Lipo and brushed ESC

Hi LiPo guru's.

I just goy my very first Lipo battery (better late than never) and need some advice on the following:
- Are you able to use LiPo battery (2S) with an old ESC for brushed motor?

The ESC is Novak GT7.
My receiver is Spektrum 2,4 GHz.
Motor is brushed.

For LiPo protection, I'm planning to get the Novak Smart Stop for 2S LiPo battery.

Any advice is appreciated before I damage my electronics and my LiPo on fire

i think you can use any esc and motor with lipo provided you have that buzzer for cut off and if you have lipo cut off in your esc, that shouldn't be a problem.

just charge your li-po's properly.

been using lipo for almost a year now and used it hard.. so far no problem encountered and i dont intend to

Tx for the reply.

Then I'll fit it in my touring car then.
The challenge I have is the fitting of the saddle pack LiPo into the chassis.
Height is higher, so need to do some tinkering.
Aiming to be ready for the 9-th though.

You will have no problem with older ESC and Motors.

I hope you purchase LiPo charger as well?
You can't use NiCd or NiMH carger with LiPo packs.

I'm sure you will notice the difference in your X-Ray. More punch and top end speed...... I was very surprised with the difference.

I used my batteries a lot without a LiPo cutoff, and just stopped as soon as I thought the battery was running out. A buzzer is deffinately a good idea though and very cheap. I think some of the LHS have the yeah racing (?) one, but can't remember which, maybe someone else knows?

I'm really looking forward to 9th too..... Bring it on.....

So you finally got your saddle pack lipos.. its about time to put your 5 year old nicads to rest I just got into lipos at the automodex and yes they perform better than my previous batteries.

I suggest you get a proper lipo charger with balancer or buy a balancer separately. My LRP ecs doesnt support lipo cut-offs aswell so i bought a lipo buzzer just to be sure i dont get my kits burned

Or get yourself one of these NOVAK SMART STOP modules!

Hi Edward,
its bryan... the novak smart-stop is a must considering your esc doesnt have lipo cut-off.
i have one and its so easy to use and program.
it has a led to show that your lipo is nearing cut-off point.
and believe me you would not like the lipo to go below its cut-off voltage.

Tx for the advices gents!

So, no problem either for the receiver right? Since the power of the receiver is coming from the ESC (BEC)?

I searched for the Novak Smart Stop already, but is out of stock on both RC-Mart and RC-Mushroom.

Bryan, if you have a spare, I would like to buy it from you.
I will be arriving in the evening in Riyadh Monday the 5-th.
Where are we going to? Leaving Wednesday evening

Next set of questions for a LiPo newbie: Charging.

- When do you balance a LiPo battery? During charging? Or before charging?

I have a saddle pack, using 4mm plugs. Thus 2x 1s battery
If I charge it 1 by one, that means that I don't need to balance it, right?

I need to balance the battery when I charge the battery as a single 2s battery.

mister-e wrote:

Tx for the advices gents!

So, no problem either for the receiver right? Since the power of the receiver is coming from the ESC (BEC)?

As long as your ESC is BEC ready i dont think theres gonna be a problem with the receiver and servo

i have 3 li-po's with me for almost a year... never balanced it in its life... still works fine!

Hey Mr. E, Lipo stick packs comes with 2 plugs, one with the connector for the esc, and the other one is used for balanced charging. for 2s lipos the balance charging plug has 3 wires with small white connector, for saddle packs thats 1s x 2, so if you charge it separately its the same as balance charging it coz in 2s lipo stick packs it is connected in series thats why it has the balancer plug so you can charge each cell one at a time.

A ha!

Reck, tx for confirming my understanding

My charger doesn't have a built in balancer.
I will charge it 1 by 1 then, just for sure.

So, now I just need a LiPo charging bag.

hi edward, are you planning to use the the lipo on touring only? no need to buy any lipo cut off or buzzer, its just a 5mins race and it will not damage your lipo, ofcourse after running on a 5mins race you will again charge the lipo and so on...JMTC

BTW i admire your driving when i saw you...hihihi

I have a buzzer I am not currently using.
You can borrow it for the day, but I'd like to hold onto it.
I can't use it at the moment since it will not fit in my mini, and I don't need it for the touring car. I will get a short extension cable some time so it will fit, but don't have one yet.

I have the same problem greg, my buzzer just ends up popping out of the body shell and then falling off.

I also have a spare buzzer if its needed for the 9th

Yes, not sure what to do about this.
I saw Vinesh with a modified battery case the other day. He had opened it, made a hole to the side and brought the wires out the side instead of out the end. He ended up with longer leads too.
If I did this it would solve my problem, but not sure about hacking open my LiPo.... it could end badly.
I think Vinesh had to tape the case shut after this too, so I'm not sure if it would slide into the mini anymore?!?!

I guess this particular pack that Vin modified gave false alarms with the Lipo cutof LED thinghy as the wires moved.
Vinesh can confirm. In any case would not recommend opening a Lipo case.

yep doesnt sound like a good idea too me. Dont think those hard cases are meant to be opened

I did the same thing that Vinesh did with my lipos, I have to open it up any way coz a wire from the balancer plug got cut off coz its too short and its probably the way its sticking out at the ends, so when I repaired it decided to place the wires on the side of the casing, easy process and I dont have any problems so far. I also replaced the balancer wires with longer ones so using the buzzer is no longer an issue.

I have done it with ALL my Lipo's except the new ones, but they WILL eventually break, and I will mod them too....

There is not a lot to be concerned about when opening them up....except to be careful and consider what you are doing. I would recommend the following

Have a decent soldering iron - minimum 80Watt
Ensure you follow maintenance procedures of the iron, always clean the tip while soldering, and after.
Make sure you use the correct solder.

If you are INEXPERIENCED when it comes to soldering, develop your skills on things that cannot explode, it is a very good skill to posess and does not require anything more than some practise and guidance.

If you are under your parents guidance and roof, DONT DO THIS, ask someone else to do it for you.

The extensions for the LIPO balance leads are available at Ultimate-Heli....

Mister-e, check your ESC's BEC rating, it could be the end of your steering servo if there isnt one, and possibly your Rx.
Lipos put out a total of 8.49V when fully charged, any servo rated at 7.2V max power will get COOKED. .....

Edwards novak ESC has following feature

6 Volt/3.0 Amp BEC
Rated current: 640A; Braking Current: 160A

So don't think he will have any problem.

@ Reck - how did you put the hard case back together, push, glue or tape?

Gerg, thanks for the info.....

I put my packs together with super glue....

Gents,

Tx a lot for all the offering.
I appreciate it a lot.
I could use some additional weight though, since the Lipo's are lighter than the old trusted 6 cells NiMh. So pleaaase, yes I would like to borrow it the 9-th untill I got my own.

Bandit, tx for admiring.
Actually it's the car which is doing the driving
You have to set it up properly.
If the handling is decent, it's a lot easier to drive.
You will be driving the nice lines on the track instead of trying to keep the car on the track!

Start at a controlled speed and increase it when the car handles properly.