MaxAmp batteries.

[fitenfyr]

Ok as I have been promising some of the AP guys here is my quick report of the MaxAmp 5s4p cells.

I bought 2 5s4p packs from them about 1 month ago.
I have put only a few cycles (4 to be exact) of Aerial photography work on them.

Here is my setup.
Ion-x with stock Hacker and 77-O controller.
I have a 13T pinion, 55T secondary and 90T main.
Gives me a headspeed in the 1650 range.
Perfect for AP IMO.
I am running SAB 710 night blades or some Mavrikk 710's depends on my mood.

Each pack weighs 2 lbs as you see it for a total of 4 lbs. installed.
I don't recall what my Thunder crap's weighed, but I think it is pretty close.
The ship needed a tad more weight IMO anyhow so with these installed it feels really nice to me.

The canopy fits nicely on there and the cells are well within the canopy in case she finds tera firma.

You will notice they have the cell taps installed so you can check each 4p cell and BALANCE them through charging.
Very similar setup to the Tanic Taps but in less centrally located place.

Performance has been outstanding IMO.
I have been getting about 8 minutes of AP flight (some mild 3D on one charge. ) and tend to put about 3600 mah back in after those flights.
I have not recorded the temps because frankly on this setup they don't even get above ambient to me.

I ran a quick check today on all the cells and found that each cell was at 4.15v on one pack and the other had a slight discrepency of 4.09 on 2 and 4.15 on the other 3. Could have just been resistance in those particular wires IMO, but I am going to watch them from now on....

The BEST part of all.
The SERVICE.
Steven and Austin have been outstanding with me.
These guys had never built a pack like this and took the time to make sure the dimensions were correct and that the pack was what I wanted.

I called a few days ago and asked them if they would be willing to repair a pack I have with a bad cell (guess which brand.....)
Not only did they say they would do it, but they would take the good cells they are removing (Have to make them a 5s3p pack now) and use them to make a few 2s or 3s packs.
Also they are going to put the taps in the repaired packs for me so I hopefully don't have to go through this mess again, buy being able to check and balance the cells.

All in all I saved about 200.00 over the price of a set from the other names out there and IMO I got more than that in service from them.

I attached a few quick shots of them in and out of the ship.
So to order away you will not be disapointed IMO.

[Shortman]

Hey Jason glad you like them, I have about 10 Max Amp Li Poly packs in all various sizes and find them to perform very well and definately comparable to Thunderpower.

They have new 20C cells available now, definately should be interesting to see how these hold up to the newer Kokam 20c packs.

[misskimo]

hey , well how are they holding out ? that dont sound to good about a few of the cells showing that much off , sounds like you will need to tap them very often , the one thing that bothers me with newly founded battery builders is they dont buy enough cells to completely match each one like TP does , but I dont know if TP does that anymore , because he sells so so many , and last time I looked on max amps prices , sounds like he is about the same price as TPs now , I remember when I bought my first 3s4p 7800 , 200 bucks , max amps beats that now , so where did the saving go ?

Tony

[fitenfyr]

Tony,
They are doing extremely well. For AP work they are great cells. I don't push them hard at all.
I think the volt difference is really not bad. It is less than .06 volt. To me that could just be resistance in those particular tap wires and only on two cells in one pack on the same side.
This was also only the 5th cycle so the packs are still breaking in.
I haven't checked the packs since the last flight to see how they settled down, but the last charge was within a few MAH's of each other on the 109's so I am not concerned. Unlike my TP's that went bad I was seeing a 500mah difference in those packs before the cell went poof...Course eveyone told me that was ok and now I know better.

I know one thing for sure. I saved about 200.00 at the time buying my 5s4p packs from MaxAmps as compared to either of the big names.
The 3s4p packs are 219 right now and then a 1.49 for the taps.
http://www.maxamps.com/contents/en-us/d22.html
I don't see those packs listed at tppacks so I cannont compare.



I will NEVER fly another Thunder Power cell again. I don't care how good people think or say they are.
They have lost a customer for life with me.
I truely don't care how many times a manufacture says they match these packs when building them.
It doesn't mean crap to me. I lost a 350.00 pack due the that "matching".
I will balance cells everytime if I have to at least then I KNOW they are balanced in the ship. Then when I see a cell getting too far off I can take action to prevent an accident or salvage the rest of the pack.
Without taps I cannot even attempt to to that. I will never buy another set of LiPo's without taps.

Either way I am very happy with them from every angle so far and will order another set without hesitation at this point.

[misskimo]

hey , what is the voltage on each packs right after charge , its hard to find a matching set of 109s , I top off with one charge , set 1 charger at 6 amps and the other at 5 , when the 6 amps is charged I unplug it and unplug the 5 amp one and put it on the one with 6 amps and top off , both at the end is dead nuts

Tony

[fitenfyr]

Tony,
I honestly have not checked the voltage after this last charge.
The voltages I posted earlier are the fresh off the pack voltages from the last cycle.
I have mine labeled A/B and so far they are pretty consistant to me.
I agree though you can't take those numbers as the true voltage, but by keeping them on the same chargers with the same packs I can see trends.
I will check the voltage tomorrow when I get home.

[misskimo]

well I dont know what happen on the TP 8000s but most of us learned the hard way on how to use the lipos , I puffed about 3 sets in 2 years , and blowed 1 by hooking in both batteries into each other , my F1-60 conversion that I did 4 years ago , useing power pole plugs , with the canopy on and trying real hard to do it fast because it was 20 degrees out , 2 were in crashes and later they puffed , the other just puffed after a flight , but I do think 2 were because I wasnt matching them before I flew, just unplug and go , the other one , I charged as 10s series charging and didnt match them before I charged , thought they were like nicds I recon , but now I match them to .00 so I know I shouldnt have a swelled cell

Tony

[fitenfyr]

I know...
They were blue label Gen I's.
There is no way the treatment I gave these cells caused the failure and I have confirmed that with other big electric flyers.