Thunder Power batteries

[Gary]

I have been useing TP 65c-130c batteries for a while now and to me they just dont seem to be all that great for what they cost and power output claims. Anyone feel the same way?
Thunder Power claims very little voltage drops but this is not the case at all.
Oops put this in the wrong spot..sorry.

[MarkF]

Gary I agree with your claims and i use to be a sponsored racer by them. That is why I quit and started selling a battery that I felt held up better under our heavy amp draw.
dinogylipos.com

Mark

[tlandauer]

I have been useing TP 65c-130c batteries for a while now and to me they just dont seem to be all that great for what they cost and power output claims. Anyone feel the same way?
Thunder Power claims very little voltage drops but this is not the case at all.
Oops put this in the wrong spot..sorry.

Not to bash them, but mine did even worse than my Turnigy, after 5 or 6 runs I had to retire them, but I was a total newbie then and ordered another pair which to this day is unused and still in the box that came with them.
oh well...

[kevinpratt823]

With my cars, Thunder Power performs very well, and always has. Coming into the world of boats, I puffed some of my solid car batts pretty quick to my surprise, but that was part of the learning curve I guess. They still have outperformed the MaxAmps, Turnigys, and Gens Ace sets I have with my boats, but aside from that is the warranty. This alone has been worth the cost(to me). In the past month, after finding that they actually honor it, I have sent in 8 batteries, of various ages, 4 without receipts, some have never seen boats(only cars). For the ones with no receipt I was allowed to purchase new batts, of which I was allowed to upgrade from 2s to 6s, at 50% of retail. I bought (4) 6s/65c 5000mah for a total of under $500(in turn for 4 2s that had puffed), the other 4 batts I sent in with receipts of purchase within a year, I expect to be replaced free of charge.

[tlandauer]

With my cars, Thunder Power performs very well, and always has. Coming into the world of boats, I puffed some of my solid car batts pretty quick to my surprise, but that was part of the learning curve I guess. They still have outperformed the MaxAmps, Turnigys, and Gens Ace sets I have with my boats, but aside from that is the warranty. This alone has been worth the cost(to me). In the past month, after finding that they actually honor it, I have sent in 8 batteries, of various ages, 4 without receipts, some have never seen boats(only cars). For the ones with no receipt I was allowed to purchase new batts, of which I was allowed to upgrade from 2s to 6s, at 50% of retail. I bought (4) 6s/65c 5000mah for a total of under $500(in turn for 4 2s that had puffed), the other 4 batts I sent in with receipts of purchase within a year, I expect to be replaced free of charge.

Wow, thanks for posting this, I am totally unaware of this warranty.

[Chilli]

I tend to agree. I've tried the Thunderpower packs and Hyperions in record trials and for the same $ I think the Hyperions are better. Especially in build quality of the pack. I've had too many bad balance taps, end wraps cracking and puffed cells on the T-Powers. And I cant tell any difference in performance between 65C TP's and 45c Hyp's. I haven't tried the Dinogys yet.

[Fluid]

I've set records with both TP and Hyperions, I see no difference with similar spec packs as I have traded them back and forth in several hulls. I do not believe the TP claim of 65C, they perform like the Hyperion 45C - but who cares? I have had excellent life and performance from both - never puffed a cell, never had an under-volt cell on either brand. The TPs balance better than the Hyperions, but neither is bad in that regard, not like the various HK and other China packs some club members have. I will say that I take care of my packs: store them at 50%, keep them balanced, don't overheat them and I do break them in. They are an investment to me, not a yearly expendable.

One pair of my Hyperion 4S packs have been used in regular heat racing (twice a month mostly) for almost four years and they still power the fastest mono in the club. A three-year-old TP 4S pack gets 53-54 mph out of my Insane P-LSH boat. I have raced Flight Power and MarinePower packs - junk compared to the TP and Hyperions with mediocre performance and short life. The TPs are more expensive than the Hyperions - but you get a 40% rebate when you trade them in no questions asked. I haven't done that much, but a club member who likes to "water cool" the interiors of his boats has.

Lots of folks like to rationalize buying cheap stuff, and if that is what makes their day then fine. If you want to keep replacing your packs every year, get the cheap HK variety. If you want your packs to last, spend more up front for quality. Quality gets you better performance (speed) and longer life. I'm not going to say that the TP and Hyperion packs are the best and only packs to have, just that my extensive experience with them over a six year period clearly demonstrates to me that they are very good packs.




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[Gary]

You are correct on the quality that TP are a better battery Fluid. In my case,thats all I have ever known and bought so i have nothing to compare it to. I guess thats a poor call on my part with a comparison but it just seems that after 8 months to a year speeds start to drop off and as soon as new packs are put in....back to normal.

[Fluid]

I'm not meaning to contradict what you are reporting, just expressing my experiences and making some general comments for the lurkers. When you say speeds drop off, how much and in what boats? How many cycles in 8 months? Enquiring minds want to know.....



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[Gary]

Speeds drop around 4-6 mph on average. But........... I run the boat about 50 times a year , make 4 passes per run, so we are talking around 200 passes. I put in around 1200-1500mah per battery so not a big mah drop to recharge. Normal life cycle?

[tlandauer]

My problem was that with my set up ( MG, Leo 4082, 2200kv, Seakimg 180 ESC, 4s 1p) hits LVC in a minute, granted the Seaking 180ESC is notorious for that. But on the same set up my Skylipo and Turnigy would last at least 3 min. I usually bring back the boat before LVC. I can't seem to rechage it fully, it hits 4.2v percell quickly and the charger goes to trickle mode.
for the record I appreciate the TP packs, I just don't understand this since I never over discharge my lipo ( always with 25% capacity in reserve after each run ), and I never expose them to hostile envornment. Store them in cool place with 30-40% charged ... which brings me to a question I wanted to ask for a long time:
Said batteries were delivered from LasVegas warehouse during extremely hot days in July. The delivery got messed up and it took almost 2 weeks to get here, will the high heat in transit somehow degraded the batteries? They are NOT puffed.

[tlandauer]

I suppose my wordings are anything but accurate: it seems to me that my particular TP packs drop their voltage under load quickly and causes the ESC to hit LVC and with other packs this doesn't happen. To say that I can't fully charge them is inaccurate.

[kevinpratt823]

Here you go http://thunderpowerrc.com/rma.html
I suggest once they respond, you call and talk on the phone, I dealt with Jim Skinner and Mark Mitchell and they were both very helpful.(pretty sure you won't get anybody on the phone to discuss warranty on most of the other packs, especially cheapos)
I will definitely say that compared to others, the TP packs seem to completely dump at lvc, telling me that they maintain higher voltage right up to the end then fall right off, as opposed to most of the cheaper packs which fade slowly before lvc. This is far more noticeable to me with my cars.

[tlandauer]

Kevin,
Thank you so much for all this info. I will look into it and you made me feel so much better already as I was so dissapointed and tried to put them out of my memories. As for the drop in voltage, you are right in saying that they dump completly, but I can not seem to put it back, my charger tells me they hit 8.4v in a matter of something like 20 min. I charge them @ 1c so 5000mah with 20% in reserve I should get 4000 to put back, my charger can only put between 1000 to 2000 mah. Something is wrong.

[jantagg]

Fluids,

Water cool the interior. That is a cheap shot although true.