Are these good specs for a 4300 battery?
 

Weight: 408g
Capacity: 4300mAh Measured at 860mA (0.2C) discharge.
Capacity > 4000mAh - At 30A discharge
Max Discharge Current: 35,000mA (35 Amps!)
Max Charge Current: 6,000mA
Internal Resistance: <15mOhms when fully charged (<2.5mOhms per cell)

Yes those are good specs on paper, but i bet the product does not deliver (1) the voltage under those loads or (2) The capacity. Is this a product you have found other than that supplied by IB or GP because even these two manufacturers struggle to live up to their advertised claims in my experience.

N

Hi,
Yes have seen these on ebay,item number,300065269881.....i need to buy some new batterys and these look good,and a good price..but not knowing to much about batterys,just want some good advice,by people who know!!
Thanks.

I could not view that item because the item had finished (did you buy it?). I looked at the other RC batteries on their shop and it looks like generic no-name stuff out of China (GP and IB are also out of china). It will be a case of you pay your money and you take a chance. I see they do sell some of the 4300 red sleeved products which i have in the office for testing - although those samples arrived at the office with the sleeve split on a number of the cells not a good start!).

Remember that although you would probably be OK at club level, you would not be able to run these batteries at sanctioned BRCA meetings as the cells would not apprear on Paul W's cell list.

N

Just checked again, yes the cells in that pack you looked again are the same as i have in the office. They badged as VAPEX. A colleague of mine met them at an Exhibiton in Germany and that is where the samples came from. I see they have a UK website but it looks like that is someone importing and selling on-line only. Very cheap.

I will test the samples I have in the office and give some feedback in a week or two.

Neil

Hi Neil,
Thanks for the info.........just one more thing,because they are in stick pack,the ones i am interested in,will these last ok,because you cannot look after them like you can saddle packs???

You wont be able to check individual voltages or to balance them.. you might even have a dead cell and not know it. As i said, you pay your money and you take your chance! I think they are worth a chance at the price they want for them.

N

Hi Neil,

Ok,i'll buy a pack and see how we go!!!!!

let me know your results and what you think when you have tested them!

thanks for your help,

simon

Anyone tested these yet?? http://demonpowerproducts.co.uk/prod...products_id=52

Neil, are these the ones you have on your desk to try?

Also whats the crack with these red colured East Power cells? Do you know anything about them? I read on one matchers site that they are going to stop selling them due to the way they do business! :o

G

No, those are different. The ones I have on my desk are these:

http://www.vapextech.com.hk/product-...20battery.html

They may all be the same thing with different sleeve on, Chinese manufacturers are like that! I have seen those East Power ones on the RC Station website but not tested them.

These Vapex ones are not BRCA legal anyway and the closing date for adding new cells was yesterday I think..!

Neil

I understand that the EP cell is "OK" although i'm told they are not as good as the latest IB cell. That was info from a couple of months ago, not sure if EP have changed their cell at all. Should know a little more in a couple of weeks. They were not on the 06 EB list, but i suspect that they will be on the 07 list when it's released this month.

I do know that there are 2 versions of the EP cell. "UV" and "UC", basically a high voltage version, and a high capacity version.

Cheers guys,

Matt, what was just 'ok' about the EP cells? Voltage, run time or life? They are floating about a stupid cheap prices at the moment, and I'm in the market for some cells.

With brushless this next year I don't think I'll be looking for the last 1/10th of a volt on cell specs. :)

G

I was told that they compared very well to the IB SHV cell - but that the IB worlds cell was better.

It's all roumer to be honest. I was going to get some to test myself (as you say, they aren't that expensive!!) but just didn't bother. One thing i did get told though was that they were a little more robust than IB. Not sure if that's 100% true - as i guess you'd need to abuse them for a while to be sure on that one.

The other reason i held off was that i was unsure if both versions would be EB homologated, so thought i'd hold off.

Like i say, i might know a bit more in a couple of weeks. Talking to my man who's tested them the other day, and he's getting some new ones to test with soon.

Ah cool, cheers Matt.

WTF are IB worlds cells? :o I didn't know about those. So there are the std ones, SHV and Worlds now? How do you tell them all apart?

G

the price!!

Jut noticed these on the bay, item number 300065239056

4300, 530sec's at 30Amp - vapex again

Graham, yes there is an IB "Worlds Edition" cell. They have been out 2-3 months i'd guess. http://www.racing-cars.com/products.asp?partno=prod978

I haven't tried any personally, but everyone tells me they are just a bit better than SHV in all areas. They are identivied by a sticker the same as the SHV is.

I tested a couple of the Vapex cells Vs the GP430SCHR cells. Out of the box the Vapex had slightly higher running voltage during the discharge cycle (arounds 20mV at 4.3A discharge rate) but only provided just over 3500mAh whereas the GP430SCHR cells give 4000mAh typical. I have around another eight cells and will test these and post the results at a later date.

Neil

Hi neil,
My stick pack arrived today....before i use them for racing,should i charge them up,then discharge them???

Cheers simon

It is a good idea to cycle them once or twice in case they have sat around a while. What is the pack voltage (before you apply ANY charge)?

Neil

Hi neil,
How do i find out pack voltage.....i bought the stick pack and i only have the pro peak 2500,charger!!!!.....mind you there only for a bit of club racing:)

Dont you have a digital volt meter? (I guess not). Dont think you can do this then, never mind. I would advise getting a meter though.. they are invaluable...

You can buy one for less than a pair of tyres.. there is one here at Maplin for under a fiver!!!!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...METERS&doy=5m1


Neil

Hi neil,

thanks for that....will get one asap.........

But what should i look out for??.....voltage drop?..etc

cheers simon

sorry, forgot to explain... when you get the pack as brand new, it woudl be useful to measure the voltage. if it is less than 6V then there is a good chance it will have permanent capacity loss...

as an ongoing thing.. i always check the voltage of my battery once installed in the car. A fully charged battery will measure around 8.2V (meaning it is the one I have just charged).. it is just a sanity check that make sure I have not picked up the wrong battery.. stops me from coming to a halt after 60 seconds.... It happens.. even to F1 drivers..! ( im an F4 :))

N

Hi neil,

have ordered the meter,so wont touch the 4300,and will test it when the meter arrives.........thanks for the info..

Just one thing,,will a 4300 battery measure more volts than say a 3600 or 3300 batterys??...if you know what i mean!!!:confused:

8.2???????

Your the exspert but im sure i get than that in my cells.

A

My 3300 cells usually ready 8.20V to 8.30V around five minutes after coming off charge. Dont confuse this reading with the on charge voltage that you might see during charging. The voltage of the cell will drop as soon as you take it off charge and of course it will drop again when you put it under load. The reason for the test before racing is purely to see if the pack is a fully charged one or not. If you see 7.5V then you know it is not a fully charged pack and you have got them mixed up on the table...

Neil

hi neil,
couple more questions!!:) ,,i have a fairly old speed ex mosfet pulse current charger for charging and discharging Nicads only.....it has a lcd display,output voltage,output amps etc......i was wondering could i discharge Ni-mh batterys on this????

cheers simon