Any news on the Battery's for 08

[RogerM]

Originally Posted by Doomanic

What is this going to do to attendance at the EOY Finals?
Many racers at the F3/4/5s only race regionals so do not need new cell this year, but they will be forced to buy cells in September to enter.
Buying new cells in September is a bad idea apparently.

If Callum wants to race at the Juniors this year (he will) he will have to have legal cells. He currently uses very old GP33's and does not need the extra speed that new cells will give him.

I am more than happy to lend Callum cells for the Juniors, after all you do enough for me!

I understand your point though mate .... it does need clarification as to if the cells for the EOY finals and Juniors need to be to national spec .... I'd not considered that!

[DaveG28]

I'm with Doughty, if one of mine is going up I'd rather replace the car than my eye or fingers!!

I know this is slightly off topic, but am interested in some people being able to get through these meetings on 2 sets of cells. Am I missing something, I am happy to use multiple times in one day, but by the time I have marshalled, then discharged the remaining 1500mah out of the battery, then equalised it, then waited an hour and a quater for it to charge (which I have to do before putting the next battery on to discharge), I need at least 3 to always have a charged set available. Am I just equalising too often, or do other people use 2 chargers/discharegrs/equalisers each?

[Southwell]

I just recharge mine during race meetings. I equalise once every few weeks, but thats mainly because im lazy

[RogerM]

I have been told to just let them cool and then recharge from part charged state. Only Equilising every couple of weeks as I have been told that it can put excessive strain on the cells and is worse for them in the long run if done too often.

Helps I am only charging at less than 1C and still have 2000+ left at the end of the run as cool down time is less many.

[DCM]

this ruling has just been poorly handled. I will reiterate the fact that my cells, that I bought in Sept last year, were homologated for the list in 2007 an are now not legal. When the rule change was done, it should of been implemented at that time and given a grace period for the over size cells to filter out. Now there will be a rush for the new cells, and call me a cynic, but I can't see any of the big firms offering 'budget' cells until after the initial rush.

I still reckon we will have the same issue with the new cells to, and out of that list there will be one top performer too.

And Dom has made a valid point, the Juniors, F2's and F3/4/5's are classed as a national event, so the cell listing will be in place, the only one that misses out this year is the Indoor Finals. So, if my kids wanted and were good enough to attend the Juniors, we would need new cells.

[DaveG28]

Originally Posted by RogerM

I have been told to just let them cool and then recharge from part charged state. Only Equilising every couple of weeks as I have been told that it can put excessive strain on the cells and is worse for them in the long run if done too often.

Helps I am only charging at less than 1C and still have 2000+ left at the end of the run as cool down time is less many.

Anyone else heard this too?? I have been equalising after each run, and discharging after each run too, am I better only doing this infrequently?

[Wraggy]

Originally Posted by DaveG28

Anyone else heard this too?? I have been equalising after each run, and discharging after each run too, am I better only doing this infrequently?

i do similar to southwell, i will reuse a pack i used in pratice and just recharge with what was left in them after the practice ,
have been since sept 06 and the packs are all still going (smc IB 4200)
will have to get new ones now though but only because i wont be able to use them at nationals .

[jim76]

i usually discharge/equalise after each meeting, having used the cells at least twice that day topping up between races. cells are fine after 6 months

[spenner]

The Raceplace are doing the following:

We have deals on these packs, so to get your order in Tel: 01462 684859


Team Almighty 'World' Ener-G 4600MAH
Orion 'SHO' 4200MAH

Coming Soon.......
Raceplace Matched Cells

Contact the shop for details.
All deals and prices will be on the web site soon!!!

We can have your Ener-G cells pre built for you in any config.

[super__dan]

Ref equalising (all personal opinion);

My current cells go out of balance over 1 week through self discharge, this is notable after discharging to 6.0V and then equalising on a Smart Tray. So each WEEK my cells get equalised on the day before charge. However if they were to be used again on the same day they surely can't go out of balance that quick so I would just top up.

So if I was using packs more than once a day they would come back from race (marshal) and get put in front of a small fan I have which though won't cool the cores quickly is bound to help. Then if topping up they're never likely to need more than 40-45mins charge. So between 2 rounds at nationals there is like 3 hours so you could do it on 2 packs, 3 easily.

Personally I have seperate discharger, equaliser and charger. It does make things Much easier.

[Jim Spencer]

Originally Posted by alrg500

Well I may be wrong but I thought GP3700's were smaller and lighter than GP4300's and I would imagine GP3300's were even smaller so surely if they they had been submitted they would have passed??
Basically any cell that wasnt submitted that was legal in the past becomes illegal anyway so its a big gain for the manufacturers to not bother submitting old cells knowing anything they sold in the last couple of years would become illegal to use??? and everybody would have to buy the latest cell?

Hi All

I new if I did enough rummaging i'd find this sort of post..
Cells under 3.7ah don't come under homologation at all anymore - you can use those at all events.
(See BRCA > Electric Board > Homologation > Batteries, rule 2.6)
Oddly I have a few packs of GP37's lying around somewhere - might have to dust them down..

[Mike Hudson]

Originally Posted by Jim Spencer

Hi All

I new if I did enough rummaging i'd find this sort of post..
Cells under 3.7ah don't come under homologation at all anymore - you can use those at all events.
(See BRCA > Electric Board > Homologation > Batteries, rule 2.6)
Oddly I have a few packs of GP37's lying around somewhere - might have to dust them down..

Does this mean you can use anything including 37's and below?

[Jim Spencer]

Originally Posted by Mike Hudson

Does this mean you can use anything including 37's and below?

Yes.

[Jim Spencer]

2.6 In addition to batteries included on the homologation list, sports/starter level packs of cells that do not have OEM heatshrink, will be allowed at BRCA sanctioned events. These packs must have the original suppliers label intact, stating that they are NiCd or NiMH and the pack capacity. Maximum capacity is 3700mah. These batteries will be allowed at sanctioned events from 1st. Jan. 2008.

You can run any cell from 3.7AH down at ANY sanctioned events, Nationals, regionals etc etc etc

[DCM]

now that opens up a lot more possibilities....

[Mike Hudson]

Thats a relief this should bring a fair few racers out from the underworld

[Jim Spencer]

Hi All

Quite surprised that this has caught some of you out, there has been plenty of discussion about this around.

I think everybody is aware of the problems 'growing' 4.2's have had on everybody concerned, the decision at the end of 2006 was well documented then and has been kicked to death on various forums since..

So yes if you bought new cells at the very end of the 2007 season that was probably a bit of a mistake..
But
Suggest you put a 'for sale' note in the 1/12 community as their Euro's (end of their season) in the spring is too 2007 cell lists and they'll be struggling to find any that arn't dead by then..

Dunno about you lot but I didn't get any cells to last more than 6 months from the last lot anyway..

Hopefully the new spec the manufacturers have had to do will rectify that too.

[JCJC]

Originally Posted by Jim Spencer

2.6 In addition to batteries included on the homologation list, sports/starter level packs of cells that do not have OEM heatshrink, will be allowed at BRCA sanctioned events. These packs must have the original suppliers label intact, stating that they are NiCd or NiMH and the pack capacity. Maximum capacity is 3700mah. These batteries will be allowed at sanctioned events from 1st. Jan. 2008.

You can run any cell from 3.7AH down at ANY sanctioned events, Nationals, regionals etc etc etc

Thanks Jim Spencer, and welcome to the forum, our 3300's & 3700's live for at least another season.

[Mike Hudson]

I've got a few 3.3's and a few 3.7's that ive had for atleast 2 years! and they are still going strong one of them still perfect with plenty of punch and capacity Thanks for the cell update jim, will save alot of people a fair amount of dosh

[DCM]

my original IB42's (from the original batch at the start of the 4200mAh range) lasted me till then and was showing signs of failure. And was happy to buy more, as I have said before, those cells that were on the list carried over each year. I guess now we will see a 'silly season' for cell buying.

Anyone want 5 packs of hardly used 6 cell IB42's lol