Hi Woogie, I converted from 4200 Nimhs to Lipo last December and in my view it is a no brainer, yes it is worth it.
1. Performance – we have seen no overall difference. A well maintained Nimh will tend to pull away earlier in the race but you will haul them in. I suspect that top racers still use Nimh packs but they probably get them replenished frequently very cheaply or for free.
We made the A final in a recent round of the SLCC championship running 27T (8 of the finalists had 13.5 brushless) and we had Lipos
2. Balance – people complain about the number of weights you have to add to Lipo to make the 1500gm limit. For us that was a bonus because we could not get below 1550 with 4200s, plus it means we can run at 1500 and have the car perfectly weight balanced
3. Ease of use – what is there to say. No comparison. Race; take the car off the track; whip out the Lipo and stick on the charger; run of to marshal. Repeat this process during the entire day. Get home; charge them up, leave in garage until next Sunday
Yes they should be balanced but this does not have to be done too frequently according to the experts. I use fast charge on race day and balance charge when I get home
Cost - they are no more expensive than Nimhs.
Yes a single Nimh pack probably is (although Lipo costs are tumbling) but you have to look at the entire picture.
You do not need as many. You could almost get away with one Lipo pack but certainly 2. For the last few race meetings since my son went over to Lipos we have been running the two cars on 3 Lipo packs. We would need 6 Nimh packs
You would need 3 Nimh packs. I am sure 2 Lipos are cheaper than 3 Nimhs. Of course you have to add the cost of 150+gm of lead weights
Then there is the point that Lipos will probably last longer eg twice as long (not based on experience, just based on quoted figures for Lipos ie number of charges, vs how often our Nimh packs have gone duff). So now the cost disadvantage goes out of the window.
I have not done a thorough market survey but get the feeling that the price of a half decent Lipo charger is not any different to a half decent Nimh charger.
So just rough figures
3 nimh at ?40 (easily ?60 depending on what you want)=120. Twice per year over 2 years ?480
2 Lipos lasting 2 years ?100
Charger, well the cheaper version of the BC-6 is ?50 I doubt you can get a comparable Nimh for much less. I am sure cheaper chargers with fewer facilities exist for both technologies
There just does not seem to be any contest here.
Do they fit the 008 – yes they do.
The key measurement is height. Most of the larger capacity Lipos, eg 4900, come in at 23mm height. That JUST fits the 008 without any change. The only consideration is retention. Most Lipos have flat bottoms, as does mine. Orion do batteries, at least around the 3200/3600 capacity, which have scalloped bottoms so fit very nicely into the cell slots. I secure mine with the optional battery bar (I already had one) plus one piece of tape at the rear of the battery, 90 degrees to the chassis centreline, hooked around the top deck.
Which one is best – I am not going to really comment on that. What I will say is that in everything I have read, the view seems to be that there is no difference (in performance). They are just not like Nimhs. If you do convert over you need to change your mind set away from Nimhs, they are totally different.
In terms of the entire package I went for Trakpower; packs, charger/balancer, wiring harness. It all just plugs in straight out of the box. 3 programmes to select; Lipo charge; Lipo balance charge; Lipo fast charge. The electronics then do it all, checking the number of cells in the pack (2) and capacity; it then sets the charge rate automatically
HTH