Questions about lithium batteries

[Hingepin]

I've been out of the hobby for awhile now, and I'm wanting to get back in it. I have an e-maxx and right before I left the hobby, I was hearing about lithium polymer packs and chargers coming out. I'm just wondering what kind of batteries there are now for an e-maxx, and what kind of chargers. If someone could tell me where I can found out more about theese things, that would be great, thanks.

[DeadSouls]

I bought my Li-Pos from Maxamps, I purchased an 8000mah, 7.4 LIPO battery with the Hyperion TAPS. The hyperion TAPS will allow me to connect the battery to the Hyperion balancer. The balancer ensures that each cell in you Li-Po is charged within a very small range of the other cells. Additionally, if you dont have an ESC with a cut-off voltage then the LVC that is available at MaxAmps can connect to the Hyperion TAPS which allows the LVC to monitor each cell for low voltage. Since I already bought the Thunder Power charger I will stick with that. The ThunderPower battery that I bought has a 4-pin balancer connector but I am not sure which kind so I bought a 2s Hyperion TAPS connection from MaxAmp and will solder the connector onto the battery. With this setup I have everything I need for a LIPO setup.

A LIPO setup must include all of the following, IMHO:

1. LIPO Battery (duh)
2. LIPO Charger
3. LIPO Balancer
4. A LVC or an ESC to protect your significant investment into the LIPO batteries because, lets face it, LIPOs are expensive. If you are going to buy a >$100 battery then you might as well invest in a $40 LVC to protect it or in an ESC that lets you set the cut-off voltage.

[Hingepin]

Hey thanks, can you recommend any good chargers? If I want to charge both batteries at once do I have to buy two, or are there some that can charge two at a time?

Also, I'm planning on getting a brushless setup in the future, so if I get this battery pack: http://www.maxamps.com/index.html?lmd=38931.363981 would it be able to handle the current?

[DeadSouls]

I am not sure but I think that the Duratrax ICE charger can charge two at a time but you will have to double check that.

As far as the battery goes, check the specs on the brushless setup and find out what the maximum amp discharge will be then get a battery that can handle that discharge rate.

For example, my brushless setup is the Mamba Max with the 7700 motor. The maximum discharge rate is 100amp. My battery, the MaxAmps 7.4v 8000mah battery, can handle a 96amp discharge rate with a burst of up to 128amp for 10sec.

[JakeE]

The ICE can only charge one battery at a time.

[nicholcgn]

I have not seen any chargers that can charge multiple batteries at a high amp rate. The Ics and Astroflight can charge at up to 10 amps or 9 amps.
The few I have seen that can do multiple only did several amps at a time. Maybe there is one.

[novellahub]

Just buy a second ICE charger then. I am sure it would cost just as much if someone put out a Lipo charger that could do multiple packs putting 8 amps into each pack...

[Hingepin]

So, let's say I want to buy two of the astroflight chargers. I'm assuming I'll need a power supply. I have one that I bought awhile ago at www.ramboy.com, which apparently doesnt seem to have them anymore.

[guver]

Any two lipo with the same number of cells and at the same voltage (state of charge) can be parrallel charged with a single charger (at a faster rate)