Chinese Electrics...?

[F1END]

Just wanted to start a discussion about this, as I've been looking at loads of stuff on ebay recently.

Due to me being skint and trying to spend as little as possible, when I was looking for a balance charger for lipo, I came across this...

Specs are exactly the same as a Core RC charger, even the screen layout is identical. So I bought one. Seems like a good charger, balances fine, even resurrected an old NiCd that wouldn't charge on my old charger.

Also, when I was looking at getting a cheap brushless system, I avoided the Hobbywing EZ-Run, cos I wasn't sure about the quality (and cos it wasn't sensored), but then I bought an Orion Vortex, which is apparently made by Hobbywing anyway.

So what about lipos I thought...

And I found this...

Question is: is that any good? Going by the specs (35C, 5200) it looks great, but what downsides are there? All I can think of is that it isn't BRCA legal, but I doubt I'm gonna enter any regionals/nationals, and that if I ever try and sell it, no-one will buy it, as they don't recognise it.

Any thoughts?

[Nick Goodall]

I've seen some of this stuff too, and in particular the EZrun Brushless systems after being told about them when looking for one to go in my SC10.

I'm tempted to buy one and see what it's like but would also appreciate any feedback from anyone that's tried this stuff already?

[Big G]

a few of the guys running SC10's with ezrun 8.5's and they go very well. good value for money I'd say!

[super__dan]

I have that exact charger, try comparring the voltage it thinks the Lipo is with the actual voltage as measured by a multi meter at the lipo outputs, mine is rarely within 0.1to 0.15V hence I will not use it to charge Lipos unless I use my Trakpower V blancer with it which has an inbuilt 8.40V cutoff on it.

It does however do a good job of charging my transmitter (probably cos it's not too fussy) which my Pulsar won't do for some reason.

[sosidge]

Most electrics, even big international brands, is made in China, so that in itself is not a cause for concern.

Some of the "unbranded" stuff is a copy of something better known but to a lower standard. Some of is OEM versions of stuff also sold under well known brands. Some of it is Chinese-developed and of good quality (such as the HobbyWing ESCs).

The problem is that you don't know what you are getting until you have got it! There are some bargains out there, the great thing about the internet is that people can share their experiences of products.

It is surprising how much branding prejudice there is though. Particularly with batteries, you will have people praising one product to the roof while condemning another, without realising that they are exactly the same cells with a different label on them!

[Si Coe]

As said, most stuff gets made in a great big factory in China somewhere, and sold under different names. Not just electrics, even whole cars, and good cars at that. The Anderson MR4 is sold all alround the world, and dominates micro racing, but most people have never heard of it. Thats because its also called the LRP Shark, FTX Blaze, Duratrax Vendetta and probably a few other names. Even Yokomo sell a rebadged version of it.

On the electrics side remember that appearances are decieving. Lots of chargers are based on the same circuitry as the Core UDC series, but housed in different cases so look don't look the same. Under the skin the UDC and Imax are the same.

The Hobbywing EZrun systems are excellent VFM, but they are sensorless and not quite as good for racing as sensored systems. The Orion Vortex is based on the more expensive sensored Xerun series, so you did buy the right one.

In the end though, some of that price difference is down to service. I have Hobbywing and LRP esc's, and both are good. The critical thing is that if the Hobbywing dies, thats it, new one time. It hasn't, its proved to be good quality so far, but if it does go wrong there is no support. The LRP however has superb back up from SMD who have helped me a lot.

[stampede vxlboy]

ezrun are good combo i use 1 in my madrat 9 turn combo very good for the money and i would buy more of them as there good and never let you down

[stox217]

I have been using the ezrun system in my mardave for a good few months it was flawless but then it was removed from the mardave and went into my carisma (1/14th) running 6cell 2/3a cells on a 8000kvh motor and its fine

[Si Coe]

Forgot to add that the one area that cheap Hong Kong gear seems to fall down on is Lipos. I'm not totally sure why this is, but they do seem disappointing in this area. Far too many stories of misrepresented packs (capacities nowhere near stated, supposedly 30C packs that struggle to deliver 15C etc) and no real saving on the more reputable brands (Kokam, Intellect) means that you are better off with locally sourced Lipos.

Case to point I have 2 sets of Trakpower 3200 20C saddles, and a set of Yeah Racing 5000 25C saddles. The Trakpowers run my 4.5t just fine, though it near drains them flat in a race, but the supposedly superior Yeah Racings can't cope at all and are now religated to practice use only.