The time has come!

[Scott711]

I went with a complete Hyperion set up for batts, charger and balancer. I can't compare them to anything else since I'm just getting into lipo but the use and performance has been great, everything I expected and more. I also like the simplicity of the whole setup. It gives me alot of confidence in what I'm doing, a real safe feeling. I would also recommend getting a ceramic pet food dish or something fire proof to set your batteries in while charging and if you have one keep a fire extinguisher close by or a small bucket of sand will work. Enjoy. :027:

Batteries
Charger & balancer

[JOHNNYMAXXIMA]

Originally Posted by HotnCold

Thats pretty cheap for a 20 amp power supply - Radio shack also sells them - i dont remember how much - around 80-100$ - 25 amp - i have one. - i have charged 2 sets of 6 cells for racing and a 5S(3+2) lipo at the same time with no probs ( last night LOL )

Are you saying that you had 3 battery chargers hooked up to this one power supply at the same time?
Thanks.

Ive got the Pro peak 20amp supply, great value for money

Ive had 3 chargers hanging on it charging a total of 36 cells @ 4amps at the same time.

[HotnCold]

Originally Posted by JOHNNYMAXXIMA

Are you saying that you had 3 battery chargers hooked up to this one power supply at the same time?
Thanks.

Yep - 2 turbo 35 chargers - one charging @ 5.5A, another one charging @ 6.0A, and my astroflight charging my Lipos..

[JOHNNYMAXXIMA]

You got any pics HotnCold of all those chargers connected to that power supply? Do you need any additional cords or wires for this connection?
Thanks.

I use banana plugs with the socket on the pack, so you can plug them together.
I have seen a set up with 2x 10mm studs in a block of wood wired up to the + and _. then you can use crock clips to clip to the studs.....................if that makes sense?

[JOHNNYMAXXIMA]

Any pics?

[HotnCold]

No pics - But i can describe how I did id Johnymaxima - In the back of the charger where you make your positive and negative connections - i used the largest wire i could - made it about an inch and a half - on both sides - and then soldered 3 smaller guage wires to the positive wire and 3 smaller gauge wires to the negative wire - which i soldered my deans connectors to. Then on each charger - for the power leads i soldered deans connectors onto each of the chargers and plug them in as needed - I can have one two or three plugged in at a time. Really quite simple - not the prettiest if you were to look at the back of the power supply - but function beats form for me in this matter.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but:

Two 5s packs, while though they will power your truck, if wired in series the cells longetivity is at stake. Though you will have an LVP, what if the voltage per cell within the pack varies? The whole pack becomes usless b/c of one cell. Now if the 5s packs were wired parallel, if one cells charge voltage goes down inproportionate to the others, the other cells will proportionatly charge the cell to nominal level. In a nutshell, to power your sytem you should buy one motor (probably like a 12-14xl...why do you want to run two motors anyway?), one esc, save money (by only buying one system) and then buy--i know this may sound crazy-- two 10s packs and wire them parallel.

This is the only way to make sure your lipo don't undercharge and ruin themselves. An LVP is solving only 25% of your undercharging problems.

This is just an option though, the risk is yours to take.

[MetalMan]

Originally Posted by Superemaxx89

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but:

Two 5s packs, while though they will power your truck, if wired in series the cells longetivity is at stake. Though you will have an LVP, what if the voltage per cell within the pack varies? The whole pack becomes usless b/c of one cell. Now if the 5s packs were wired parallel, if one cells charge voltage goes down inproportionate to the others, the other cells will proportionatly charge the cell to nominal level. In a nutshell, to power your sytem you should buy one motor (probably like a 12-14xl...why do you want to run two motors anyway?), one esc, save money (by only buying one system) and then buy--i know this may sound crazy-- two 10s packs and wire them parallel.

This is the only way to make sure your lipo don't undercharge and ruin themselves. An LVP is solving only 25% of your undercharging problems.

If 1 of 2 5s packs in parallel had a cell that went south, then the other pack's voltage would be forced to drop also, perhaps into the unsafe region. The way I see it, the best thing to do is get packs that are built in a parallel fashion so that if any cells go down they will only take their "mates" (cells in parallel with them) down instead of a whole pack that's in parallel. So, instead of 2 10s packs in parallel, 2 5s2p packs in series would be a better option. This also makes charging easier because each group of cells in parallel (2p) will maintain voltage amongst themselves that can be monitored via a single set of taps (so 10 cells to tap total), whereas with 2 10s packs in parallel you have 20 cells to have taps on.

If one cell in a pack went bad (dropped its voltage), then the LVC may be hit, which would stop you from running with the bad cell, creating less potential damage to an already damaged cell.

That makes sense. The only thing I didn't understand is:

"This also makes charging easier because each group of cells in parallel (2p) will maintain voltage amongst themselves that can be monitored via a single set of taps (so 10 cells to tap total), whereas with 2 10s packs in parallel you have 20 cells to have taps on."

[JOHNNYMAXXIMA]

Originally Posted by Superemaxx89

In a nutshell, to power your sytem you should buy one motor (probably like a 12-14xl...why do you want to run two motors anyway?), one esc, save money (by only buying one system) and then buy--i know this may sound crazy-- two 10s packs and wire them parallel.

Superemaxx89-
I've been running dual 9L's for a while now. I run the dual's mainly just because I can. My truck is more of a "show truck" and only gets run in the street and occasionaly on the grass. I have another single BL Maxx that I use for bashing.
The dual's are run seperate of eachother, each with their own speed control and own set of batteries. So correct me if I'm wrong (which is highly probable as I am still new to this r/c stuff) if I am running my setup as described above, the 2 LiPo packs (one 5s per motor and speed controler) have nothing to do with eachother? Forgive me if this is not what you were talking about, because 99% of what you said was way beyond me.:002: :005:
I do however like your idea for a setup (12-14XL on two 10s packs) for my single BL Maxx!

[MetalMan]

Originally Posted by Superemaxx89

That makes sense. The only thing I didn't understand is:

"This also makes charging easier because each group of cells in parallel (2p) will maintain voltage amongst themselves that can be monitored via a single set of taps (so 10 cells to tap total), whereas with 2 10s packs in parallel you have 20 cells to have taps on."

Okay. Let's say you have 2 cells in parallel. That's 2p (I'm sure you know this). If these 2 cells are discharged, then between them they will maintain the same voltage (even if they are different capacities). For this 2p "group" (if you will), there is only one tap because the 2 cells in parallel will act electrically as one. But, if you have a 2s pack, you have 2 taps since the cells won't both maintain a certain voltage comparatively to each other. If you have two 2s packs put in parallel, you have 4 taps total since the parallel cells of one 2s pack won't maintain the same voltage as the cells of the other 2s pack. The net voltages of the 2s packs will be equal at all times because of the parallel connection between them. So, the possibility is there that either during charge or discharge a cell in one of (or both of) the 2s packs could reach a dangerous level (less than 3v or greater than 4.20v).

Hope this explains it :018:. Let me know if you need more clarification, I could draw something uop that might make it a bit easier to understand.