Without
a doubt, when I saw the Gens Ace batteries being offered I was hoping
it would be compeditive with the Hobby King Nanotech batteries . The
Gens Ace line that is currently carried by HobbyPartz,Xheli
and to some extent Nitroplanes
and NitroRCX
has not dissapointed me. They did not advertise (at least not
when I am writing this review) what the max charge rate was. Later I
found it was up to 5C for the 25C packs. This is comparible
to
the Nantotech batteries. What I found was the IR (Internal Resistance)
of the packs were on par if not better than the Nanotechs.
Reviews of others through cycle testing over on RCGroups led
me
to believe that these packs have a longer useful life as well.
I have never been much of a fan of the
high dollar Lipos that cost $50-$80 for a 3S 2200mAh pack! I"m a "bang
for the buck" kind of person. Those packs are high quality, often come
with a crash policy, can advertise a higher charge rate (if your
charger can handle it) but most pilots won't know the
difference
between that and a $20 3S 2200mAh 30C BlueLipo Pack. Some will say the
high $$ packs last twice as long (number of cycles) but my opinion is
I'd rather have 2x or 3x the number of packs and cycle them less and
have more flights in a day without having to field charge. I
also don't wish to have that much invested in a battery in the event of
total loss, stolen or battery failure that I induce myself.
On
all my 3S 2200mAh or larger batteries, I switch over to a Deans Ultra
plug (just what I"ve standardized on) but the BlueLipo packs come with
a 4mm Plastic cased Bullet connector. Bullet connectors are
generally easier to solder on to a wire than Deans which requires heat
shrinking and clamping to the wires and conector to make sure they
don't move. The smaller BlueLipo packs (for foamies, micro helis etc)
will come with typical 2 pin JST connectors. The batteries
come
with a balance port with the very common JST-XH type
connector on it.
Testing:
I
charged, then cycled the batteries times then measured the
Internal resistance on the packs using a 3016B iCharger and found
that the total IR was on par if not slighly better than my Nanotech
Batteries of the same discharge rate, cell capacity and number of
cells. I then procedded to break-in my lipos doing simple short hover
flights. After the break-in, the IR was still good. I tested
6S
5300 30C, 6S 3300 25C and a 3S 2200 25C packs. The Average Internal
resistance measurements per cell were as follows:
6S 5300 30C : 1 milliohm per cell
6S 3300 25C : 2 milliohm per cell
3S 2200 25C : 3 milliohm per cell
I
did high discharge flights with an EXI 450 Pro, Align 500 and Align 550
with these batteries and discharged them up to 90% flying as hard as I
could. (tic tocs, flips funnels etc). All 3 batteries came down cool
and not puffy. They performed better than I had expected.
At the time of this review, Hobbypartz
and Xheli was offering FREE SHIPPING
About C rating:
Often a confusion for many people.
C
rating typically refers to the maximum discharge rate. A 20C
2200mAh pack can discharge at 44A max (2.2A x 20 = 44a). But
what
is not express is typically the higher C packs will have a lower
Internal Resistance. That internal resistance is directly proportional
to the internal voltage drop of the battery pack while under load.
Cheap ebay battery packs are often notorious for having a
very
high IR (Mystery brand for example). This will result in motor bog af
full pitch punch outs and tic tocs where the RPMS sags after your first
TIC).
Generally, here is my advice on battery purchases: 20C =
Beginner Novice hovering and basic non-aggressive Sport flying 25C =
Aggressive sport flying to mild 3D aerobatics 30C+ = 3D
aerobatics involving continuous rapid changes in pitch or cyclic
I
advise Novices and beginners to purchase multiple 20C packs so they can
get more flying in. They should learn on those 20C packs and be putting
50+ flights on them before looking to upgrade. Later, they can use
those cheaper 20C packs as warm up flights or test flights before using
up other packs for the day's flying.
