Optipower IMPO.

[Sesame]

I was in two minds whether or not to publish my thoughts considering the controversy that seams to have reigned concerning the subject of lipo's in recent days. But the only way people are going to know what is good and bad is by hearing from people who are everyday users of these items.

For those that don't know my flying which is most, its attempting 3D and trying to improve my abilities as I have fun banging the sticks around.


Ive been lucky enough to sample a few different makes of lipos. Now ive heard alot regarding the Optipower lipos, some from day to day users and some from sponsored pilots, but the only way your really going to know a product is by using it yourself.



Ive bought a few pairs of Opti 6S 3500mah for my logo and last weekend I was able to give them a go, 14 flights in total cycling them carefully to bed them in and I have to say the power delivery was great I noticed no dropping off over the time, timer set at the moment at 4:45 this is leaving just over 40% in the pack pushing them reasonable hard(well for me anyway) so over my next couple of flights ill be extending this, unfortunately the weather was not kind last weekend so flight times were in between the rain showers.

Charging is fine, running the PL8 on a leisure battery I was able to complete all charges at the field(and it only took 2 days to recharge the leisure battery ).


Power wise already they are out performing the other batteries I have back to back, but being completely honest some of these are a lot older and probably more tired, I’ll obviously be monitoring the batteries progress over my usage. But looking forward to all the flying ive got to do.

[sunny_manku1985]

Use them in my logo 600, and I must say I am very impressed with them. Need much more!lol

[Nick B]

Im enjoying the power of the opti cells but i have to say they puff ever so slightly after just 30 odd cycles.Always ballance charged @1c,always abiding the 80% rule,all governed and charged on hyperion or pl6.

The only reason i can think of is because ive used them since just before Xmas.

I like the constant power compared to say,Turnigy so have 2 new packs for the 500 so will see how they fair

[Mark_T]

Im enjoying the power of the opti cells but i have to say they puff ever so slightly after just 30 odd cycles.

Having seen one other Opti pack do that at the weekend, I'm curious, has it got any worse since you first noticed it?

What I saw was not a dramatic 'balloon like' expansion of the pack, but was just enough so you could tell the surface was 'soft' where previously it had not been.

Just wondering if this is within normal tolerances and expectations or if any 'puff' at all should be treated as the first sign of impending doom

I'm not questioning the warranty options or suggesting all Opti packs puff before we head down that path again

Just wondering if the very slight puff is something to worry about or not?

[Nick B]

well Mark,my friend mark e on here said the older outage lipos were the same and he says his carried on for ages after.mine are as you described,just soft feeling outer cells.if I can get 100 cycles with no power loss i will be happy as i never had that with my turnigys.

Just flown my 600 pro and the power is consistent from start to finish.they have not got any more puffier since they started to go soft and they always go back to normal one cooled.

[Sesame]

Ill obviously looking at signs of the same on mine.

[Mark_T]

Ill obviously looking at signs of the same on mine.

As long as it is considered 'normal' then I guess it is nothing to worry about.

[Sesame]

I dont think a little softness is going to be a problem, last lot of large cells I got swelled up like balloons after only a few weeks, now those I don't mind saying I didnt want to use again.

[PeteStewardson]

After flying my 500 today, and based on loads of threads lately I checked my packs as they came off the heli. Two I bought used from fastlads so I don't know the usage before, but both of those have a tiny bit of softness to them when they come off the heli. Having had my FP lipos puff up I know it's nothing like that, and once they've been sat off the heli for a while they've gone back solid again. The new one I just bought didn't do this though.

Just a thought, could it be just the heatshrink changing shape when warmed up on the heli in use? They're not coming off warm as I'm not hard on Lipos, and I'm staying above 80% so not especially worried as they go solid again.

[rachel]

Guys its not Puffing its just the heli's own airbag
with the added benifit of stopping the lipo moving around in the frames !!!!!!!!

[liambaker996]

but the only way your really going to know a product is by using it yourself.

Why dont you give the flightpowers a try back to back i am sure you wont be dissapointed.
I run mine for 4:50 and lose no power throughout a flight they also come down barley warm.
always balance charged and have had over 40 cycles with no puffing at all.
Thanks,
Liam

[PeteStewardson]

Why dont you give the flightpowers a try back to back i am sure you wont be dissapointed.
I run mine for 4:50 and lose no power throughout a flight they also come down barley warm.
always balance charged and have had over 40 cycles with no puffing at all.
Thanks,
Liam

Well having had 3 puff in 9 cycles I don't think I'll be spending my money on them again. If I can't use my PL8 to charge them then there's no point trying them again for me.

[Sesame]

Guys can we not turn this into another discussion between cells and manufacturers, I really only wanted to pass on a point of view from an average flyer of what I am personnally finding when using Otipower, which is why I was very careful not to mention any other other suppliers by name.

thanks.

[ChrisB]

It's interesting that In the opti blurb in BIG LETTERS it says do not use if puffed.

My Turnigys have never puffed so if my opti or flight power start doing that they are going straight back for new replacements.

[PeteStewardson]

Guys can we not turn this into another discussion between cells and manufacturers, I really only wanted to pass on a point of view from an average flyer of what I am personnally finding when using Otipower, which is why I was very careful not to mention any other other suppliers by name.

thanks.

Sorry mate.