smart batteries (other than spektrum)

[SrC]

Yeah I never liked to be locked into one lipo brand. I feel you end up being blind to what else is out there. There is no way Spektrum lipos can match some of the better Dumb lipo's out there. And no one is speedrunning with Spektrum Smart lipos. I don't care if Ace of Gens makes them or whoever. Ace of Gens def being one fav of mine among other brands.
If you depend on a Smart lipo to figure all else out, then you don't really understand lipos in this hobby. Something I never take for granted. Everyone should know how to use and care for "Dumb" lipos.
This way you don't become dumb. Smart Eco thing is not all that smart.
For discharging, I use a dedicated ISDT lipo discharger. Takes all of 5-10 minutes to discharge down to 3.8volts. You should never use a Charger for discharging. A discharger is a thing.

 

[slick2500]

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

I updated the firmware on my Q6 Nano and it completely removed the BattGo option.

Smart stuff aside, I really do wish that more companies would have jumped on board the BattGo tech when ISDT first introduced it and that we had a standardized plug.

 

[Trickman2]

I updated the firmware on my Q6 Nano and it completely removed the BattGo option.

Smart stuff aside, I really do wish that more companies would have jumped on board the BattGo tech when ISDT first introduced it and that we had a standardized plug.

Sadly, this really demonstrates the point about investing in a product that is tied to a proprietary Tech (Good or Bad). Really sucks but it is so true.

 

[slick2500]

Sadly, this really demonstrates the point about investing in a product that is tied to a proprietary Tech (Good or Bad). Really sucks but it is so true.

That was the thing ISDT wanted everyone else to have access to their tech, not lock it down to just their chargers, but no one else wanted to jump onboard. BattGo had been around for quite a few years before Spektrum jumped in and got their exclusive deal.

 

[SrC]

ISDT is a good brand with much R and D behind them.
Their BattGo thing was a bust. No lipo brand jumped aboard for years, then Spektrum did, and well here we are now. The lipo industry on the whole could care less for the most part. So why should we care about Smart stuff. These are Hobby grade lipos. Consumer grade is a different story. Maybe HH/Spektrum wants Hobby grade and RC'ing to become mainstream consumer products? I don't see that happening any time soon. Just me.
Smart lipo's aren't any safer IMHO. If anything Smart makes the user dumb.

 

[Diem Turner]

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.

lol...I just spent $1000 on three pair of batteries and I'm several times that deep into a single vehicle. For speed running and the current being drawn by an over geared 25hp motor, batteries really are the last place you want to be skimping out. Are there lower cost alternatives that provide good performance? Not many, but yes. However, if you're looking to get the most out of a given power envelope, you'll need to dig deeper into the lower bowels of your pocket.

 

[Xpress..]

ISDT is a good brand with much R and D behind them.
Their BattGo thing was a bust. No lipo brand jumped aboard for years, then Spektrum did, and well here we are now. The lipo industry on the whole could care less for the most part. So why should we care about Smart stuff. These are Hobby grade lipos. Consumer grade is a different story. Maybe HH/Spektrum wants Hobby grade and RC'ing to become mainstream consumer products? I don't see that happening any time soon. Just me.
Smart lipo's aren't any safer IMHO. If anything Smart makes the user dumb.

I think most forget is that HH has a target audience for the Smart tech, and that it is not just us experienced surface users. And also, I'd image the Horizon lawyers will disagree with your last 2 sentences, but maybe I'm delusional.

Fortunately we can run whatever we damn well please in this hobby and at the end of the day it probably doesn't really matter as long as we all encourage each other to make really bad decisions with our toy trucks

By the way, my Spektrum S2200 charger is awesome and it goes everywhere with me. Probably one of the best chargers I've owned and I've owned iSDT, Revolectrix, iCharger, Hitec, SkyRC, Turdnigy, Multiplex..... (come to think of it, when I was doing product testing for Hitec back in the day, I probably had over 200 chargers at one point!)

 

[slick2500]

I think most forget is that HH has a target audience for the Smart tech, and that it is not just us experienced surface users. And also, I'd image the Horizon lawyers will disagree with your last 2 sentences, but maybe I'm delusional.

Fortunately we can run whatever we damn well please in this hobby and at the end of the day it probably doesn't really matter as long as we all encourage each other to make really bad decisions with our toy trucks

By the way, my Spektrum S2200 charger is awesome and it goes everywhere with me. Probably one of the best chargers I've owned and I've owned iSDT, Revolectrix, iCharger, Hitec, SkyRC, Turdnigy, Multiplex..... (come to think of it, when I was doing product testing for Hitec back in the day, I probably had over 200 chargers at one point!)

Just a little tidbit of useless info in case you wanted it. Only one of the companies you listed actually makes the tech for their own chargers. Everyone else uses the tech from other companies. I know Hitec, Turnigy and SkyRc use HOTA. My SkyRc B6AC+ even said HOTA Charger when you powered it on.

 

[Xpress..]

Just a little tidbit of useless info in case you wanted it. Only one of the companies you listed actually makes the tech for their own chargers. Everyone else uses the tech from other companies. I know Hitec, Turnigy and SkyRc use HOTA. My SkyRc B6AC+ even said HOTA Charger when you powered it on.

Correction, SkyRC is the parent company and they do all of their own in house manufacturing- you probably got a SkyRC unit that was inadvertently flashed with the Hota software. They are probably the rarest Chinese company out there as they generally do not sell proprietary designs to other retailers. I worked directly with them when I was at Hitec and they kept all of the Hitec designs a close trade secret, even spec-ing specific components for Hitec. SkyRC makes chargers for Hitec, Horizon Hobby (prophet line), Hota, Thunder Power, and so many others.

 

[slick2500]

Correction, SkyRC is the parent company and they do all of their own in house manufacturing- you probably got a SkyRC unit that was inadvertently flashed with the Hota software. They are probably the rarest Chinese company out there as they generally do not sell proprietary designs to other retailers. I worked directly with them when I was at Hitec and they kept all of the Hitec designs a close trade secret, even spec-ing specific components for Hitec. SkyRC makes chargers for Hitec, Horizon Hobby (prophet line), Hota, Thunder Power, and so many others.

Sorry I had that backwards. And I lied it was my Thunder Power AC680 charger that said HOTA when I powered it on, but it was just a 80w B6AC+ rebrand.