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Old 2018.12.16, 10:47 PM   #1
Kacordy
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AAA Battery and Charging recommendations?

I just ordered a new RPC track and 3 new Mini Z’s. Now I’m trying to figure out what are the best NiMH AAA batteries I should buy. I will also need a charger. I have a super neat Power Lab 8 system that I use for charging multiple 4s and 6s packs. I use a parallel charge board for the big batteries. I’m hoping someone manufactures a board that I can pop a bunch of AAA’s into and use my power lab 8. I just discovered the these small cars and this forum. Thank you for some recommendations, guidance and advice. Allen
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Old 2018.12.17, 12:16 AM   #2
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I use eneloop AAA for simplicity, as well as an Opus charger could on amazon for $30 range.

The only time that I am concerned with batteries are at world class events, otherwise the eneloop is a good consistent feel, readily available for a good price and stores very well.

Until you race against world champions, keep it simple and turn laps on track with a cell that will give consistent results without needing maintenance cycles to keep healthy when away fron the track. You can dump a lot of investment with little gains in battery tech. Unless you are looking for those hundredths that a great cell has over a good one, and have the driving and setup abilities... it is something that you don't really need to focus on.

Tldr: keep it simple, eneloop and cheap opus charger on amazon is all that is needed for mini-z club racing.
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Old 2018.12.17, 10:34 AM   #3
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Thank you Sir for the information. I will not be racing. This is just for Man Cave entertainment, lol. Allen
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Old 2018.12.17, 06:00 PM   #4
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I like my Hitec X4 charger with 4 PN Racing Charging trays. I can charge 4 sets at a time that way. I have both the AC/DC and DC only versions. But I like the DC only version with a separate power supply best.

I use Peak 900 AAA's They sell for $10 a set. I have great luck with them.
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Old 2018.12.17, 06:58 PM   #5
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I used to use charge trays, and hobby chargers. I have found over time that while you can adjust the peak detection and get a more accurate peak, charging the cells in series is not as good as charging individually.

In the past, people would use the x4 chargers, and wire each channel to a slot in the charger and charge each cell individually from it. It was effective, but not resource friendly. For the most part, the difference in performance was hardly noticeable except in the top 1% and usually only for hot lap.

With Mini-Z more than the larger scales, it is less about battery performance and more about driving performance. Especially now that brushless motors are becoming more prevalent and their current demands on the cells are lower. Voltage drop is hardly noticeable, and there is very little difference between punchy cells and cells that dont have as much punch compared to brushed cars where it was much more noticeable.

In larger scales, batteries make much more of a difference, as does setup. You are very limited by your equipment, and driving comes second. In Mini-Z, your driving is most important. In general, cheap AAA chargers and average NEW cells are perfectly fine for competitive racing. Using the "best" cells if they are old, you are at a disadvantage compared to a new average cell.

The age of production and shelf life matters a lot. This is one reason that I like the Eneloop cell, it is always selling consistently, and for the most part you never buy old stock. I had purchased some old stock of highly rated cells, and about 30% of them were dead cells, and I could only yield about 2 usable race packs out of 10 purchased. With the Eneloop, all of the cells in 10 packs have within 5% of the same charge and voltage numbers. I dont even really need to check the cells anymore, I just charge and race, so my time can be better spent on the car and driving than working on batteries.
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Old 2018.12.17, 08:40 PM   #6
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EMU, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and insights. It allows newbies like myself to begin in a new RC hobby and join the fun. I really appreciate it, Allen
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Old 2018.12.17, 09:29 PM   #7
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I always like to share my opinion. It may be right or wrong depending on the scope of view, but I like to share.

This hobby can be very expensive, but it often doesn't need to be too have fun and be competitive. With good purchases you can run with the top drivers with little expenditure. Time on track is with a consistent car is valued much higher than what you have in the pit box or on the car. Learning to drive a slow car fast is always easier than trying to drive a fast car slow. Work on line and consistency, speed will come. When you are at the limit of what the equipment can do, then you are looking for those hundredths of a second that cells and chassis upgrades can deliver.
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Old 2018.12.18, 01:05 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EMU View Post
I used to use charge trays, and hobby chargers. I have found over time that while you can adjust the peak detection and get a more accurate peak, charging the cells in series is not as good as charging individually.

In the past, people would use the x4 chargers, and wire each channel to a slot in the charger and charge each cell individually from it. It was effective, but not resource friendly. For the most part, the difference in performance was hardly noticeable except in the top 1% and usually only for hot lap.

With Mini-Z more than the larger scales, it is less about battery performance and more about driving performance. Especially now that brushless motors are becoming more prevalent and their current demands on the cells are lower. Voltage drop is hardly noticeable, and there is very little difference between punchy cells and cells that dont have as much punch compared to brushed cars where it was much more noticeable.

In larger scales, batteries make much more of a difference, as does setup. You are very limited by your equipment, and driving comes second. In Mini-Z, your driving is most important. In general, cheap AAA chargers and average NEW cells are perfectly fine for competitive racing. Using the "best" cells if they are old, you are at a disadvantage compared to a new average cell.

The age of production and shelf life matters a lot. This is one reason that I like the Eneloop cell, it is always selling consistently, and for the most part you never buy old stock. I had purchased some old stock of highly rated cells, and about 30% of them were dead cells, and I could only yield about 2 usable race packs out of 10 purchased. With the Eneloop, all of the cells in 10 packs have within 5% of the same charge and voltage numbers. I dont even really need to check the cells anymore, I just charge and race, so my time can be better spent on the car and driving than working on batteries.
+1

I use Eneloops and the Amazon Eneloop knockoffs. Charge them in a Powerex Maha MH C801D for race day charging, and a Powerex Maha C9000 for semi-annual refresh and restore. The 801D will fully charge a dead set in less than an hour, and if you don't run them all the way down, they recharge in about 20-30 min. I charge them full, and we tend to run 5-8 minute races. I'll run them for two 5 minute races or one 8 minute race, then swap them out. I let the ones I just ran sit for a session or two, then recharge them if I'm going to use them, if not, put them away almost dead. Sometimes they get put away full. As EMU said, the thing that's nice about these is they don't seem as sensitive to mistreatment as some of the higher performance NiHMs. After a year of rough treatment, they will refresh to within 10% of original capacity. The other thing I do that I think helps is I have about twelve sets of four, so they're always rotating.

My driving isn't good enough to be fussing with batteries.
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