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BlueLipo Review
I
have been a fan of the Hobby City Zippy/Turnigy/Flightmax line for the
past 2 years. This is no longer so. I've finally found a vendor in the
USA that carries Lipos at a reasonable price which perform to my
expectations. The BlueLipo line that is currently carried by HobbyPartz,Xheli
and to some extent Nitroplanes
and NitroRCX
has not dissapointed me. 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 Junsi 106B+ iCharger and found
that the total IR was on par if not slighly better than my Flightmax or
Zippy 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 had a
friend try out the 6S 5000mAh 25C pack on his Trex 600 and Hyperion
charger and it measured a slightly lower IR (lower is better) than his
Zippy-H pack he has been using. He reported good performance
even
towards the last half of the discharge. I did some flight
tests
on 2200mAh 3S 25C and 2200mAh 6S 20C packs in my 450 and 500
helicopters. Both hover duration as well as some aerobatics
(FFF,
flips, loops, tic tocs, punch outs etc) and found the BlueLipo
performed just as well as the Zippy/Flightmax/Turnigy batteries I had
recieved a few months earlier (all with less than 30 flights).
The nice thing about these batteries is that Xheli offers $4.95
shipping on parts only.
Hobbypartz
also charges only $4.95 for shipping. So unlike ordering from Hong
Kong, you are getting domestic shipping and at a great price for Lipos!.
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.
Where to get Blue Lipo brand Lipos:
HobbyPartz
Xheli
Nitroplanes
NitroRCX
Basic LiPo info plus links to
other sources of information
Places to get Deans Female Ultra T Connectors for battery (Female on
Battery, Male on ESC)
RCPlanet
(best price! $2.25 for 2 connectors, USPS shipping)
Heli
Direct (USPS shipping)
Ready
Heli
Amain
Hobbies
Info and tips on Soldering to Deans connectors:
Deans
Soldering thread on RCU
MAXX
RC Soldering couplers for Deans (helps make it
easier) MAXX
RC Solder coupler thread on RCDISCUSS
Deans
Series and Parallel cables
EC3 is also a popular standard used by Align and E-Flite (female on
battery side)
Female
2pk EC3 at RC Planet
Soldering
EC3
4mm HXT Bullet Housings:
Cheap
Battery Packs
ebay : Search 4mm Bullet Housing HXT
BlueLipo Review on youtube