Real world experience with Zippy 8ah packs

[Philistine]

Don't scream at me if this has been covered elsewhere, but I searched and couldn't find it.

I probably should have posted this before I ordered 10 of them, but has anyone tested how accurate/realistic the 8ah rating is on the zippy 30C 8ah packs are?

I have bought ten of them to build a 12s 40ah pack, and I was just wondering to what degree I can expect it to truly be a 40ah pack, and whether their "8ah" rating is an accurate spec rating.

Would appreciate thoughts of anyone with real world experience of these packs.

 

[theRealFury]

Well, i cant vouch for the 8AH packs myself but as far as i know all the Zippy and Turnigy packs have realistic AH ratings on them. Infact i even get more than the rated AH out of my packs, i have 5AH zippys and on a full 4.2 down to 3.0 discharge test i got 5144mah from the pack. i get 4800mah from them between 4.15 down to 3.5 (which is my normal charge and sischarge limits).

Some other comments about the packs here but no specific capacity testing that i can find, i highly doubt that you will get less than rated capacity though unless you run them at max C rating all the time Which would be over 50kw discharge on your 10 packs lol

 

[gensem]

I was wondering about that too. Im waiting for 4 8ah zippys to do a lightweight HS build.


Btw, what kind of bike are you planning to do with 12s 40ah?

 

[Philistine]

Thanks guys. I am very familiar with the 5ah Zippy's and Turnigy's, and I agree those 5ah ratings are very fair and accurate, I guess the reason for my scepticism is I was wondering whether they really are delivering 50% more capacity than the 5ah packs, so was curious on the experience of people who had used them.

@gensem - this is for my Yuba Mundo "Station wagon". http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30679

It is primarily for carting my kids around with, and so I am happy with the speed of 12S (don't like going much over 35kph with the kids on), but I really need range, as I live in a very spread out city. The other day I did a 34km run with my 20ah pack (keeping in mind I refuse to pedal), and had to peddle the last part home with the two kids on the back, just not on. I don't want to have to stress about running out of battery, and with 40ah (call it 30ah usable potentially), I could cover almost everywhere I would go in my city without having to charge until I got home. To be honest when funds allow, I intend to add another pair of 50cal boxes, and knocking it up to 80ah, so I can go insane distances, or more likely charge far less. I figure when you have the cargo capacity of the Yuba, and the density/lightness of Lipo, you owe it as a matter of principle to push the boundaries of battery capacity.

I guess I was just getting a reality check to prepare myself for any buyers remorse I might face. As I said it is too late now, the HK robot checker told me it left the Aus warehouse this afternoon. I will report back on my findings.

 

[dogman dan]

I found both the turnigy and zippy to deliver the full 5 ah I was buying. But if you really want to baby those cells and get lots of cycles, stopping at around 5 ah would be good. Not discharging much below 3.80v seems to be helping my batts. Others that went to 3.5 v quite a few times have had some go bad fairly soon. So if you consider your 40 ah pack to have 30 usable ah it should last a lot longer.

 

[wineboyrider]

I have 2 of the 8ah zippy's on the WBR testing bench right now and so far I have just discharged to 6 ah with no problem. I am still going easy on the packs as I have had bad experience with some of my smaller zippy packs.
8)
Edit: +1 what Dogman says. And I plan on using my batteries as long as I can!

 

[wineboyrider]

. To be honest when funds allow, I intend to add another pair of 50cal boxes, and knocking it up to 80ah, so I can go insane distances, or more likely charge far less. I figure when you have the cargo capacity of the Yuba, and the density/lightness of Lipo, you owe it as a matter of principle to push the boundaries of battery capacity.

If I had the funds I would build a similar setup if I had the funds $$$$. LOl.

 

[neptronix]

I found both the turnigy and zippy to deliver the full 5 ah I was buying. But if you really want to baby those cells and get lots of cycles, stopping at around 5 ah would be good. Not discharging much below 3.80v seems to be helping my batts. Others that went to 3.5 v quite a few times have had some go bad fairly soon. So if you consider your 40 ah pack to have 30 usable ah it should last a lot longer.

Sheesh, the 3.8v is halfway discharged with another half left. That's pretty conservative.

~3.6v is where they fall off the cliff and rapidly lose voltage. I would stop there for maximum life. If you combine that with charging to 4.10v or 4.15v, you'll be doing about an 85% DOD. That will extend their life greatly.

Anyway i have yet to hear from anyone with these as well. 8AH is a nice useable size for minor in-town grocery shopping and errand running for sure.

 

[Ykick]

My 18 month old 5AH Turnigy & Zippy bricks now have well over 400 bulk charge cycles with no puffing, excellent balance and no noticeable loss of capacity. My top charge voltage is usually 4.10V/cell and I rarely, if ever dip 'em below 3.75V/cell.

I regularly consume 5-6Ah from my 10Ah packs. Easy enough to calculate 50%-60% DOD. Conservative yes, but hard to argue 1-1/2 years 6 day per week service and no signs of slowing down. 'might be a slightly more sag than new but barely noticeable and still way better than SLA.

All that for just a few hundred bucks plus some cool gear to charge and maintain 'em. 'sorry I don't have anything to contribute for the 8Ah bricks but I wanted to let y'all know I'm more than satisfied with calendar & cycle life for my daily commuter.

 

[gensem]

My 18 month old 5AH Turnigy & Zippy bricks now have well over 400 bulk charge cycles with no puffing, excellent balance and no noticeable loss of capacity. My top charge voltage is usually 4.10V/cell and I rarely, if ever dip 'em below 3.75V/cell.

I regularly consume 5-6Ah from my 10Ah packs. Easy enough to calculate 50%-60% DOD. Conservative yes, but hard to argue 1-1/2 years 6 day per week service and no signs of slowing down. 'might be a slightly more sag than new but barely noticeable and still way better than SLA.

All that for just a few hundred bucks plus some cool gear to charge and maintain 'em. 'sorry I don't have anything to contribute for the 8Ah bricks but I wanted to let y'all know I'm more than satisfied with calendar & cycle life for my daily commuter.

18 months... thats nice... did you balance charge from time to time? or just bulk charge all the way?

 

[elttob]

I haven't logged any hard data, but these things work well. I've at least 7 AH from them several times. Sometime I charge to 4.20, sometimes less. Never need balancing, even after draining, they quickly equalize with a non-balance charge.

 

[Philistine]

Thanks elttob.

I have now taken delivery of 10 of these packs, I will post up some lipo porn photos soon. But I hadn't realised how reassuringly big these are. The reason I posted the OP was because in the photos they don't look as big as they are in real life. These things are substantial bricks, so I am confident they will genuinely hold the 8ah. These will make up a 12S 40ah pack, I will never need worry about range again....

 

[Ykick]

18 months... thats nice... did you balance charge from time to time? or just bulk charge all the way?

Sorry gensem - missed this. Yes, I balance a cell or two maybe every 2-4 weeks. Not the slow RC balance charge - 'described today with some photos what I do in JRH's Handy Tips thread here - http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31244

btw - these were the cheapest 20C Turnigy and 15C Zippys bricks available at the time. I'm very happy with the compact performance and value for my modest 30A commuter needs.

 

[wineboyrider]

Took my 2 8ah zippy's to the edge of 7.5 and they are fine! Only 8 cycles on them now though. Let know philistine how many duds you get? That's what I'm more curious about is how many bad cells per pack/batch etc.
Philistine..you and I would have been great college buddies chasing the poon tang!

 

[Philistine]

Took my 2 8ah zippy's to the edge of 7.5 and they are fine! Only 8 cycles on them now though. Let know philistine how many duds you get? That's what I'm more curious about is how many bad cells per pack/batch etc.

I have only opened 5 of my 10 packs so far (waiting for a chance to put new connectors etc.. on), but the 5 packs I have tested so far have been perfect, max of maybe .05 mv between the cells, most of them almost perfectly in balance. Will let you know my total when I get them all open.

Philistine..you and I would have been great college buddies chasing the poon tang!

Well you seem to like a drink Wineboy, so I imagine we would have hit it off like a house on fire. It was the heavy drinking in those days that made me relate to that bit in the Simpson's when Bill Clinton appeared, and he says to Marge "I've done it with pigs Marge! Real No Foolin' pigs!"...

 

[wineboyrider]

I had 2 Zippy 8ah packs at 12s 8ah and one of the cells decided it would just go to zero about 2 weeks ago...

 

[Philistine]

Bugger Wineboy, I hope I have better luck. They are holding up good so far, but I must say that the voltage sag seems more than I expected, but I might be expecting that my 40ah pack will sag less than is realistic, so I have no foundation for this, it just seems to be the case.

 

[gensem]

Bugger Wineboy, I hope I have better luck. They are holding up good so far, but I must say that the voltage sag seems more than I expected, but I might be expecting that my 40ah pack will sag less than is realistic, so I have no foundation for this, it just seems to be the case.

Whats your package size, S and Ah
How much sag are you getting Philistine?

 

[Philistine]

Whats your package size, S and Ah
How much sag are you getting Philistine?

I shouldn't have said sag, I don't mean sag under load, I mean more the speed at which the voltage drops in relation to AH used (which I guess is actually capacity by definition). What I mean is, I have a 12S 40ah pack (ie, two sets of 5 x 8ah packs seriesed together). And I just find that the voltage seems to go lower than I am used to for a given amount of AH expended. But i haven't done tests, or verified this. It just feels that way compared to other packs. I will run some actual tests and let you know. I could be imagining it, and I have not verified it at all.

 

[gensem]

Dont forget to post your findings after some more rides.
I wouldnt be surprise if nano-tech was much better is that regard.

 

[Philistine]

One thing occurs to me Gensem on this thread because you also run a Greyborg on 20S right? I was talking about the Zippy 8ah packs configured as 12S in my Yuba. You aren't running nanotechs are you? Maybe I misunderstood your reference. I was comparing Zippy 8ah packs setup as 12S 40ah on my Yuba, Versus what I had previously on my Yuba, which was Turnigy 5ah packs, setup as 12S 20ah.

 

[gensem]

One thing occurs to me Gensem on this thread because you also run a Greyborg on 20S right? I was talking about the Zippy 8ah packs configured as 12S in my Yuba. You aren't running nanotechs are you? Maybe I misunderstood your reference. I was comparing Zippy 8ah packs setup as 12S 40ah on my Yuba, Versus what I had previously on my Yuba, which was Turnigy 5ah packs, setup as 12S 20ah.

Nope, im not running anything atm because I have broken my left shoulder. But either way my greyborg is not ready. I was waiting for Hal big hub motor and I started building a full suspension regular bicycle frame in the mean time because the borg is not really sthealth.
Talking about zippy, if you pay attentiont to battery weight, being it 5ah, 4ah, etc and compare to a turnigy its easy to spot that the C rating isnt trustworth, they are usualy too light. I think thoses zippy are more like 15c batteries, maybe less. Im also bounded to think that 8ah in a single cells is too much to have good performance.
I almost jumped the gun on nanotechs for my borg but I found that removing the side covers alot of times to babysit the lipos while bulkcharging was not apealing to me. I spoke about nano-tech coz all my rc friend love thoses 45-90 ones and helis bit the crap of thoses batteries.
When things get ready (shoulder healing mostly) I should have a full susp. regular bicycle with 18s 2p Zippys and the greyborg frame with 24s lifepo4 pouch cells using Hals big hubs.


edit: Do you wanna see real sag? I have a 9c (MXSUS) in a hard tail (only bicycle i have thats completely assembled) with a 16s ping...

 

[wineboyrider]

As a 8ah pack 12s1p they did sag a bit more than my turnigy 12s2p pack that I run occasionally. I tried reviving it with a trickle charger, but so far no luck...
:lol:

 

[chisixer6]

for whats it worth... Yesterday at the Hobby show, I saw some batteries rated at 3s lipo 10500 ma, don't remember what brand it was, not a familar brand

 

[theRealFury]

As a 8ah pack 12s1p they did sag a bit more than my turnigy 12s2p pack that I run occasionally. I tried reviving it with a trickle charger, but so far no luck...
:lol:

Wineboyrider,

Does the cell read exactly 0.0v? If so then that sounds more like a bad balance wire connection rather than a dead cell, if a lipo cell reads 0.00v then its 1 of 2 things, either the balance lead is broken / unconnected somewhere or there is an internal short in the cell, if its an internal short in the cell then it would be puffy to say the least and would have probably vented or worse. does the main lead voltage on the lipo brick add up to the sum of the remaining 5 cells that you can measure on the balance leads or is it more? With any luck it will just need a balance tap re-soldering.