Batteries: punch vs. no punch

[Squeaky]

Hi. Can someone explain to me what the difference is between batteries that have punch and ones that don't? I see that mentioned quite a bit and I'm not exactly sure what the "punch" is referring to, since as far as I know, you just gauge the battery by it's capacity. I'm guessing it's got more power and thus good for racing, but I'm not sure how to tell whether a type of battery has punch or not. Thanks!

[Grizzbob]

Well, the term "punch" usually refers to how well a car accelerates, both from a standstill & out of corners. If a car seems sluggish off the line, it's said to have less "punch" than they want, & if it does well they say it has good punch. Now for batteries, two things make the biggest difference in how much punch you'll have, voltage & internal resistance. The more voltage the battery puts out, the more power the motor can make(so the car will accelerate better & have better top speed), & resistance indicates how well that power will flow. The less resistance in the pack, the less it'll affect how much voltage makes it to the motor, while higher resistance means more voltage will be wasted as heat as you run(& the car will accelerate more slowly). That's why when we shop for good matched batteries, we look for both good voltage & low internal resistance(& that's also why Gold Peak's GP3300 cells are so popular now, they offer great numbers in ALL categories). I hope this clears it up a bit....:cool:

[Squeaky]

Hey thanks man! That helped a lot. :D