. I mostly run Ovonic in my crawler because they fit. Pretty ho-hum for bashing, though.

I've had SMC. Fue to these big jumps, the battery would come disconnected from the inside. It happened like 3 times with different batteries. So believe it or not, the cheaper lighter batteries lasted longer for that reason. Bit blaming the battery once again. It's just my crazy jumps. Honestly I rarely do them anymore for financial reasons. So yeah. Like someone mentioned, lipos are not meant to take such abuse. $50 4S SMC? Do you have a link? I would probably give them a chance again. Thanks. I could use the battery meant for the Typhon 6s, but they are not in stock :
https://www.smc-racing.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=642

 

[jkflow]

Link, see post 171 above from myself.

 

[Armarookie43]

If you're talking about connecting them in series, yes. You can do that. Just charge them both up as normal (4.2V/cell). I would however check them occasionally with a battery tester to make sure you don't go under 3.5 or 3.3V/cell. Other than that you should be fine.

That's my understanding anyways. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

After running the 7000MAH and 8000mah batteries. Like I said, I have my LVC set up to get triggered quicker than stock. I don't use the Auto lipo on my Max 5. I use the 8s option instead of auto calculation. And I use the Auto intermediate function. None of the values were too far off. Here are the results. C channel corresponds to the 7000MAH one and channel D is the 8000MAH one. Like someone else recommended it, don't do it. Anyways, it was like an experiment. I have another problem. When I ran my second battery set (both 8000mah), my ESC started hitting LVC like in 1 minute, meaning that one of the 8000mah (or both) are acting bad. So hopefully at least one is good, and I'll use it with the other 8000mah battery that ran well today. At least it looks like my Max 5 and everything else in my X-Maxx is still working OK. Sorry for the huge reply

 

[Moirae]

I've been saying Zee sucks for a while now and people would get salty lol. If you're new to the hobby and zee is what you get you won't even know it sucks until you randomly decide to try out something else. At least thats what happened to me. Every battery I've bought since the Zee have had more punch to the point it's been very noticeable to me.

 

[RedondoBeachRC]

I've been saying Zee sucks for a while now and people would get salty lol. If you're new to the hobby and zee is what you get you won't even know it sucks until you randomly decide to try out something else. At least thats what happened to me. Every battery I've bought since the Zee have had more punch to the point it's been very noticeable to me.

Whatchu talking about?!

Zee are the best!!!