Which brand?

[Dougelove]

I have just trawled through the pages and found some useful tips and info, but not what I want.
So my question is: which brand of lipo are you using? Is there any difference in cost? I';m looking at zippy Turnigy or flurion 2200 3s.
I have 2x 2s 2200 nanotech (from my mini8 car 6 cycles!) in series parrallel   :huh but when they die I won';t be buying anymore. They have very negligible bloating on both and one cell only charges to 419. Whereas my Turnigy blue is still spot on and favoured useage.
So do I buy more of what I like or something completely different?
Yes I';ve a wifee to feed and baby girl that needs everything!  so for £25 I can get two 2200 3s giving me 7/8 mins each, which I';m happy with. No 3D for me yet!!

DISCUSS!

[Friskle]

Zippy Compacts all the way for me, be it Fixed wings or my Multis.

Had 4 Nanotechs some time ago, two just puffed after around 5 cycles, not over used, never run to low or charged to much, very looked after, but in general, they lacked power sooner than some far cheaper batteries.

Turnigy ones, used those for ages, and always performed decently, but found the Zippy compacts to charge well and give very good flight times all round and a good discharge.

[robshaw]

+1 on the zippys.  Never had any problems with them. Git loads of them. Also got a few turnigys and they have all puffed up.

[guest325]

Zippy Compacts - they';ve got the best power to weight (and size) ratio that I';ve ever found + they are very reliable.
http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__31980__ZIPPY_Compact_2700mAh_3S_25C_Lipo_Pack_UK_Warehouse_.html
These would give you better flight time than 2200';s and weigh no more than 2200 Turnigy Blues.

[tupoar]

Zippy Compacts - Was the first battery I got. I still have my original one and is still going strong.

Turnigy Nano-Tech - Great while they last, the problem is, they don';t last.

Turnigy Blues - Only recently started using these. They seem alright but time will tell.

[agrs1974]

Zippy all the way for me too.

Turnigy nano at the start are great but don';t last. 

[Revs]

I';m using Overlander 2200 3s 30c. Good quality battery, light (@167g) and cheapish (2 for £28). My Riot, 350QX and a couple of other models take these so they';ve had loads of use/charges.

[xxpitt]

never had a problem with nanotech had one bend like a banana in a crash just bent it back again and all';s good 

[Fletch]

Hmmm I';ve just ordered two big nanotechs for my hex.... Bugger!

But have 4 zippy compacts ... They haven';t been bad to me

[Dougelove]

Thanks. Zippy it is then. Turnigy blue are fairing well also! Nanotechs are something on my shoe then I guess!! 

[xxpitt]

Hmmm I';ve just ordered two big nanotechs for my hex.... Bugger!

But have 4 zippy compacts ... They haven';t been bad to me

never had a problem with nanotechs, i have 7 for my mini and 3 for my qav, they sat charged for over a month and still work fine and balance fine

[guest325]

never had a problem with nanotechs, i have 7 for my mini and 3 for my qav, they sat charged for over a month and still work fine and balance fine

You must be lucky, when I first started I got 4x 3S 2200 40C for a 450 Heli, lasted all of about 15 charges and as I was a newbie then not abused!

[atomiclama]

I have a couple of nanotech as well. Always live fully charged in the boot of my car ready for an impromptu flight.
I have run them until they have fallen out of the sky, fast charged them, balance charged them when they have the time, generally abused and they are still going strong. But I have nothing to compare them with.

[kilby]

My nanotechs are fine after 9 months, apart from one being faulty on delivery I have had no issues with them so far.

[Beaver2206]

Zippy - yes
Floureon - no
Turnigy - yes
Nano Technology - no no no

[Heliflyer71]

I';m afraid I';m another non supporter of nano techs - all of them in due course have puffed up and I';ve ended up throwing them away.  Currently using Zippy Compacts on my 250 and I';ve been really impressed with them 

[Chami82923]

From the comments it just seems to be luck, turnigy blue I have had no issues with, 2200 nano tech - no issues, 240mah nano tech for my hubsan x4 all 4 puffed, zippy compacts 1 out of 4 failed.

When I look at cost per failure, the zippy';s have been the most expensive for me (but the zippy';s I have that still work are great, the one that failed was doa).

I also have some polypack lipo';s from my local hobby shop, (BRC hobbies) these are larger than the zippy';s, but weigh the same and the performance is comparable. (BRC tested the lipo';s in front of me and the guy wasn';t happy with one of them and said at the time he';d bin that one and got me another, I';d suspect if your buying mail order most places wouldn';t check the cells!)

I do believe its luck, as of all my batteries are treated the same.

Callum

[kilby]

I had one doa nanotech out of the 4 that I have bought

[nub]

nano-techs or blue zippy';s if a high C rating isn';t required.

[ryanpatterson]

Anyone on here use Gens Ace batteries?

[guest325]

Anyone on here use Gens Ace batteries?

I';ve used them and still have 3 x 3S2200';s they are ok but I did have 2 fail prematurely - one cell died on both of them, middle cell both times - using mainly zippy compacts now they are excellent!

[Revs]

I';m surprised to read the comments about the Nano';s as I';ve got several, they all get a hard time and all performed great with low voltage droop. Same with the Overlander';s and Zippy Compact';s.

In fact the only ones I';ve had issues with are Powertech, which are rated at 33c but have puffed up while drawing under 30c. Bloody expensive, too.

[ryanpatterson]

Bough 2 Zippy 4s 5800mah batteries after hearing the reviews on here. Charged them up along with my Gens Ace 5000mah batteries and went out for a test. On my Gens Ace batteries i was getting between 10-12 minutes flying time. On the Zippy batteries i was only getting around 9 minutes. I thought with the higher mah i would expect more flying time? It this why they are less expensive? I got the two zippys in the hobyking sale for around £67 and the gens ace ones are around £130

[flybywire]

Bough 2 Zippy 4s 5800mah batteries after hearing the reviews on here. Charged them up along with my Gens Ace 5000mah batteries and went out for a test. On my Gens Ace batteries i was getting between 10-12 minutes flying time. On the Zippy batteries i was only getting around 9 minutes. I thought with the higher mah i would expect more flying time? It this why they are less expensive? I got the two zippys in the hobyking sale for around £67 and the gens ace ones are around £130

Just wondering how much you had to put back in them with those flight times?  i.e what percentage of capacity remained?  Reason I ask, if the Zippy';s you have are lower c rated than the gens-ace, then it';s not a fair comparison.  I find that if I simply relied on the voltage coming back from my telemetry, then I would be landing a good 5 minutes too early!  The lower the c rating, the lower the voltage can drop on a flight, but doesn';t necessarily mean they are spent. 

If that makes sense?   

N.B My take on ';C'; rating, in a ';real world'; way, is that higher c rating lipo';s won';t necessarily give you longer flight times (as would simply by adding more mAh, up to the optimal efficiency weight) but means you will likely be able to do more with the same mAh lipo, i.e more aggressive flying.

[ryanpatterson]

Yes the zippys are 30c with 40c burst and the gens ace are 40c constant. Iwas going from my voltage alarm going off just, is this the right way to do it? i run a timer also. Im completely new to all this but im trying to learn :)

Each sell was sitting at around 3.64 when putting it on charge. Waiting on it finishing soon :)

[flybywire]

Yes the zippys are 30c with 40c burst and the gens ace are 40c constant. Iwas going from my voltage alarm going off just, is this the right way to do it? i run a timer also. Im completely new to all this but im trying to learn :)

Each sell was sitting at around 3.64 when putting it on charge. Waiting on it finishing soon :)

I personally don';t get on with lipo alarms.  Voltage in a flight can drop below the threshold if the c rating is on the low side, but will recover.  The true test is what you put back in in terms of mAh on next charge.  So you need to fly the same style, with the two lipo';s, until voltage drops to around 14v at a stable hover (4 cell of course).  THen see what goes back in and adjust your Tx timer accordingly.

After a while, you can gauge lipo flight times quite well without too much tech really, just pure instinct, but that comes from experience in the field.


Telemtry or osd with mAh consumed is the best, coupled with simple timer on transmitter!  A blended approach.   

[ryanpatterson]

Thanks for the advice. I find the alarm useful on gentle flying. But if the battery is getting low it will go off on a full throttle climbs. But it does reset itself so it gives me a bit of an indication. I like the sound of knowing mAh consumed, will have to look into it.

[flybywire]

Thanks for the advice. I find the alarm useful on gentle flying. But if the battery is getting low it will go off on a full throttle climbs. But it does reset itself so it gives me a bit of an indication. I like the sound of knowing mAh consumed, will have to look into it.

Ezosd will give you that, and a whole world more, but I don';t know if you fly fpv?  Minim OSD is cheap and cheerful, but not sure if it gives you mAh consumed?

Are you using telemetry? Most Tx';s support some kind of bi-directional functionality these days.

P.S I gave up buying expensive lipo';s a good while ago, I find Zippy';s to be ';man'; enough for my kind of flying, and as they are cheap, you can have a whole load more of ';em, and not mind killing the odd one off!

[ryanpatterson]

I have everything sitting here for FPV but just haven';t got round to fitting it. Got the iosd mini too so will have a check on it.

Im using a Futaba 10j at the minute that supports telemetry but haven';t got any of the sensors yet.

Yea the price is what attracted me to them along with the good reviews. Would love to try the 8000mAh to see what flight times it would produce.

[flybywire]

I have everything sitting here for FPV but just haven';t got round to fitting it. Got the iosd mini too so will have a check on it.

Im using a Futaba 10j at the minute that supports telemetry but haven';t got any of the sensors yet.

Yea the price is what attracted me to them along with the good reviews. Would love to try the 8000mAh to see what flight times it would produce.

Sounds cool!  The iosd mini is great, and I prefer the layout to that of the ezosd, but it doesn';t (yet) have mAh consumed    I must fire off an email to DJI sometime, ask them why they don';t implement this, after all, the PMU handles the power, so all the data is there already, just a ';simple'; software thing really.

Yes, you can use the Futaba telemetry, but you will likely find, that once you start with the fpv, you';ll rely more on the osd on your screen/goggles than anything else.
Set your Tx timer tho, by all means, just in case you find yourself enjoying yourself and getting carried away!