Lipo Prices

[Planehazza]

I've been away for a few years and thought about getting a couple of 6s 5000mAh packs to add a third pair.

What is going on? £100+ for a typical 6s 5000 30C pack? What have I missed? What on earth is going on? These are gob smacking prices and has essentially cut me off from large E flying. The only affordable option I can see is turnigy from hobby King.

And what's with these special edition pilot named packs?

[trillian]

I know everyone has their own preferences and priorities etc. but I have never spent £100.00 on a Lipo. I can only speak for myself and my relatively sedate flying style, I've had very good experiences with the Turnigy Blues, the Zippy Compacts and most recently I got a pair of the Graphenes. I have some Gens Aces as well and some 2nd hand Optis and they all work pretty much equally well for me. But, I'm not pushing them to the limits

I have some Turnigy Blue 5000s that I bought in about 2012 and they're still going. In fact, I'd give you a pair or two if I could get them to you because I have too many LiPos for how much flying I get to do (at the moment none )

[bigpops]

Unless you're a competition pilot, or you fly a LOT, there's zero reason to spend big bucks on lipos in my opinion.

In 10 years, I've only ever flown Turnigy Hobbyking brands, and Gens Ace, which I bought back when they were cheap and sold by GiantCod/GiantShark.

I had one problem with a Zippy Compact where two cells weren't spot welded properly which went open circuit at spool up, and I've had packs I flew from 2010 to 2019 and gave away with the heli which are still usable.

[Varelco]

What packs are you looking at Harry? I can't say I've noticed much difference. You can still pick up Turnigy blues and Zippy compacts for less than £60.

I just missed out on a Gensace sale, their 45c 5000mahs were going for about £90 which I thought was pretty good. They are back up to £120ish now which is too expensive. Opti prices seem to have stayed the same. The only thing I've noticed is the UK lacks choice and stockists.

[Planehazza]

What packs are you looking at Harry? I can't say I've noticed much difference. You can still pick up Turnigy blues and Zippy compacts for less than £60.

I just missed out on a Gensace sale, their 45c 5000mahs were going for about £90 which I thought was pretty good. They are back up to £120ish now which is too expensive. Opti prices seem to have stayed the same. The only thing I've noticed is the UK lacks choice and stockists.

Yeah in my sleepy state and position of scooping my jaw off the floor I missed the hobby king stuff. £60 per pack there which is a bit more acceptable. I realise my apparent 'arrogance' by saying "acceptable", but I just can't understand how some 6S 5000mAh Lipos are £150 each.

I don't want to name brands as people have taken offence to it before, but it's not just one or two. Packs that I swore by in 2014/15 that were ~£62 per pack, are now £100 each.

Perhaps prices haven't changed that much, or perhaps they've crept up a lot over time and I've been more senstitive to do having come back from a long break. I think unfortunately RC is even more of a niche than it ever was before, certainly helicopters. This is just annecdotal, but it certainly feels like brands are thinning out and prices are going up.

On another note, did graphene come and go? What happened to all this promised new battery tech, that was safer and more energy dense, with insane charge rates?

[Planehazza]

I know everyone has their own preferences and priorities etc. but I have never spent £100.00 on a Lipo. I can only speak for myself and my relatively sedate flying style, I've had very good experiences with the Turnigy Blues, the Zippy Compacts and most recently I got a pair of the Graphenes. I have some Gens Aces as well and some 2nd hand Optis and they all work pretty much equally well for me. But, I'm not pushing them to the limits

I have some Turnigy Blue 5000s that I bought in about 2012 and they're still going. In fact, I'd give you a pair or two if I could get them to you because I have too many LiPos for how much flying I get to do (at the moment none )

trillian, you're mint, thanks so much for the offer, but it's not necessary I'm more just flabbergasted by the prices of LiPos these days, but it may just be my poor memory playing up

I have two pairs of packs for the 700, and one has a poorly cell that has dropped to ~2v in storage. I should be able to recover it, but I decided to check out prices in case I had to replace it/get a third pair. I'm still recovering

[trillian]

trillian, you're mint, thanks so much for the offer, but it's not necessary I'm more just flabbergasted by the prices of LiPos these days, but it may just be my poor memory playing up

Thanks No, you're right about prices. There was a trend in years' past when they were getting cheaper, for a little while there was something of a golden age for LiPo prices and I got some crazy deals. That was also at Hobbyking's high point, they used to have way more heli stuff in general. But they still have some decent prices.

I started moving over to 4000mah packs because they're lighter and smaller, charge faster, and I just don't tend to fly more than about 6-7 minutes anyway.

[Planehazza]

Thanks No, you're right about prices. There was a trend in years' past when they were getting cheaper, for a little while there was something of a golden age for LiPo prices and I got some crazy deals. That was also at Hobbyking's high point, they used to have way more heli stuff in general. But they still have some decent prices.

I started moving over to 4000mah packs because they're lighter and smaller, charge faster, and I just don't tend to fly more than about 6-7 minutes anyway.

Interesting, I might research using 4000s myself. I assume they're physically a bit smaller too? I only really got ~5 mins on the Rush 700 from memory but I tend to run a decent (not crazy) head speed, of about 2100, again from memory. I do tend to chuck them about and I wasn't exactly an efficient, precise, or skilled pilot.

[garturbo]

£100+ is the norm for a good quality lipo these days Harry. These days i tend to buy higher end lipos but only say a couple of packs and charge down at the field.
the best investment for leccy helis is a good field charge setup and small generator as to having loads of cheaper batterys.

you making a return Harry to flying

Gary

[trillian]

2100 on a 700 size heli is very high! A more conservative speed would be 1800-1900. Unless you need all that headspeed for very aggressive flying, you're just burning up energy with drag.

Yeah, 4000s are also physically smaller and a bit lighter.

Interesting, I might research using 4000s myself. I assume they're physically a bit smaller too? I only really got ~5 mins on the Rush 700 from memory but I tend to run a decent (not crazy) head speed, of about 2100, again from memory. I do tend to chuck them about and I wasn't exactly an efficient, precise, or skilled pilot.

[Varelco]

I can't imagine you will get much more than 3:30 mins on 4000 packs at that headspeed. You'd have to sacrifice a few hundred rpm to get 5 mins from a 4000 pack. 2100 is high for a 700 IMHO.

[Planehazza]

£100+ is the norm for a good quality lipo these days Harry. These days i tend to buy higher end lipos but only say a couple of packs and charge down at the field.
the best investment for leccy helis is a good field charge setup and small generator as to having loads of cheaper batterys.

you making a return Harry to flying

Gary

Gazza! How's it going, still got the VXR?

Sort of, I'm testing the water. I can't really commit back to it fully, as I don't have the space or time like I did. Plus, nowadays I can't justify shelling out hundreds on new toys or worrying about crashing ha.

When you say field charging, does that mean the cabin has leccy, or are you using only the aforementioned generator? I got rid of my genny not long after it, as if you remember, it wasn't popular with all the members ("no engines in the pitts").

I can't imagine you will get much more than 3:30 mins on 4000 packs at that headspeed. You'd have to sacrifice a few hundred rpm to get 5 mins from a 4000 pack. 2100 is high for a 700 IMHO.

You're right, memory is probably failing me. I'll have to remind myself how to configure the Jive 120HV ESC governed head speed via the flat line curve so I can reverse calculate what it is.

Can anyone crash course remind me how you program your HS on using a Heli/PowerJive 120HV? It's running Mode 4, so it's in heli mode with gov. I remember it being along the lines of knowing what 100% throttle would give you speed wise, accounting for cell count, motor and main gear tooth count. Then, you set a flat line throttle 'curve' at a % of max HS to get the HS you want?

My Idle two curves are flat at ~65%, and I recall being instructed not to be in a tooth config where a curve of over 80% is required so that the Gov still has that final 20% headroom for maintaining HS under load...

[Varelco]

When you say field charging, does that mean the cabin has leccy, or are you using only the aforementioned generator? I got rid of my genny not long after it, as if you remember, it wasn't popular with all the members ("no engines in the pitts").

Could always use a leisure battery? A decent size battery would see you a days flying, is probably not far off the weight of a generator full of fuel, its completely silent and costs next to nothing compared to a generator.

[Planehazza]

Could always use a leisure battery? A decent size battery would see you a days flying, is probably not far off the weight of a generator full of fuel, its completely silent and costs next to nothing compared to a generator.

I had one, but even a 120Ah battery would only give me 2 cycles or so. Given it's 12V, and not the 25V needed for the PL8, it draws 10Ah per 5000mAH pack. I'm no sparky so I'm making gross generalisations here, but to put the same kWh in to the pack at half the voltage, I'd draw double amperage surely?

So a 120AH leisure pack is going to have to give 20Ah (granted, a full charge is 80%, not 100%) for every 12S charge. Given that the Pb batteries don't like to be discharged far I'm only going to get 2, maybe 3, full charges.

[garturbo]

Gazza! How's it going, still got the VXR?

Sort of, I'm testing the water. I can't really commit back to it fully, as I don't have the space or time like I did. Plus, nowadays I can't justify shelling out hundreds on new toys or worrying about crashing ha.

When you say field charging, does that mean the cabin has leccy, or are you using only the aforementioned generator? I got rid of my genny not long after it, as if you remember, it wasn't popular with all the members ("no engines in the pitts").



You're right, memory is probably failing me. I'll have to remind myself how to configure the Jive 120HV ESC governed head speed via the flat line curve so I can reverse calculate what it is.

Can anyone crash course remind me how you program your HS on using a Heli/PowerJive 120HV? It's running Mode 4, so it's in heli mode with gov. I remember it being along the lines of knowing what 100% throttle would give you speed wise, accounting for cell count, motor and main gear tooth count. Then, you set a flat line throttle 'curve' at a % of max HS to get the HS you want?

My Idle two curves are flat at ~65%, and I recall being instructed not to be in a tooth config where a curve of over 80% is required so that the Gov still has that final 20% headroom for maintaining HS under load...

Hi Harry, VXR went last year new car between me and the other half and a new van for work.

i got myself a small 1000w honda genny its great so quiet no problem at all running that, and now have a charge case with powerlab 8 in.
get yourself a spirit or a spirit and geo link crash proof. Will be good to see you return Harry hope you and deb are keeping well.

gary