Charge Safe Circuitry On TP 8000 MA packs

[rotorheadbob]

I spoke with Jason at Thunder Power today, he told me it would be another week or two before they would be ready to offer the charge safe circuitry on their battery packs. That's a delay over what I hear about three weeks ago when I heard they would start upgrading the week after Memorial Day.

I'm thinking this charge safe circuitry would be a good thing, what you other Ion pilots think? I have my Ion, but won't be buidling for a week or two yet due to work and the honey-do list.

Rob

[EricLarson]

ThunderPower is definately in the lead with this new technology. They do a very good job of R&D and I trust there products. If they say it will work and make things safer, I definately believe them.

Eric

[bob00]

If the charge safe CCT makes these batteries as safe as the ones in our laptop computers, cameras and cell phones and other devices that we leave plugged in and pay no special attention to then YES.

If I've still got to babysit them while charging at home then it's pretty useless.

- Rob

[jwooten]

I have to agree with Mongo. Let's not trust these things yet. I am ordering a set of these, but I will watch them, or charge them where they won't be a problem.

Jimmy

[vitek]

So are packs coming with this yet?

[ekripper]

yes they are coming with this circuitry now.

[Tom Fiddler]

Can I still charge the packs at 1C, with the new circuit?

[ekripper]

Tom,
I believe you can charge them at just below 1C with the new circuitry. I think you can do the 8000's at 7.5 if I remeber correctly. The instructions that come with the new packs will tell you the maximum current to charge at. I know it's just below 1C though.

Eric K.

[Flying Arrow]

TP service is in the low side. I sent them email to check on the charge safe circuitry 2 weeks ago but no one answered my email :?: :?: ??

That indicates the level of care for thier customers, need not to say that the batt that we are talking about costs almost as much as the heli kit itself!! :!:

[LVRCFlyer]

TP service is in the low side. I sent them email to check on the charge safe circuitry 2 weeks ago but no one answered my email :?: :?: ??

That indicates the level of care for thier customers, need not to say that the batt that we are talking about costs almost as much as the heli kit itself!! :!:

This is certainly not the case at all - the Thunder Power email is flooded right now (hundreds of emails per day!), and not everyone has an answer right away. You can always call them direct, or email this secondary address too:

tpinfo@insightbb.com

The Safe Charge Circuit is being re-designed to incorporate an all new balancing system. Not only will this circuit aid in keeping the entire pack safe, but it will also help to keep the individual cells balanced to further promote pack longevity.

TP is well aware of the price everyone pays for their packs. The extra time spent on this project is meant to better protect that investment in the long term.

[ScotY]

Jason,

Who answers the email at that address?

[steves]

Regarding your 8000s, has anyone else had their original packs fail?
and then have you received the new high density, G2?
Comments?

[Flying Arrow]

This is certainly not the case at all - the Thunder Power email is flooded right now (hundreds of emails per day!), and not everyone has an answer right away. You can always call them direct, or email this secondary address too:

tpinfo@insightbb.com


Your reply just confirmed the level of service! Flooded email is not good excuse for not to answer customers for two weeks then and 5 weeks by now.

I would rather let other customers find out and make their own judgments.

[WillJames]

I don't think Jason is still with TP. You probably need to email again, or have a look at the alternatives.

[JonMann]

Jason is at Horizon Hobby now.

TP service is first rate, just pick up the phone and call them. Never had problem reaching them by phone.

[Russ McC]

As far as TP service goes it’s great, I called them, I sent my old puffed 7600 packs in to be replaced, they sent me back the newest 8000 at half price. This was my first direct dealing with TP and I think they treated me well, and I had my new packs in just over a week.

My new batteries have a build date of 10-6-04 and a light gray stripe. These are 5s-4p 8000s they are a bit thinner and lighter then the 7600s they replaced. I now have ten flights on them and I would say they perform better then the old 7600, at least better then the 7600 at the end of there life.

The literature that came with these batteries did not say any thing about the charge safe circuit, and said to charge at 1C or below. So do these have the safety and balancing circuitry incorporated or not??? No worries either way, just curious what the latest news is on this :glasses:

[ChrisS]

The latest news from Charlie is that when he incorporates the charge safe thing it will be in the form of a circuit that goes in between your batteries and your charger...NOT on your batteries. What will change on the batteries is the addition of a balancing connector that will take the form of a small, thin, light guage connector.
Chris

[Russ McC]

Cool, thanks Chris!

[rotorheadbob]

Updates on the Charge Safe/Balancing Circuitry on TP Batteries?

I talked to a number of folks at IRCHA about this topic and several afterwards. All were sure that TP would have some sort of upgrade to existing packs bought in the 'early' days when the Ion was new.

I've left voice mails to TP more than once, never answered. I left several emails, only one of which was answered. It says there still is no upgrade. It also stated I had to contact Customer Service. No idea how to contact them, as no address was given. Phone calls are certainly a waste.

Their web site makes it sound like V1 packs won't be considered. I have a V1 and a V2 set. Jason helped me when I got the V2 packs. I sure wish he still worked there.

Industry insiders I talked to made it sound like this was right around the corner.

I have $1600 invested in my batteries for my Ion, I have less than 10 flights total (don't ask) since I bought last June. So I think I may have wasted that investment since TP doesn't really care about me as a little guy.

I know a lot of guys get support from TP, but frankly I think they are favorites.

Does Duralite offer a trade in program? I'll ask Jack at Toledo on Friday.

Rob Clark

[Russ McC]

Hi Rob,

There number is 702 228 8883; Gene is the man to talk to. They always answer this number when I have called. I have been in contact with them today and yesterday with no problems getting through.

I have four of there newest batteries and it appears that all they have added for a charge circuit is an extra plug where you can plug in a battery balancer device. I believe this device will plug in to the battery and the charger in to it for occasional battery balancing and the normal charge method will still be the same. Maybe we will be using this circuit for all charging, I don’t know. The device will not be in house tell April 9th.

I would think that even if they will not install the plug that you could buy it from them and solder it in your self. I think it is just the same as cell taps but all in one plug. I have installed cell taps on a set of TP 7600s before and it’s no big deal.

You haven’t wasted your $1600 unless you don’t use them. Just go fly the snot out of them and enjoy no need to worry about this crap, I got 160+ cycles out of my original 7600s and when they puffed a cell they let me upgrade to the 8000s at half price, so get out there and burn some electrons :glasses2: