In December I heard rumors that by the first race of our SWTour series we'd see 4300 batteries available...I said "Yeah....right" We were still running 3300's.

I set our new battery rule for the '06 season to 4000 mah and below figuring ok we had 3600's and 3700's and 3800's were on the way...

Now I see IB4200's and GP4300's are already available... at this rate before Christmas '06 we should be into the 5500 range.

The IB4200's I saw...were so incredible to me... 459 seconds @ 35 amps - WOW, and that was at 1.21+ volts.

How is a matcher supposed to keep up? Better/or Worse yet...how is a HOBBYSHOP supposed to stock GOOD CURRENT batteries when they can't get rid of the 3000's they are still stocked up with...

The NiMh battery technology is moving OOOOOh So fast, where does it stop?

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How is a matcher supposed to keep up? Better/or Worse yet...how is a HOBBYSHOP supposed to stock GOOD CURRENT batteries when they can't get rid of the 3000's they are still stocked up with...

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By having tracks who suport only legal batteries... If the new 4200 plus is not allowed they can do fine...The tracks up here didnt allow the new cells until after the first of the year.. They also sold there 3300's ay killer prices up until then, then the prices got even lower after.. Ive seen new in pack 1.18 packs for around 20 bucks.. You can complain with that... If ya sell em for what you bought em for or close you will be all right.. if you refuse to change the price, they will sit there till the 4000+ packs are legal..


I think we willl eventually all be on LIPO cells... Its commin.. Japan has just switched there national sedan organisation over to 4 cells.. Yeah 4 cell sedan.. i had heard a LIPO pack weighs about the same as 4 cells but you can get 15-20 min of god like rip and runtime..


Imagine only needing to use 1 maybe two packs per day... now that would be nice... Imagine not having to wonder what the hot cells were... No more worries on matching ect.. yeah it does leave alot of companies up in the air... But i do think it is the future..

differant chargers and speed controls with lipo ?

tj

I heard of some testing of IB 4500 Batteries.

Your right about the tracks not allowing them Mike. If they don't, then there's no point for us to buy them. If they do, however, I will admit, I'll buy em. If Corey will match em, I'm ready.

We're at 3800's through 06 here,good enough for me,I've looked at the lipo's interesting shape,no hard wiring,no #'s to judge good from bad, looks like they will come sooner or later.

Yep battery capacity and voltages increase but race length stay the same! MORE RUN FOR MORE FUN!!!!!!!

differant chargers and speed controls with lipo ?

tj

Special charger - yes. Special ESC - No.

I've done a little research into LiPo's. They are the next new thing for R/C cars. They have been the staple in R/C electric planes for quite a while now.
A 2 cell LiPo produces 7.4 volts nominal.
I've seen prices from $80 to $130.
Huge runtime. To the point you could run more than one or two races on one charge! And still have the same rip throughout. So, one pack may be all you need. If you let the pack cool between runs you can repeak it and go again. No memory issues whatsoever.

As for chargers you absolutley MUST have a LiPo specific charger. They have very different needs when charging. There are other threads within this forum that can better explain the safe handling of LiPo's.

Look in the Brushless motors and LipO batteries forum here on Hobby Talk.

How about a rule, NO CHARGING!!! Charge your lipo's ONCE, then race your 3 heats and main. That'll take some tuning and planning :thumbsup: .

What about the racer who has to buy his/her own batteries. Every two weeks it seems you have to spend another couple hundred bucks if you want to compete. Great Idea for tracks to limit mah at 3800 or 4000, this will work for a little while, until all your battery sellers only offer the others. When will it stop, now talking about lipO

What about the racer who has to buy his/her own batteries. Every two weeks it seems you have to spend another couple hundred bucks if you want to compete. Great Idea for tracks to limit mah at 3800 or 4000, this will work for a little while, until all your battery sellers only offer the others. When will it stop, now talking about lipO


Read about LIPO's i have been for a few weeks... They claim you should only need one pack... You get up to 200 runs before the pack starts to show loss in performance.. A NIMH or a NICAD could never claim that.. especially after using it the whole day.. Yeah the initial price sounds harsh, but im sure once everything become the mainstream prices will drop.. just think back to the speeds of the 6 cell days but alot less battery cost..

Some companies are saying they get up to 20 min of runtimer with a 6 turn on a pack the size of a 4 cell NIMH pack.. there higher voltage 7.4 but they also have lower voltage packs as well...

I've looked at lipo's myself a little they sound great, I guess I'm all for whatever is going to stick around for a while, Tired of buying batteries every other day it seems just to keep up with the (big dogs)

Joe,we're still up in the air on the cell issue? It could go either way for us.I'm pushing for a no limit cell,but no li-po's yet..ROAR is not god and it's up to the club's to decide.

Matchers wouldn't be selling them if there wasn't a market for them..

High end 3800's are almost 4200's now anyway.

What about the racer who has to buy his/her own batteries. Every two weeks it seems you have to spend another couple hundred bucks if you want to compete. Great Idea for tracks to limit mah at 3800 or 4000, this will work for a little while, until all your battery sellers only offer the others. When will it stop, now talking about lipO

98% of the racers out there buy their own batteries,You don't have to buy all new batteries every two weeks,Just recycle a pack every month or so,your worse pack goes into the practice pack box,replaced by a new pack,this helps keep cost down and fresh cells in your box.When it gets where we can't get the 3800's we will then bump up to what ever we need to,there's just no need to rush it though.Batteries have been like this every since I started racing back in the early 90's,so it's nothing new.

What about the racer who has to buy his/her own batteries. Every two weeks it seems you have to spend another couple hundred bucks if you want to compete. Great Idea for tracks to limit mah at 3800 or 4000, this will work for a little while, until all your battery sellers only offer the others. When will it stop, now talking about lipO
Relax man, like someone else said, just buy a pack once a month. They're only 45 bucks now thanks to the competition. I didn't jump right into 3800s. I just got a pack or two and gradually moved into them. 3300's are still somwhat competitive if your car is real good. Besides, the 3800 packs are so good right now, you only need 3. One for practice, 2 for racing.

I personaly think your dreaming if you think LiPo is somehow going to solve the battery wars... LiPo is even younger technology then NiMH is, and is likely to continue to develop just as rapidly, if not more so...

LiPo is popular in planes because it has a significant weight advantage, not because you can buy them and use them for long periods of time without loss of output. I've personaly never used LiPo, however I have a uncle in Taiwan who's big time into airplanes and from what he tells me, at the highest levels of competiton in planes, the people are replacing packs after realtively short periods of time, because they loose proformance...

as always... I could be wrong... but I just don't think LiPo is the holy grail of RC power.

Dyno: You are correct! There is new technology in the LiPo segment already. I'm not sure what the short name is, but they are Lithium Magnesium based I believe.