IB3600 update

[SJFE]

Diplomacy would have been out the window long ago if I had to put up with that kinda BS.

[saleens7]

i think this may be the end of the nimh world as we know it....i really hope IB starts mass producing their 3600's....i cant tell you how many projects im going to have to completely re-think becuase im going to have to use lipo's now...

[ice329]

24 = Mine/My Brothers... heheh

I just recieve 4 great matched 3600 BattlePacks today. All I can say is they out GPSed the LiPo's by 3 MPH. There awsom thanks Steve.

[sjslhill]

I have 400 more of the older cells, but I need to test them once they arrive before announing that we have good cells. Long term, be thinking of going LiPoly.

[sjslhill]

I have no idea what the future holds.....I know that you can buy good LiPoly packs from many sources. The NIMH people have choosen to screwing everyone. You have to understand that R/C is a small piece of what we do. We build 20 cell packs for applications and the IB3600 cell was the only one that would work, now that's screwed up. We went through 1000 cells in 10 days.

[ReddyWatts]

Steve, I thought you said you could still get the good cells, but they were .65 cents higher? Is this no longer true?

"Which leaves us with having to buy them from a US supplier and pay .65 a cell more for the same product."

[sjslhill]

I have 400 coming in, yes....but I look out further than 400 cells. I don't want people planning on these cells only to find out they are gone in 2 weeks or so.

[ReddyWatts]

That is really sad that we will not be able to get good NiMH cells anymore. If I am forced to go Li-Polly, I could consider getting out of the electric boat hobby. Why have my kids around dangerous batteries???

[sjslhill]

You can run NIMH, you will just have to realize that cells are going to fail on you.

Run small classes and build 6 cell packs in side by side and use discharge trays.

[Rex R]

mayhap hobbico & traaxas ought to have a chat with the batt suppliers. they are the ones who will be hurting(along with the consumer) if nobody can run their products.

[properchopper]

The "handwriting is on the wall" for me & sadly I've read it. I have begun my lipo conversion. I don't want to continually re-invest in a technology [nimh] which , among other things, is no longer viable for racing. P-mono is now, if you want to be competative, a lipo race. And since lipos by virtue of their higher capacity-to-weight ratio allow hotter setups, I'll need a bigger boat to stay on the water ; the 12-cell nimh Titan 29 is now blowing over in race trim & with lipos will prove more of a handfull. Word is that the nimh larger Q-mono hulls are now more suitable for P-mono/lipo setups. And I just bought the Titan 29 !!! { I'll keep running LSO with nimh, but will use my best IB's for that} Mr. Hill has done me right, and my new charger & power supply is on the way. Now to wait for a few more paychecks for the cells & balancers. Money I'd rather spend on a new project, but Oh well !

[ReddyWatts]

FE may become an "Adults Only" hobby, if there are not any good/reliable NiMH cells anymore. The NiMH 4200's have a 25% percent shelf failure rate? I cant see 12 y/o kids repairing their own battery packs or charging Li-Poly batteries. This could really hurt the FE industry. I hope a manufacturer will see the need to continue making good/reliable 3600 NiMH batteries

[sjslhill]

Oh there are junk sport cells out there that will run trucks, they are not going to run boats very well. Hobbico does not care if cells fail, more sales of packs.

Someone might try some GP3900 cells if they can find some, I have never tested that cell.

mayhap hobbico & traaxas ought to have a chat with the batt suppliers. they are the ones who will be hurting(along with the consumer) if nobody can run their products.

[SJFE]

FE may become an "Adults Only" hobby

FE is all ready an adult only hobby. The only 12 year old kids who have properly set up boats...have fathers who built them. The exception is kids who have SV's bought for them. IMO kids arent what FE needs..It's more adults.

[sjslhill]

Just found some more older IB3600 cells, when I say old I am taking recent but not the newest stuff that we sent back. I'll test some of the 400 tomorrow. I have tested some of these recently and they showed lower RT but higher voltage. No soft shorts either.

[SJFE]

I for one will only be picking up maybe 2 more sets of six cell packs for the SV. I'm going to start adding lipos to the inventory now.

[ReddyWatts]

There are a lot of RTR electric boats out there designed for NiMH cells and kids.
If the new NiMH's are dying just sitting on the shelf for a short period of time, then I hope someone continues to make a good/reliable cell that can handle boat applications. Li-Poly is not a good solution here. Lets not leave the kids out or get them hurt. Everything was looking up for electric boats and now it seems to be taking a bad turn.

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/categories.php?cat=8

[sjslhill]

NIMH was never a good solution for sitting on the shelf. Once we got past the GP3300, problems started showing up. The IB3600 showed promise but we may never see good ones of those again. All the problems were driven by Trinity, SMC, Orion and the race for the highest voltage possible. Now the cells are like NASCAR motors, run them and toss them

[SJFE]

Yeah tossem @ 150k+..And then cry about the speck car being expensive..But thats another forum..and gripe of mine..lol

[ReddyWatts]

There should be more RTR brushless boat models coming out. What batteries will they be using?

[SJFE]

Well I guess the ones who don’t do any research will learn the hard way. Who knows...maybe the manufacturers will take note and come up with oem batteries that are reliable....lol

[sjslhill]

If I was designing RTR boats, I would make sure it's LiPoly ready for the future. :)

There should be more RTR brushless boat models coming out. What batteries will they be using?