HobbyCity ZIPPY and HEX LIPO Packs

[cyberwarrior101]

On a recommendation from a fellow club member here in WA State, I took a chance on HOBBYCITY.COM and purchased about 8 packs from them (LIPO). They all arived in a yellow envelope and bubble pack which was expected from China. After putting new deans plugs on the ones that needed it, I decided to give them a charge one right after the other and threw in a few thunderpower packs for the hell of it.

The batteries in question are:
ZIPPY-K (Not sure what the K is for).
800 20c 2 Cell 7.4V
800 20c 3 Cell 11.1V
1000 20c 2 Cell 7.4
HexTronic 860Mah 3 Cell
A Blue Pack (Forget the name) 2200 3 Cell 20C

So here's my problem. After checking the voltage on each pack (all were looking good) I put them on the Triton Charger.. Off I went, the LONG wait as I can only charge one pack at a time on that baby. When they were done, I was ready to go.. Grabbed my Funtana w/ the Park 400 Eflight motor and my Eflight Bipe w/ another park 400 and headed to the field. Put the Big Blue Pack in - Just about crashed... 5 seconds in and loss of power.. bird wouldnt stay up... Pulled the pack put in the ol' expensive but reliable Thunder Power 2100 and she screamed away..
Decided to put a Zippy 800 3Cell pack in ,, same problem.. Put a 860 TP and Wallah - off and flying again .. Lots of power, vertical , speed. you name it... Decided to downgrade and pull the foamie eflight bipe out w/ the park 400.. put another zippy pack in .. same deal.. crap... took them home checked voltage , looks good but i have NO power..

Now I'm no expert w/ these LIPO Packs, but I've been flying my TP's no problems.. Charging, then fly.. not a problem in the world.. These packs.. .. well I think I'm out well over 100 bucks ...

Anyone have any ideas? Should I try something different? Discharge the packs? If so, just throw it on the charger and use the Discharge feature on the triton?? Like I said, be gentle.. New to the LIPO scene and w/ my TPs I just charge and fly then charge and fly LOL ...

HELP!

[rking]

what are the voltages on the battery packs when fully charged? normally fully charged packs should be somewhere at 12.5-12.6v. if its lower than that, you might have some bad cells on the pack. if you have a voltage tester. you should be able to get the individual voltages of each cell through the pigtail. each cell should have a voltage of 4.10v when fully charged. again, if you something low, that could be an indication that there is a bad cell.

i also have 2 hextronic 1000mah 3s 20C packs from hobbycity i use on a foamie. they've been working well for me fr the past 3 months since i first got them.

[dg512055]

I got a Zippy H pack a few weeks ago. It is a 6 cell 4000mah pack. It is the most powerful pack I have yet to put in the Trex 600. I charges like a charm and balances well on my TP 1010 / 210 combo. I have since ordered a 5000mah pack and I am waiting for it to arrive.

[scalefreak]

Unfortunately, a LiPo is like a haircut......you get what you pay for.

Most of these cheap (and I will omit "Chinese" because if we didn't have China we would mostly not be flying R/C, at least not without stout loans using our homes as collateral) flight packs are rated at 20c, which most are definitely not. FlightPower, PolyQuest, Thunder Power (all Enerland Cells) & MaxAmps have all been tested to verify their "C" ratings. All of the cells used in the making of these manufacturers battery packs are "matched", also. I would bet that the majority of the cheap LiPo manufacturers forgo the matching of the cells in a pack. The cost associated with the name brand LiPo's is a direct result of their quality assurance and is ultimately the cause of their good name and favoritism among many modelers.

I would contact the company you bought them from and ask for assistance. Maybe the packs you bought are good packs and you just happened to get a few bad ones.

Good luck

[3dubya]

Zippy-R packs are Korean cells, that are as tough as any Enerland cells, they may be back door Enerland cells without the asstax

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...00mAh_25C_6S1P

[scalefreak]

	Quote: Originally Posted by 3dubya
	Zippy-R packs are Korean cells, that are as tough as any Enerland cells, they may be back door Enerland cells without the asstax

They even have a polyquest balance tap

[flashburn]

You are slagging the packs without providing data,
Amps your power set up draws @ full throttle is really important.
It sounds like you are trying to pull more from the pack than they can deliver
You state "Pulled the pack put in the ol' expensive but reliable Thunder Power 2100 and she screamed away.. " what C rate on the Thunder Power?
Plus a 800 pack can not deliver the same amps as a 2100
If you do not own a Watt meter borrow one and test your set up

[teryn]

	Quote: Originally Posted by cyberwarrior101
	After putting new deans plugs on the ones that needed it, I decided to give them a charge one right after the other and threw in a few thunderpower packs for the hell of it.

you need to slow charge them the first couple of times. charging normally or fast (in your case) and pouring the coals to them right out of the box is not the way to treat new batteries. Assuming that you did not damage them, you will see improved performance with use (charge and discharge cycles).

Teryn

[cid]

The most likly cause is that the zippy packs cant handel the amp draw and the voltadge is dropping under the load causing your speed control to hit low voltadge cut off . you get what you pay for the TPs are a littel more but are a much better quality and since the TP pro lights have come down in price there even better 2100 3 cells are now 60$ and 3120 3 cells are 45$ . I whent to the cheap side once and will never go back. THUNDER POWER FOREVER !!!!!!!

[joenella]

Used Zippy-R's in my F3A in 10S1P 3700mAh and they are way better than my TP4350 in anyway, they have around a 100 charges to them and they will retire now and go on pension

My brother have use some HEX 4100 in 10S1P with great result as well, so I think your are abusing them.

[statbeast]

This story sounds funny. Perhaps your charger is not reading the pack voltages correctly on the hobbycity packs? The cell balancer I use for my charger requires me to plug the zippy connectors into a different port than the TP port. Perhaps there is some issue like that keeping you from getting your packs charged. The zippy line is used by many people, so I doubt you got 5 bad packs in one order. Something must be wrong in your setup.

[Panzlflyer]

No mention of balancing???