Looks like it's time for a new battery

My wife and I went out to the track to today for a race/practice day. I'm not sure if I over-discharged my pack or it was on its last leg (it was already puffy.) When we got home, I pulled the body of my truck and this was what was sitting in the battery tray. I had to really pull hard to get it out since the 22T has a "shelf" for the ESC that sits over the battery pack. It's a ProTek pack and it lasted about a year. I'm a few weeks outside their replacement program.

Any recommendations on a new pack to replace it? I've heard MaxAmps is great, but they look a little too pricey. I've always been devoted to Team Trinity  batteries before, but again expensive.

We had some A Main Hobbies ProTek batteries and they didn't last a season.  In my opinion they are junk.  Go to Hobby King or Hobby Partz and get some Turnigy Nano Tech or Gens Ace batteries.  They last long enough and are really in-expensive.

Thanks for the heads-up. Those packs were a lot cheaper than I was expecting them to be. But part of me feels weird about buying electronics from a company I've never heard of before. I'm not doubting that they're good, I've just never heard of Turnigy or Gens Ace...

I guess that just comes from racing years ago when batteries were either Panasonic, Sanyo or Intellect and you got them matched by Trinity, Orion or SMC.

If you go to any of the airplane meets you will see almost everyone using Turnigy or Gens Ace batteries.  They are so cheap and I can tell you because I used to get Thunder Power batteries for my helicopters and after trying some Gens Ace I was able to get three for the price of one.  If you are not sure and want to be cautious just get one and see for yourself.  You will be happy with them.

BTW, I use Gens Ace in my OFNA GTP-2e and on page two of that thread you can see one in the car.  It is one of their 4S 5000mAh 40C ROAR approved hard case LiPos.  I get great run times in that car and it is heavy and has a Castle Creations Mamba Monster 2200 kv systems, but you can see the build for yourself in the above linked thread.

I may be a newbie to the rc world but in my oppionion (what little I have) sky lipo, and turnigy are great .... So far. I have ran other cheaper no name brands and puffed them and damaged a cell. I was furious especially since I paid more for the no-names than my sky lipos and turnigy's and they lasted only a few runs. But again, I am new, and cheaper is better to me at the moment.

Try GensAce and you're going to fall right back out of love with any SkyLipo!

...Tiger

Or save all the headache and go down to Sleads and pick up some Common Sense batteries that I have convinced him to start selling, so far the have been the best bang for the buck and hasn't had any come back  8)  Your choice though.

The more I research batteries the more contradicting information I seem to find. There appears to be a lot of controversy regarding C-rate and whether it's true. I'm not looking for the best battery the universe has ever found (this level of racing doesn't condone that) but I'd rather buy a battery that's "true" to what it claims rather than inflated marketing numbers. It seems that SMC is still in the battery business and Danny (the guy that runs the business) has developed his own standard for rating cells and found that nobody's cells actually stand up to their claims. So he sells a "true" pack (Premium Certified 25C) and backs them up with cycle life graphs, voltage graphs and true IR readings. I'm very, very tempted to buy his batteries, but it looks like they're out of stock

He makes decent batteries, Common sense always rates there batts at what they call true values, which if you try some of there 40C packs they seem to work better than anyone else 45-60C packs.  Ask adam about the Orion 70C packs that worked identical to the half price 40C common sense ones.

i have been runnng the SKY Lipos. i have been really pleased with them.. mostly for the performance vs. price.  for the the price at the time when i bought mine it was hard to argue with $23.00 for a 4400mah, 40c continuous/ 80c burst hardpack. I have been happy with mine, but the GENS ace are really good i hear. I just am too cheap to shell out the xtra dough.
but compared to a more popular brand batt. the Gens ace is a still a great deal.
Go to hobby parts as suggested for the best deal. Maybe also NitroRCX.
Maybe this will help. great rescource.. and watch the whole vid for comparos vs. other brands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZuuEODj8Wk&list=PLA3502A7EB69618D3&index=31&feature=plpp_video also Big squid has some lipo shootouts if your interested. click on the "shoot out" tab on the top of the page for more..http://www.bigsquidrc.com/lipo-battery-shoot-out/

happy shopping!

I really appreciate all the help and advice! I wasn't expecting so much feedback and suggestions. I ended up going with a matched pack by SMC. $45 for 5400MaH/"50C" (factory advertised as 50C, testing confirmed at 30C) pack. It sounded like a good deal to me and the thing that really "sealed the deal" was the awesome customer service from the owner of SMC, Danny. We sent a lot of emails back and forth about what would suit me best, what I race, what my electronics setup is, yadda yadda. Plus, I wanted to give him my business since he seems to be doing something that nobody else is really doing, which is marketing his batteries with figures that he's verified by testing, rather than selling them with factory advertised specs.

I'll probably pick up a Turnigy pack later down the road to keep as a "back up" or as a practice pack so I can get more time in without recharging. Thanks again, guys!

so i take it Medford didn't have enough cars show up to actually race again? makes it hard for out of town guys to justify a drive over?

Mostly true. There were technically enough people to race. I think there were 4 stadium trucks and 3 short course trucks. But, that leaves almost nobody to turn marshall and would be a really, really boring raceday. But yes, unless we get a dedicated group from K-Falls that decide to make a trip over, there's likely not going to be a full-fledged race day this season.

There's just not enough people locally that genuinely seem interested in racing or in this particular track. 

It's a private track and you can never count on it being available.  Private tracks are nice, and that one indeed looks terrific, but a track needs to be available to the hobbyists schedule not their own.

Indeed a good point. Just my opinion here, but I think that if there were more than just Greg "in charge" (so to speak) it might open up some more possibilities. More direct input, more management and somebody else to open the track on other days couldn't hurt. I know that right now it's mostly just a one-man show and that wear on a guy, but if weren't so privatized there might be more people to help out and accommodate racers.]

But, we've strayed from the original subject of this thread. I'm not complaining, just stating. Another thread would be good if this discussion should move on.

don't know much about SMC. Would like share some more info about this co. ?

i went to hobbyparts to check it out.. the GensAce are on sale.. cheaper than i remember seeing them before. I bought a couple 5000 mah 40c hardcases for less than $30 each shipped. and they actaully weigh less than my 4400 40c sky lipos..
just couldn't pass it up..
no more trying to run two heat races on one pack and bonking halfway throught the second heat race for me.. now i have a backup or two. nice. 8)

Well, I don't know a ton about them, but they're a small company, it might even be a one-man show. I just remember SMC as being a pretty big name "back in the day" when we ran matched sub-C packs. I remember them matching their batteries with a system that was supposed to be more accurate than the big brands. I only recently re-discovered them, actually thinking they might not be around anymore. Turns out they still are and the guy is still hell-bent on providing a battery that produces the numbers it's labeled for. My pack showed up today and it came with a hand-written sticker that showed the voltage of each cell (3.83v each) and the date it was matched (7/17/12). It's just kind of a personal touch that I found nice.

Here's a link to the pack I purchased if you're interested.

And here's his (Danny) thread on HobbyTalk about the current state of LiPo packs and what makes his different.

interesting read, i didn't go through all of it tho.
well it is cool that you decided to support a U.S. base company which is always admirable and the prices seem very competitive.

always though, i would be interested to hear what your "seat of the pants" impressions are.. and what you have ran to compare one to. are you going to be having this in time for racing sunday? you can be sure i will be chatting you up on your impressions.

I'll be there and I just got the pack today. We'll see how it goes!

so what were your impressions? i know it is probably hard to gauge considering the loose conditions..
I just got my GensAces today.. haven't run them yet..