Leisure Batteries

[Spanky855]

Hi All

Just reading through some old threads and cannot find any recent information on this.
Are you guys and girls still using Leisure Batteries for when there is no AC power available or is there another alternative.
In my day (30 Years Ago) we always used old 12v car batteries or leisure batteries but having recently come back onto the scene and being blown away by RC car batter technology are we still using Leisure Batteries to charge this new technology ??

Many Thanks Lee

[Yorkiebar]

Hi Lee,

I'm also back after 30 years, and there's still no better field power source than a decent 12V battery or a generator. Obviously the battery is much cheaper and quieter too.

Even though I have a leisure battery I still use an old car battery from time to time when the leisure one is spoken for, and easily lasts a full day running a dual charger.

[Spanky855]

Mate there seems to be a bit of a resurgence with us old racers, Im still puling together the kit and should be all good to go by Christmas but still not sure I will race, i was useless in the 80's so I doubt my reactions have improved , really appreciate your response , I fail to understand what I love about this hobby but I just do, a visit to a hobby shop bought back so many memories seeing the old Tamiya cars in there... too many G&T's plus a session on ebay and two days later a K2 roller comes through the post and the fun / confusion begins !

[Yorkiebar]

Ha, I said that too - I bought a Tamiya kit for my stepson for us to build together, telling him all about my old racing days when I was a kid. He got the hang of it pretty quick so I looked for a local track to see if he fancied a bit of racing. One practice day later he was racing.

After numerous breakages and cut short race days I decided it was time to get him a more robust racing buggy, just so happened the bloke I found his was selling two together... One chat with with the missus and I find myself behind the sticks again side by side with the lad.

We both love it and although I started off just having fun with him instead of just fixing it after every heat I'm now improving more each round - much more than when I was BITD - go figure!

Give racing a try, just for the fun of it again - wish I had done it sooner!

[mattr]

but still not sure I will race, i was useless in the 80's so I doubt my reactions have improvedTBH, the cars are FAR more driveable now than they ever were before. I was useless when i quit (aged 13) and still useless when i came back (aged 38) i'm still not the fastest, and when i do race (infrequently) i'm only ever going to be propping up the back end of the field. But, a) i'm not last and b) clubs can't just run on a handful of older winners and a load of kids. It's no great hardship to *not* race so the club can run an event. Or to *not* practice and spend half a day digging holes in the track. You get the idea.

[daz75]

I was looking at leisure batteries when I got back into it. There are 3 of use racing so was worried about not having enough batteries. My lads use 17.5t Motors so do about 3 rounds before I swap. I do 2 rounds on 1 set. They don't loose charge when sat around like in the bad old days of batteries. So basically i charge them up the night before and all is good

[Casper7]

Most people at our track use Battery Booster packs, used to jump start cars, they are £50 from Halfords (UK) and have USB and Cig sockets on them, some even have LED Lights, easy to carry around and charge.

[Yorkiebar]

Most people at our track use Battery Booster packs, used to jump start cars, they are £50 from Halfords (UK) and have USB and Cig sockets on them, some even have LED Lights, easy to carry around and charge.

I'd worry about the longevity of those, looking at the dimensions it could only be a circa 40Ah lead acid inside it or less. Given my charger is 2 x 10A, that's only 2hrs of charging before it's dead, and each cycle taking around 25mins that's only 4 x charges of cells.

I only have 2 sets of cells per car so need the extra headroom a decent 75 or 100Ah lead acid can provide. :)

[Spanky855]

Thats the spirit, I just want to have a bit of fun with it, I was the same, pretty useless when i was younger but trying to get a Tamiya Frog around a muddy track and..... get the batteries to last for 5 mins was a challenge! I really looking forward to it. My K2 roller now has motor, Servo, Speed controller , than my partner dropped a little bit of a BOMB overing to buy the radio gera for Christmas !!! sooooo I guess I will have a fun Christmas day, like being a kid again but really wanted it up and running before then

[Spanky855]

Most people at our track use Battery Booster packs, used to jump start cars, they are £50 from Halfords (UK) and have USB and Cig sockets on them, some even have LED Lights, easy to carry around and charge.

I looked at these two but heard different reviews of them, to be fair I think at a race I will be fine,(battery Speaking) I was more thing about finding a good open place to practice with the car and charge the batteries up while Im practising.

[Hairy Spider]

Just to put something else in the mix, when my leisure battery gave up the ghost, I switched to a couple of 4s 16000 mah LiPos and an isdt charger which supports up to 32v on the input. I've been using this combination for Nationals, Regionals and outdoor club meetings this year and it hasn't missed a beat. At Nationals I use one for Saturday and one for Sunday. One battery will charge a full 4WD 4 qualifier/3 final race day with a 5.5 in (at least in my experience). At the time it made more economical sense to go for two 4s rather than one 6s otherwise I probably would have opted for that. They were only about £40 each from HobbyKing back then but they are double that now unfortunately.

[deano43]

Has anyone thought of using a battery from a disabled scooter they can be lurched I believe in a 80amp version and are completely sealed so no leakages and smaller and lighter than a lesuire battery. But they are expensive though and need their own charger but I negates the worry of a lesuire battery going over and leaking sulphuric acid in your vechile .anyway just a thought
Regards
Deano

[Yorkiebar]

Has anyone thought of using a battery from a disabled scooter they can be lurched I believe in a 80amp version and are completely sealed so no leakages and smaller and lighter than a lesuire battery. But they are expensive though and need their own charger but I negates the worry of a lesuire battery going over and leaking sulphuric acid in your vechile .anyway just a thought
Regards
Deano

Very expensive for capacity, as they are aimed at a certain market.

The non spillable type are SLA (sealed lead acid) or AGM (absorbed glass mat) types. I have a couple of those too, they were the kind used in industrial UPS to provide the DC float to invertors before the generator fires up. 20 years old now so capacity not what they used to be.

To be honest though, you need to be driving like Ken Block or have a trapezium shaped boot floor to tip a decent size wet 12V battery over!

[Casper7]

I'd worry about the longevity of those, looking at the dimensions it could only be a circa 40Ah lead acid inside it or less. Given my charger is 2 x 10A, that's only 2hrs of charging before it's dead, and each cycle taking around 25mins that's only 4 x charges of cells.

I only have 2 sets of cells per car so need the extra headroom a decent 75 or 100Ah lead acid can provide. :)

Best option is a 110 leisure battery then, I use this when I race large scale to charge battery packs and power the caravan no problem with three days at a race meeting.

I use the battery booster for 1/10th meetings and it lasts all day charging 2S lipo batteries for me and the wife, we charge 8 packs.

[jcb]

I still continue to use a 105ah Numax leisure battery and prefer the fact that they are obvious silent compared to a generator!!!
I've easily charged up ten packs in a day plus use of a soldering iron, and believe my current one is five years old and still charging up fine.

I'd really consider looking at
https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteries/

they were really helpful on the phone and have a massive choice depending on your budget.

[Leelar74]

How do you connect a battery boost to your charger:thumbsup:

[Casper7]

Use the clips that you would normally stick on the car batter to jump it

[Leelar74]

Has any one tried this type of boost pack

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F 392108714828

[mark christopher]

Personally I use a generator, I have one for my caravan and luckily just been given a smaller one which was a non runner and is now fixed for £20, I use this as there are two of us and when I'm racing my 5th car the tyre warmers pull a constant 10amps,

If you go battery get a decent leisure battery as they are designed for deep discharge, modern car battery don't like it and will soon fail. Also worth buying a battery box to store it in to prevent spillage.

I'd not go with the small boost batteries myself,


Oh and one thing you should never do, charge your lipo fully the rnight before, it's a proven way to make them swell

[Spanky855]

Personally I use a generator, I have one for my caravan and luckily just been given a smaller one which was a non runner and is now fixed for £20, I use this as there are two of us and when I'm racing my 5th car the tyre warmers pull a constant 10amps,

If you go battery get a decent leisure battery as they are designed for deep discharge, modern car battery don't like it and will soon fail. Also worth buying a battery box to store it in to prevent spillage.

I'd not go with the small boost batteries myself,


Oh and one thing you should never do, charge your lipo fully the rnight before, it's a proven way to make them swell
Hi Mark

Thanks for info. Regarding the charging of the Lipos, I wasn't aware it would damaged them if you fully charged the night before , are they ok to be charged to say 80% then topped up at the track?

[mattr]

TBH, if i get the batteries and charger set up as soon as i get to the pit table, by the time i'm ready to drive they are charged anyway. That's from around 3.8-3.9V/cell with 6000mAh batteries.
Basically start from how they were after i'd finished with them the previous time they were used. Rarely bother with storage charge, unless it's going to be a couple or more weeks between drives. Even then, i do it at home. As it takes ages.
(Spent most of a saturday a few weeks ago putting everything to storage, 20+ batteries, 4 chargers and 2 PSUs going for about 7 hours on and off......)

[mark christopher]

i allways store my lipo about 7.8 volts (storage mode on charger) my charge takes around 10 mins to do 2 packs simultaneously, but then my charger was 200+ but it looks after my lipo 100%
to be honest as above, just charge when you get there.