Dual Charge Recommendations

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
danl said:
Be careful what you wish for though. With the way Right to Repair is (in the USA) it can be difficult to keep things working already. If we empower OEM's to make proprietary systems that lock users out, then things get junked.

Example, I got back into the hobby 1 year ago. I went all in on a Traxxas Maxx Slash with two traxxas 3s lipos and their ID charger. It was honestly a great experience. I had the truck running within 15 mins of unboxing. Fast forward a couple months and the balance leads on the ID plug were breaking off. I was able to repair. The same thing happend to the other 3S lipo. I ended up soldeing on my own balance leads, like you would see on a typical lipo. Had this been a spectrum deal, with the integrated chipset, my batteries would be junk. I now have 6+ months and at least 50 charges on those packs.

You may want to consider gens-ace-r-spam for your GF's son. I'd lean towards all in on gensacearespammers charger and battery because of my failures with the Traxxas balance leads breaking at the ID plug. They self ID with the charger. However the charger can also do normal packs if/when he is mature enough to that.
Click to expand...
I had got back into to rc with the taxxas lipo / chager eco system very easy to use and yes gets you up and running very fast, same thing happend to all my lipos the built in balance leads would break, fixed them all but still lost 3 out 6 traxxas lipos from puffing.

Traxxas chargers seem to charge at the highest c rating the ID lipos can take and it hammed my lipos, I was using them evey other day for months when I got back into the hobby. The ease of use is good but I never bothered to fully learn about safe voltages lipos can take for storage, full charge,c rating for charging etc because I didn't have to with the traxxas charger doing all the work. After I dumped them off and decided to get stuck into research about lipos and chargers I cannot believe what prices traxxas expect for the system.

Suppose what I am getting at if everyone let there tech do the job for them we would never learn how it works in the first place and get dumped with overpriced crap because we know no better.

Mico rant over 😄
 
Lipos are no joke when they go wrong. Definitely something that newcomers may overlook completely. After all, we all use batteries, right? How hard can it be? 🤣

Lipos are definitely an area where education is essential - failure may result in loss of your home! 😱

I've had a sudden and unexpected lipo failure on a Heli. Brand new lipo, brand new charger - straight from the factory = failure & fire. 🤬 No explanation.

8edcac38-2298-4f92-994d-3067d957eafe-1_all_19969.webp

8edcac38-2298-4f92-994d-3067d957eafe-1_all_19970.webp

Despite the glass mat the battery was charged on, fire damaged the wooden table underneath.

Lesson learnt.

Charging Lipos is done out of the house, on a metal bench, inside of a lipo bag, with the best equipment you can afford. Never charge unattended.

Then, a couple of years later, a recycling centre building caught fire. Initially they stated the fire may have started due to a cigarette. Later, there was talk of a battery being recycled put in with paper....🤦

5867.webp
 
danl said:
Be careful what you wish for though. With the way Right to Repair is (in the USA) it can be difficult to keep things working already. If we empower OEM's to make proprietary systems that lock users out, then things get junked.

Example, I got back into the hobby 1 year ago. I went all in on a Traxxas Maxx Slash with two traxxas 3s lipos and their ID charger. It was honestly a great experience. I had the truck running within 15 mins of unboxing. Fast forward a couple months and the balance leads on the ID plug were breaking off. I was able to repair. The same thing happend to the other 3S lipo. I ended up soldeing on my own balance leads, like you would see on a typical lipo. Had this been a spectrum deal, with the integrated chipset, my batteries would be junk. I now have 6+ months and at least 50 charges on those packs.

You may want to consider gens-ace-r-spam for your GF's son. I'd lean towards all in on gensacearespammers charger and battery because of my failures with the Traxxas balance leads breaking at the ID plug. They self ID with the charger. However the charger can also do normal packs if/when he is mature enough to that.
Click to expand...
I completely and utterly understand what you're saying, big companies and proprietary connections and equipment can become a nightmare. Apple being the number one offender in the universe., though I understand they're chilling out a bit now letting people use usb-c and even Bluetooth

There has to be a happy medium somewhere in the middle, and perhaps that Gen's ace smart battery system is the one. 👍🏼
 
Horatio said:
Lipos are no joke when they go wrong. Definitely something that newcomers may overlook completely. After all, we all use batteries, right? How hard can it be? 🤣

Lipos are definitely an area where education is essential - failure may result in loss of your home! 😱

I've had a sudden and unexpected lipo failure on a Heli. Brand new lipo, brand new charger - straight from the factory = failure & fire. 🤬 No explanation.

View attachment 11409
View attachment 11410
Despite the glass mat the battery was charged on, fire damaged the wooden table underneath.

Lesson learnt.

Charging Lipos is done out of the house, on a metal bench, inside of a lipo bag, with the best equipment you can afford. Never charge unattended.

Then, a couple of years later, a recycling centre building caught fire. Initially they stated the fire may have started due to a cigarette. Later, there was talk of a battery being recycled put in with paper....🤦

View attachment 11411
Click to expand...
Words of wisdom and experience right here
 
AggyMi said:
Words of wisdom and experience right here
Click to expand...
I'm not going to lie - I had zero concerns about Lipos until this happened. 😬

Now I routinely keep my (many!) Lipos in a metal box, on a metal bench and every couple of months put them in storage mode when not in use. I never let them drop below 20%

During use, I try and keep them above 10%.

Seems to work. 🤞
 
Horatio said:
I'm not going to lie - I had zero concerns about Lipos until this happened. 😬

Now I routinely keep my (many!) Lipos in a metal box, on a metal bench and every couple of months put them in storage mode when not in use. I never let them drop below 20%

During use, I try and keep them above 10%.

Seems to work. 🤞
Click to expand...
Mine are kept in a lipo bag, lipo bag goes in an ammo can, ammo can goes in the bottom drawer of my rollcab.

I will say I need to improve my charge procedure, I usually charge them in a lipo bag, but should really adapt the ammo can to accept the cables as I don't have a metal workbench or external work shop or garage or such like.
 
I put the charging batteries in a cinder block. On top of the block I put a bag of sand. If the battery decides to be a peepee, the bag melts, and suffocates the little jackwagon.
 
danl said:
I put the charging batteries in a cinder block. On top of the block I put a bag of sand. If the battery decides to be a peepee, the bag melts, and suffocates the little jackwagon.
Click to expand...
That is genius, I'd almost want to try it 👍🏼
 
danl said:
I put the charging batteries in a cinder block. On top of the block I put a bag of sand. If the battery decides to be a peepee, the bag melts, and suffocates the little jackwagon.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a super safe way of charging at home if you don't have a metal bench. 👍
 
21700 Li-ion cells are probably going to replace lipo over the next few years they already have cheap 70A 4000mah 21700 cells and similar 5000mah cells also exist though those are over 2x the price. Li-ion lasts for more cycles, doesn't care if you leave them on the shelf fully charged for months, and more energy density per volume and they are hard shelled. Pretty much objectively superior in every measurable way except cujrrent outpuit and they now can match midrange lipos in that regard and are getting better all the time.

You can make your own 6S 4000mah packs for $30 each with those cells I linked just need a good battery welder.
 
AggyMi said:
Mine are kept in a lipo bag, lipo bag goes in an ammo can, ammo can goes in the bottom drawer of my rollcab.

I will say I need to improve my charge procedure, I usually charge them in a lipo bag, but should really adapt the ammo can to accept the cables as I don't have a metal workbench or external work shop or garage or such like.
Click to expand...
Have a look at Bat-Safe. I use it for charging (storage in metal ammo cans.
Although there is a dedicated hole in the BatSafe for cables, you can also have cables running over the lid and close it.
There is a normal BatSafe which can hold a couple lipos’s, and there is a Mini Batsafe which is more for small (drone) lipo’s.
https://hobbyking.com/nl_nl/mini-bat-safe-double-walled-lipo-battery-charging-storage-box.html
 
Atomic Skull said:
21700 Li-ion cells are probably going to replace lipo over the next few years they already have cheap 70A 4000mah 21700 cells and similar 5000mah cells also exist though those are over 2x the price. Li-ion lasts for more cycles, doesn't care if you leave them on the shelf fully charged for months, and more energy density per volume and they are hard shelled. Pretty much objectively superior in every measurable way except cujrrent outpuit and they now can match midrange lipos in that regard and are getting better all the time.

You can make your own 6S 4000mah packs for $30 each with those cells I linked just need a good battery welder.
Click to expand...
They are an awkward enough shape that it looks like they won't fit in my Typhon Grom. 4.0AH run time on 2S would have been great.

For the corally battery tray I could run two 4S packs in parallel to reduce the current draw across one pack and get 8AH worth of capacity.
 
Partydaz said:
I had got back into to rc with the taxxas lipo / chager eco system very easy to use and yes gets you up and running very fast, same thing happend to all my lipos the built in balance leads would break, fixed them all but still lost 3 out 6 traxxas lipos from puffing.

Traxxas chargers seem to charge at the highest c rating the ID lipos can take and it hammed my lipos, I was using them evey other day for months when I got back into the hobby. The ease of use is good but I never bothered to fully learn about safe voltages lipos can take for storage, full charge,c rating for charging etc because I didn't have to with the traxxas charger doing all the work. After I dumped them off and decided to get stuck into research about lipos and chargers I cannot believe what prices traxxas expect for the system.

Suppose what I am getting at if everyone let there tech do the job for them we would never learn how it works in the first place and get dumped with overpriced crap because we know no better.

Mico rant over 😄
Click to expand...
Day 1 getting back into it after 20 years off, I was like you and decided to "pay the man". I did not have the knowledge to select the chargers I have now. My goal was to learn about electric vehicle power systems, which I have. The traxxas system helped me get through the learning stage safely and I graduated from it. I got the intended value out of the Traxxas system and now prefer manually attending to my batteries.
 
danl said:
Its simple and cheap. No matter what method is used when charging batteries, have a plan in place for what to do if a battery decides to ignite.

A hearth pad on an ignitable bench is also an option for folks who want to go that route: https://www.acehardware.com/departm...ing/fireplaces/hearth-rugs-and-boards/4487260
Click to expand...
That's a great idea - never had a hath pad like that! All the old places I lived at with open fires had mesh fire guards and old sacrificial mats in front of the hath. 🤣
 
Atomic Skull said:
never mind wrong forum
Click to expand...
I think there is potential - possibly - of Lithium Ion batteries having improved internal resistance and better current output.

But for FPV, freestyle, racing etc - Lion batteries aren't what people need.

I generally choose between 4600 - 5300 packs for my 2S shorties, which are 140c. Despite only being 1.4-1.5kg, my rigs can draw >120A 😬.

Currently, only Lipos can produce the beans for that kind of use. Voltage under load is really the only value that matters for RC car racers - especially for spec classes. Most races are only 5 minutes, so it's not unusual to have 60-70% left in the pack.

For bashers, capacity gives us run time, but it's the voltage that gives us punch for launches off jumps etc, so I can't see typical off road RC car enthusiasts trading 'punch' for duration.

When the day comes though, I would happy trade my volatile Lipos for (much) safer next generation Lions.

I guess we just have to watch this space. 👍
 
Atomic Skull said:
21700 Li-ion cells are probably going to replace lipo over the next few years they already have cheap 70A 4000mah 21700 cells and similar 5000mah cells also exist though those are over 2x the price. Li-ion lasts for more cycles, doesn't care if you leave them on the shelf fully charged for months, and more energy density per volume and they are hard shelled. Pretty much objectively superior in every measurable way except cujrrent outpuit and they now can match midrange lipos in that regard and are getting better all the time.

You can make your own 6S 4000mah packs for $30 each with those cells I linked just need a good battery welder.
Click to expand...
Those are some impressive numbers for not a lot of money
 
Sandracer_NL said:
Have a look at Bat-Safe. I use it for charging (storage in metal ammo cans.
Although there is a dedicated hole in the BatSafe for cables, you can also have cables running over the lid and close it.
There is a normal BatSafe which can hold a couple lipos’s, and there is a Mini Batsafe which is more for small (drone) lipo’s.
https://hobbyking.com/nl_nl/mini-bat-safe-double-walled-lipo-battery-charging-storage-box.html
Click to expand...
I had seen Batsafe before, it's a good product. I've got another idea now to integrate all the connectors onto an ammo can rather than running them through holes,, should also cost a fraction of the cost of Batsafe
 
Back
Top