LiPo packs and overall weight .....

[niggs98]

Originally Posted by rcracer

And you couldnt keep recharging the 2 packs of nimhs allday

you could but 2 packs of nimhs would struggle to do a whole season.

rodger as for power delivery i find the lipo more consistent over a 5 min run than shop bought or even team nimhs which makes it easier for me to get my pace right round the track. i personally objected to lipo for the simple fact that u have to modify most cars to fit them, but having used them i honestly feel its worth the hassle of making them fit

[spud31]

Gents

You may or may not agree but there seems to have been a vogue to race 1/8th offroad over the last few years.
I think lipo and brushless will redress the balance back to electric classes just like it has in TC, i raced my B4 last sunday for first time in 3 or so years, and was so much fun again, no constant maintaince and a TP 3600 will do at least 2 heats without recharging, 25mins practise how can this not bring people back its now more accessable than it ever has been.
On the debate on weight i know with the TC the car was awerful without it due to balance issues so i imagine we will be the same.

[rcracer]

Originally Posted by niggs98

you could but 2 packs of nimhs would struggle to do a whole season.

Yes but would you trust rogers little jonny cooking 2 packs of cells at 7 amps allday

[Chris Doughty]

Originally Posted by RogerM

A post on the MK GP thread about weights got me thinking about this so I thought I'd start this poll to see what the world at large thought .......



So what do you think about forcing LiPo runners to add at least the amount of weight that would be required to make the combined weight of the Lipo pack and it's ballast say the same as a pack of 3700s????
(purely from the point that would be the minimum cell likely to be powering a quick brushless equuiped car)

Based on that post Cosie tells me his S2 with LiPo in weighs in at 1525g (still loads above the BRCA minimum 2wd weight so no probs there) and I stated that my RB5 with 4500s in will be nearer 1700g .......

Now to save the brain cells (I know some are running low on those as S.A.D. takes it's toll) that is 11.5% extra my poor motor has to accelerate out of each and every high grip / low speed corner and punch across the jumps too.
Now I could make that up by driving 11.6% better (but I'm not going to count on that too much!!!).

So here's the point (finally you all cry) .......

If Cosie's Lipo pack weighs in at 150g less than a pack of 3700s and my 4500s tipped the scales at 25g (guessed difference) over the 3700s BUT the rules stated that he had to make up the difference in ballast on / under the LiPo pack IN ADDITION to any weight on there for handling reasons it would level the playing field again .....

That would leave me with some choices to close the gap, dremel, run 3700s, buy loads of light weight bits-and-bobs, go and have a cup of tea and not worry about it!

Does that make sense (as far as the question is concerend)??????

I know there would still be those that say what about the 0.4V nominal voltage increase etc. but lets be honest ..... for anything much quicker than a spec the extra voltage isn't going to matter a jot. In fact most modern NiMh cells run about 1.23v anyway so that's 7.4V!!!

If you are that worried about getting yourself a super-light car run 5 cells and a 4.5 motor.

maybe you are forgetting that this is off-road and that sometimes a bit of weight in the car is a good thing, calms the car down, slows down its reactions and helps you get an error free run

[c0sie]

Alot of valid points raised, especially the garlic bread one.

Personally I love LiPo's, Ive never had or seen any problems with them and in MY opinion most of the horro stories you hear are 'a mates mates mothers son-in-laws LiPo went bang' and nothing closer to home.

There are rumours that I have heard, and I in no way associate myself with these rumours!, that the TC section have found people over charging and going onto the grid at 8.7V.....people charging on NiMh settings.....or so the rumour goes o.O
No doubt there are ways to police the SAFE use of LiPo's and no doubt PW with all his experience as Chairman and EB blokey will be looking into every possible angle.

I think LiPo is the future. I saw a video from one of your 'up North' indoor meetings afew days ago where an IB blew up indoors during the 2WD final, yet ive never seen a race video where someone gets their face blown off by a LiPo at a meeting.

Yes, we've all see the videos of people deliberatly over charging LiPos to make them go bang for the fear factor...but under normal sensible use? Nada.

[c0sie]

Also, the fact that the LiPo does not drop off at all under load is just amazing! To drive LiPo after years of NiMh's is just a different world. No more banging it out of a corner and finding that its dropped down and bogged

[Alfonzo]

I almost don't dare post this as it all gets sooo tedious, but here goes anyway..

Regarding safety - I personally saw some NiMh explode. Twas very very nasty indeed.

Prediction: NiMh won't even be an option in 12 months time.

[Bungleaio]

As far as I'm concerned as long as cars are above the minimum weight limit I'm not fussed how heavy other peoples cars are.

Originally Posted by Smartalec

Lots of things that made sense

You're called Smart Alec, for a reason aren't you. I'm completely with you, I bet in a couple of years ago we'll all wonder why we used nmih.

[c0sie]

I bet you NiMh's stay around in certain classes for a while yet.

Its allll about the money..... :/

[bigred5765]

i think you'll find that roger runs a 4.5 in 4wd any way and cant see the problem,am i right roger??

[bigred5765]

Originally Posted by c0sie

I bet you NiMh's stay around in certain classes for a while yet.

Its allll about the money..... :/

you can buy lipos as cheap as nimh.

[Belsten]

I personally see it going the same way as brushless

On my return to racing, I was running brushed but having seen the light, moved to brushless pretty quickly and havent looked back

Having said that, I will be running nimh next season as thats what I have relatively recently bought. LIPO all the way once they need replacing though

[c0sie]

Originally Posted by bigred5765

you can buy lipos as cheap as nimh.

I dont think you understood my point the way I intended it Matty lol

Matched NiMh's x lots of packs per season = lots of profit...*etc*cough*etc*

[Gnarly Old Dog]

Originally Posted by c0sie

I bet you NiMh's stay around in certain classes for a while yet.

Not if they don't keep equalising them, keeping a storage charge in them when not in use and only charging them when they're cold they won't

Seriously though for a mo. I've just gotten my head round them new fangled NiMh things (which are still far more temperamental than the good ole 1400SCRs) but having run LiPo at 3 club meetings in the past week alone - I've gotta say that they make it easier to go racing because it drastically cuts down my pre-race prep time and my boss never liked me charging my IBs on my desk at work

[bigred5765]

we ran one pack at bury indoors last week, ran the same one pack all day in 2wd with a 6.5 lrp sintered in a x6, was ace took around 1100mah top up the pack for the next round and never got them warm all day,the 6,5 was a little to quick to be honest a 7.5 would have been a little easier to drive,and as far as safety issues super glue is twice as dangerous, just ask the guy that got it in his eye, when he spun the back wheels up on his car,oops we even did two runs without topping up.

[Answer-RC-Pete]

A little distraction from the topic but surely if when Lipos become the standard the 1/10th side of the hobby wins the drivers back from 1/8th side and you get to do 10min finals... Surely thats worth it.

Im with spud - I hadnt raced electric for years and come last sunday at Bury with 1 pack of 4000mah Lipos and a brsuhless it was just soooo easy. No skiming, no messing, no re peaking cells...

[Alfonzo]

So when do we get to race 8 or 10 minute heats? Would it work? I guess it limits the number of rounds you'd get and/or number of people racing. Having said that, running a meeting with 10 minute heats would not be twice as long as a meeting running 5 minute heats.

[Answer-RC-Pete]

10min finals rather than heats. I fully agree longer heats would cause problems in terms of planning a meeting.
RallyX generally is 5min heats with 10, 20, 30min or longer finals, increasing in order D Final - C - B - A being the longest..

[Alfonzo]

10 min finals make sense. I like it.

[RogerM]

Originally Posted by bigred5765

i think you'll find that roger runs a 4.5 in 4wd any way and cant see the problem,am i right roger??

Couldn't be more wrong mate ..... running a Novak 6.5L ..... seriously considering an 8.5 or maybe even a 15x3 brushed for the 2wd on NiMh cells!!!

I have a used once 4.5R (in a TC) if anybody wants it .... lol


What I am most interested in is the fact that most people have instantly goen on the defensive with the assumption that I am trying to say the LiPo revolution is a bad thing ..... I've not said anything of the sort!!!

I just like to get people thinking and talking that is all.

All I have asked is what do people think about reducing the weight benefit of the LiPo runners to even out the playing field a little whilst NiMh cells are still in peoples race kit.

My own 4wd is a stick pack chassis and to be honest would be nearly perfectly balanced side to side and front and back with a 3200 LiPo in place so I'd rather not add weight (170g side to side inbalance with E4500s).
I have absolutely no intention of going to the saddle pack FS even in NiMh format.

As Mr Doughty has pointed out a little bit of mass around the middle can be a very good thing when getting down and dirty in the rough (Why I've had nice steak for dinner not a salad). I once spent loads of time and money trying to get a Losi XX-CR down to the weight limit only to find it made it much worse to drive .... I was young and foolish (now old and foolish )


I am finding people's responses to this thread very interesting!!!