Batteries

[Tilly]

Hi guyz
I bought a new core r/c UAC50 charger the other day as mine was quite basic n made some funny noises. I would now be able to charge lipo batteries and was wondering if any1 had any advice on whether it would be worth me getting 1 and wot i should be lookin at. Thought i'd put a post up as talkin on friday nights can be a bit difficult sometimes.

These are 2 that i've looked at so far: Overlander Sport Track hard case 5000mAh 25C lipo and the Orion Rocketsport Lipo 4200 25c Rounded. There's 1 of the Orion ones for sale on oople for £25 thats where i saw that 1. Are these the sort of thing i should be lookin at for my B4.1.

I'm in no rush to buy 1 it was just something I was lookin in to so any advice would be great.

Thanks
Craig

[Danny Harrison]

Thought this was gonna be booking in there.

Personally I wouldn't buy used lipo's mate. You can get good cells for around £20-£30 quid new.

These look great value

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking...APPROVED_.html

In stock in UK and come in at just over £20 a pack

Just make sure they hardcased, 2 cell and fit in your car.

[jameswilkinson7]

Vampire all the way!

[Danny Harrison]

haha, keep hearing good things about the vampire gear too.

http://www.dms-racing.com/fruzat/qax...mpire%20Racing

Would also be a great choice

[neallewis]

Gens Ace packs from giantshark.com are great, and super cheap. BRCA approved too.

Hobbyking.com (UK warehouse) for non-brca approved hardcase packs, which are fine for club racing, again super cheap.

As James said, Vampire are great, but at a more higher price point.

[Great_Thark]

I would find it hard to have much faith in a company that advertises up-gradable firmware for its ESC via a website that has been "coming soon" for quite some time!

[neallewis]

Originally Posted by Great_Thark

I would find it hard to have much faith in a company that advertises up-gradable firmware for its ESC via a website that has been "coming soon" for quite some time!

where is that?

[Great_Thark]

Originally Posted by neallewis

where is that?

http://www.vampire-racing.com/

The usb adaptor / programmer where coming soon 2 yrs ago, but don't seem to exist. Now you might not need them but that's not the point. Oh and don't lose the manual. I looked because of this adaptive timing claim in the blurb and I was looking for info. If there's anything out there I cant find it

[jameswilkinson7]

I've been running the vampire gear in my cars for well over 18 months now. I cant fault the quality at all. In fact its the best stuff I've ever used. The speedo and motors are very smooth, even on full timing boost. The set up is simple and intuitive. The batteries speak for themselves, and the prices are great compared with other quality named brands. I've used quite a few of the other brands over the years and I'm very happy with Vampire.



I'm sure if you had any problems you could speak with Darren at DMS racing and he would get it sorted for you. Hopefully the website will return soon.

[Darren Boyle]

Regards the concerns on Vampire (since the thread is about batteries in general)..

All Vampire LIPO's have indeed been proven to be amongst some of the best available now for the past few years in terms of numbers used and performance whilst keeping costs as low as possible.

Ref their website, there is indeed a holding page at present in preparation for an all new site due to be launched later this year, I have seen the early development work on this and it looks to be very good, easy to navigate and full of information and product details.

Regards the instruction manual for the ESC, we have spare printed copies here of these should anyone require one. Naturally one is issued with every ESC in the box and if any user ever needs a spare we can send one to them no problem at all, I am sure this is the same in other countries too who will have a manual suitable for their area too. It has not been something as yet they have ever listed or made available online.

Lastly, regards the upgradeable firmware. It seems people have misunderstood and misquoted what was said. At the time of the SR1 release, it was announced that in their future plans that there would be a USB adaptor and any future firmware updates will be downloadable so customers so they can stay up to date and run the same as the "factory works team" (to quote Vampire at the time), thing is, so far there has been absolutely no need for any updates the original V1 firmware is still what the likes of Darren Bloomfield, Ellis Stafford, Rich Lowe and all of our other drivers use, therefore there has been little point releasing the USB adaptor to date since there has been nothing at all for you to download, simply because it has not been required which would have been a waste of money for the racers. When it was first developed, it was impossible to say this would be the case and that the V1 software would work so well, but it has. However, this is not to say that it will not change in the future and it is still being worked on behind the scenes and any such updates will be a part of the new website when it is launched.

To finish, the SR1 was only launched in the late part of 2011 and has been available for less than two years now, the old website was still live in January and the new holding page (in preparation for the new site) has only been in place for several weeks now....

If anyone has any queries or questions at all regarding any of the Vampire products feel free to email us direct at sales@xfactoryrc.co.uk, we will be more than happy to help.

[Great_Thark]

Thanks Darren, but my point was that the information you have given wasn't readily available. When I looked for info on the esc's and motors I found nothing other than advertising blurb about how wonderful they are. You'll have to forgive me for being a cynic (on account of all manufacturers claiming their gear is the best ) but give me easy access to numbers, specs and manuals instead of pictures of the new tent, or I'm only going to think there's something they don't want me to know until after they've got my hard earned cash!

[Darren Boyle]

Originally Posted by Great_Thark

Thanks Darren, but my point was that the information you have given wasn't readily available. When I looked for info on the esc's and motors I found nothing other than advertising blurb about how wonderful they are. You'll have to forgive me for being a cynic (on account of all manufacturers claiming their gear is the best ) but give me easy access to numbers, specs and manuals instead of pictures of the new tent, or I'm only going to think there's something they don't want me to know until after they've got my hard earned cash!

Plenty of good tests and specs etc at places like the link below, tells you all you need to know, comes up in a simple google search for "Vampire SR1" http://www.area52.cc/reviews/1431-va...ntrollers.html

The all new Vampire website is only a week or so away according to what they tell us.

My point is that for the best place to find out about a product, speak to your local dealer about it, they should know all you need to find out as well as have product to show you in the flesh and if for any reason they don't, they can always ask us on your behalf, that is what we are here for.

As for pictures of the tent (which we will have with us at the first national this weekend ) that has only been posted on their facebook page which is not their official source of info etc, but simply a social media outlet, all specs etc you refer to will be in place on the new official website (as they were on the previuos outdated one while it was live)

[Great_Thark]

USB updatable firmware via the Vampire Racing website

from the blurb on my local dealers website

And this is what I am saying, every single seller has the original release text talking about things that don't exist including XFactory
"PTS - Power Timing System, intelligent adaptive timing advance - USB updatable firmware via the Vampire Racing website - Zero Timing mode (indicated by flashing LED) for stock class racing"

I did say right from the off that you might not need it but that wasn't the point. One patently false claim automatically calls into question all the others without some evidence to the contrary.

PS I cant find a single review, only previews. i.e. pictures and the usual text.

[jameswilkinson7]

Paul, if your genuinely interested in one ill gladly let you borrow mine from my 4wd... Give it a try and see what you think, I honestly think you would be impressed. Then you could do your own review.

[Great_Thark]

Originally Posted by jameswilkinson7

Paul, if your genuinely interested in one ill gladly let you borrow mine from my 4wd... Give it a try and see what you think, I honestly think you would be impressed. Then you could do your own review.

It would have to be megamind intelligent to improve my driving James.
Thanks for the offer , but I'm not buying at the moment.

[Tilly]

Quite a conversation i started lol. Been lookin at the Gens Ace batteries as I they're quite a bit cheaper than the Vampire ones. I have a question regarding the temperatures on them. Well i presume the C stands Celsius anyway. If not feel free to correct me as i'm still new to all this battery stuff. Around wot level of C should I be looking at?

Cheers guyz

[jameswilkinson7]

Originally Posted by Tilly

Quite a conversation i started lol. Been lookin at the Gens Ace batteries as I they're quite a bit cheaper than the Vampire ones. I have a question regarding the temperatures on them. Well i presume the C stands Celsius anyway. If not feel free to correct me as i'm still new to all this battery stuff. Around wot level of C should I be looking at?

Cheers guyz

The c rating is to do with the speed the battery can discharge its full capacity (how quickly it delivers its power). Higher C rating = more punch.... Not just as simple as that though... a 30 c 6000mah would have more punch than say a 30 c 3000mah battery. The 6000 has twice as much power to discharge so would be doing it much quicker... more punch.

[Great_Thark]

multiply the C rating by the battery capacity and that gives the max safe discharge current.

eg 30C 5000mah battery 5 X 30 = 150 A what you need depends on motor / esc you have

[Tilly]

Ok thanks for clearing that up for me guyz. This is the Motor/ESC I'm currently running:
http://www.modelsport.co.uk/etronix-...roducts/368726

I'm currently using a hpi Plazma 7.2V 4300mAh Ni-MH so would be looking for something with a similar or longer run time. Also I wouldn't want to add too much punch as i've been tuning my set up and got it just about right. Could always alter it though if needed.

Any further advice on sort of battery i should look at would be appreciated.

PS hope I'm not bothering any1 with all these questions

Craig

[trevpotter]

Hell fire.

That's quite a debate!!!

Unfortunatley, it all boils down to what you can afford and what you want out of your gear. Cheaper stuff = lower spec, performance and reliability but many racers can't afford top end gear with downloadable this and that. I've been at this for years and wouldn't know where to start and life's too short anyway. At the end of the day, 1 mistake on the track means all that fannying around with downloads and top draw stuff etc to totally useless!!!

Put the car on the track and have a laugh.

Vampire gear is, in my experience very good.