Which Lipo batteries for RC18T?

[jared1970]

I just bought an RC18T off of a member here that is already setup with the Mamba 8000kv and ESC. He wasn't running Lipos, but I've already decided I'm going straight to Lipo batteries before I even bother with what is coming with it. What would be the best Lipo battery I could use in this car? Being a 1/18 scale, I suppose the size of the battery tray in the car is going to limit my choices. Money is not a huge deal, none of the batteries I have seen are outside of my price range. I want the best performance and runtime I can get that will fit in the car.

 

[marauder]

Your deal came with the castle link programmer right?

 

[jared1970]

Yep. It's the one 3.3maxx was selling in the for sale forum. https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58747

 

[robmob]

With the mamba set-up, this would be the pack to get.

http://www.maxamps.com/proddetail.php?prod=Lipo-1550-111-Pack&cat=144

It will make your rig ballistic.

If you want to tame it down a little, this pack is the ticket.

http://www.maxamps.com/proddetail.php?prod=Lipo-1550-74-Pack&cat=144

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I HIGHLY reccomend the maxamps.com batteries. I have 5 or 6 of them, and they've all been great. I also bought a Hyperion charger and I love it as well, they have them on their site. Everyime I buy something from maxamps.com, they send me a hand written thank you card with some decals and stuff. And if I buy a bumper sticker, they send me 6 or 8 of them. Small things like that go a long way. And once I had a problem and I thought there was something wrong with a battery, turned out it was a bad connection on my part. I emailed them that morning, and got a response a few minutes later. They ended up sending me 6 emails in one day trying to get the problem solved, and they already had a new battery packed up and ready to ship if I needed it. I buy ALL my LiPo stuff from them.

 

[jared1970]

Which plugs do I need?

 

[robmob]

Deans female.

 

[marauder]

This is the pack that I'm running in my RC18T, and it fits the stock location perfectly and already has deans installed.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMDN0&P=7

I also recommend you read this thoroughly. Absolutely DO NOT leave a lipo pack plugged into your esc for more than a few minutes after use. Ask me how I know, lol.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187

I also suggest a voltmeter, harbor freight sells them for like $2.99.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Yeap, I always unplug my LiPo batteries after running them, and then I cycle and charge them before putting them up. I have one of those RC calendars with the hot chicks posing with RC's (also highly reccomend it) and I use it just for my batteries. I have each LiPo assigned a different number, and after using them I charge them and mark it on the calendar. Every few weeks I check the batteries (more often for small batteries) and I cycle them ever 3 to 4 weeks and recharge them. I thought it all sounded so complicated, and then I got LiPo and discovered that if you just follow the guidelines they are super easy to take care of and fairly safe, as long as you don't misuse them drastically.

 

[Brushlessboy]

Charlie, check out the lipo in mine, it does need a bit of chassis balancing though. Its a 3s @ 2200. Personally I will be going back to a 2s, much more controllable.

 

[jared1970]

That looks a little heavy on the one side. It would work okay for an oval track car that was only going to turn left.

 

[Brushlessboy]

Boogity Boogity! Yeah she turns left just great. Turning right gets people talking.....

 

[jared1970]

As far as the charger, I was looking at the Hyperion EOS0403i Lipo Balance Charger ( http://www.maxamps.com/EOS0403i.htm ). Would this be a good charger for my application? This is my first electric, so the higher end models have a lot of features I don't understand. This one seems pretty basic and reasonably priced.

 

[jared1970]

Anybody have advice on the charger?

 

[marauder]

I'm sure that one would work fine, looks like the one that Charlie has I think? I believe his is ac/dc. It costs a little more, just keep in mind with that charger you linked to you will need an inverter to use indoors on ac current.

Here's what I use, its for 2-3s LiPo, and I have a Astro Blinky balancer and a thunder power adapter for my other batteries. Some will say you don't need a balancer on a 2s LiPo, but I strongly recommend you use one anyway. Looks like that will equal out to the same cost anyway. I say go for it, I've heard nothing but good things about hyperion.

The cons with this one that I use are that it's loud. The alerts are loud, the fan is loud, and it does not have a display at all. It does charge perfectly, shuts off when it should, and functions flawlessly. Its just loud. A voltage display would be ideal on a charger, I'm not sure what's out there but I use my voltmeter a lot because my charger does not display current voltage.
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdId=DYN4060&utm_source=froogle

 

[hamz9561]

When I purchased my Mamba setup, Castle wasn't recommending anything more than a 2s lipo for the 8000kv motor due to heat problems. Has something changed in the past year?