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Jeffh555

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 21, 2020
Member Number
822
Messages
412
Loc
Scotts Valley, CA
I got a pair of SCX24 Jeeps for my 4 year old son and I. So far I really like them, but I keep destroying batteries. Either the battery will get so low it won’t take a charge, or it will puff up and be garbage. I use a charging bag.

I heard the stock USB chargers were prone to die, so I got a RC4WD USB charger. It doesn’t seem any better.

What should I be sure to get or avoid?

I was looking at this one. We like that I can charge two batteries at the same time, and it’s AC/DC so I can charge when camping or on the trail.

HTRC C240 Dual LiPo Balance Charger 1S-6S AC 150W DC 240W 10A RC Battery Charger Battery Charger Discharge for LiPo/Li-ion/Life(1-6s) NiCd/NiMH/LiHV/PB Smart Battery RC Car Charger https://a.co/d/5qw6B5k
 
I own 3 of these:

https://a.co/d/jgZcvFy

Some background since I mainly lurk and don't post a ton:

I own 4 RC crawlers but my primary RC hobby is 1/144th scale RC warships (Iowa class battleship would be, say, 74 inches long) that have BB guns and shoot + sink each other. Some of those boats have 40+ amp hours of battery onboard...so I need solid chargers. The venoms are nice because it is basically two separate chargers in 1 housing. Two power supplies, two chargers, etc. Most multi-bank chargers have to share 1 power supply between the two banks so if you're putting 5 amps into a battery on the left bank you may only be able to put 2.5 or 3 amps into a battery on the right bank. With the venoms I regularly max them out on both sides, 7amps each at 14.8v. Helps recharge all that battery in a reasonable timeframe.
 
Hmm, we have 4 or 5 of the stock chargers and batteries as well as a couple random amazon batteries and everything just keeps working. We are killing motors though.
 
2big bronco said:
Hmm, we have 4 or 5 of the stock chargers and batteries as well as a couple random amazon batteries and everything just keeps working. We are killing motors though.
Click to expand...
We killed motors in both of them at Rubicon. I'm pretty sure it was from the kids holding them in place and doing 4 wheel burnouts. I replaced them with these, and they worked great at Fordyce, but they are a little louder than stock. I got home and both batteries wouldn't take a charge. https://a.co/d/fCVTPyP

After killing the stock batteries, I tried these random ones from Amazon, and they aren't much better https://a.co/d/fHD6Lan
 
Jeffh555 said:
We killed motors in both of them at Rubicon. I'm pretty sure it was from the kids holding them in place and doing 4 wheel burnouts. I replaced them with these, and they worked great at Fordyce, but they are a little louder than stock. I got home and both batteries wouldn't take a charge. https://a.co/d/fCVTPyP

After killing the stock batteries, I tried these random ones from Amazon, and they aren't much better https://a.co/d/fHD6Lan
Click to expand...
Those are the batteries I bought. But now I have 3 cars with bad motors, and yes its the holding them pined while not moving that kills them.
How hard is it to swap motors? 10 minutes, or an hour+?
 
2big bronco said:
Those are the batteries I bought. But now I have 3 cars with bad motors, and yes its the holding them pined while not moving that kills them.
How hard is it to swap motors? 10 minutes, or an hour+?
Click to expand...
I did the motor swap while drinking beer and parenting my kid at camp. Probably 30 min for the first one, and 15 min for the second one. Nearly the whole car needs to come apart, but it only takes one hex key for nearly everything, I think it's the one that came with the car. You need a wrench to get the spur gear off, I used my Leatherman. A magnet or magnetic tray is helpful because there's a ton of tiny screws.
 
wt91 said:
my primary RC hobby is 1/144th scale RC warships (Iowa class battleship would be, say, 74 inches long) that have BB guns and shoot + sink each other.
Click to expand...

dude we need pictures and videos
 
mobil1syn said:
dude we need pictures and videos
Click to expand...

These were taken by my buddy Caleb.





The hobby has some pretty comprehensive rules, think like RC crawler sorrca competition rules. Boats have to be built to certain standards, etc. The ships framing is wood, fiberglass, sometimes 3d printed, and it's then covered with layered silk tissue and 1/32 balsa wood to allow the BB's to pass through the sides into the hull. (You can see a North Carolina class battleship in the pic below without it's skin on it, showing the "windows" that the balsa go over) Inside the boat there's some sort of BB proof internal armoring to prevent passthrough shots and also to keep the guts of the ship safe. You can take on water with no "real" damage. You patch the BB holes with pieces of tissue and lacquer and you're back on the water after lunch. Each ship has a number of "units" youre allowed to spend on defensive/offensive equipment. So my main ship is a french battleship called Jean Bart, it's 6.5 units, so I run 4.5 units of guns and 2x 1 unit brushless motor bilge pumps. Each pump can put out about 4 gallons in a minute through a 1 unit pump restrictor (a piece of brass with a 1/8" hole the pump must force the water through) You get shot with holes, the pumps pump the water out, sooner or later you either survive or you sink. This is amazingly oversimplified but you get the idea.
This is what's on my workbench when its not something for my trail rig. That boat is 68" long, for reference. :beer:

PXL_20220117_214956207.jpg


Sorry for the hijack OP.
 
^ thats cool. Basically the first thing I looked up when youtube came out umpteen years ago. I don't mind the derail at all.

Original topic, you can't fully dicharge a lipo, it kills them. Thats not a problem with the charger.
Do the USB chargers have a automatic cutoff? You can't keep pumping a charge into a lipo either, it also kills them. If they are charging onthe fast side the bag might be holding in heat also which could be hurting them.
Are they stored in the cold or heat?
Moral of the story is lipos are sensitive and have to be treated nicely. They also only last a few years regardless of how nice they are treated.
I have an old venom charger and its great.
 
I know I don’t take care of the batteries. I think a lot of my problems come from me or the kid leaving the car on when we’re done using it. Probably me more than him. My thought is I need a good charger that I know will shut off, and we need to get in the habit of pulling the batteries and put them on the charger as soon as we’re done.

Ordered that Venom Duo. If got bonus points because it has programs to charge lead acid, NiCd and NiMH batteries, for random other battery powered things.
 
wt91 said:
I own 3 of these:

https://a.co/d/jgZcvFy

Some background since I mainly lurk and don't post a ton:

I own 4 RC crawlers but my primary RC hobby is 1/144th scale RC warships (Iowa class battleship would be, say, 74 inches long) that have BB guns and shoot + sink each other. Some of those boats have 40+ amp hours of battery onboard...so I need solid chargers. The venoms are nice because it is basically two separate chargers in 1 housing. Two power supplies, two chargers, etc. Most multi-bank chargers have to share 1 power supply between the two banks so if you're putting 5 amps into a battery on the left bank you may only be able to put 2.5 or 3 amps into a battery on the right bank. With the venoms I regularly max them out on both sides, 7amps each at 14.8v. Helps recharge all that battery in a reasonable timeframe.
Click to expand...
we are gonna need a vid of you sinking someone's battle ship after all thats a board game

but serious thats cool
 
wt91 said:
That boat is 68" long, for reference. :beer:

PXL_20220117_214956207.jpg


Sorry for the hijack OP.
Click to expand...
No need to apologize, very cool hijack. I love to see all the different weird hobbies that people are into. Are the battles in ponds or pools? My son loves watching the race drones when they set up at the local park.
 
Jeffh555 said:
I know I don’t take care of the batteries. I think a lot of my problems come from me or the kid leaving the car on when we’re done using it. Probably me more than him. My thought is I need a good charger that I know will shut off, and we need to get in the habit of pulling the batteries and put them on the charger as soon as we’re done.

Ordered that Venom Duo. If got bonus points because it has programs to charge lead acid, NiCd and NiMH batteries, for random other battery powered things.
Click to expand...
I think a lot of chargers do it but the Venom is good because you can cycle batteries to restore old nicd or nimh and even an agm.
 
Jeffh555 said:
No need to apologize, very cool hijack. I love to see all the different weird hobbies that people are into. Are the battles in ponds or pools? My son loves watching the race drones when they set up at the local park.
Click to expand...

Generally in ponds. You would need a big ass pool. We try not to battle any place that's too deep because obviously getting the boat back when it sinks becomes a bit of a problem. A couple of people own property with ponds, we battle in some state parks and whatnot that let us. Greenbrier State Park in Hagerstown Maryland is one example, we battle there two times a year normally. Once in April and once in late September.
 
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