lipo questions
 

i live in england
and want to get some maxamps lipo's

what i want to know is:
would they be alright when they get shipped here(being flown)?
Do you have to charge them immediately after you get them ?
would i need to get a power converter(240V-110Vish) to use one of the hyperion chargers that maxamps sells.

Finally what would you go for: 5000HV2s or 8000HV 2s2p

No interest in Flightpower lipos? If you can find them (Flightpower) locally (since the company itself is in the UK), you may end up spending the same $ as Maxamps by the time you pay for any import taxes on them. Just a thought...

i'll take a look at them but i am still interested in the Maxamps lipo's. i would have to get a decent lipo charger for them anyway which i would probably get from Maxamps.

I had a look at the trakpower lipo's and found some locally but couldn't find the Trakpower V-balance unit but i did this morning.

i would need to get a new charger and plugs.

should i get them?
Are they as good as some of the maxamps's ones?

if you have them, are you glad that you did or do you wish you didn't?

thanks for your help and any input.

the flighpower trakpowers are the best cells you can buy. The highest voltage under extreme loads. The v balance is available through Mike as well, but you should be able to get one local. (they go around 40-45 euro here)

Another nice thing about the trakpower packs is that they are more protected.

yeah i like the casing they have on them it makes them seem less like lipos in some ways. i saw what it said about them having the highest voltage under load but didn't look at any other batteries to try to compare. i knew that i could get the V balance through mike but i wasn't totally sure if i wanted to the trakpowers or not.
there is only one shop in the whole of the UK that sells the v balance so i was really pleased when i found them.
i need to get a charger as the ones i have at the moment don't have the right sockets and aren't very good.
what charger would you recommened which isn't too expensive. i can get a step down power converter or a power suply if needed.

thanks

I'm in the UK too and went LiPo recently, I looked into maxamps but they wanted about $60 for delivery, making Flightpower cheaper. I got a Flightpower 4s 4350 locally and am very happy with it indeed, they are awesome cells.

As for inexpencive chargers, if 14cells/5s is enough voltage and 5A is enough current for you, the hyperion eos 5 / propeak prodigy II / multiplex\hitec LN-5014 / jamara X peak3 / many other names, is a good charger for the price at £45-60. The hyperion version is the only one to have A123 support and a dataport so it will talk to the hyperion LBA10 balancer and give you voltages for the individual cells, a very impressive feature for the price, but I'm sure the other versions will get the update in the coming months.

If you want higher voltage or ampage the thunderpower TP-1010c will charge up to 5s at 10A or 10s at 5A and talk to the TP balancers to give you the individual cell voltages but its around £120 or the hyperion eos 1210i is similar in spec (but a totaly different charger) at a similar price.

Edit. There is a version of the hyperion eos5 and propeak prodigyII (probably all the other names of that charger too, but I've not seen them) that has a power supply built in so it will work form a car battery or from the mains and it's not that much more expensive, I bought a big 17A power supply years ago but if you don't have one allready it's a pretty good deal.

what vehicle are you using them in?

i don't know whether to go with trakpowers or some 2s 4350 or higher mah.

are the hyperion eos 5 and LBA10 availlable in the UK or would i need to get them from somewhere else(america) or any hyperions chargers for that matter.

what charger do you use?

Just curois since yall were talking about the fp lipo packs. Will they fit in a stock e-maxx chasi and are they better than the maxamps packs.

Their physical size depends on which one you get. Look at the dimensions and check that the one you want will fit.

They are better than the maxamps packs. It's just a matter of whether you want to spend the money. The FPs are great, but loosing one in a crash sure would hurt a lot more than loosing a maxamps pack. The maxamps packs also work very well for the money. I'd just stick to the packs based on either the 5Ah cells or the 4Ah cells in parallel configurations.

What do you mean I'd just stick to the packs based on either the 5Ah cells or the 4Ah cells in parallel configurations.?

Those are the best packs to get because they don't drop voltage under load like most of the other packs do and can deliver more current than most of the other packs.

What kind of battery connectors do the FP's have? if any.

Mine have 4mm, but that's because I soldered them on. Flightpowers come without connectors, they just have some heat shrink over the ends of the cables to stop them shorting.

i am thinking about getting the following but wanted to know if there is anything i should change.

the list is:
1. hyperion charger

Hyperion EOS 5i DP AC/DC Charger http://robotbirds.com/catalog/produc...oducts_id=1423

OR

Hyperion EOS 1210i Charger http://robotbirds.com/catalog/produc...oducts_id=1422

and power supply


2. flight power v-balance

3. FLIGHTPOWER EVO25-5000 2S

or

FLIGHTPOWER EVO30-4500 2S (depends which ones are sold locally)

want to know your thoughts
thanks

Well what you have listed will work fine but you may want to consider a couple things. First the Hyperion only charges up to 5 amps... so your batterys should be limited to 5000mah or less and I don't know about the price because it isn't in US dollars.
Secondly you are getting a power supply so do you need an AC/DC... there is a Hyperion EOS 5 which is only DC and cheaper but should provide the same features.

Going by the prices I've seen at US sites a better choice for the money would be an ICE which is more versatile, charges larger batteries, motor breakin, etc. Or if just for Lipos might I suggest the Astroflight 109 which is excellent for lipos and in the same price range. Both of these I would say are better charger choices for around the same price tag as what you have listed. Of course it all depends on what "you" can find in your area.

i thought that the eos 1210i could charge at up to 10A and i was only going to get a power supply if i were to get that one. at the same place there is also Hyperion EOS 7 Charger which could charge at up to 7A. i am trying to buy my stuff from the UK and the highest MAH lipo's here are only 5ah.
i have found the astroflight 109 here but it doesn't say if it charges nimh so i assume not. i would need to get a power supply for it though right.
do you think i should get the astroflight 109 then?

The Astroflight is lipo only but seem to charge a little faster than other lipo chargers I've seen and you would need a power supply. I think it would be a good choice but it is lipo only. The 1210i looks like a good choice but I have no experience with that charger. Any of the Hyperion seem fine I just wanted to point out the limitations of the EOS 5i you listed. If you plan to stick to 5000mah or below the 5I is fine. Just keep also in mind that lipos are advancing technology all the time....who knows in the next few months a battery will probably come out that will charge at 2C reliably (some already say its ok). At that point the charger won't handle a 2C charge for a 5000. I'm not discouraging the 5i just that it is right at the edge of what you need... it would be the cheapest choice. Just balance what you want to spend with what you get.

how good is the hyperion 1210i at charging lipo's?

This is my personal opinion from reading and use not a 100% technical one. Charging lipos is not a huge deal... one charger doesn't necessarily charge better than another its more how fast. So I wouldn't be terribly concerned about which one charges better than another. A friend has the EOS 5i and it charges great.... but he uses a 6000mah battery so it takes longer to charge. Now the 1210i should use the same basic charging programming so I wouldn't be concerned if it charges well... I'm sure it does. The 1210i has some neat features though that could suit you very well. You can network 2 batteries together with LBA10 balancers and charge 2 packs at once. Since you are going up to 5000mah and the charger does 10A that could work out real nice. It also can charge at 2C which could be very useful. It also has a data port that you can monitor each cell on the screen. Sounds like a great charger. I think what it comes down to is a cheaper charger will charge the cells just fine... do you want to pay for those extras (which seem pretty cool IMO). Just by looking at what it can do I can't think of a charger that does more than the 1210i can. Maybe if we keep this going someone will wander in that has actually used one.

Have you searched or asked in the MaxAmps forum? MaxAmps does sell Hyperion chargers so maybe you can get some more info there.

This might help a little... post in here from someone that has both the 5i and 1210i.

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/show...hyperion+1210i

thanks for the link it helped quite a bit.

edit:
think i am going to go for the 1210i as it is the best lipo charger i have found in the UK that does lipo nimh and nicad and can do more things than the eos 5 but i will just have to be very careful when setting it up.

Sorry I missed one of your posts, the vehicle is a Hot Bodies Lightning 2 Pro, but the 4350 gets both my 8XL and MM darned hot while only being warm itself so I wouldn't be worried about it in any vehicle with a 540 ish size motor.

For the chargers yes the 1210 does do 10A (for up to 5s packs, its a 180Watt charger). Get the best that fits in your budget. to futureproof you as much as you can. Charging at under 1C is perfectly fine, even better for your battery so if you went for the eos5 and got a 10K mah pack in future it would still work fine, just take longer, my own charger tops out at 2.5A

I would suggest that if you go for either hyperion make sure its the newest A123/dataport compatable version and you get the LBA10 balancer, datalink cable and any HP-FP adapters needed, instead of the FlightPower V-balance.

Where in the UK is good for Hyperion? I will be upgrading to one these probably the 5 (I have no budget, everything on or to do with my buggy was the cheapest I could find that would work, Except the FP which was a birthday present) at some point, I was going to get it from aircraft world in Japan but I would rather buy in the UK if they have the A123/dataport ones in already, most UK model shops seem to have the ProPeak prodigy II version of the 5 but they don't have A123/dataport yet.

Personaly I ruled out the 109 (yes it is LiPo only) because it autosenses the cell count, and I won't trust a computer not to burn down my house, I believe the software has been fixed since the fires, but I would always be worried.