hobbyking

[mr magoo]

Hi Guy's

I just got my trex 550x built and I've been waiting for hobbyking to get lipo's in stock, that's been 3 week now and still no luck.

I've emailed them and they don't even know and they cant even reply on facebook.

the web site is a joke and so is the company.

anyone know of any other lipo's that are just as good as the turnigy

[Grumpy]

I'm not sure what's going on with Hobbyking right now, they hardly have any larger Lipos, maybe the shipping issues are causing supply problems but if so some communication would be good.

There are plenty of LiPos just as good (or better) but not many that can match them 'bang for buck'. I did stumble accross this same on Hyperion LiPo which are very good batteries and a steal at the dicounted price, only hitch is they are split packs so a bit messy on the wiring and would have to be charged as 2 x 3S packs, unless you did some re-wiring:

35C: https://www.robotbirds.co.uk/default...ired-lipo.html
45C: https://www.robotbirds.co.uk/default...plit-pack.html

[Granpappy]

Two of the guys who work in the UK warehouse at Elmsett are in our club. I'll ask one of them next time I see them what is the score with Hobbking. I've been down there a few times to pick up bits and bobs, but not recently.

[mr magoo]

Two of the guys who work in the UK warehouse at Elmsett are in our club. I'll ask one of them next time I see them what is the score with Hobbking. I've been down there a few times to pick up bits and bobs, but not recently.

that would be great to have to some light shed on what's happening

[crash-test-tomo]

Lipos all seemed to disappear a couple of months ago. I think someone said at the time that some of the range, zippy and some turnigys had been discontinued

[Grumpy]

...I think someone said at the time that some of the range, zippy and some turnigys had been discontinued

But why would they discontinue their biggest selling range of batteries and not replace it with anything? There must be some underlying reason, I'm betting with LiPo regulations getting ever tighter it's difficulty with shipping stocks of larger batteries to the UK .

[crash-test-tomo]

They did, the bolt and graphene series. I have no idea whats happened to all the 5000s though!
Im just going by what I remember reading here on the forum

[mr magoo]

I messaged hobbyking on facebook and was told that the turnigy nano tech 6s 45c and the 35c are discontinued in the U.K and euro warehouse

has anyone heard of raiden lipo

[sparky 2]

I tried last week to get some and from the far east 2 x batteries was £20 as near as postage.

[Granpappy]

Two of the guys who work in the UK warehouse at Elmsett are in our club. I'll ask one of them next time I see them what is the score with Hobbking. I've been down there a few times to pick up bits and bobs, but not recently.

Well I caught up with Ian, one of the Hobbyking guys, at the club meeting tonight.

Basically it's all down to the new IATA (International Air Transport Association) regulations about the shipment of lithium batteries. Quote 'All international shipments of lithium batteries over 100Wh are prohibited as cargo on passenger aircraft.' Unquote. Therefore they have to be shipped by non passenger carrying aircraft as Dangerous Air Cargo. This does not apply to Lipo batteries for personal use or batteries transported with their associated equipment. Batteries for personal use can only be taken as hand luggage, and if they are over 160Wh you can only take two.

The net result is that the carriage charges for importing lipo batteries from the far east to the UK warehouse would price the batteries out of the market, and Hobbyking will not entertain doing this anymore. You can order direct from overseas warehouses but you will be picking up the very expensive tab for shipping.

Hobbyking however will be importing the 'Stack and Pack' batteries into the UK warehouse in the near future. These are 3 cell lipos which are below 100Wh and therefore exempt the IATA ban, but can be clicked together to make a single 6 cell pack.

The poor man seemed quite distressed about it all, so I couldn't bring myself to tell him about how unusable the new website was.

[Mark_T]

Batteries for personal use can only be taken as hand luggage, and if they are over 160Wh you can only take two.

Almost, the limit is two spares between 100-160Wh, above 160Wh they have to travel as cargo (not on passenger aircraft) and are treated as dangerous goods.

[stargazer]

Can't they stick a load of Lipos in a shipping container and bring them in with all the rest of the stuff that comes from that part of the world.

[bigpops]

Well I caught up with Ian, one of the Hobbyking guys, at the club meeting tonight.

Basically it's all down to the new IATA (International Air Transport Association) regulations about the shipment of lithium batteries. Quote 'All international shipments of lithium batteries over 100Wh are prohibited as cargo on passenger aircraft.' Unquote. Therefore they have to be shipped by non passenger carrying aircraft as Dangerous Air Cargo. This does not apply to Lipo batteries for personal use or batteries transported with their associated equipment. Batteries for personal use can only be taken as hand luggage, and if they are over 160Wh you can only take two.

The net result is that the carriage charges for importing lipo batteries from the far east to the UK warehouse would price the batteries out of the market, and Hobbyking will not entertain doing this anymore. You can order direct from overseas warehouses but you will be picking up the very expensive tab for shipping.

Hobbyking however will be importing the 'Stack and Pack' batteries into the UK warehouse in the near future. These are 3 cell lipos which are below 100Wh and therefore exempt the IATA ban, but can be clicked together to make a single 6 cell pack.

The poor man seemed quite distressed about it all, so I couldn't bring myself to tell him about how unusable the new website was.

I would have thought they got their UK stock (and that of all "local" warehouses) in shipping containers. Is that not the case? I'd have thought it prohibitively expensive to do it any other way.

[Grumpy]

Thanks for the update 'from the horse's mouth'. I'm also surprised that they dont just surface ship but I guess they must have looked into it? The split pack solution should be ok providing they make a neat job of joining the packs and come up with common balance plug solution so they can be charged as 6S. Having to charge split packs as 3S in parallel is a pain because you soon hit the Amp limit of even the most powerful charger.

[Granpappy]

Thanks for the update 'from the horse's mouth'. I'm also surprised that they dont just surface ship but I guess they must have looked into it? The split pack solution should be ok providing they make a neat job of joining the packs and come up with common balance plug solution so they can be charged as 6S. Having to change split packs as 3S in parallel is a pain because you soon hit the Amp limit of even the most powerful charger.

I think it might have something to do with the regulations that limit the number of lipo's that can be shipped together in a single container. This applies to land, sea or air. The limit is quite small, probably to reduce the effects of a chain fire. (one catches fire and ignites the rest). Perhaps putting a small box of lipos into the sort of containers they have down at Felixstowe Docks would not be cost effective. Who knows.... . We did start to discuss shipping by sea but then Ian got descended upon by other people.