Cubby – First off I would like to add some info/data to the answer I gave Dave B in last weeks ASK Cubby. Dave’s email basically said that “C” ratings on Lipo batteries seem to be a bit shady, and well, you need to read LAST WEEKS COLUMN to see how I replied.

A bit over a year we reviewed a Zeus 3S 850 mah Lipo pack. Our West Mountain CBA is fully capable of testing a pack of that size to its stated “C” rating, so of course we did just that. The pack was rated at 25C, which is 21.25 amps, and after testing the pack lived under that load. At 25C the pack exhibited a big horseshoe in the discharge curve, meaning it was being pushed to its limit, but otherwise it didn’t get too hot and lived to fight another day.
If anyone out there is looking for proof that not everyone lies about their “C” ratings, the Zeus pack we tested would make a good example. IMO a 25C continuous rating on that pack was in the ballpark, I would have considered it a rock solid 25C pack if there was no horseshoe in the discharge curve. When we dialed up the discharge rate to 30C (25.5 amps) the pack couldn’t take the load and dropped below 3 volts per cell immediately. HERE is the link for the review (with full graphs) that I am talking about.

But… a small capacity pack with a low “C” rating isn’t exactly what Dave was complaining about, so this week I broke out the West Mountain again. Yes, we’ve connected big loads to packs before, but we’ve never connected a big continuous load in a more controlled setting with the CBA. I took half of a 5000 mah 55C saddle pack and decided to go big with it, our West Mountain tops out at 120 amps continuous on a 1S/4.2 volt battery. So… what happened to our 1S 5000 55C Lipo under 120 amps continuous? It wasn’t good, LOL. The voltage immediately dipped below the 3 volt cut-off. By immediately I mean in less than 5 seconds. The curve looked like a cliff, the voltage went straight down to below the 3 volt cut-off. Also of note… I wired up the pack like it would be used in the real world, with 12 gauge wire and a Traxxas connector. The Traxxas connector got mildly warm, but the wire got straight up HOT (and I have a blister on one of my fingers to prove it). We knew the wiring was going to be the weak link in advance and our testing simply proved it. I then backed off the discharge to 100 amps with pretty much the same end result. Finally I dropped the load down to 80 amps where the pack behaved in a more “normal” manner, except the wire was still getting hot. The voltage dipped hard under 80 amps, but not below the cut-off value, and the battery itself stayed at a relatively low temp throughout the entire discharge. I am going to re-do the test later this week, this time with heavier wire and post the graphs in next weeks ASK Cubby. Is 120 amps continuous too much for the cells in a 5000 mah 55C Lipo or are they more than up to the task given heavy enough wiring? More info next week on this one.

Hello Bigsquid,
I have a brand new Slash, what is the first mod I should do? I was thinking a brushless system but don’t know what is a good brand.
Emilio

Cubby- Yo what’s up Emilio, thanks for the email and mad props for the super easy question. I have a very clear cut first mod on the Traxxas Slash- new hinge pins. The stockers are made out of butter and like to work their way loose. Uber hinge pins are a relatively affordable mod that makes the truck more durable, easier to work on, and can improve the way it drives. They don’t add to the bling factor, but good hinge pins won’t bend and won’t back out, making them worth their weight in gold. I’ve used two different brands- Pro-Line and ST racing Concepts. The Pro-Line Set runs about $22 and are super easy to install. The STRC set sells for $18 and I’ve also had good luck with them. Both sets can also take a pretty intense beating. You can barely tap a pipe and bend the stockers while after slamming a cement curb the aftermarket pins remain straight as an arrow. Pick a set and install’em, you’ll be thanking me later.

The next hop-up/mod I would recommend wouldn’t be a brushless system either, it would be a good Lipo battery. Not only will a good Lipo give you more power and run-time, but having an extra battery around comes in really handy. Check out one a 2S Venom 5000 mah pack, they have good performance, don’t break the bank, and are readily available from most hobby shops.

The new Venom Pro Charger 2 comes with an internal power supply and is capable of charging at up to 6 amps. Some of its other features include- can charge up to 6S Lipo, on-board balance block, fan cooled, five memory profiles, and comes with 9 of the most popular charge leads. The part number is #677, the street price is $69, and it is expect to hit hobby shop shelves in mid-May.

Also new from Venom is their PS 600 Power Supply. This is a dual output unit that is constructed out of stamped steel. For power, the PS 600 is good for up to 40 amps (600 watts max) and it has an adjustable output of zero to twenty volts. A backlit LED screen makes it easy to read while a fan helps it to keep its cool. The part number is #0673, the street price is $199, and it has an expected release date of late May.

For more information on all of the fine products from Venom Group hit up THIS LINK.

Brian is doing his happy dance around the office today and that means only one thing, it’s Friday! How about a TGIF Mystery Link?

Hi my name is Bruin and I own a Helion Dominus 10r. I still have my stock 1800 mah battery in it and I read your latest lipo shootout. You had the Gens Ace 5800 2s lipo ranked first and I was interested in buying one. I have looked all over the internet and I can’t find any sites that sell them and if they do they are out of stock. Do you know where I could find one or any hobby shops that have them in stock?

I live in Rexburg, Idaho and they just got rid of the nearest Hobbytown USA to me in Idaho Falls so I pretty much have to order everything online now. If you could please reply I would greatly appreciate it. I would also accept any advice like a diffferent/better lipo I should get or any upgrades etc… Thanks

Cubby- Yo hey Bruin, sounds like you are having the same problem a lot of people are, not being able to find the Gens Ace pack they want in stock.

I’ve often said the biggest problem Gens Ace has is keeping their packs in stock. They put out a decent battery at a reasonable price point, but they’ve got a lot to learn about inventory management. So what should be your plan of action? Buy from someone else that has their act together and keeps their product in proper supply.

So what’s an affordable Lipo that is easier to actually lay your hands on? Venom. Venom has come a long ways with the quality of their batteries in recent years, and while they may not have won one of our shootouts, they are solid packs that will make your Helion M U C H faster than the included Ni-MH battery. Oh and even more importantly, it’s typically pretty easy to lay hands on one that suits your needs. Venom is carried by both of the “big two”, Hobbico and Horizon, so whether you are buying from an LHS (sucks to hear you lost yours) or buying on-line, the chances of finding what you need is much greater.

Squid Live #16
I don’t watch the show. it’s a bad timing kind of thing… but I did watch the re-run of #16 (couldn’t sleep and had nothing better to do). Thought I’d send a few comments, just to let you know, it didn’t lull me back to sleep, and that the nonsense is at least somewhat entertaining.

First off that Red Cat S-tryk-r, interesting idea for a rc vehicle, glad they finally got it to market, but couldn’t they have had somebody with some art or industrial design capability at least give them some clues about how something like this should look. Come on now, I mean – one word: UGLY! make that two words: STUPID UGLY! They can do good looking, you didn’t mention the Pagani Huayra, but it is a RedCat so I understand. Now belt drive is cool, it smooths out the shock to the drive train, yea it’s going to be a nightmare to work on but that’s just something that you would have to live with for a Canam style bike. Your only other option for a three wheeler would be a Mardave sidecar racer (spec racer – lame) or some Vaterra you guys are done bashing with (change that, the Vaterra would probably only have one wheel left).

As to bashing with a Corally… problem is after getting things good and wet the sand kicked up by the paddles tends to pack up on the belt and pulleys and before you know it the belt is all stretched out, corners rounded off and the belt starts slipping.

TS

Cubby- Hey now TS, interesting email ya sent in.

Ya, our G+ shows can be interesting at times. At the very least they give us a bit of a chance to hang out face to face. While I may go on and on about meeting up in the uber BSRC offices, the staff is actually all over the place so we don’t really get to see each other that much. We meet up here and there for reviews and shootouts, we also meet up for trade shows and bash events, otherwise the work done here is via UPS and the net. Any time I get to give Brian or Adam crap I consider to be a good time.

I’m not a fan of RedCat. Every time I’ve been exposed to a RedCat vehicle first hand it was with a pile of soon to be rubble, and they haven’t been what I’d call “cordial” to us by any means, so what is there for me to like? That doesn’t mean that times have changed and their new gear is actually worth owning, and that doesn’t mean that they’ve decided to overlook the negatively I’ve written about them and want to hold out their hand to start over, who knows. What I do know is we don’t get any of their product for review, so even if it is quality gear we have no way of knowing it. And… I do know we’ve extended our hand by covering their booths at trade shows and by posting some of their press releases.

With that said, I like their S-TRYK-R. In fact several of the BSRC Bash Crew do. Why? It’s a matter of this- we’ve owned hundreds of cars over the years and are attracted to something completely new and different because we are bored of the “norm”. The S-TRYK-R might be a POS, but we’d actually put up with that if it was so different to own that it was a “new” experience for us.

YOUR Cub Reporter

“You have to look at it from a business perspective. Companies don’t want to give out discounts or free product if they don’t think they will get a return in some way. I use Facebook and also send out monthly Press Releases, along with a Press Release after each big event. My PR contains a race report from the event, YouTube videos of each main event with sponsor logos at the beginning and sponsor logos with links to their website. Each of our team sponsors use this content to advertise their product on their websites, blogs, Facebook pages, etc. The Blais Racing Services team reports are a lot more than what most people can do but it makes it much easier to get sponsored and keep your current sponsors happy.

Chris Blais“

The battery charger wars have been raging hard lately and one of the hottest new chargers on the market is the Venom Medion Dual 10 amp. The Medion comes not only with all the “standard” features that a high end charger would include, but it “one-ups” the pack by having built in speakers. Are the speakers just a gimmick? Does the Venom provide a quality charge to your battery? And most importantly, is it worth your hard earned cash? Let’s find out shall we…

From: Venom
Direct Link: Medion Dual Charger

Review By: Cubby
Pics By: Cubby

Street Price: $199

Specs:

Input Voltage: 11.0-18.0V
Circuit Power: 200W max charge x 2, 25W max discharge x 2
Charge Current: 0.1-10.0A x 2
Discharge Current: 0.1-5.0A x 2
Cell Balancing: Yes
Current Drain for LiPo Balance: 200mAh/cell
Alarm Voltage: Lower than 10V or grerater than 18V
Weight: 3lbs 10oz
Dimensions: 11.8 x 5.9 x 3.35″
Max Cell Ni-MH: 18
Max Cell Lithium: 6S
USB: Yes
Fan: Yes
Temp probe: Included
Requires: 11-18V DC Power Supply (300 watt or greater recommended)
Warranty: “Venom warrants this product to be free of material and workmanship defects when new. Venom will at its sole discretion repair or replace components free of charge within 90 days from date of purchase or within 30 days for all electronic components.”

Primary Competition: Hitec Ultima X2, TrakPower VR-1, Hyperion 720iDUO3

What’s In The Box: Charger, LED light, audio cable, balance boards, various wiring, instructions

Build Quality: The chassis of the Medion is constructed out of metal and feels rock solid. Wiring looked to be of good quality.

Testers: Cubby, Brian, Tim, and Iron Mike

Set-up Notes: We used the Venom Medion off a TrakPower DPS power supply and charged a variety of Pro-Match and TrakPower Lipo batteries with it.

Ease of Use: We did not have to crack out the manual to use the Venom. Yes, it took a few minutes to get acquainted with the menu, but for the most part it was easy sailing.

Power: 200 watts x two channels is quite robust. No, that is not the most power available on the market, but having the ability to charge two packs at 10 amps each is quite respectable.

On track: To test how packs charged on the Venom felt on the track we used our Castle powered Pro-Line Pro-2 truck. Some of the packs were Trakpower, while others were Pro-Match, and we only used the balance mode on the Venom. We also charged the packs on our reference charger for comparison purposes. Driving the Lipo’s after they were charged on the Venom proved that it does indeed provide very high quality charges. Low end snap was very robust and the voltage on the top-end seemed top notch. To boil it down, packs charged on the Venom felt downright awesome when used in our test truck.

Broken Parts/Issues: We submitted the Medion to our normal thrashing- meaning we purposely dropped it, stood on it, etc, and it still works fine today.

As far as “issues” go, the audio cable that came with the Medion did not work properly. The supplied cable would only yield left channel audio when pushed all the way in, but would do stereo if left about half way out. When we used one of our own audio cables there was no issue.

During our “2C fast charge” testing we saw inconsistent results. Meaning? Our reference charger would roughly take the same amount of time to charge a pack and then the pack would yield roughly the same results under a load. On fast charge with the Venom the differences in charge times would vary up to 10 minutes in length, and the packs performance under load would vary up to 600 mah. This is a wider spread than we’ve seen in our previous testing. We did not notice this issue when balance charging with the Venom.

Performance/Quality of charge testing- All performance bench testing was done with a Pro-Match 2S 5000 mah Lipo. We compared the Venom against our “reference” charger, a Hyperion 720iNet3. For complete testing criteria just shoot us an email or read one of our recent charger reviews.

Quality Of 2C Fast Charge

Speed of 2C Fast Charge (time to charge up a pack)-

Reference Charger: Run #1- 40 minutes 44 seconds, Run #3- 40 minutes 31 seconds
Venom Medion: Run #2- 57 minutes 48 seconds, Run #4- 60 minutes 58 seconds

Output voltage-

Reference Charger (run #1, tested 4662 mah, 9:21 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.343 volts
4 minutes- 7.136 v
6 minutes- 7.005 v
8 minutes- 6.879 v

Venom Medion (run #2, tested 4561 mah, 9:10 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.312 volts
4 minutes- 7.117 v
6 minutes- 6.996 v
8 minutes- 6.853 v

Reference Charger (run #3, tested 4687 mah, 9:25 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.363 volts
4 minutes- 7.152 v
6 minutes- 7.020 v
8 minutes- 6.899 v

Venom Medion (run #4, tested 4637 mah, 9:18 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.286 volts
4 minutes- 7.100 v
6 minutes- 6.981 v
8 minutes- 6.855 v

Conclusions 2C Fast Charge- As I always note- our sample size is extremely small and therefore not scientific. From our limited amount of data it would appear that the Venom takes much longer to do a “fast 2C” charge, up to 20 minutes longer, and even though it took longer to charge, the quality of charge was not as good as our reference. Voltage was lower on the pack when charged by the Venom and the runtime was shorter. Based on our limited data it would appear our reference battery charger produced a faster and higher quality 2C fast charge.

Quality of 2C Balance Charge

Speed of 2C Balance Charge (time to charge up a pack)-

Reference Charger: Run #1- 35 minutes 46 seconds, Run #3- 35 minutes 53 seconds
Venom Medion: Run #2- 48 minutes 52 seconds, Run #4- 52 minutes 55 seconds

Reference Charger (run #1, tested 4712 mah, 9:27 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.333 volts
4 minutes- 7.125 v
6 minutes- 6.993 v
8 minutes- 6.878 v

Venom Medion (run #2, tested 4879 mah, 9:47 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.405 volts
4 minutes- 7.174 v
6 minutes- 7.025 v
8 minutes- 6.923 v

Reference Charger (run #3, tested 4595 mah, 9:13 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.287 volts
4 minutes- 7.094 v
6 minutes- 6.975 v
8 minutes- 6.839 v

Venom Medion (run #4, tested 4870 mah, 9:46 runtime)

2 minutes- 7.366 volts
4 minutes- 7.142 v
6 minutes- 6.999 v
8 minutes- 6.896 v

Conclusions 2C Balance Charge- The Venom Medion took longer to perform a 2C balance charge (by roughly 15 minutes), but it appeared to give a higher quality charge than our reference. The pack provided both longer runtimes and higher voltages after being 2C balance charged on the Venom.

Misc Notes:

Some of our testers really liked the included USB/LED light, but I didn’t think it provided enough light. I’m an old fart who needs a ton of light to see anything very well so I preferred using a higher powered pit light. However, I must say the provided LED is much better than nothing in a pinch, and it takes up virtually no space on your pit table or in your pit box.

Everyone at the track thought the Venom looked pretty cool, it drew a lot of attention.

The audio quality of the included speakers was about the same as those in a laptop computer, but the Medion could provide more volume. Are the speakers worth having in the battery charger? One of our testers lugs around this huge boombox when he goes bashing or to a track. This particular tester really liked having speakers in the Venom charger, it saved him time, space and energy. Personally, I think having them is very convenient.

The tilted display on the Venom was easy to read and showed all the pertinent info you need.

The Medion yielded some of the highest quality balance charges we’ve seen compared to our reference charger, very impressive. You could literally have a tenth of of a volt more juice on tap simply by using the Medion charger. To some people this may not matter, but to others a tenth of a volt under load is a huge deal.

Downsides:

We would have liked to have seen a volume control on the charger. It would just be more convenient that way.

We would have liked to have seen a second USB output. The Medion comes with one, but if you have the LED light plugged in you’ll need another one to charge your cell phone with.

A 2C non-balance fast charge time of over 60 minutes is simply too long, and yielded poor voltage and runtime numbers compared to our reference. What does this mean to you? Don’t use the “fast charge” mode unless you have to.

Summary:

Time To Bash: C The Venom comes with a plethora of wires to help get you going on nearly any type of charge duty, but it takes a while getting used to the menu and charge times were on the slow side.

Car Show Rating: B The Venom Medion definitely turned heads in the pits. The red anodized chassis and speakers make for a cool looking charger.

Bash-A-Bility: A We beat on the Medion and ran it full tilt on both channels without letting out any of the magic smoke.

Power: B At 200 watts per channel the Medion is no lightweight.

Value: B The Medion has built in speakers and even comes with an LED pit light adding to its value rating.

BigSquid Rating: B The Venom Medion gets a rock solid B for an overall rating. The Medion is capable of very high quality charges (in balance mode) which should make it a top pick for people looking to get the very best performance out of their Lipo packs. For others, it’s a nice unit because it saves so much space- you get a dual charger, speakers, and a pit light in a relatively small package.

Brian’s favorite Supercross rider (lol), James “Bubba” Stewart, took the win last night (Saturday) in Hotlanta. Using his proven recipe of “holeshot then 20 perfect laps” Stew lead from gate drop to checkered flag. I’ve never been a big Bubba fan but even I was stoked to see him win last night. The wins came so easy early in his career, now they come so hard. I’d have to guess that the wins now days mean a whole lot more to him than they used to. Anyways, the SX circus rolls through St Louis Missouri this Saturday and the BigSquidRC crew will be there in force.

And on to rc…

Our first ever Quadcopter Shootout is going live this Tuesday. We pitting Traxxas against Heli-Max against Ares to find out which little quad was the best of the bunch. We’ve been flying (and crashing, and demo-derbying) the shootout quads for weeks finding out how they compared to each other, even if you aren’t in the market for one I hope you find the shootout interesting. Oh and yes, I’m 90% sure the winner will surprise you.

Also in BigSquidRC news- we are hiring account reps. Some of the qualifications required are- you have to be kick a$$, you have to be able to sell snow to an Eskimo, you gotta be service oriented, and lastly, you gotta be hardcore about rc. If you are all (or some) of those things don’t hesitate to shoot Brian an email (brian at BigSquidRC dot com). We are beyond slammed and seriously need the help.

It looks like ROAR decided their reputation hadn’t been slammed enough this year, so they put out information saying they’ll be using the new MyLaps RC4 system this year at most of the nats. To translate this to you guys that don’t follow racing- the new scoring system doesn’t work with all transponders, meaning some people will have to buy new transponders for the ROAR nats. This really doesn’t affect that many people, however, it certainly shows that ROAR is busy screwing around with the dumb stuff (and ticking off more ROAR members) instead of fixing its core problems.

Sorta on that note…

The SCT class is “our” great ambassador to noobs, outsiders and main-streamers, can’t we keep from ruining it?

JConcepts has been putting out some cool gear as of late for the bashing crowd, but, last week they announced their new “wheel dishes” for their scale short course rims. To translate this to the non-racer crowd- these are disc’s that pop into the wheel to make the scale looking JConcepts SCT wheel look more like the “dish”‘ wheels that “racer types” run at the track. I’m not gonna bag on JConcepts here, they are making the wheel dishes because the “racer crowd” wants to buy them. However, who I am going to bag on is ROAR. While they are screw’n around with wire diameters and transponders there is something more important on their plate- making rules to maintain the scale integrity of the short course truck class. Every day it seems a little more “liberty” is being taken on short course trucks, give it a few more years and they’ll look like UFO’s (just like every other class).

It is in ROAR’s (and the entire hobby’s) best interest to maintain the scale look of short course trucks (and SCB’s). ROAR has let the tires slide as they no longer look like anything authentic, the roof-lines on SCT bodies keep getting lower, and now dish wheels are trying to work their way into the class. For whatever unknown reason, racers still listen to ROAR, so they (ROAR) should be putting out rules to make sure SCT’s continue to look like their full scale counterparts. There is a place for “anything goes” tires, wheels, and bodies, but it is NOT the SCT class.

Lastly…

What’s going on at BigSquidRC this week? As mentioned earlier the Quadcopter shootout is going up on Tues, our review on the Venom Medion Dual Charger (the one with the speakers built in) will be going up on Thursday, and Brian should be posting a pretty cool car review this week as well. Oh and, as usual we’ll be doing our Google Plus LIVE show at 9PM CST on Wednesday night. Last week was our best show to date, I think we are finally getting that thing worked out.

That’s it for this week, support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can.

YOUR Cub Reporter

Looking for more Atomik news? We have it, check right HERE.

We wanted to make sure and let everyone know the Atomik RC Brian Deegan Metal Mulisha 1/18th Scale Rally Car is on sale now! You can click HERE to visit the sale page!
It’s hard to beat $99 and FREE shipping on a vehicle we couldn’t destroy. And believe me, we tried.

We recently reviewed the Rally Car, and you can read the full review here.

* IR-Mode, an internal resistance test to help evaluate your battery
* Backlit LCD screen makes the readout easy to see
* Up to 500 watts of charging power
* Up to 25 amp charge rate
* LED lights in the Stronghold Battery Containment Box make it easy to keep an eye on your battery
* Baffle in the box eliminates external charge or balance wires
* Accepts up to 26 volts DC of input
* Part #VNR0667

Street price is $199 and you can get more information on Venom’s Official Website.

Looking for more Venom/Atomik news? HERE is the link you want.

* Aluminum carry handle
* Designed for LiPO packs up to 60-watt hours
* Balance block has extra long leads
* Hinged lid with polycarbonate window for battery observation
* Rubber feet on bottom
* Positive snap latch makes it a great carrying case your Lipos
* Does not wear out like charge sacks can
* Part #VNR0672

Street price for the new Venom battery box is $60 but we have not received information on when they will be shipping. For more information on all of Venom’s fine products hit up their Official Website.

Looking for more Venom news? Click HERE for more Venom/Atomik news on BigSquidRC.