[63994]

Good morning,

Since I'm as green as the new spring grass I need advice on which lipo batteries to buy. I've read so much about Lithium polymer batteries in the last week that I have analysis paralysis!! My local hobby store sells E-flite batteries, presently I'm in need for a couple of 3S 2200 G40 and he is selling 3S 2200 G30 for around $55.00. Any recommendations on the quality and price? What are the other options? I agree, you only get what you pay for so I would rather spend more than go on the cheaper side!

Regards,

Michel

[williame3590]

I have had the best luck with Thunderpower lipos. More money for sure but completely trouble free after a ton of use. They also seem to be more compact then alot of other brands.

Bill

[Daren71]

Both Hobbyhobby, and Great Hobbies sell Gens Ace. I would highly recommend them over E-flite any day. As long as you treat the batteries with respect, and handle with care, and charge safely you will be fine.

This guys website has tons of great info.

http://www.tjinguytech.com/charging-how-tos

Good luck. Daren

[cosmith]

Well the notion of "you get what you pay for" is often true, I believe with Lipo batteries the law of diminishing returns also applies.

The only Lipos I've ever puffed were Parkzone and Eflite...these were also the most expensive Lipos I've ever owned.

The Gens Ace are good mid range Lipos and Thunderpower are probably one of the best in the higher price range. There are lots of other decent budget batteries out there...like Admiral from MotionRC, Revolectrix, Hobby People, Buy RC Canada etc. Any of them will out perform the Eflite battery you mentioned, last longer and be less expensive IMHO.

There are quite a few threads around here regarding Lipo sources in Canada...if you poke around a little bit with the search function you should be able to find lots of good advice.

[bigdbc]

I know I may be in the minority here but I use Zippy compacts almost exclusively now, I have 18 of them some are almost 2 years old with well over 100 flights still balance, charge and fly great. Only 1 battery has failed(dropped a cell). Just my 2cents.

[cosmith]

Originally Posted by bigdbc

I know I may be in the minority here but I use Zippy compacts almost exclusively now, I have 18 of them some are almost 2 years old with well over 100 flights still balance, charge and fly great. Only 1 battery has failed(dropped a cell). Just my 2cents.

I've never used Zippy but have had really good luck with some smaller Turnigy Nano Tech batteries. I just find with all the shipping problems there are a lot of other decent sources for Lipos that aren't HobbyKing.

I don't use anything bigger than 3s 2200mah...but I would say there are lots of decent lipos in this size for around $20 and you probably shouldn't need to spend more than $30 or $35 to get something better quality with a true high C rating.

Some examples for the OP:
Admiral 35C
Admiral 45C
BuyRC 30C
BuyRC 40C
Revolectrix 30C
Revolectrix 40C
Gens Ace 30C

[deaconFlyer]

I too have a collection of Zippy and Nano-Tech and to date have only had one complete failure ... and that was on the bench not in the air!

There was a recent thread and I believe it was stated that there are really only two or three companies making the actual guts. You pay for the cables, the externals and the yes, testing. Volume sales drives cost more than any other factor.

Personally, I plan well in advance, and have largely chosen my planes and helis around battery specs ... the 3S 2200 certainly seems to have a lot of choices of airfram ... Similar for my 2S 450-550 packs.