Thinking of Zippy Lipos in an RCPD RC8, need advice

[Cain]

Hey guys.

Just wanted to say so far I have been quite happy with my RC8. Love the power and performance, and not getting covered with nitro residue is great too.

Anyway, I currently run a PolyRC 4S 6000mah pack, works excellent. I am thinking though for next year to pickup 2 batteries, so I can do the 30 minute mains that the nitros do for races where I am allowed to run the buggy, till electrics get going enough.

As you already know, the PolyRC 4S 6000mah 25C pack isn't exactly cheap.

So I am thinking of giving a set of zippy's a try as I can get 2 5S packs for about the cost of the pack I have now.

Anyway, my problem is two fold, hope you can give advice:

1. Seems like most of the zippys I am looking at won't fit the RCPD tray's width. Is anyone here using a zippy with the RCPD tray, and if so, how did you get it to fit?

2. For the 4800mah Type R zippy, looks like it could be what I need. But, I have heard the wires are pretty porky. For those who have used these batteries, what did you do for connectors? Did you redo the wire to something more reasonable?


Thanks before hand.

[tc3_racer_001]

to answer Q2. ive got 2 different 4800 4s zippies, one bought only 3 weeks ago. the first one i got has 10ga wires. really flexiable - great! (like on the MMM)

this recent one has 8 (or possibly even 6ga) wires. super solid, but how in the world would you get a deans on there. impossible.

im using 8.5mm bullets and they only just fit in the ends! so anything less i couldnt see working. both perform great but the newer one stays in 0.001v balance after a full run. not bad. the other one is out of balance each run by about 0.1v-0.2v which isnt too bad.
hope this helps,
ryan

when I have a wire lead that is too thick for a bullet connector I remove some strands of wire and twist them together until it fits

Originally Posted by Cain

Hey guys.

Just wanted to say so far I have been quite happy with my RC8. Love the power and performance, and not getting covered with nitro residue is great too.

Anyway, I currently run a PolyRC 4S 6000mah pack, works excellent. I am thinking though for next year to pickup 2 batteries, so I can do the 30 minute mains that the nitros do for races where I am allowed to run the buggy, till electrics get going enough.

As you already know, the PolyRC 4S 6000mah 25C pack isn't exactly cheap.

So I am thinking of giving a set of zippy's a try as I can get 2 5S packs for about the cost of the pack I have now.

Anyway, my problem is two fold, hope you can give advice:

1. Seems like most of the zippys I am looking at won't fit the RCPD tray's width. Is anyone here using a zippy with the RCPD tray, and if so, how did you get it to fit?

2. For the 4800mah Type R zippy, looks like it could be what I need. But, I have heard the wires are pretty porky. For those who have used these batteries, what did you do for connectors? Did you redo the wire to something more reasonable?


Thanks before hand.

Zippys are gerat for the money.

Regarding the RCPD Tray. You will need to take a dremmel to the tray sides if you get the Zippy-H (the blue wrapped ones) The Zippy R's (white wrapped)should fit fine with no mods as I believe they are rebranded enerland cells like your PQ packs. The RCPD tray is 48.5mm and the Zippy-Hs are 50mm wide. A dremmel with a grinding head and about 5 minutes is all it takes.

I use the Losi 1/8 Connectors and they fit the wires fine. I also liked the 6.5mm Castle Bullets.

The only thing about the Zippys is that I have noticed that they do not take getting drained down very well relative to the high priced packs. It isn't a big deal, but you just need to be vigilant and treat your pack right. They work great for racing, but I wouldn't use them for high amp draw applications or very hot motors like the 1512 1.5d or 2d.

Set your LVC to 3.2 volts or you risk the pack getting out of wack. WHen I ran my packs with a 3.0 and 3.1 cut off, I noticed they would get way out of balance (never an issue with the PQ & Flightpower packs) and sometimes one of the cells would not recover from teh amp draw and read below 3 volts. As long as I have it set at 3.2 it stays balanced perfectly and puts back in more mah than the pack is even rated for.

[tc3_racer_001]

i run a 1512 in a 4kg buggy. runs pretty hot but the battery comes off around 90-105 in the hottest spot, (near the esc) so im not complaining. got my cutoff at 3.4/cell and personally its perfect as it is, and i dont think id get much more than the 20 minutes racing i get currently. it IS a hot motor, but the original is going strong but the newer one is even better. (old one was always a bit out, the new one is 0.002v off the charger wihtout a balance charge @ 90% TCS, thats good enough for me thats for sure.

[hoovhartid]

I picked up some 4800's and squeezed some deans on them. I doubt I will keep them like this tho. It looks dumb and I doubt there isnt a bottleneck at the joint.



on another note. I notice some ppl post pics as a thumbnail that blows up when clicked on.

will someone point me to the tutorial for dumb dumbs so I dont take up so much room when I post pics?

TY

[Steve Krug]

Originally Posted by hoovhartid

I picked up some 4800's and squeezed some deans on them. I doubt I will keep them like this tho. It looks dumb and I doubt there isnt a bottleneck at the joint.



on another note. I notice some ppl post pics as a thumbnail that blows up when clicked on.

will someone point me to the tutorial for dumb dumbs so I dont take up so much room when I post pics?

TY

LOL @ the wires...


Are those 4GA?

[tc3_racer_001]

dont think they are as thick as the one i got. those are as thick as the first pack i recieved...

[rschoi_75]

You could also check out some Neu Energy lipos. The Neu web store has recently dropped their prices and you can get a 4s 4100mah 30C lipo for $111. Its pretty close in price to zippy-R's, and from a top tier company.

http://www.neumotors.com/2008/store/page4/page4.html

[johnrobholmes]

Zippy packs are not enerland cells, they are china made.


I have been looking at a cheap big pack for my ebike. Compared to MA packs I could get 4 times the capacity with a higher discharge rate. The 10ah cells from MA are $1200 for 12s now! Otherwise it would be Polyquest packs that could very well last longer and would guaranteed be better matched. Ahh, choices choices.