Bigsquid LiPo Shootout Update
 

"All the pieces are in place, the Big Squid RC Li-po Shootout is gonna go off this weekend in Chicago. Yup, we’ve got the balls to do it, and yes, there were even a few manufactures with enough balls to submit packs. At this point, it looks like a real war is brewing. Thunder Power, SMC, CheckPoint, CORE, and more are ready for battle. We’ll be testing 10 packs total, with only ONE winner at the end. We’ve got 6 test drivers, ten ICE chargers, a half dozen power supplies, a CE Turbo 35, and a half dozen Slash’s lined up for testing. As a teaser, the testing criteria are- 1. Capacity, 2. Top Speed, 3. 30 amp discharge voltage under load, 4. Weight, 5. Price, 6. Fit, and lastly, 7. In Car Performance. Yes indeed boys and girls, we’re gonna make a bit of rc history this weekend, doing on honest shootout." - Biqsquid RC

I can't wait...

I so wish someone else would have donated batts. I would have been next in line for testing! Oh well maybe Brian will still give me free batts.:lol: Cant wait to see the results.

sounds cool but I want to see what BrainG comes up with to test batteries. Brian- you should call it the battery dyno........

Where's Maxamps? They all like to donate packs for publicity? Surely they won't miss this opportunity to prove the performance of their packs. Maybe they can do a few laps underwater to see who has the best waterproof performance....

30amps discharge test? Thats only 6c for a 5000mah lipo, a rather worthless test as even crappy packs can manage that kinda discharge.

Lab testing would be more useful to determine run time and capacity- test drivers all have different styles so comparative testing would be rather difficult, almost impossible weh you factor in track conditions changing along with ambient temps etc.

At best, gut instinct you be relied upon to gauge things like punch and power output.

What if one company sends in a pack that's tampered? I can see a company (maxamps) doctoring a pack, using different, good cells and matching them so the pack performs almost as good as the high end packs. In truth the pack is an expensive, flammable paperweight that sucks in anything more then a 2s rustler.

I thought it was the other way around? I assure you, I don't have any inside connections to cheap hi-Q cells. :wink:

lol. Sounds good.

Yeah, 30A sounds a bit lame. Are they planning on testing these packs in those super light (4lbs) 2WD 1/10 buggies or something?

That's why whatever testing is done should be done with off-the-shelf packs. That's the only way to ensure that people will get similar results as those from the shootout. Not a statistically viable test IMO.

Awesome, I can't to see this myself either... who knows, maybe it may just surprise us all...

No I meant Brian at Bigsquid. You can give me batts anytime you like though.

I'd much rather see tests on 4s & 5s packs ?

I can think of a couple reasons why they don't:
- 2s packs are cheaper for companies to send for testing.
- A lot of racers, especially 1/10 scale, use 2s packs. Many people won't make the connection that if a 2s pack performs well, then a 4/5s pack made of the same cells will perform just as well. Gotta remember that many people are fairly new and/or not knowledgable about how these things work.

Also, "field" testing 4s and 5s packs should be easy enough, but bench testing becomes problematic. To get 100A+ out of a 4s or 5s pack is going to generate a considerable amount of heat. And components that can handle that aren't cheap. 2s is far easier power-wise. 7.4v at 150A is "only" 1,110W, but 18.5v @ 150A = 2,775W!

Mr.B, That all makes perfect sense and some of what you wrote I've already thought myself. But, I own 20 Lipos and 2 of them are a 2s. Hence my dissapointment of rather seeing the higher voltage tests.

I gotcha. Well, if you see how well a certain pack of the same make/brand and cell rating of a 2s pack in the shootout performs, you can get an idea how well a 4s or 5s pack will work.

They are testing them in Slashes so far as I can tell. Pretty light duty.
30A could be ok if they are using small mah batts, like 2100 or less. Again, you should be able to draw parrallels from manufacturers, altho actually testing 5000mah cells would be the best (doesn't matter on cell count.)

Seems rather useless to test 35C 5000mah batts in a light 2wd with crummy traction to begin with.
"Hey, guess what, all the batts hold up well!"
--> N.S.Sherlock

Another reason why 30A is not a good number to use: A cell's discharge curve is not flat across all current levels. Voltage drop over increasing current may be fairly linear up to 30A, but there may be a drastic drop in voltage at anything above 35A that would never be seen. 30A is simply not high enough to see that data, so all the cells look good.

I wish there was funding for the off-the-shelf packs to be bought by the average joe for testing. No donated packs just for the sake of knowing that these tested packs are what everyone else is buying.

There is; it's called the "ship your packs to Brian fund". Or, if a cash transfer is preferable, a convenient link to my paypal account is on all the pages of my RC Calc site. :whistle:

Wow, 30 amps huh? And slashes as test beds? Are they stock trucks? A old 3000 mah maxamps pack could easily put out 30amps and run a stock slash just fine. We ran one in a losi 2wd buggy and were blown away on the performance increase compared to matched nimhs! That uis how I started in lipo, and I bought 1500 bucks worth of lipos from maxamps due to the stellar performance in that losi buggy. We all know my experience with MT and maxamps. I have a feeling that this test will proved that most of the packs can somehow easily produce more than their rated capacity with this kind of load. Plus i doubt that any of those packs will have the slightest bit of problem...

Not much of a test, lets see some of those packs in 6s config in my muggy, geared up a bit for 50mph or more.