I am interested in some back ground. If you ran 6 cell brushed before and have switched to Brushless and LiPo's, what differences have you seen? Are you any faster? Can you really run ONE LiPo back all day? Have you run the LiPo's long enough to guess at what the life of a pack is?
LiPo and Brushless vs. brushed and NiMHd
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I run li-po brushless in my mini. way more power than with nimh- brushed, way more run time. yes you can really run 1 battery all day. as for the life, heres my philosophy on that; if you cant take care of nimh cells correctly, you have no business dealing with li-po's... due to the danger of fire while charging these packs must be monitored very closely.And taken care of in the same manner.To answer your question I am used to buying new nimh packs every year for dirt season,the 2 lipo packs I have are showing no sighns of lost voltage or run-time after over a year of use, so I would say that the life of a li-po pack exceeds the life of a ni-mh battery just due to the fact that the two li-po packs I have are still competition worthy while the 3 1400mah intellect packs I purchased at the same time are no longer competition worthy and need to be replaced before dirt season.
as 420 rech said yes you can use them several times in one day. this last summer i ran 2 2s 8000 mah max amps lipos in my converted electric revo racing against nitro monster trucks. they never got any hotter than the regular air temp and they are being used with a brushless system. after a run i take the truck directly back to my pit and begin charging one of the packs. by the time i am done marshaling the next race that pack is more than half way charged up again. the only time i take my lipos out of the truck is to clean out any dirt that has gotten into my trays.
if you buy a good quality charger, i use a duratrax ice and you use the proper settings they are in my opinion safer than nimh packs. of course as with anything else if you get into a bad crash or something you must inspect them to make sure they are ok. i have raced in 20 minute nitro a mains and immediatly put them back on the charger. i consider buying them probably the best rc investment i have made. i cant wait until the day when they will also be allowed in stock truck / buggy racing as well. as for brushless i have one for my electric revo and my losi mf2. unfortunatly i race stock truck and buggy almost all the time so i run the esc in brushed mode. but i still cant wait until they are the norm in all classes.
if you buy a good quality charger, i use a duratrax ice and you use the proper settings they are in my opinion safer than nimh packs. of course as with anything else if you get into a bad crash or something you must inspect them to make sure they are ok. i have raced in 20 minute nitro a mains and immediatly put them back on the charger. i consider buying them probably the best rc investment i have made. i cant wait until the day when they will also be allowed in stock truck / buggy racing as well. as for brushless i have one for my electric revo and my losi mf2. unfortunatly i race stock truck and buggy almost all the time so i run the esc in brushed mode. but i still cant wait until they are the norm in all classes.
Brushless Lipo
We have been running Brushless Novaks in Mod oval here in northern Az. for a year now. We recently added Orion Lipo packs to our program.For safety reasons we only allow the "hard case" Orion packs at this time. Although we only have 2 races under our belt, we all have positive results so far.
We use the same pack all day! The 4800 Orion, and put anywhere from 1500 to 2500 mah.back into packs after a run.We are running 5.5 Novaks and the cars FLY! They have the same "punch" at the end of the race as the begining.- Captdan
We have been running Brushless Novaks in Mod oval here in northern Az. for a year now. We recently added Orion Lipo packs to our program.For safety reasons we only allow the "hard case" Orion packs at this time. Although we only have 2 races under our belt, we all have positive results so far.
We use the same pack all day! The 4800 Orion, and put anywhere from 1500 to 2500 mah.back into packs after a run.We are running 5.5 Novaks and the cars FLY! They have the same "punch" at the end of the race as the begining.- Captdan
...I guess one of my concerns in the LiPo, and all the NEW stuff is "COMPETITION vs. FUN"
A group of guys can get together and race for "FUN", and use the same pack all day and try to have good competitive racing w/o outspending each other. However, when you take it to the "COMPETITIVE" level, things change.
While you MAY be able to run the same pack all day...there will be those who still have 10 packs...and even if this doesn't show for a real advantage, if there is a percieved advantage people will complain.
I love what the Flagstaff AZ guys have done w/ the LiPo and B/L deal. I got our local track racing oval last year and started it w/ 19t motors that KISBEY had built for us a couple years ago for a 19t ZERO degree class. I handed out the motors, and most of the cars were cars I loaned out too. It was a great way to get NEW people into the oval deal. We progressed once we started getting a good oval showing...and allowed any 19t motor and speeds increased quickly for several racers. However, there were several racers who didn't wish to keep chasing NEW STUFF to qo quicker and they were left behind...causing some of them to re-evaluate thier racing.
(Q)What LOCAL Clubs do is great, but should those changes go NATIONAL?
(My Answer)Yes, if done with caution. Bring in NEW ideas into a single class...and see if they float, or if there is national interest. However, continue to offer the old STANDARDS too...and see if they DIE.
A group of guys can get together and race for "FUN", and use the same pack all day and try to have good competitive racing w/o outspending each other. However, when you take it to the "COMPETITIVE" level, things change.
While you MAY be able to run the same pack all day...there will be those who still have 10 packs...and even if this doesn't show for a real advantage, if there is a percieved advantage people will complain.
I love what the Flagstaff AZ guys have done w/ the LiPo and B/L deal. I got our local track racing oval last year and started it w/ 19t motors that KISBEY had built for us a couple years ago for a 19t ZERO degree class. I handed out the motors, and most of the cars were cars I loaned out too. It was a great way to get NEW people into the oval deal. We progressed once we started getting a good oval showing...and allowed any 19t motor and speeds increased quickly for several racers. However, there were several racers who didn't wish to keep chasing NEW STUFF to qo quicker and they were left behind...causing some of them to re-evaluate thier racing.
(Q)What LOCAL Clubs do is great, but should those changes go NATIONAL?
(My Answer)Yes, if done with caution. Bring in NEW ideas into a single class...and see if they float, or if there is national interest. However, continue to offer the old STANDARDS too...and see if they DIE.
McLin
I too am a convert to the Brushless/LiPo religion. We run a stock class and combine the brushed and brushless in both buggy and truck and alao a brushless 4300 class and it has been successful and fun. 7 of 10 racers in the 4300 A main were using liPo batteries and approx 1/2 of the racers in the stock class A main are running brushless 13.5 novak motors.
I am using the non hard case 6000 mah max-amp.com LiPo in non 4300 club races and have been absolutely pleased with them. The 4300 class currently requires a hard case though the other classes don't. I use my LiPos in a race and then place them immediately on the charger for the next race. Kokam LiPo manufactering says that the normal "life span" for LiPo is approx 500 FULL discharge and charge cycles (life span meaning there is 20% lowering of the batteries capacity - they did NOT comment on voltage at the end of these cycles..), however they report that if the LiPo is minimally discharged during these "cycles", then the life span increases to around 3500 cycles! Thus, I recharge mine WITHOUT deep discharge if and when possible.
I do love LiPo and Love Brushless. Both of these technologies have increased the fun and lessened the amount of "work" involved in off-road RC racing. As was indicated above, LiPo has been one of the best things I bought (brushless is another "best thing"...).
Gary
I too am a convert to the Brushless/LiPo religion. We run a stock class and combine the brushed and brushless in both buggy and truck and alao a brushless 4300 class and it has been successful and fun. 7 of 10 racers in the 4300 A main were using liPo batteries and approx 1/2 of the racers in the stock class A main are running brushless 13.5 novak motors.
I am using the non hard case 6000 mah max-amp.com LiPo in non 4300 club races and have been absolutely pleased with them. The 4300 class currently requires a hard case though the other classes don't. I use my LiPos in a race and then place them immediately on the charger for the next race. Kokam LiPo manufactering says that the normal "life span" for LiPo is approx 500 FULL discharge and charge cycles (life span meaning there is 20% lowering of the batteries capacity - they did NOT comment on voltage at the end of these cycles..), however they report that if the LiPo is minimally discharged during these "cycles", then the life span increases to around 3500 cycles! Thus, I recharge mine WITHOUT deep discharge if and when possible.
I do love LiPo and Love Brushless. Both of these technologies have increased the fun and lessened the amount of "work" involved in off-road RC racing. As was indicated above, LiPo has been one of the best things I bought (brushless is another "best thing"...).
Gary
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