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Can you use lipo batteryies on every setup or is it intended for special motors and esc's?
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CharliesTheMan
Gone - bye bye.
Well you need a setup that is designed to handle the power of LiPo. If you just put it on any ESC and motor combo that isn't designed to handle that much power, things will either melt or fry, and neither is good. But there are a lot of really inexpensive systems and setups that you can run that will handle LiPo power. Hell, you can buy a brand new Castle Creations Sidewinder brushless system for only $120, and it's a hell of a bang for the buck. With the programming kit, you can hook up your ESC to the computer and custom program all of the settings, like throttle and braking curves, drag brake, low voltage shutoff, etc, etc... Also, if you run LiPo on an ESC that doesn't have a built in or external low voltage shutoff, you will drain the pattery below the minimum voltage and a charger wont recognize it, so you will essentially have a $150 brick in your hand. LiPo is easy to use and safe if done correctly, but you shouldn't take any shortcuts.
He can tear up a battery if he keeps running it when the performance drops. If you stop running it when you notice the performance dropping then you would be fine. There are companies that make external units for cutoff like novak. But I would not go any higher than a 2 cell unless you are running a truck like a emaxx or esavage then I would go as high as 4 cell lipos.
CharliesTheMan
Gone - bye bye.
Well he's wanting to know if he can run LiPo on a stock setup, or that's what it sounds like to me. We could better answer your question if you let us know what seup you will be running, but a 2S LiPo battery will fry a lot of ESC's that aren't setup to handle the power because of the excessive current draw from the motors.
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I'm running a LRP AI runner series up to 15T esc and LRP touring car speciel motor 18T
CharliesTheMan
Gone - bye bye.
well I happened to see your setup in the other thread. I went to the LRP website and it says that the ESC is only capable of running nimh and nicd. Now you might could get away with LiPo is you only run it for a few minutes at a time or don't put a lot of load on it, things like that, but I wouldn't reccomend it unless you talk to a serious RC electric guru (such as John Robert Homles of Holmes Hobbies) and they advise it.
Thats the one thats waterproof right? It's only capable of handling 6 cells....I wouldn't try lipo on that esc.
If you have an esc capable of handling 7 or more cells you can give it a try but you will need a low voltage cut off!
I won't say this doesn't work for you but it will not work 100% of the time....this is a good way to ruin a battery.
From the time I start running until the esc shuts off my batteries don't show any drop in performance, if my esc wouldn't shut off I would have ruined my batteries right away. If your esc doesn't have a low voltage cut off you can buy one for under $30.00 and with the price of lipo it's not worth chancing it IMO.
Maybe its just my batteries then I have kokam 3200 7.4 but I can see the performance drop alot before my low voltage kicks in. Its only about 30 second from when I notice to when the low voltage kick in.
i use a 2S lipo yesterday to try out a stock TT01. I am sure it would easily overheat the esc and motor if i ran it hard for too long but to just test it out, its fine. So yes you can use lipo on any setup but you have to be smart about it.
CharliesTheMan
Gone - bye bye.
yes that's absolutely correct flm. When I first answered his question I wrote a long answer about hot it would power any ESC, and how you have to watch the heat because of the currect that runs through the ESC and all that stuff, and then I realized that if I write that someone would read it and say, "Oh Charlie said I can use LiPo's on anything". You can use them to power any ESC, but on a lot of ESC's, if you run them for more than a couple of minutes you will burn them up.
I didn't want to see people starting a thread in a week that says "I just bought a new x-brand road car on ebay for $70, and Charliestheman said I could use LiPo in anything, so I rean it for about 15 minutes and it ran like a batt out of hell, but then it started smoking. Now the car wont do anything at all. Could anyone tell me what might be wrong with it?"
I didn't want to see people starting a thread in a week that says "I just bought a new x-brand road car on ebay for $70, and Charliestheman said I could use LiPo in anything, so I rean it for about 15 minutes and it ran like a batt out of hell, but then it started smoking. Now the car wont do anything at all. Could anyone tell me what might be wrong with it?"
hahaha. i hear ya. the part about "being smart about it" normally scares most people off.
its like saying, can i put a ramjet 502 on a fiesta tranny. Of course you CAN, but have to be smart about it if you don't want to turn the tranny into a gray mist.
Which means you are limited to .001% throttle
its like saying, can i put a ramjet 502 on a fiesta tranny. Of course you CAN, but have to be smart about it if you don't want to turn the tranny into a gray mist.
Which means you are limited to .001% throttle
What battery will work on what esc is all about voltage....How much voltage do the batteries put out compared to how much voltage the esc can handle. Your real problem with that set up is getting two voltage cut offs to work together.
Brushlessboy
RCTalk Addict
Voltage cutoffs on a MT arent really necessary. Just keep an eye on the steering and as soon as you notice a drop in steering power, STOP. Its not rocket science. (of course it can be) Low voltage cutoffs are a GREAT idea, but if you dont have one, its simply a case of watching what the truck is doing, 'cause when a lipo reaches its drop off point, you WILL know......
