WTB: some decent stick packs

[bigdangerous]

I ran my new(too me) stampede tonite with my super crazy 1500 nicds and the run times were obviously, well, pathetic. Just looking for some better junk to throw in this thing.

[RCSavageFan]

have you tried http://www.ballisticbatteries.com

Or you can build you own side by side. It will give you more power.

[Technical RC]

Somebody finally asked a question about electric trucks!!!
This is where I really know my stuff!!!

Here's my advice:

Beware of any battery packs in colored shrink-wrap.
They are hiding the fact that they are using crap cells.
Cells that are better suited for laptop computers and
electric shavers, not our hobby. You may think that you
are getting a good deal but they will go flat real fast and
the first time you give them a little over-charge, they're fried.

The Duratrax Sanyo 2400's are actually a great deal. I have
8 packs and I can tell you that they are solid. Tower has
them for $40 and a quantity discount if you buy two.
Always make sure the battery you buy is made from
Sanyo or GP cells. If not, you're gonna be disappointed.

I also make my own packs with matched GP-3300 cells.
Let me know if you want to go that route. I can help
you put them together.

I wish I would have known you were having such problems
with your packs tonight. I have some great Packs you
could have tried.

Good luck with your new 'pede!!!

TRC

[John78]

TRC, let me ask you this, what kind of charger do you use? I have the MRC 959 and I am not happy with it at all. I have 3000 & 2400 packs that were brand new and right out of the box it was only charging the batteries for 10 to 12 minutes, no matter what setting I put them at. The run times on the batteries was only a minute or so.

[Technical RC]

The MRC 959 has been plagued with problems.
They overheat and false peak just to name a few.
I believe that yours is false peaking. If it shows
that the battery is charged, and the battery
isn't slightly warm, put it back on again.
You may also want to raise the Delta peak
threshold another 5mV.

I use the MRC 969. Never has false peak
problems but I hate having to set all the
paramiters whenever I connect a battery
to it. Actually, I hardly use it anymore
because of that. The Duratrax chargers
are actually a good deal for the money.
I have the Digital Pulse and Twin Pulse.
I like the DP because it has adjustable
charge up to 7 amps and a nice discharge
feature. I use the TP for charging pairs of
batteries for my E-Maxx and Villain EX.

Hope this helps. If you have any more questions,
feel free to ask.

TRC

[John78]

Thats the reason I bought the 959, to charge 2 packs at once after I bought the EX. I don't like having to set everything everytime I charge a battery. I like the way it used to be, plug in the battery and let it charge for 15 minutes and thats all. I will look into other charges for sure.

[RCSavageFan]

Reedy Quasar Pro charger is a good charger. Nova has good chargers also.

If you subscribe RC Driver, the December issue has the best products of the year. Nova's charger is the best among all of them. I am using Duratrax Digital Intellipeak. It has been doing pretty well so far.

TRC, where do you buy your cells? I go to http://www.battlepack.com/. Do you have any better deals?

[Technical RC]

About a year ago I bought a case of loose GP3300's
from http://www.ragebattery.com for $3.49 each. Got a
great deal on them but he isn't selling them anymore
as far as I know. He said that it was a mistake on his
page because he doesn't even carry them. He had
to get them from someone else to honor the deal.

I looked at the prices on that website. They are
pretty much about average. The only way to really
get a good deal is to go through the manufacturer
but you have to commit to purchasing 100 thousand
dollars worth of their product per year. Otherwise,
they direct you to a distributer. I checked the
distibuters website and they don't list the GP3300's.
I sent them an email but haven't heard back. Maybe
I will give them a call. I'll let you know what I find out.

TRC

[SixVi6-Camaro]

http://www.maxamps.com/ has got built 3300 packs with deans connectors for $33 they are not any kind of super matched HV packs or anything but they will have some serious runtime. I've been thinking of geting a couple 7 cells packs for my villain form this place but I'm going to wait because I want to build a serious fast electric boat over the winter.. hehe.

[RCSavageFan]

http://stores.ebay.com/Digital-and-Compu...eZl2QQtZkm
I think the price is pretty good, however, shipping is quite expensive and it is in Hong Kong.

http://stores.ebay.com/Austin-Else_W0QQs...eZl2QQtZkm
I saw they had matched 3300 cells a few days ago.