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Dunlee

Batteries and Chargers

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Hi guys, I’m new to all this so please excuse any questions you have heard for the thousandth time. 

I just bought a Neo Scorcher and about to put in the Absima brushless conversion pack 10t. I Have been told that I can put in anything up to a 3s Lipo 5000 mah battery. I’m wondering if you guys give give me an idea of a good battery to buy? I’m also looking at chargers too, any help with charger recommendations would also be appreciated. 
 

Many thanks,

 

Lee

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Batteries are much easier to buy locally, so check the local shops. There are restrictions on shipping lipo batteries.  Hobbyking is a good place to start if they have a local warehouse too.

I'm not sure why they would suggest a limit of 5000mah. The mah just affects runtime, maybe it would overheat or something if run too long.

Chargers. There are a lot of good options. I like SkyRC stuff, they do a range of good affordable chargers with everything you need. You can get AC or DC chargers, or ones that can be run off either. If you get a DC charger then you need a separate power supply, so factor in that cost too. Usually a DC charger will be more powerful. There are 4 things to consider - charge rate, discharge rate, how many cells it can charge and its power. Most are 5A - 10A charge , often 1A - 2A discharge, 4S - 6S and 60w - 250w. If charging 2S batteries you don't need huge power, usually 60w - 80w per channel is heaps. 

As for recommendations, look at the SkyRC S60, D100 or Q200. They are essentially all the same but they are the single, dual and quad versions. I have the S60 and it works well.

I have also just bought a HTRC C240 from banggood. It is cheap, dual channel and decent power and charge rate. Even came with cables.

Consider how many batteries you will be charging, i now have 2 singles and a dual charger,  the dual is so much easier to use normally as I charge 2 batteries at a time, and 2 singles just seems so much harder. I use all 4 channels when racing though, a charger per car  

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Remember you are meant to charge lipos in a bag.

I've got one of these https://www.modelsport.co.uk/overlander-rc6-vsr-80watt-7a-output-ac-dc-lipo-balance-charger/rc-car-products/408440

nothing flash but seems to do the job, for my nimhs anyway.

Chargers are weird, if you look around you'll see one named "b6" from various manufacturers, they are all clones and indeed the overlander I have has the exact same menus and options. You often see them being called SkyRc iMax - I think this is the original manufacturer (but not sure), anyway as with everything from China there are lots of clones about and I remember watching a video of a guy who pulled a couple of them apart to find build quality differed quite significantly, I also remember a post on a rc forum where a university bought a couple of chargers and because its a workplace had to have them PAT tested, which they failed right out of the box. I'm pretty sure at one time banggood were selling the skyrc unit and the clone side by side..

My theory on the overlander was to buy something from a decent uk shop and actually overlander are a uk company although the products are made in China (well, I'd be amazed if they weren't). The hope being to avoid the very low end of the market and rely on the safety standards in uk / eu. Give the current/heat etc that goes on with charging batteries I didn't really want to take chances and have a battery or charger starting a fire.. Might never happen, but if it did you'd regret not spending the extra £20..

 

 

 

 

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Thanks very much for the response guys, really appreciated. I was actually looking at the iMax B6 so thanks for setting me straight with that one, I didn't realise that B6 meant it's a clone. I'm taking the advice and spending a few more pounds on the charger than I intended, sounds like  it will be worth it. I like the look of the SkyRC D100 and looked at a few reviews, it doesn't look too difficult to operate either - famous last words, but yeah I like the look of that one. I also bought a Floureon 3s 5000mah battery, I read mixed reviews but bought it because I struggled to find any other 3s Lipo battery that would fit the Neo Scorcher dimensions. Hopefully it's a decent battery. I did notice that the battery has a Deans T connector, where as the D100 comes with XT60 charge cables. Can I just buy a Deans T to XT60 connector, or do I need to look at soldering? (Something I'd rather not attempt). 

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41 minutes ago, Dunlee said:

Thanks very much for the response guys, really appreciated. I was actually looking at the iMax B6 so thanks for setting me straight with that one, I didn't realise that B6 meant it's a clone. I'm taking the advice and spending a few more pounds on the charger than I intended, sounds like  it will be worth it. I like the look of the SkyRC D100 and looked at a few reviews, it doesn't look too difficult to operate either - famous last words, but yeah I like the look of that one. I also bought a Floureon 3s 5000mah battery, I read mixed reviews but bought it because I struggled to find any other 3s Lipo battery that would fit the Neo Scorcher dimensions. Hopefully it's a decent battery. I did notice that the battery has a Deans T connector, where as the D100 comes with XT60 charge cables. Can I just buy a Deans T to XT60 connector, or do I need to look at soldering? (Something I'd rather not attempt). 

The easiest way is just to buy a deans to banana plug charge cable.  The D100 uses 4mm plugs I think, so something like this should work.  Most shops that sell the charger should also stock the cables.  Its always useful having a few different cables

https://www.banggood.com/AMASS-T-Plug-Connector-16AWG-30cm-Charging-Cable-Wire-p-1001684.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

The iMax B6 could be a real one.  SkyRC make the iMax B6 and I think have a way to verify them on their website, that you have an original and not a clone.  Thats how many clones are out there.  I wouldn't the iMax B6 because it needs a separate power supply.  If I was going to go to the trouble of an external power supply I would get one that would power those chargers that do 40amp charge rates.  Even though I only charge at 1C

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The overlander doesn't have an external power supply if that helps.

Fake B6 vs real :

 

Real vs fake teardown

 

I think a B6 would be fine if its a real one. Here's the RC6 that I have

 

 

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Really helpful, thank you. I decided to go for the D100 now that I know it's just another cable that I'll need to get. I also like the idea of the dual charging capabilities. It's quite difficult to choose when there is so much variety. Thanks once again for all the help.

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I went with the Ansmann AC/DC Delta 3 Amp Charger and 7.2v 3000 Bundle (New Style ACX1) from Time Tunnel. Smells good. I didn't want to big a battery as it's for a refurb project of a DT-01, so I needed to get one that fits.

https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/catalog/battery-bundle-ansmann-acdc-delta-charger-3000-bundle-style-acx1-battery-deal-p-16491.html

 

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22 hours ago, Dunlee said:

Really helpful, thank you. I decided to go for the D100 now that I know it's just another cable that I'll need to get. I also like the idea of the dual charging capabilities. It's quite difficult to choose when there is so much variety. Thanks once again for all the help.

Good choice, you won't regret it. I wish I had bought one at the start but instead bought a few different ones before getting a dual charger 

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On 5/21/2020 at 2:43 PM, Genus said:

I went with the Ansmann AC/DC Delta 3 Amp Charger and 7.2v 3000 Bundle (New Style ACX1) from Time Tunnel. Smells good. I didn't want to big a battery as it's for a refurb project of a DT-01, so I needed to get one that fits.

https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/catalog/battery-bundle-ansmann-acdc-delta-charger-3000-bundle-style-acx1-battery-deal-p-16491.html

 

Looks like a good deal bud. Can’t go wrong with a 3 year warranty too.

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I wouldn't bother with an Imax B6, that was the ,goto charger, maybe 10yrs ago, but things moved on.

I'd recommend something like this :-

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/skyrc-e680-ac-dc-80w-charger/rc-car-products/440716

240/12v input , 8amp charge (8000mah) and 2A discharge , but remember a Lipo explosion/ charge bag too.

For the 3s, I'd be tempted (I'm very tempted atm!) to go for -

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/overlander-4500mah-3s-11-1v-55c-low-profile-lipo-hard-case-sport-track/rc-car-products/396373

If you're new to the world of lipos, this is the, goto , introduction page!

https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/

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5 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

I wouldn't bother with an Imax B6, that was the ,goto charger, maybe 10yrs ago, but things moved on.

I'd recommend something like this :-

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/skyrc-e680-ac-dc-80w-charger/rc-car-products/440716

240/12v input , 8amp charge (8000mah) and 2A discharge , but remember a Lipo explosion/ charge bag too.

For the 3s, I'd be tempted (I'm very tempted atm!) to go for -

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/overlander-4500mah-3s-11-1v-55c-low-profile-lipo-hard-case-sport-track/rc-car-products/396373

If you're new to the world of lipos, this is the, goto , introduction page!

https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/

Thanks very much for that. I bought the SkyRC D100. I bought a Floureon lipo and it’s funny you should suggest the Overlander 3s 4500mah 55c lipo from modelsport, I just bought that last night, from Modelsport. Thanks very much for the recommendations. Now I just need to get an explosion bag. 

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1 hour ago, Dunlee said:

I bought the SkyRC D100

That'll do!! 😁

 

1 hour ago, Dunlee said:

I bought a Floureon lipo

The only Floureon ones I have are, softcase, which need a bit more cuddles, as they're easier to puncture and go, wooof.....

 

1 hour ago, Dunlee said:

Now I just need to get an explosion bag. 

In the next Modelsport order! 🙄😂😂

I'd also look on eBay for an, ammo tin/box, they're fairly cheap, and with the seal removed give a bit of, peace of mind, when storing them. (Seal removed, to let out the smoke/gas, IF the worst happened, as it'll just turn into a bomb otherwise 😬, but it's generally the charging where lipos get grumpy) 

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The Floureon battery that I got seems to be a soft case. Should it only be a hard case lipo that’s used?

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54 minutes ago, Dunlee said:

The Floureon battery that I got seems to be a soft case. Should it only be a hard case lipo that’s used?

hard case are recommended for surface rc for sure. it protects the lipo inside from puncture as a result of crashes, etc. doesn't mean you can't use soft, a lot do, just be careful. i'd buy hard from now forward though.

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6 hours ago, Dunlee said:

The Floureon battery that I got seems to be a soft case. Should it only be a hard case lipo that’s used?

Should be fine, in the closed chassis of a neo scorcher, it's if you put it in, say a boomerang, where the battery is exposed, and could be hit by stones/ sticks etc. 

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13 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

I wouldn't bother with an Imax B6, that was the ,goto charger, maybe 10yrs ago, but things moved on.

I'd recommend something like this :-

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/skyrc-e680-ac-dc-80w-charger/rc-car-products/440716

240/12v input , 8amp charge (8000mah) and 2A discharge , but remember a Lipo explosion/ charge bag too.

For the 3s, I'd be tempted (I'm very tempted atm!) to go for -

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/overlander-4500mah-3s-11-1v-55c-low-profile-lipo-hard-case-sport-track/rc-car-products/396373

If you're new to the world of lipos, this is the, goto , introduction page!

https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide/

Hmm, my overlander isn't dual voltage (I don't have any need for it) but the rest looks just the same as that skyrc one. maybe they all just use the same menu structure.

Thanks for the lipo link

 

 

 

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12 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

That'll do!! 😁

 

The only Floureon ones I have are, softcase, which need a bit more cuddles, as they're easier to puncture and go, wooof.....

 

In the next Modelsport order! 🙄😂😂

I'd also look on eBay for an, ammo tin/box, they're fairly cheap, and with the seal removed give a bit of, peace of mind, when storing them. (Seal removed, to let out the smoke/gas, IF the worst happened, as it'll just turn into a bomb otherwise 😬, but it's generally the charging where lipos get grumpy) 

I actually thought you were joking about the ammo box until seen people mention them on YouTube too! Just bought one, I’ll make sure I remove the seal, thanks for that. Also bought the Aocyan charging/storage case, it seemed to have good reviews. Hopefully it’s a decent choice.  

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1 hour ago, Dunlee said:

I actually thought you were joking about the ammo box

Nope!

I got one after watching this on YouTube.

Need to remember though,  that the lipos are high Mah, high cell count, and overcharged for max destruction/effect. You'd not charge them with multiple lipos together, and the reason for a decent charger, is to eliminate/reduce the risk of overcharging.

 

 

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So I should use the dual charging facilities for two lipos. Can I use it to charge a lipo and a Nimh?

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11 minutes ago, Dunlee said:

So I should use the dual charging facilities for two lipos. Can I use it to charge a lipo and a Nimh?

2 lipos, absolutely no problem, each in their own charge bag.

Not a clue about one of each, and tbh, once you get used to Lipo, it's like going back to CRT TV after getting used to 4k, you'll only do that a few times....

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2 hours ago, Dunlee said:

So I should use the dual charging facilities for two lipos. Can I use it to charge a lipo and a Nimh?

Yep, each channel is independent of the other, so you can charge different types of batteries or different programs on each. Its just like having 2 individual chargers but much easier as only 1 to deal with.

10 hours ago, Mark_C said:

Hmm, my overlander isn't dual voltage (I don't have any need for it) but the rest looks just the same as that skyrc one. maybe they all just use the same menu structure.

Thanks for the lipo link

 

 

 

If you look at a lot of chargers they look the same. I think SkyRC is the OEM for a bunch of brands, same cases, menus, specs etc. Look at the Hitec X2 and the SkyRC D100 for example

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On 5/23/2020 at 2:50 PM, Dunlee said:

Looks like a good deal bud. Can’t go wrong with a 3 year warranty too.

Seems to work well with the Buggy RX. Pokey little bouncer she is.

Just acquired a 5000mah from MB for my Super Sabre refurb, bit more time around the lawn ;)

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