Car Battery or just more Lipos?
 

Getting kitted up for racing again and I need a bit of advice regarding Lipos.

I've already purchased a Lipo charger that is mains or 12V and am now looking to purchase a leisure battery, which seem to be around £70 to £80, plus I'll require a charger/conditioner for around another £30, equalling around £100.

So rather than spend £100 on this why don't I just purchase another 2 packs of Lipos (I'll have 4 then) and charge them from home the night before the meet? No hassle carrying a car battery around or charging on the day sounds good and meeting are usually 3 heats and a final from what I remember.

So I'm guessing if I charge the night before there will be a voltage drop overnight meaning I won't get full performance the next day. Is that correct? Is there much difference in performance compared to charging just before the race?

it is there on race track 110/220v (i do not know what is your voltage)? you could modify an old pc power supply, it is cheap solution. I am running 2 of imax b6ac chargers on one 300watt pc power supply.

The voltage drop overnight with lipos is negligible and you shouldn't notice it.

IME most racing consists of practice, 4 rounds and a final, not sure you'd get two runs out of a single charge outdoors

Maybe see if someone you'll be racing with has a generator that you can piggy back off and chuck them a couple of quid towards petrol?

Just a quick note...it's not advisable to top up a lipo battery after a full charge either unlike a Nimh battery,just incase you were thinking of topping up your lipo,s the following morning :thumbsup:

I tend to always get 2 rounds on astro from 1 pack, but on grass it uses just over half so you tend to expire 4 mins 30 secs into the 2nd race lol.

you could always recharge off the car you travel in? I made a cig lighter cable up so I can charge from the 12v outlet in the boot when needed.

The only time I've found the need for more lipo is at a club night when you have no time to top up after the race. With 2 packs I found this really hard, now I have 4 packs so the top-up can be left to complete fully rather than stopping charge when needed

mmm..practice, 4 heats and a final = 6 packs. That's getting expensive..

Unless I get some cheaper packs.....

Really like the idea of no car battery. It would be a compact, slick operation without one:)

Open bonnet, clip red to red, black to black and charge all day. You're already carrying 1 12v battery around, no need to carry another

Col, I think you are right - car battery it is.

If you look at my next post you might see why. I have a new motor to buy now too:thumbdown:

I got hold of a leisure battery off eBay for £55. It's 85ah and does ok for a few days racing. Iwas using the car battery but 4 charges a time have been taking it's toll on the battery and I'd rather extend the life of it by not hitting it every week.
If you have a charger than you can set the max on the lipo's so 2nd time around they don't max out it may help your car battery. It is usually the last 5% that takes the longest particularly if you are balance charging as well.