Maxamps Thread...

[PBO]

I like Maxamps, they have the slickest marketing that captures their market very well. I've lost count of how many forum users are prepared to have foot stamping arguments defending the brand...compelling stuff

This latest product is interesting. Someone is going to get their fingers burnt...I can't view the video from my current PC but the 'disclaimer' "Note: ADVANCED ELECTRICAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED! VIEW OUR HOW-TO INSTRUCTIONS AND VIDEO BEFORE USE." & the idea of people playing with these things at night is a worry

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by crazyjr

BrianG, If i'm right, you will get a spark from a closed loop long before getting to the charger. but you are right, that's a closed loop and likely to swell the pack

Oh yeah, that will be a very large spark. We can hope that the connector or the jumper blows before the pack goes into thermal runaway.

[_paralyzed_]

the video is amusing PBO. Jason almost mismatches them a couple of times, and you have to turn the pack into some sort of dominoes transformer in order to charge it. Good stuff.

[fastbaja5b]

He mentions the packs are still water proof, yet there are open female banana plugs in all the cells. How does that work?

[TexasSP]

Lipo packs are inherently waterproof. The polymer has to be completely sealed inside the casing or you would have a no go. The waterproofing advertisement is a gimmick and something a user could do for less than 10 cents at home. It's basically a coating like plastidip or the like on the tabs, that's it.

I run cheap zippy rhino packs in my SCX10 submerged quite often and have never had a single issue from the pack.

[BrianG]

IIRC, they were saying that the tabs/connections were waterproofed to keep corrosion/oxidation away...

[What's_nitro?]

It's a very cool idea, but I don't think it will catch on.

Like many have said, there is too much room for error. It's easily possible to short-out cells, but I think (hope) most people would catch that before it caused any damage. My biggest worry looks like this:

/+=====-____(-)
\-=====+\
/+=====-/
\+=====-____(+)

where one cell (in a supposed 4s pack) is reversed in polarity. If you manually set the charger to 4s, the charger will detect the error. If the charger auto-detects (like hyperion does), it will see a 2s pack. If you aren't paying attention and charge anyways that WILL cause a problem. Of course any problem you can forsee with this pack system can be prevented by using caution. However, even I have seen sparks because I was in a rush.

Edit: It may have been implied, but your truck will not run very well, either, if you hook-up a pack in this manner.

[lincpimp]

Since you should not mismatch cells of different usage (age or number of cycles) that pretty much cans this idea.

After you see that you cannot have a pack that you can run as a 2s some time or a 3s sometime, or whatever you get back to the only benefit I can see:

You could run 4 (or 6) of these cells in a few different vehicles that operate on the same voltage, but use either singe or dual battery trays. For example, you have a flux, erevo, and a converted truggy. You run 4s in them all, and they all have castle 2200 setups, and are all geared for around the same speed/draw. So you "could" use the same lipo setup in all and it would be within the parameters of the lipo. Since you can configure these cells you can split them up and run 2 2s packs in the dual trays of the flux and erevo, and then make a single 4s pack to run in the truggy.

There, I found a use for them!!!!! Yay, and this is acutally a good idea if you have multiple trucks and you only want one lipo. This way you can get your use out of the lipo (and the 300 cycle warranty) as ytou could use it in all of your rcs.

Even if you had a 10th vehicle that you use 2s in you could wire the pack as a 2s2p (may have to make your own adapters) as long as it would fit, and get big runtime for bashing. The kicker is that you would want to use all 4 cells all the time to keep them at the same usage level.

I can think of a few setups that I currently have that I could use these cells with. If they are good enough, and I get a 50% discount... Price is still too high, IMO, but the idea is growing on me. Lack of a balance connector is a deal breaker, as I am sure a shizz not going to parallel charge lipo cells at 20amps... Maybe have a dedicated charge board/dealey that allows you to easily plug in all of the cells and has the balancer and main leads hard wired to it?

I can see some versatility here. I always just had specific packs for most of my vehicles, as I bought lipos used and really did not have a ton of money in them, nor really used each pack all that often. But for a user that has a few rcs and runs on the same voltage there could be merrit.

Since I have a bunch of loose fp cells I may give it a try designing my own setup that does this. Would be good for my boats, and in the few 4s vehicles I have. All my 6s stuff has the same tray and uses the same lipo.

[PBO]

I watched the video. Looks easy to make a mistake & as a consumer I'd be more interested in avoiding the headache of numbering my cells to keep track of cycles & charging, losing all the connectors, breaking all the connectors etc & just buy another complete pack. As long as HC are still selling, it's hard to justify needing all those MA bits & pieces just to have a run

Having said that, I'll bet they sell truckloads of them

[sikeston34m]

Anyone that's been around RC for any length of time, knows Lipo Packs have special needs.

Someone just getting into the hobby, for example, will ruin a few good packs before they suddenly "discover" they should have used a low voltage cutoff.

After feeling the hit on their wallet, this person decides its time to learn a little more about batteries and why they didn't get their money's worth. Who's fault is this? It's a learning curve.

With this stackable cell configuration, there are just too many things that can go wrong.

With the unknowing new person that is just getting into the hobby, there are too many things that can and will go wrong.

Electricity just fascinates people. Have you ever seen someone that wasn't savvy on electronics try to "fix" something?

They may just decide to wire the thing up an entirely different way to see if it works now. LOL

When something goes wrong with a setup, you can bet, if it can be plugged up the wrong way, they are going to try it. Just to see if that fixes it. Afterall, it should work. They paid ALOT of money for this thing. In their desperation, this WILL happen. Then who's fault is it?

I would NOT want to be facing the blame game over liabilities when the unknowing gets together with poor engineering practices.

Why are most power plugs reverse polarity protected? So the Unknowing, won't plug it up wrong! It doesn't matter what color things are! If it can be plugged up wrong, it will be! LOL

Two cells, connected together wrong, if the plugs actually plug and weld together, will go ballistic before anything can be done about it.

4S configuration, with the last cell backwards, will attempt to reverse charge the backwards cell, using the force of 3 cells to do it, as soon as the ESC is switched on.

These scenarios are NOT pretty.

When bad things happen like this, it isn't going to be a blame game over warranty issues. Or "We won't warranty that, but we will sell you another one".

It's going to be lawsuits over people getting hurt and property losses.

What about the pissed off parent that just bought this "toy" for their child?

Why did the house burn down? Who's fault is this?, says the insurance company.

Before you release these to the public and start selling truckloads to the unsuspecting, and the unknowing, you better rethink this one Maxamps.

Something like this, could lead to your demise as a company.

If any Mod feels like what I have posted is unreasonable, or if you consider this to be "just bashing", please feel free to delete this post. - *** Its fine as I read it , expresses my concerns - Arct1k ***

Thank you.

[TexasSP]

There you go sikeston, you got the "Good Arct1k" stamp of approval.

All very good points for sure. I question, was a product lawyer involved in this venture? If not, not a good way to do things. Personally I wouldn't sell something with risks if I didn't have a lawyer involved advising me. Necessary evil in this day and age.

[nitrostarter]

Originally Posted by TexasSP

All very good points for sure. I question, was a product lawyer involved in this venture? If not, not a good way to do things. Personally I wouldn't sell something with risks if I didn't have a lawyer involved advising me. Necessary evil in this day and age.

Which would equal even higher prices unfortunately...

[TexasSP]

Originally Posted by nitrostarter

Which would equal even higher prices unfortunately...

That's the world we live in unfortunately. If you go into business for yourself without consulting with a lawyer and an accountant you are asking for problems. No matter how small having some one who can help you understand everything and make the right decisions is necessary.

The extra cost is nothing like the cost of making a bad decision and paying the penalties for that.

Do you think Mike has filed for his patents without using a lawyer? Do you think this cost doesn't get turned around back to us the consumer?

[nitrostarter]

Originally Posted by TexasSP

That's the world we live in unfortunately. If you go into business for yourself without consulting with a lawyer and an accountant you are asking for problems. No matter how small having some one who can help you understand everything and make the right decisions is necessary.

The extra cost is nothing like the cost of making a bad decision and paying the penalties for that.

Do you think Mike has filed for his patents without using a lawyer? Do you think this cost doesn't get turned around back to us the consumer?

I know buddy! Just illustrating a possible reason why they might not have. Their prices are already high and complained about...

Being an accountant in a local firm, we see our fair share of new business as well as those who didn't consult professionals and now need help fixing everything.... Its amazing how fast it can go under when not paying the right taxes!!

[sikeston34m]

Originally Posted by TexasSP

There you go sikeston, you got the "Good Arct1k" stamp of approval.

All very good points for sure. I question, was a product lawyer involved in this venture? If not, not a good way to do things. Personally I wouldn't sell something with risks if I didn't have a lawyer involved advising me. Necessary evil in this day and age.

I can answer this one for you Texas. NO!

Actually, I would be willing to bet these were ordered from the Manufacturer as single cell packs with NO Knowledge of the intended application or use. Then the boys at the "garage" designed their little connector thingies.

There is NO Manufacturer that would be willing to support this type of POOR Engineering Practice. In doing so, that Manufacturer would be at risk of a shared liability, in the event of a lawsuit of massive damage claims.

The Case on the Pack itself should be designed in a way that it CAN NOT be connected to another cell to create a short.

Reverse Polarity Protection MUST be made into the case design or Maxamps is asking for it!

One can only expect big problems when designing and "engineering" potential fireballs and selling them to kids.

Let's get for real.

Are we sooooooo starved for attention in this poor economy that it's ok to resort to something like this dangerous design?