LIPO - Turnigy or Zippy, that is the question?

[theRealFury]

Ok, so long story short im waiting for HK lipo to come back in stock at the Euro warehouse buit something that has always bugged me and i have never found an answer on the threads i have read / tried to find on the subject is this.

Just what is the difference between a Turnigy 20C 6S 5000mah pack and a Zippy flightmax 20C 6S 5000mah.

Is one more powerfull than the other? Does one supply more mah than the other? does one have a higher mean voltage over discharge than the other? Is one better made than the other?

If any of you are blessed with having both types of lipo and have any information on the above or any other info that might help separate the two brands it would be greatly appreciated and may help others too

 

[bobale]

I've been waiting for Turnigy LiPos to be back in stock for a week now, and it seems that if I wait any longer I won't have any batteries by the time my e-bike set arrives.

So, I'm in a same boat as you - wait for Turnigy, or go for a Zippy? I've seen mixed reviews on Turnigy 5Ah 6S 20C, but dead cells in new Zippy 5Ah 6S (albeit 30C) packs seems to be very rare. Either that, or HK erased almost all bad/negative reviews .

 

[neptronix]

Zippy: smaller, and lighter, C rating is overrated, but not a problem if you're using 10-15AH+. Stiff balance leads.
Turnigy: larger, better discharge rate. overly flexy balance leads.

That's about it.

 

[theRealFury]

Zippy: smaller, and lighter, C rating is overrated, but not a problem if you're using 10-15AH+. Stiff balance leads.
Turnigy: larger, better discharge rate. overly flexy balance leads.

That's about it.

Cool so from that i take it that if you dont mind an extra few 100g's then Turnigy is the best all rounder given its better discharge rate and flexible leads that i immagine are better to work with and easier for tidying the wires up once the pack is assembled. But if space is an issue then Zippy is more likely to fit than Turnigy.

Thanks for the lowdown Neptronix.

 

[neptronix]

No prob.

As far as discharge rate goes, if you're using a couple in parallel, the zippy will save you a bit of space and weight.
I run a 15ah-20ah pack these days and wish i would have gone with the zippy lipos !!

 

[theRealFury]

No prob.

As far as discharge rate goes, if you're using a couple in parallel, the zippy will save you a bit of space and weight.
I run a 15ah-20ah pack these days and wish i would have gone with the zippy lipos !!

Note taken Neptronix, thanks. I'm looking at a 20-25ah pack myself so maybe zippy's woul be good for me then Thats if i can squeeze them into my triangle space (once i get around to fabricating my frame bag that is)

 

[dogman dan]

Zippys much smaller, if you are packing a lot of em. I would assume slightly less capacity though. Zippys seem a bit stiffer and tighter packed than turnigy which can have a bit of a soft feel.

Running em, I really can't tell much difference once you have two packs paralelled. At that point, you are looking at one sags .0001 more than the other or something like that.

 

[Pure]

It would be cool if someone would do a side by side performance/spec write up.

 

[neptronix]

Zippys have the same capacity as far as i know. There are stickers on the turnigy cells indicating that they are about 5100mah though, so the turnigy packs may have just a hair of extra capacity.. however the Turnigy cells also seem to have more variance than the Zippys do.

I have thrown the info out there for the difference between the 20C zippy and turnigy packs. The zippys have double the internal resistance, thus sag more and start getting warm at a lower C rate.

The zippy 20C packs are 2mm narrower than the turnigy packs, and about 3mm shorter length wise.
The zippy 15C packs are even lighter and smaller than that, so if it's size/weight you are going for in a large parallel pack, i would go with the 15C packs.

Here is a zippy 5S and turnigy 5S pack discharging side by side. The 5 cells on the bottom are the turnigy pack, and it is doing a lot more work than the zippy, thus discharging itself quicker.

 

[dogman dan]

Two approaches, both very correct.

One is buy whatever ships to your house cheapest, and easiest. So that's 15c or 20c, either brand. Then using paralelled packs on controllers less than 50 amps, you'll never even see the packs get more than mildly warm.

The other is buy the best you can afford, and be free to run 5 ah packs as hard as you like. That better c rates would last longer is a pretty valid assumption, and probobally worth the cost if you use pattern is more on the harsh side, with high wattage draws.

 

[Pure]

Thanks for posting that graph Nep. That's exactly what I wanted to see.

 

[theRealFury]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I think i have settled for the Turnigy brand based on all the above. Seems like although you sacrifice a little in terms of weight and size you gain a stronger discharge cell with lower internal resistance and possibly marginally more capacity. Also more flexible wires that aid in wiring the packs up.

the size of pack i intend to build will not stress the C rating of either pack (will be running at a 2-2.5c rating max on these) but it cant hurt to have cells run WAY below what they can be. Also zippy seem to be a little more expensive ($2-$3 per brick) so that goes against them as well.

Now all i need is some actual stock in the HK euro warehouse.... www.backorder.com as always.

 

[Ykick]

Much like you folks I originally decided Turnigy were better but out of curiosity bought 15C Zippy's in addition to Turnigy's. More than a year later I can report that either brand is serving me well but my 15C Zippy's maintain better balance than my 20C Turnigy's. Might just be luck but lately I don't even price Turnigy's.

 

[Doctorbass]

I'm using 24s3p of the 5Ah 20C Zippy on my giant.

I bought them because when i needed lipo it was only those that was availlable at HK.. all other was BO...

I am still satisfied and run them with burst ( 30sec sustained power WOT on hill climb at 90km/h) at 10-12 000watts continuous without any problem. and 239A peak recorded by fluke calibrated C-A ( around 16C rating)

I like them... their sag at 10kW is around 5V. Probably that a large part of the sag is due to the 12 AWG wires that come with them and the multiple Anderson PP30 connector to join all the independent 6s pack together... I have 12 pack so it's 24 pair of PP30 in serie parallel... ( not shown in teh picture)

I had this approach to make easier the replacement of one of the pack in case where one could fail. but it never hapenned.

Also.. I already forgot my ebike on standby power during more than a week... I discharged all packs to 56V!!! OUT OF 24s !! OUch... but it was slow bleed of the controller regulator combined with the DC-DC...

I slowly recharged them and they are still perfect and giving all more than 14.9Ah out of 15.

Oh.. and i bulk charge them at 1500W.. ( around 1.2C)

I have them for more than 10 month now and i'm really satisfied with.

I suspect that they work as i expected also due to the stiff aluminum box they are all sitting in.

That box keep the pressure against the pouch really thight so their internal resistance is good and they never want to puff.

Something interesting to know is that the aluminum box become really stiff when cells are charged and it become less stiff when the pck are discharged... it's better that way :wink:

This aluminum box fit really perfect in the triangle of my Giant with 3 pack wide ( 6 inch wide). The 12 pack box is the size of a small car lead acid battery

Here is the box:

 

[wojtek]

my approach is realistic, buy whatever they will throw in to the EURO warehouse. at the moment for last 4-6 weeks there is NOTHING at 5ah or more!!

 

[theRealFury]

my approach is realistic, buy whatever they will throw in to the EURO warehouse. at the moment for last 4-6 weeks there is NOTHING at 5ah or more!!

Yea, im right with you on that one... luckily im not in a rush for the lipo so i can wait it out, hopefully soon, US and AUS wharehouse hace recently had large restock deliveries... maybe Euro is next