How Do You Rate Your Lipo's

[Darklighter]

I'm looking to purchase some new lipos. 3 cell 1320 -1500 mah (20C). I have been using Thunder Power and am quite happy with them but would like to hear what other peoples experience is with different manufactures.


Thanks In Advance......

[Uncle Brett]

I've tried many different "cheap" lipos trying to find ones that will perform over the long haul like TP's and the Duralite Evo 20's. So far I haven't found one yet. Some of the cheaper batteries will perform great for the first 20-30 flights then go south quickly after that and are not able to hold voltage under load. I admit, I'm pretty hard on my batteries, however I never prop for more than the continuous amp rating and always try to land with a least 20% juice left in the battery. Personally speaking, I don't buy any other batteries other than TP's or Evo's anymore, however I've heard good things about the Hextronics batteries from United Hobbies. IMO they seem a little heavy but they're half the cost of TP's. Like I said , this is just my own experience, and when it comes to batteries I live buy the motto," Buy cheap, Buy twice".

[tkilwein]

I have tested the cheaper ones - will not mention the brands but many, I have over $1800+ in TP now.
Pay for what you get is the motto( this is my own opinion).

I do not recommend this BUT I pull out 57amps out of the TP 2100MAH 3 cell gen 3 on bursts 10 second up to 60 seconds and have NO degrading from them, this has been from the time they were first introduced till now and I do not baby them!
I have TP's that are over 3+ years old and hundreds of flights and still going strong.
They take my abuse within reason and keep on going.
http://www.mileskyhobbies.com/shop.asp this page has GL glider pictures and video two TP 2100 in series suppling 57 amps.
Have now upgraded hardware with my newer heatsink motor mount, TP 3300mah, CC 80HV. 25v @82-85 amps, over 2000 watts for a 3lb bird, over 650+watts per pound.

TP is the only battery brand I buy! Their extreme batteries are sweet.
They have excellent support and service also.

[Bobbydog]

I have 4 lipos that I run in my Magpie sport that I use for aerial photography and just fun flying. I use a Himax 2816-0890 motor in it and CC phoenix 25.

The first two lipos I bought were PolyQuest 2100mah 10C flat packs. I've got I'm guessing 50 flights on each of them and they have showed no noticable degredation. I only run them at about 17 amps max, and land them with about 20% left, so they have been babied.
I bought two Commonsense RC 2100mah 10C packs a week later and have had one drop off and die after about 20 flights. The other is still going strong.

I bought two Thunderpower 2100mah 15C packs about 8 months ago and two Li-Power Lites 2100mah 16C about a week later for my Yak. The Li-Power lites were about half the price as the TP and I bought them as a experiment. They all have 50+ flights on them and are all still working great. There is no difference between the two that I can tell. I run them at about 24 amps constant and peak them at about 30 amps occasionally. I'm still waiting for the cheaper Li-Power lites to die but so far so good.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Bob

[Freddy Warbird]

Hyperion VX packs are good.

[hercdriver7777]

Another thing to think about here is the warranty. I had an EVO 20 5s 5000 pack puff on me when I had not exceeded any of its limits. Flight Power USA sent me a replacement with no questions asked (unbelievable!) and they also have a 50% crash replacement deal. I guess they just announced all this at Toledo.

I have also had a defective Thunder Power 3S 2200 Extreme. They wanted me to mail it back to them, which I did, and then they called to verify my charger settings and which equipment I was using and then agreed to replace the battery at no cost.

I have a huge appetite for Lipo batteries and it gives me a little peace of mind knowing that the above companies will stand behind their product.

[ShortBus]

Tanic Packs are good.

[Spaz]

i've had PQ 20c packs for a while that are great.. they are Enderland cells just like hyperion/evo/polyrc

[2many280s]

I have a collection of Polyquest, Thunderpower, MaxAmps, and have recently ordered some HexTronics from United Hobbies. I firmly believe you get what ya pay for when it comes to lipos. You can tell the difference between the brands in flight times and voltage under load on my foamies and helicopter with TP coming out on top. So far I've had a PQ and a TP fail, but both were my fault. The PQ puffed a cell when I accidentally put it on the charger after charging a nimh and didn't change the charger setting, and the TP failed from over use I guess you could say =) The positve tab broke off at the cell.

All I fly are homemade and cheap foamies and an Axe CP helicopter. If the battery works at all it's good enough for me usually,I can rewind the motor or change props if I need a bit less amp draw, but if I had more money on the line and relying on that battery, I would probably go with TP.

EDIT: Also have an Electrifly 2s 2100, but haven't put any flights on it yet... not even really sure why I bought it =)

[MrKiwi]

I use Thunder Power packs. They are by far the greatest packs IMO.

[gareth.ky]

I have been using Hyperion VX packs. I have 8 of those packs so far and I'm pretty hard on them. I have a 3S 1200 and two 3S 1500 packs that I fly in my inspire mini.

I'm pretty hard on them. They get field charged at 1.5 to 2C. I have an AXI 2217 spinning a 10x7E on that airplane. This setup destroyed a 16C 1700 pack from another manufacturer. I need to get the watt meter on it but I estimate it draws over 20A. I fly hard and the packs come down pretty warm. I probably have 30+ flights on each pack. They all get charged on the balancer once per flying session, usually at home at 1C.

So far they show no signs of slowing down. They are actually kinda scary. The airplane will still fly and pull out right down to the LVC. The use of a timer is pretty much mandatory. I get flight times around 6 minutes with the 1500's.

So far the only problem I have noticed is that one of the 1500 packs has a hot cell. On the balancer that cell is consistently high and when the pack come out of the airplane is almost too hot to hold. The pack still performs well though. If it gets any worse i may have to retire that pack.

[Bobbydog]

I would retire that pack before you get a cool flame show as your plane plummets to the ground! Good luck.

[SargeNZ]

I'm another advocate for Hyperion's and Tanics. That dosen't mean 'cheaper' cells don't have their place, they are very often useful when used within their limits. Another advantage is that cells with a lesser 'C' rating are almost always lighter. There's always a tradeoff.