smart batteries (other than spektrum)

[sandblaster]

The self storage is worth it to me. Never did find a good way to put in storage that did not require a lot of my time to monitor. Plus they really stand behind the product. Again, it depends on what one wants and budget and what one has invested now. If starting in hobby should take a long hard look as trying to figure out the lipo code or charge rates etc. is a challenge. For an old timer with old, time to replace lipo's it was an easy decision and so glad. No regrets and no turning back. Wish I could find a smart battery for my Futaba transmitter. Having to use balance leads now seems so out of date and frustrating.

What I do not understand is the hate or what ever you want to call it, for those with no experience. Unless it is to make one feel better about what they have. As hobbyist, we should be glad for new innovations even if we do not use them. The new 1/5 scale is an example. Watch them run, think they are great. Doubt if I will ever have one. To heavy, to expensive, takes more room then I have. Does not mean I should disrespect them or talk bad about them. We should encourage and applaud new products as it increased the hobby base and encouraging more new stuff.

Really enjoy this hobby. Building is one of my favorite things. Updated the original HPI Savage Flux. Had goals for build. No slipper, center diff. Updated battery boxes. Used parts from several different years and models from Jenny's. Most fun have had in some time. It is a real fun basher. In stage of fine tuning now.

This embrace change, not put it down. For the hobby and all of our good.

 

[fish]

The self storage is worth it to me. Never did find a good way to put in storage that did not require a lot of my time to monitor. Plus they really stand behind the product. Again, it depends on what one wants and budget and what one has invested now. If starting in hobby should take a long hard look as trying to figure out the lipo code or charge rates etc. is a challenge. For an old timer with old, time to replace lipo's it was an easy decision and so glad. No regrets and no turning back. Wish I could find a smart battery for my Futaba transmitter. Having to use balance leads now seems so out of date and frustrating.

What I do not understand is the hate or what ever you want to call it, for those with no experience. Unless it is to make one feel better about what they have. As hobbyist, we should be glad for new innovations even if we do not use them. The new 1/5 scale is an example. Watch them run, think they are great. Doubt if I will ever have one. To heavy, to expensive, takes more room then I have. Does not mean I should disrespect them or talk bad about them. We should encourage and applaud new products as it increased the hobby base and encouraging more new stuff.

Really enjoy this hobby. Building is one of my favorite things. Updated the original HPI Savage Flux. Had goals for build. No slipper, center diff. Updated battery boxes. Used parts from several different years and models from Jenny's. Most fun have had in some time. It is a real fun basher. In stage of fine tuning now.

This embrace change, not put it down. For the hobby and all of our good.

Maybe this is why.

Spektrum 22.2V 5000mAh 6S 100C Smart G2 LiPo Battery: IC5
Only 5000mAh, so Two of these at $380 will basically Equal 1 of my Hoovo 8000mAh equivalent at $99 in performance and run time.
For what? Some mild convenience? Thats about all you get AND I need their charger thats also 2-3 times the price and nothing special.
If it was 50% more, maybe. I splurge easily enough but its Grossly Over Priced.

$190 each.

 

[Diem Turner]

The self storage is worth it to me. Never did find a good way to put in storage that did not require a lot of my time to monitor. Plus they really stand behind the product. Again, it depends on what one wants and budget and what one has invested now. If starting in hobby should take a long hard look as trying to figure out the lipo code or charge rates etc. is a challenge. For an old timer with old, time to replace lipo's it was an easy decision and so glad. No regrets and no turning back. Wish I could find a smart battery for my Futaba transmitter. Having to use balance leads now seems so out of date and frustrating.

What I do not understand is the hate or what ever you want to call it, for those with no experience. Unless it is to make one feel better about what they have. As hobbyist, we should be glad for new innovations even if we do not use them. The new 1/5 scale is an example. Watch them run, think they are great. Doubt if I will ever have one. To heavy, to expensive, takes more room then I have. Does not mean I should disrespect them or talk bad about them. We should encourage and applaud new products as it increased the hobby base and encouraging more new stuff.

Really enjoy this hobby. Building is one of my favorite things. Updated the original HPI Savage Flux. Had goals for build. No slipper, center diff. Updated battery boxes. Used parts from several different years and models from Jenny's. Most fun have had in some time. It is a real fun basher. In stage of fine tuning now.

This embrace change, not put it down. For the hobby and all of our good.

I don't need to make myself feel better about what I have because I have well thought through reasons for why I have what I have. Why don't you focus on your reasons for liking them instead of making backhanded comments about those who don't. I said it before, this would be a far more constructive way to go about a conversation. I'm not going to spend twice the money for equal or less performance just for the sake of "embracing change". Again, if Spektrum does what you need it to and you're fine with the prices, that's great. If they bring more people into the hobby, that's even better. But try to stick to the arguments instead of making snide comments about those with whom you disagree. It's not a particularly good look.

 

[slick2500]

The self storage is worth it to me. Never did find a good way to put in storage that did not require a lot of my time to monitor. Plus they really stand behind the product. Again, it depends on what one wants and budget and what one has invested now. If starting in hobby should take a long hard look as trying to figure out the lipo code or charge rates etc. is a challenge. For an old timer with old, time to replace lipo's it was an easy decision and so glad. No regrets and no turning back. Wish I could find a smart battery for my Futaba transmitter. Having to use balance leads now seems so out of date and frustrating.

What I do not understand is the hate or what ever you want to call it, for those with no experience. Unless it is to make one feel better about what they have. As hobbyist, we should be glad for new innovations even if we do not use them. The new 1/5 scale is an example. Watch them run, think they are great. Doubt if I will ever have one. To heavy, to expensive, takes more room then I have. Does not mean I should disrespect them or talk bad about them. We should encourage and applaud new products as it increased the hobby base and encouraging more new stuff.

Really enjoy this hobby. Building is one of my favorite things. Updated the original HPI Savage Flux. Had goals for build. No slipper, center diff. Updated battery boxes. Used parts from several different years and models from Jenny's. Most fun have had in some time. It is a real fun basher. In stage of fine tuning now.

This embrace change, not put it down. For the hobby and all of our good.

Just expressing my thoughts on this not hating, if they could bring the price down and work on the performance of the batteries I would be all over these like a fat kid on free cake. But as it stands I'm not paying twice the price for batteries that offer average performance just to have the small convenience of not having to discharge my lipos or manually logging my battery data. The small convenience is not worth the price hike.

 

[AaronF]

The price will always be a barrier to entry for new tech, but with more competition in the market, that will come down. Having an open standard (think software for the chip) will mean more manufactures can embrace the idea and bring some innovative products to market. Imagine being able to buy a battery from any manufacture you like and it not have a balance cable and all the diagnostic info you would ever want. Just plug it in and program it how you wish.

If you want to get super crazy, if the standard was open source then you could develop code for the chip and literally make it do whatever you needed it to provided that it had the capability.

 

[slick2500]

The price will always be a barrier to entry for new tech, but with more competition in the market, that will come down. Having an open standard (think software for the chip) will mean more manufactures can embrace the idea and bring some innovative products to market. Imagine being able to buy a battery from any manufacture you like and it not have a balance cable and all the diagnostic info you would ever want. Just plug it in and program it how you wish.

If you want to get super crazy, if the standard was open source then you could develop code for the chip and literally make it do whatever you needed it to provided that it had the capability.

Unfortunately Spektrum has exclusive rights to the tech from ISDT at the moment. So unless someone else makes something we are stuck in the boat we are in now.

The tech is there in other platforms that use lipo batteries to monitor each cell in real time on a display on the enclosure for the battery. I was watching a video where these guys were trying to make their own batteries for their video cameras but they didn't know if they would work as the manufacturer had supposedly built tech into the battery enclosure that could detect if you replaced the batteries in it. Long story short they almost started a fire twice and gave up trying to make batteries.

 

[sandblaster]

And this is the whole story behind the smart tech. It watches battery temps to keep the battery from blowing up and starting a fire. Makes the battery much safer for all. Smart tech just might keep a house from burning down. How many stories of charging battery in garage and not watching it has lead to the house on fire. So think about what that safety factor is worth. Especially to a new user.
Might want to consider the price on the RC you are running and what happens as we often see, the battery goes up in some and takes the RC as well. My RC's are not cheap. One save pays for a lot of extra upfront battery cost.

 

[slick2500]

And this is the whole story behind the smart tech. It watches battery temps to keep the battery from blowing up and starting a fire. Makes the battery much safer for all. Smart tech just might keep a house from burning down. How many stories of charging battery in garage and not watching it has lead to the house on fire. So think about what that safety factor is worth. Especially to a new user.
Might want to consider the price on the RC you are running and what happens as we often see, the battery goes up in some and takes the RC as well. My RC's are not cheap. One save pays for a lot of extra upfront battery cost.

I've seen quite a few posts about the Smart lipos going up in flames. Not so many recently but when they first came out they were quite frequent. The Smart tech does not and can not prevent them from starting on fire just as a forewarning. My Hitec also can monitor the temps of my lipos.

 

[Trickman2]

As I understand it, the Spektrum "Smart" stuff is licensed ISDT tech. ISDT tried to market it on their own, and was trying to get battery mfgr's to start adding their chips to batteries, but the system didn't go anywhere till Spektrum picked it up. What I don't know is if Spektrum added special code to their version of the chips so that Spektrum will only work with Spektrum.

Has anyone tried removing the Chip from a Spektrum Smart battery and turning it into a adapter for the balance cable on a standard battery? Would be nice to have a Power gauge on the remote still work. I found someone who opened a battery up on youtube. If someone has a old battery that doesn't work...would be interesting if you could make it into a adapter.

 

[sandblaster]

Me think it would be a be wast of time and not the safest thing to do to save a few bucks. Each battery has a serial number of some sort. Chip would not know what to do and the charge would reject it. Recipe for disaster in my thinking.

 

[Trickman2]

Me think it would be a be wast of time and not the safest thing to do to save a few bucks. Each battery has a serial number of some sort. Chip would not know what to do and the charge would reject it. Recipe for disaster in my thinking.

You really think the chips are that smart? I honestly would be very surprised...not really about saving a couple dollars. I could see the type of battery needing to be the same IE, 3, 4, etc. I just don't like paying top dollar for not a great battery. Better quality batteries out there...So I would rather have the option to use a better battery and not just buy it because of some gimmicky feature.

 

[slick2500]

You really think the chips are that smart? I honestly would be very surprised...not really about saving a couple dollars. I could see the type of battery needing to be the same IE, 3, 4, etc. I just don't like paying top dollar for not a great battery. Better quality batteries out there...So I would rather have the option to use a better battery and not just buy it because of some gimmicky feature.

Yes the technology is there I know at least in digital camera batteries anyway.

 

[sandblaster]

You really think the chips are that smart? I honestly would be very surprised...not really about saving a couple dollars. I could see the type of battery needing to be the same IE, 3, 4, etc. I just don't like paying top dollar for not a great battery. Better quality batteries out there...So I would rather have the option to use a better battery and not just buy it because of some gimmicky feature.

Don't think, know. Try refilling a copier toner with aftermarket and use it without replacing the chip. Can't. The chip say empty even when full. The battery chip keeps track of all cell volts, resistance per cell, state of charge, times cycled, cell temps. Send error codes to changer with something is wrong in battery. Like all new technology there is the push back. I have a bunch with no complaints. They are very well backed, if/when a bad battery show up. Can be no argument when it throws error codes. I received one that I know had been used and shipped out anyway. Was replaced very quickly without hassle. Only ones I have had that kind of support. With self storage they will last a very long time. They have longer run time than we do. We are ready for a break before the battery run dry for most times.

User will have anywhere from $300 to over 1K in an RC, with purchase and all the updates without batting an eye, yet grip to high heaven to save a few bucks on batteries to run those expensive toys. And risk burning down houses and RC's. Completion is so good. Gives everyone a choice. For me all the safety and ease of use is so worth it.

 

[Senton_Prime]

Don't think, know. Try refilling a copier toner with aftermarket and use it without replacing the chip. Can't. The chip say empty even when full. The battery chip keeps track of all cell volts, resistance per cell, state of charge, times cycled, cell temps. Send error codes to changer with something is wrong in battery. Like all new technology there is the push back. I have a bunch with no complaints. They are very well backed, if/when a bad battery show up. Can be no argument when it throws error codes. I received one that I know had been used and shipped out anyway. Was replaced very quickly without hassle. Only ones I have had that kind of support. With self storage they will last a very long time. They have longer run time than we do. We are ready for a break before the battery run dry for most times.

User will have anywhere from $300 to over 1K in an RC, with purchase and all the updates without batting an eye, yet grip to high heaven to save a few bucks on batteries to run those expensive toys. And risk burning down houses and RC's. Completion is so good. Gives everyone a choice. For me all the safety and ease of use is so worth it.

My new bandwagon bandit!!

 

[Xpress..]

So, I know a thing or 2 about this topic since I work in the hobby industry, and have looked into it deeper and have access to more data than almost anyone here I'd wager. There is only 1 brand of smart battery out there and that is Spektrum. Traxxas batteries are dumb batteries like every other battery, it's just that they have a fancy battery connector that makes plugging in simple- but this of course limits their use to Traxxas chargers unless you know how to defeat the iD connector and come up with a traditional charge adapter like I did years ago when I managed a LHS (attached). Always had problems with Traxxas batteries, and always seemed to get back a large number of them being puffed up after a short period of time. And don't even get me started on how poor that TRX connector really is...

iSDT basically developed BattGo tech to make lithium charging more friendly and simpler to most users, much in the same way you would plug in a cell phone. Hook it up to the charger and the charging system figures everything out for you, in the case of RC this makes the system simpler and less intimidating as you don't need to push a bunch of buttons and try to figure out if everything is correct. Seasoned users like myself and most of us don't have an issue with knowing a 6s 5000 lipo battery needs to be charged at 5 amps and programmed to 6S right off the bat, but I've seen it countless times where novice users are not entirely sure what to program and how to verify if the programming is correct.

Simultaneously, Horizon was looking for a way to make lithium battery charging simpler and easier for entry level users, which of course will help eliminate any hesitancy and possibly risk of fire. It was like a match made in heaven, so Horizon started contracting iSDT to build the BattGo tech into their chargers and batteries. After some time, Horizon bought out the rights to BattGo from iSDT which means iSDT began de-implementing the tech from their chargers. I have a couple iSDT Q6 chargers that have BattGo tech in them and they do in fact read Spektrum lipo's and program themselves to match the chip parameters, however if I update the Q6's to the latest software, they will not read the Spektrum lipo's anymore.

Fun fact, if you open up a Spektrum Smart battery, the chipsets on them actually still say BattGo. I really like the Smart ecosystem on my cars as I know when to stop running, I know the temperature of my systems, current draw, etc. the system is super intuitive and data rich and I honestly don't know why people flame the tech as hard as they do. It's really some excellent stuff.

In regards to the quality of Spektrum batteries, I have only had 1 of them go kaput after some use, the rest of them are holding strong and take the abuse I put them through. They are actually gens.ace cells and GA makes some of the more reputable cells out there. Between the dozen or so Spektrum batteries I have and the selection of Zee or Hoovo batteries many of the local characters run, the Spektrums have consistently held up longer and more reliably. The same held true when I was the LHS manager which after all this time I'm hesitant to spend any money on the bargain brand batteries.. but as is with everything, YMMV.

 

[SrC]

The only part of the "Smart" system I would like is the auto-storage feature. Too often, I charge but don't run, then I need to remember to go storage charge my batteries. Having them auto-discharge to storage after a day or three delay would be nice.

The rest of the Smart system, IMHO, just promotes lazy, non-learning of how to treat Lipos, and probably leads to more failed batteries in the long run (but gives more sales, so Win-Win, right?)

Od thread.

Ace of Gens just came out with a Lipo that has a power remaining indicator and also Auto Storage self discharges after 5 days of inactivity if over the 3.8v Storage threshhold.

 

[Xpress..]

I like the auto storage function.

 

[Senton_Prime]

Od thread.

Ace of Gens just came out with a Lipo that has a power remaining indicator and also Auto Storage self discharges after 5 days of inactivity if over the 3.8v Storage threshhold.

You likey like it.. @SrC !!?

 

[SrC]

I can do without the frilly lipo stuff.
K.I.S.S.

 

[Trickman2]

So, I know a thing or 2 about this topic since I work in the hobby industry, and have looked into it deeper and have access to more data than almost anyone here I'd wager. There is only 1 brand of smart battery out there and that is Spektrum. Traxxas batteries are dumb batteries like every other battery, it's just that they have a fancy battery connector that makes plugging in simple- but this of course limits their use to Traxxas chargers unless you know how to defeat the iD connector and come up with a traditional charge adapter like I did years ago when I managed a LHS (attached). Always had problems with Traxxas batteries, and always seemed to get back a large number of them being puffed up after a short period of time. And don't even get me started on how poor that TRX connector really is...

iSDT basically developed BattGo tech to make lithium charging more friendly and simpler to most users, much in the same way you would plug in a cell phone. Hook it up to the charger and the charging system figures everything out for you, in the case of RC this makes the system simpler and less intimidating as you don't need to push a bunch of buttons and try to figure out if everything is correct. Seasoned users like myself and most of us don't have an issue with knowing a 6s 5000 lipo battery needs to be charged at 5 amps and programmed to 6S right off the bat, but I've seen it countless times where novice users are not entirely sure what to program and how to verify if the programming is correct.

Simultaneously, Horizon was looking for a way to make lithium battery charging simpler and easier for entry level users, which of course will help eliminate any hesitancy and possibly risk of fire. It was like a match made in heaven, so Horizon started contracting iSDT to build the BattGo tech into their chargers and batteries. After some time, Horizon bought out the rights to BattGo from iSDT which means iSDT began de-implementing the tech from their chargers. I have a couple iSDT Q6 chargers that have BattGo tech in them and they do in fact read Spektrum lipo's and program themselves to match the chip parameters, however if I update the Q6's to the latest software, they will not read the Spektrum lipo's anymore.

Fun fact, if you open up a Spektrum Smart battery, the chipsets on them actually still say BattGo. I really like the Smart ecosystem on my cars as I know when to stop running, I know the temperature of my systems, current draw, etc. the system is super intuitive and data rich and I honestly don't know why people flame the tech as hard as they do. It's really some excellent stuff.

In regards to the quality of Spektrum batteries, I have only had 1 of them go kaput after some use, the rest of them are holding strong and take the abuse I put them through. They are actually gens-ace-r-spam cells and GA makes some of the more reputable cells out there. Between the dozen or so Spektrum batteries I have and the selection of Zee or Hoovo batteries many of the local characters run, the Spektrums have consistently held up longer and more reliably. The same held true when I was the LHS manager which after all this time I'm hesitant to spend any money on the bargain brand batteries.. but as is with everything, YMMV.

View attachment 265781

Interesting history of how things have come about....Appreciate that information. I am not anti-Spektrum but I don't like being locked into any one brand. Yes, I am careful with safety also...We just barely got into this hobby with two Vorteks 3s cars. I have two Batsafe Battery boxes now and two chargers both Gen-Ace brand. One Spektrum battery and 4 SMC batteries now. Should be interesting to see where this goes for sure.