Lipo Batteries (yes or no)

[bigred5765]

Grammarated the spelling thanks.

[Divefire]

Hi guys, just thought I’d weigh in here with the experience I’ve had running the Team Orion Lipo’s in a XXX BK.

Now I’m new at all this, this season’s been my first and my driving is fairly rubbish, so the Orion pack has taken a pounding in my car, and, it’s fine. Frankly it’s been a joy to use, I charge it up the day before and top it up after each run. Well basically it goes like this, finish heat, grab car, run to the pit, take out battery, plug it into the charging gear, set it off, go marshal.

It’s usually topped up in about half an hour at most and ready to go. I’ve not had an issue with them going flat, or running out of charge, or any signs of going boom either. Even managed to get it wired the wrong way once (not for anything more then a second) and it still works fine. So yeah it’s fairly robust. Also I charge at 4 amps, from what I understand you don’t get any benefit from charging them at a higher amp rate other then a faster charge time. It comes off the track warm, but cools down while it charges, which is nice.

As for cost, at £90 it was the same as three club packs of nihms and when you take in to account that it should stay at 80% capacity for 1000 cycles, well I think it’s better value.

I have to admit brushless and lipo are what made me take the plunge to go racing finally, takes a lot of the effort out of it. Yes lipo need to be handled correctly but I don’t think that’s any different to how nicads were when they were first being used many moons ago.

So yes, be careful with them, it’s a new technology for us and I can only recommend the Team Orion pack from experience, but I think for the fact it cuts down on amount you have to spend on batteries at the very least it’s the way forward.


Mat

[DCM]

my biggest concern is purely the amount of 'open' and not enclosed cells, like the Team Orion, and there seems to also be a very broad spread of quality.

If LiPo were to be allowed then the rules would have to be farely tight, and maybe some test to be carried out on samples, like impact, peircing etc.

[Divefire]

I agree with you DCM, the open packs aren’t the best of idea for racing use, you never know when a random 9 year old is going to spear your car side on, after all… (not at all bitter about personal experience, at all…).

I hope the BRCA does look at sanctioning them, though as you say within strict guidelines. Though I suspect at the end of the day it will come down to if the insurance company will let them be covered under the personal liability cover. No reason it shouldn’t be, but you never know.

[Ewar]

The main thing that would put me off at the moment is..

Ive got a pred and havent seen any " Saddle Lipos "

Are they available??

[Divefire]

So far a saddle arrangement hasn’t been put together, certainly not in a hard packaged unit at least. However the original layout of the Predator was with a stick pack down one side of the car, you might be able to retrofit that lay out if you wanted. But, and it’s a big but, I’ve never seen the original in the flesh as it were, just the coverage in the magazines years ago, so you’d want to talk to the read Pred experts to know if it was doable or even recommended.

[Northy]

I have heard of a saddle Lipo but never actually seen a picture.

G

[buzz]

my answer to lipos, big no no!

sorry the question wasnt answered earlyer in the thread but i havnt been online for ages!

[bert digler]

yes as long as they dont explode as they have a nack of doing when over discharged or wet. the go like a distress flare hahaha oh ond they dont fit saddle cars hahaha pity

[jimmy]

Since they are 2 cells, it shouldnt be hard for someone to make a saddle pack in a case so its safe. I guess the lipo's are where brushless was a couple of years ago, mostly the realm of the "basher".

[DCM]

I beleive a 7.4V 4800mAh is made from 4 cells, two pair of parallel cells then put in series, parallel doubles the capacity then the series double the voltage, so in theory it is doable..... although that leaves configurations like the X-5 out in the cold.

[sefton]

Do they need a special charger or would a Nosram sirus do the job?

[ashleyb4]

You will need a special charger like an orion advanatge the newer one like mine.
I dont like the idea of lipo Our club secutery works for a battery company and knows alot about diffrent companys and he thinks ther unsafe and dangerous.

A

[jimmy]

NiMhs are so much safer

[sefton]

suppose we will now more next season!

[jimmy]

I have done a bit of reading up about LiPo since I'll be reviewing a pack - and I think they need common sense and a bit of care.

The videos you might see on youtube (and there are loads) of lipo packs blowing up, are all good and well if you like hype. But wire your nimh pack up to a 12v and hold it in your hand (no, dont) and tell us how safe nimhs are when you have no hand left.

[jimmy]

Surely they can make these packs in saddle formation ? so the X5 might not be out of luck.. rebalance it properly with lead (which it would probably need anyway to bring it back up to weight)

[sefton]

Would they not have to past the very same saftly tests as NIMH's?

Remember all the hype about brushless speedo's last year!

[jimmy]

people love a bit of hype and scare mongering.
I've no doubt these packs need respect, but that goes for sticking your fingers in the gearbox too. (ooh, I might use that line later and quote myself)

[sefton]

what are these cheaper Orion lipo's about? are they just lower capacity?

also what can this advantage charger to that others can't (except the obvious)!