I am usually on the bandwagon with disliking MA prices and practices, but I can't really see the issue with this one. If people want to buy it without doing any research then let them, it's just as much the consumers job to know what they are spending their money on. If you buy something, then find out you could have gotten it way cheaper if you would have done a little research, it won't happen again, you learn your lesson.

This hobby is full of ridiculous markup, but you rarely see other brands getting bashed. A 35mL bottle of Xray silicone oil selling for $15, or a bag of 6 diff o-rings selling for $5, and there are many more examples. I can understand the frustration with all the markup on our hobby products, but MA is not the only one doing it.

I would think a mattress full of $20 bills would keep him up with all the crinkling...

You are completely correct.

However, its the fact that they left a bad taste in mouths for their products so they get scrutinized every time they do something.

About the markups, its normal. However, look across the board at buggy/truggy name brands. For the most part they are priced relatively close for relatively the same product. Now look at Maxamp's price for the same Turnigy pack, or even Hyperion. The prices aren't relatively close at all.

The difference is that you pay for marked up items like silicone oil, o-rings etc whatever it may be- and they have a very VERY low chance of causing catostrophic failure of your vehicle, i have never seen a car burned down due to under rated silicone oil or o-rings, I did however have a brand "p" pack go code red in my dx2.0 radio and have to promptly bury it in sand to later hear a series of low whistles as the cells vented. my silicone oil never went agro.

i dont mind paying overly high prices as long as the stuff works.. cant say thats always true for brand "p"

Not to mention
 

Not to mention that when you purchase a set of "O" rings you get what you see in the add. When you purchase a LiPo pack you have no idea what you are getting until you hook it up and start using it. So your comparison is somewhat mute. The electronic business in general operates pretty much by its reputation because once they start having failures and the word gets out, no one wants to do business with them. Much like the rep that company "P" has now. Sure markup is pretty much a common practice, and 300% normal for the USA in general, but how much do you really think it costs for China to make these cells? I bet the true cost of LiPo cells is less than $1.00. So who is the real victom here?

You put something from MA in your mouth? Not a good idea, you have no idea where it has been. And I really hope it was a lipo pack and not Jason's d.....

it reality, i would think their profit margin would be higher. considering turnigy cells are higher quality (thought not matched all that well), and much, much cheaper, i would estimate brand p's profit to be more like 500-600%:whistle:

As much as it kills me to say it that is still the cheapest solution for a 24V 1000W PS that I know of. At least as far as plug and play is concerned. Making one your self would save you a few pennies but I can't see most people out there mucking about with AC mains power.
The only other offering I know of that is plug and play/use is the 24V 1000W Mean Well PS that is more than twice the price that MA are charging. I would get MA PS but something about owning electrical appliances that have flames painted on them really bothers me. Don't know why.:rofl:

I saw it at Ihobby... I barley resisted the urge to grab a alligator clip lead and yell "hey watch this!!":no:


BTW Ihobby sucked this year:whip:
I got there at 1pm and people were already packing up and leaving
alot of the big RC man. were not there
only 4-5 of the shady Chinese booths(last year there were 10-15 of them)
not much free stuff, no lanyards, etc. the best thing I saw was at the speed passion both, and they were bl motor plugs....

talked to mike a bit, but he was busy with other people, and the MA 150c packs in his cars made me want to...:slap:



:cry:

Mike put MA packs in his trucks for display? They must have bribed him ALOT ( they can afford to )... :whistle:

The XT8 had Hyperion in it! :party:

Yeah, they were in the truck, but the truck wasn't running. They were there for display purposes only. :wink:

Actually, that last statement is speculation, so don't quote me on that. :whistle:

:lol:

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to post up quick about our new power supplies. Thanks you for your interest. I will try to keep this as short as possible. If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask and I will try to respond in a timely fashion.

Here are our two new power supplies:

http://www.maxamps.com/prodimages/Po...12V_medium.jpg

http://www.maxamps.com/Power-Supply-12V.htm

Specs
* 100v-240v AC Input Voltage
* 12.15v DC Output Voltage
* 47A Continuous Output Current
* 575W Output
* 11" x 2.25" x 3.125" dimensions
* 3.25 lbs
* Short circuit and over-voltage protection
* Heavy duty metal cabinet

http://www.maxamps.com/prodimages/Po...24V_medium.jpg

http://www.maxamps.com/Power-Supply-24V.htm

Specs
* 100v-240v AC Input Voltage
* 24.3v DC Output Voltage
* 47A Continuous Output Current
* 1150W Output
* 11" x 4.5" x 3.125" dimensions
* 6.5 lbs
* Short circuit and over-voltage protection
* Heavy duty metal cabinet

Both power supplies will charge at 47 amps all day long. A number of us have tested these and I know the guys at Big Squid RC have been using the power supplies with great results. Were talking about running two chargers each at 20 amps.

Regarding some of your comments:
One of the first things I wanted to do at maxamps.com was come out with an affordable power supply. I come from the computer industry and before that the electronics industry before I ever worked in RC. Day 1 at maxamps.com I started looking for power supply distributors and an affordable way for the general guy to be able to power his chargers and other devices at a rock solid price. I myself have built computer based power supplies and used them a number of times in the past for a number of uses.

We are not hiding that these are made from computer power supplies. We went that route because they are more affordable for average Joe. Right now it costs around $125- $160 for a good 20 amp power supply. Unfortunately this is only good for one high-end charger. There is a need now for more power with the latest Hyperion and FMA charges, among others that will follow suit shortly.

These power supplies are an incredible value for a quality product. MaxAmps.com are getting a really good quality power supply then we are modifying them ourselves at our shop. These supplies are wired correctly by electronic experts and are voltage checked for proper polarity and correct grounds.

We as a company cannot recommend to anyone doing these mods yourself. Modifying power supplies is dangerous and is something the average Joe should not be doing. If you guys mod them and they work that is fantastic. You are not the average Joe.

These power supplies are an affordable way to get the standard RC charging at a good rate with peace of mind that he just plugs in it and goes. No modifying. No worrying about shocking yourself. No worrying about ungrounded circuits.

A couple of you are posting some comments regarding legal issues and copying and things of that nature. There are a million computer supply mods out there and I have read a number of them. I believe this one actually exists on a number of sites as it's a popular server power supply. We did not steal anyone's idea and were not ripping off anyone's mod. We have the spec sheet from the manufacturer and we modify these power supplies to be both safe and easy to use.

Thanks and if you have any questions for me please let me know. Just understand that I am busy and trying to get done a lot this week. Wow that was a much longer post then I anticipated. Cheers

Brandon

im glad you picked up where jason left off, i cant wait till next year when you guys invent brushless motors :whistle:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...es/lecture.gif
what happens when the cases touch???


why are you not advertising the 100ish amps that they can put out?? it seems to fit with the other MA products....


WE, are not "average Joe's" even though an average joe could get a server PS to work, all you need is a pc jumper and wire to solder to the contacts....


http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ilies/slap.gif


what happens when one of these already USED power supplies fail???

I would immagine they are buying brand new power suplies from the manufacturer (at least i would hope so!)

Um:
the cases are already touching and it's obviously OK
why are they not advertising 100 amps? because they are 47A supplies
read his post - he already said we're not "average Joes"
why do you think they're used?

IRRC the price on new server PSs are more than what they are selling them for...


also, according to MA, if you have an alloy cased charger, if it touchs the PS everything goes boom...:neutral: hell, I have all of my chargers stacked on my server PS...



EDIT: I did have jason on the first time, but I waited 10min with no response....






















zach : Question
new power supply

Clint Preston : Welcome to MaxAmps.com live help. I'll do my best to assist you.
Clint Preston : Yes
zach : hello??
Clint Preston : Yes?
zach : what happens when the 2 cases on your new 24v power supply touch?
Clint Preston : They don't touch. We have insulating tape and Kapton tape between the two creating a barrier.
zach : what if something like a hex driver crosses the back/front case for a sec.
Clint Preston : I just checked with our tech support. They mentioned that yes that would cause a spark so not to do that. http://chat.maxamps.com/chat_smiles/icon_smile.gif
zach : so you are selling a product that could easily start a fire if bumped?
Clint Preston : Basically, just like a metal cased charger can't touch the power supply it is connected to with shorting. Just be careful when using conductive items together.
zach : I do not know of any chargers that use the case as a ground, 99% of them have the boards insulated from the case... the only ones that I can think of that would are the elcheapo generics that HK sells...
Clint Preston : If you need further info on this, I would suggest calling in and speaking with our Tech department.
zach : 1 more question, why are you not advertising the 100ish amps that they will put out when hooked to 240vac, it seems a little more MAish if they were...
Clint Preston : Again, sorry but...If you need further info on this, I would suggest calling in and speaking with our Tech department.

Clint Preston : nullstring <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td nowrap="NOWRAP" valign="top" width="3">
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Of course they are. And what happens when two of the home brew supplies touch...same thing... I actually have to stick up for them a little on this one. Good price comparatively to other power supplies. I'm probably going to buy one myself as I dont even seem to have the time to fix my RC's anymore.

the cases are NOT touching, they have a thin piece of something between them


most of the power supplies that I have seen have double the output at 240v then they do at 110v


the price of 1 new PS are more than what they are selling both of them for...

The power supplies are brand new.

We will be offering a 1 year warranty on them that will be updated on the site shortly.

Thanks,

Brandon

Personally, floating one of the cases away from ground is NOT the right way to do it. It works, but there is a potential for something internally to go wrong (like a wire coming loose) and make the case float at whatever circuit it is touching. This is why everything with a metal case is grounded. Either that, or you'd have to wrap the internals in something non-conductive and then put that in the metal case, but what's the point in having two cases? Or, remove all the internals and put them in a completely different case with only the more negative supply ground referenced.

To do this "right" with minimal work, you'd decouple the supply output ground from the case altogether (technically, this only needs to be done on one supply), tie both cases together, ground both cases, and to make things more tidy, internally create jumpers of sorts to tie the mains inputs together (just so one power cord is needed).

So you agree with them that they're giving the RC world a bargain!

:lol:

you should be a politician...

not a chance :wink:


edit: and now I see that your question about the cases touching was a very good one!

I think Brandon's response was rather good considering the distaste for MA on this board. Bravo for doing what Jason could not do- staying cool.


Consider what BrianG has stated about floating one of the case grounds. You are creating a non compliant power supply with the way that you are constructing them.

is it UL listed?
or even saftey tested?

I really don't understand the fuss. This will work as good or better than all of maxamp's exemplory products.

+1 to this

One of the biggest rules of representing a company is NEVER, ever, ever, ever argue or antagonize with the customers (or haters, whatever the case may be). You never see any of the Castle, Tekin, or Novak guys doing it, no matter what is said about their products, because they know no good can come of it. Here's hoping MA is jumping on the bandwagon.

I just bought a pair of these off a guy over on RC-Tech. Paid about the same for them as one from MA. I just dont have the time right now to get my own configured.

Overall the price isn't bad and I would consider buying the 24V version to avoid the hassle of wiring them up properly. Brian pointed out some good things above and I would like to hear from Brandon on the subject, I for one am concerned that one of the cases could end up floating because it's hard to tell how they did it from the pictures.