Intellect Bang - Page 4

gazbaz2 · #61 23-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

There not perfect, no cell is but i have put mine through a fair few cycles so far (only ever discharged in the car so far, no equalising tray ATM) and nothing hase ever gone wrong.

What kind of numbers are you getting on the labels Gramey?

What numbers are you getting, are they pro matched / team matched

gazbaz2 · #62 23-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

It appears we are all using the wrong cells then.......

Think you are getting the highest voltage out of your IB4200WE's? have you ever looked at the EP4200 cells? much more reliable than the IB's and the voltages are....... well buy some from demon an see for yourself, £32.50 for an assembled matched pack

ask if you want to read my review on them, bit wordy but most things you need to know.

Voltage are the same as my IB3800 and i got mine at £27.00 so dont no what your talking about man ????????

Chequered Flag Racing · #63 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

ask if you want to read my review on them, bit wordy but most things you need to know.

I'm asking

attach it to your next post in this thread and we can all read it

josh_smaxx · #64 24-07-2007

Heres my review, i did it for another forum so if it has any wierd, random letters in it is probably off smileys lol.

Quote:

After a while of waiting i give you the EP4200 matched 6 cell pack review.

EP4200 6 cell matched pack from demon power products
After some problems with my IB3600 stick packs and after they fell apart I decided I would start searching high and low for the best sub-C NiMh cells money can buy, iv been racing electrics properly for a few months now, gain a substantial amount of equipment and am set to continue to race them for a long time, so I though it would work out better if I got some top notch cells.
Now, my first idea would be IB4200 WC matched cells, rated as the best cells money can buy. After hours of research through websites, racing forums ECT I came to conclusion that this is not true, they apparently are extremely fussy to look after and the newest batch are only good for 10 cycles before drastically reducing performance. So these were out of the question.
I then found www.rcracechat.com and spent hours in the cells/chargers section to see what the top national drivers on there used, allot of people were moaning about IB4200 WC cells, allot of people were loving them, but at £40 a pop it was going to take me a while to get the extra money I needed (I had £100 to spend on cells). then I was directed to the East Power (EP) 4200mAh cells that are BRCA legal by our very own Dagger Thrasher, I then found all the threads on other UK based forums which quickly lead to show me that they were rivaling, if not beating the IB4200WC cells, so I spent another few hours shopping around and then came across Demonpowerproducts.co.uk...................
A fully assembled set of matched EP4200 cells with just wires (no connectors) will set you back £32.85
To good to be true I hear allot of you say? Well that’s the first thing that came to my mind as well, yet allot of people from various UK race forums have purchased there EP4200 cells from demon and are over the moon with them, but one thing stood in my way.... the 'out of stock' label
One phone call later tells me I can order them and at latest they will be here just after the weekend. Spot on, gives me time to get some new tires.

I wake up to find a nice large brown package sitting on the floor in my porch hidden behind touring cars, hauler bags and everything else RC. I quickly hurdle over my hauler bag, grab the package and jump back, dashing into the living room to open it, even though it was addressed to the cardholder I knew it was mine. First thing I noticed when I opened the package was just how well protected its contents were, it was lined in bubble wrap and the contents were packed in tightly with more bubble wrap, these weren’t going to get damaged in transport. So I pull out all the bubble wrap to see 3 perfect sets of EP4200 cells, all with rather impressive matching labels (the numbers were impressive, no art work here) and nicely assembled with silver connecting bars and high quality silicone wires. I had specified just wires and no connectors as I apparently soldered my deans + to -, doesn’t matter, they still function the same. Each set of cell were neatly presented each in there own clear plastic bags so that they didn’t short out when in transport, this is one fault I see is I would like the bags to have been re-sealable so I didn’t have to buy a battery storage box. First things first and that’s to put some connectors on, cue bring out the soldering iron…. I get the iron out, something magical happens and iv finished soldering them before you can even read about it. Right, now connectors are on and the charger is out, these cells being matched cells already have been cycled when matched so they are ready to charge and use, perfect, the race tonight will decide weather they are up to high drain brushless racing or not.
The cells are all presented very well, soldered very smoothly and very tightly, the wires are long, I didn’t bother cutting them down yet. They are put on so the matching labels face up. The numbers on the labels are probably the most impressive out of everything on them, all 3 packs the cells are matched at 1.30V, now this is an absolutely outstanding number for cells that are pretty much unheard of. The rest of the numbers are good to, I won’t go into all this, the pictures will do the talking. Now with one pack on charge as I write this we will soon see how these packs perform with the street test.
These things are quick! The charger went off, I unplug the cells and got them locked and loaded, plugged them in, turned on my transmitter and then turned on the mamba switch….
So I took it out side, placed it at the end of my drive and blipped the throttle, the car whizzed off the line like that I have never experienced (granted, I have never had the privilege of testing high performance cells before, just IB3600 stick packs, I thought I was impressed when I first used them). I was running for a good solid 6 minutes without any loss of punch what so ever, although I was expecting this seen as though they are matched cells I was still amazed at how much power these cells can kick out for the time they can. Things ended with a nice head on into a curb…. Just cracked the servo but a bit of CA glue soon sorted that. So I brought the car back inside to asses the damage, nothing to major else where. Now bearing in mind these cells where fresh of a 5A charge, they were warm when tested, been ran hard for around 6 minutes and when they cam off they were barely any warmer than when they came off charge, I have to give it to these cells, they do perform! But the proof is in the racing, which will come tonight in a unlimited 2wd class, anything goes except LiPo, I am running a B4 with mamba max 5700 and matched EP4200 cells, spectrum radio gear and it is well set up, no excuses then!
I started the night with all three sets of cells fully charged, arrived at the track to find it almost empty! So I unpacked, put #1 set of cells in and went out with my friend who is running a B4 with an 11x2 in, last week this car was slightly slower than mine down the straights, now I notice a huge difference, the way this car pulls away now is phenomenal, because I was only running on stick packs before, they was so much resistance in each pack it slowed all the punch down, now these cells are top notch and the soldering is perfect the punch gets there very smoothly indeed, and what a punch it is! I new Id see a huge difference with cells matched at 1.30V at 20A (works out at about 1.25 at 30A) but this was beyond me. The first round I have to admit, I was just getting used to it all, so I finished 3rd which wasn’t exactly spot on, still, 2 more rounds to go. With 5 heats after mine I had plenty of time to play with the car to try and get it to come out of the corners properly to show the true colours of these cells. Second round I had just repeaked #2 set which gave even more punch thus me only finishing 2 laps before a lower eye on a rear shock gave way. 3rd round saw still no driver improvement but, as noted by several spectators, my car was the quickest on the track, of which it wasn’t last week. The final saw some driver improvement on my behalf and I managed 2nd, I came back on after marshalling the next heat showing my car was as fast, if not faster than a B4 with Novak 4.5 brushless motor and matched GP4300 cells, I can put this speed increase solely down to the cells as I have done nothing else to make this car go faster.
As I stupidly didn’t check what the cells were taking in when I first charged them this is what pack #1 took in after 6mins of run time and stored overnight: 9.486V and it took on 4084mAh, so its fair to say these cells hold a fair bit of juice! On a discharge cycle at 1A from fully charged down to 5.4V per pack these cells are kicking out 4876mAh and my charger couldn’t get them fully down to 5.4V, they insisted on 5.9V for some reason!
Now, as you will probably of realized, I am really fond of these cells, I do recommend them, and I am sure you will notice a difference over pretty much any other cell you have tried. I know I was impressed by the labels, and everyone else was impressed by the labels so I am sure you will be too!

Chequered Flag Racing · #65 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

then found www.rcracechat.com (don’t join, no one has much sense of humor, to serious)

know what you mean

especially those 12th racers, oooooooops that's me included then

time to read that review now

josh_smaxx · #66 24-07-2007

Gazbaz2, I wasnt claiming that all IB cells were bab and unreliable, in fact i was claiming that a small batch on the newer IB4200 WCe cells were bad, i have never heard of IB3800's being bad so it OK

Hehe, bit hipocritical there as i joined

its a good forum if you want to take it that far but i got banned for 1 hour for posting a link to a motor on model sport

gramey · #67 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazbaz2

What numbers are you getting, are they pro matched / team matched

gazbaz2, I bought the stock cells from Modeltech rather than matched ones so there are no labels on them. As I only really race at club level and I was told that I was unlikely to notice any real benefit I didn't bother with the matched ones.

Previous cells were Orion/Peak matched GP 3700's and after a dozen or so charges even using a Novak Smart Tray and Spintec charger the matching had gone.

As far as your IB3800's go I don't recall hearing the same concerns over the 3800's that there have been with the 4200's.

I would have quite happily stuck with GP 3700's but they now seem to be in short supply, the GP 4300's didn't get very good right ups so I looked for an alternative. A few people at the club were using the EP's with no issues at that time so I thought I'd give them a go. Since then another member reported having one cell explode but I don't know under what circumstances.

josh_smaxx · #68 24-07-2007

I can say this now, if my parents find out that one of my cells have exploded then im gonna be banned from this hobby for good

So im begging that EP's dont explode on me.

Chequered Flag Racing · #69 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by gramey

Previous cells were Orion/Peak matched GP 3700's and after a dozen or so charges even using a Novak Smart Tray and Spintec charger the matching had gone.

You'll find this with all matched cells, IB, GP, EP etc no matter what regime people follow to look after them. The #'s on them are only as good as the day they come of the matching machine.

josh_smaxx · #70 24-07-2007

I agree, i still havent got myself an equalising tray yet so i dread to see what my cells are like, gonna have to do the ol' puppy dog eyes on some with a smart tray

Chequered Flag Racing · #71 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

I agree, i still havent got myself an equalising tray yet so i dread to see what my cells are like, gonna have to do the ol' puppy dog eyes on some with a smart tray

shall I pack my Pro-Traks' & Novak STSE for Wed night?
should be there before 19:30

have you got a laptop to load Pro-Trak software onto?
bring it along if you have but not necessary, can manage without

josh_smaxx · #72 24-07-2007

The smart tray would be awesom, if i can sell my nitro touring car (dont like onroad anymore :P) thn i can afford one pretty soon but if i can lend someones then perfect

Dont meen to sound a bit noobish but whats a Pro-Trak? I do have a laptop though, i'll bring it on Wed

Just out of curiosity, what do people think of my review up there? Just so i know what to improve in the future

LiamD · #73 24-07-2007

I had a couple of packs of IB3800s and they were pants. 1 pack vented on the first charge and destroyed it's self, the other pack vented a couple of charges later...

Tried IB4200s in my 12th car and they were ok but not much better than my BRM cells for the extra money they cost.

GP3700s all the way...

gazbaz2 · #74 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiamD

I had a couple of packs of IB3800s and they were pants. 1 pack vented on the first charge and destroyed it's self, the other pack vented a couple of charges later...

Tried IB4200s in my 12th car and they were ok but not much better than my BRM cells for the extra money they cost.

GP3700s all the way...

My IB3800 are fine and have been for well over a year now

josh_smaxx · #75 24-07-2007

Hmm

iv never heard of any problems with any other of the IB's, only 4200's.... and even then its just the new batch which seems to be dodgey. I have never had a problem with my 3600's when they were stick packs and i dont now there soldered up, still fairly punchy just dont give much runtime.

LiamD · #76 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazbaz2

My IB3800 are fine and have been for well over a year now

Yep and that's the point (sort of!

)

They're so inconsistent from one pack to another.

I like GP cells because they are very robust, the punch doesn't matter too much to me.

gazbaz2 · #77 24-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiamD

Yep and that's the point (sort of!

)

They're so inconsistent from one pack to another.

I like GP cells because they are very robust, the punch doesn't matter too much to me.

Again, had no problems with Consistency or duration with mine, they still last good 10/13 minutes in my XX4 with good punch after over a year old "NICE"