What lipos....

[moyesboy]

Its been a while....
But now i'm working less. Only two days a week.
I need some new 2S lipos for my trex nitro rx. what would you recommend?
I want a couple of 3s2200 or similar for my old 450. Dont want to spend too much. Seems the hobbyking stuff is now all offshore rather than uk warehouse. Where do the cheap but still decent lipos come from now?

[Mike Sanders]

It seems that supplies of almost everything are difficult nowadays. I get all mine from Hely shop.

[barryorbik]

I found myself in the same position recently needing new packs for my 450's, and as I have the Wayne Gyles ESR tester and a constant current load, decided to purchase some test packs to see how they compared against my old HK Turnigy blue packs. I purchased Overlander 35C, Radient Superpax 30C, and a Ripmax Hi-Energy 30C plus the last Rhino (Zippy) 25C off an E bayer. Sadly all but the Rhino gave very low real 'C' ratings of 10c - 12C and two packs also returned less than 2,000mAh capacity when taken down to 3V6. Amazingly the Rhino rated at 25C actually returned a true 'C' of 26C and 2350mAh capacity!

Close physical investigation of the other three packs seems to indicate identical tape (white striped) and construction and similar thickness balance and power leads. The Rhino although lower C rated had thicker power and balance leads and the wrapping tape was pure white (the same tape used on the old Turnigy's), it also weighed 5g more than the other packs at 175g compared to 165g. A real world test with my Mini Titan confirmed the Rhino was superior in terms of punch and duration compared to the other packs, with the worse performing being the Overlander. I have since found a source of Radient 50C packs which only gave a real 'C' of 22C but had good capacity and seem to be lasting well. My records show that the C ratings of most packs are normally over stated but Turnigy blues typically gave 22C against a claimed 30C, but Zippy compacts always performed better than their stated claims. Two Zippy 2650mA 30C used in my 550 Gaui gave 35C each and were still cool at the end of each 5 minute flight, so my advise is see if you can find blue Turnigy or Zippy/Rhino packs until supplies return to normal.

[trillian]

I always did well with the Turnigy blues and the Zippy compacts. But there are lots of other brands out there now. One cheap brand is China Hobby Line (CNHL). I only have some of the 6s 4000s but they have been quite good.

The latest 3s packs I bought are ManiaX, from Midlands. They're a bit pricey but work very well so far.

The issue I see is shops not having stock. I think they're all keeping a minimum of stock to manage their cash more and only hold what is selling well. I've been trying to get some of the small (1500mah) 6s packs and seeing them out of stock, unless I want to pay for the ManiaXs.