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Old 28-12-2010
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Matisse Matisse is offline
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Default GT14B Lipos - a guide to what fits right now

Since the GT14's appeared in this country, the team drivers have all been using LiPo batteries, but once i discovered that the RTR car will be coming with NiMh saddle packs, i thought i'd better find out what lipo's we can all use.

Considerations for any battery are;

Capacity (mAh rating)
Discharge (C rating)
Size

and it's the last one that is most important. The Carisma is designed to work with 2/3a sized cells in a saddle formation.
This means that each 3-cell pack will be the following dimensions;

49.5mm long x 26.5mm wide x 16.5mm high

pretty small for a lipo eh!
Thankfully we have a little leeway on the height and width, but the length, not so much.

A little investigation on a team drivers car recently showed me that if we remove the battery posts their is a danger of the lipo fouling the spur gear or the drive shafts, neither of which are a good thing.
I've also heard of at least one company who are waiting for the cars to arrive to develop weighted lipo straps similar to the ones available for 1/10th cars, so keeping the posts is a good thing.

A quick measure of the afore mentioned car showed me that a 52mm long pack should fit nicely, and a 54mm long pack should fit with a little adjustment.

I've spent a lot of time searching for batteries, gone 16-17 pages deep on google searches and called al of the major OEM UK based lipo manufacturers and this is what i have found;


Saddle Packs

UK based;

Carisma 2000mAh Lipo pack - avail from CML distributors soon price not known at the moment.

International;

MaxAmps 1720mAh saddle packs - designed for4 the mini inferno, these look to be a perfect fit @ 49mm long
Expensive as they list @ $49.99 plus a min of $14 p+p, get caught at customs and these could be really expensive!!
avail from www.maxamps.com


Single Packs

UK Based;

Storm 800mah 35C - avail from Logic RC, these packs are listed @ 54mm, but are out of stock so i've not had a chance to measure them. cost less than £10

Overlander Extreme 800mah 40C - These packs were very popular in the sharks a year ago and i'm confident they will fit. (the curent 60C packs are way too long!)

However, the 40C's are no longer in production. I've called Overlander and spoken to several guys there. Although they cannot supply these packs again with their current manufacturer, they are investigating whether something can be done in the future - more as and when i hear back from them.

Loong Max Tipple 800Mah 20-30C - an amusingly named lipo available from www.giantcod.co.uk, @ 54mm long it looks to be the right size. cost less than £10


HobbiesRuz 800mah 25C - listed @ 52mm long and £12 inc postage from www.hobbiesruz.co.uk


International;

Maxamps 1290mah 2s lipo - 49mm long so perfect, but expensive again at $35 + $14 p+p

interestingly Maxamps don't list C rating and claim 100C, which is a bit silly. they have a good rep though so i'm sure they will be powerfull enough

The 52mm packs fit with no probs at all, the 54mm packs will need some trimming on the battery posts.




Right, that's it so far, worth noting is that most manufacturers seems to be moving to longer cells to aid heat dissipation so out challenge is a big one.

it's also worth noting that a lot of sites will list the CELL SIZE and not the PACK SIZE!!
There are some cheap 800mah Kokam lipos on ebay listed @ 49mm, but the pack is over 58mm long, trust me i bought one and have returned it.

I'll try to update this as and when i find out more.
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Old 18-01-2016
jehosophat jehosophat is offline
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Another GT14B thread revival, but I have to say thanks to whoever wrote this originally, if they are still here, as after a lot of Googling this was one of the only helpful, still-relevant things I could find about this!

Others may have noticed that Carisma direct have been selling various cars off for crazy prices (still good even with shipping and taxes), which tempted me to buy a "ARR" GT14B Pro to go with my EMB-1, as a spare, and also as a spare for my daughter's GT14B sport (which was what got me into 1/16th in the first place). And also a GT16MT. I assume part of the silly prices was the need for saddle packs, so set about trying to find some lipos. From the list above, Maxamps still sell the 860mAh packs and I'm assuming would make up the 1290's as well if you asked, but they are uber-expensive and shipping is now $35 plus massive UPS "handling fees" and tax. That made the cheap price of the GT14B Pro ARR somewhat less cheap - but I have 3 cars that need saddle packs so fair enough.

However I did recently find (having spent full whack on the maxamps in the assumption they were the only choice!) that there is a Turnigy 750mAh nanotech pack which is 43x24x9.5mm and available with two output plugs, so plenty of cables for wiring in series and adding a balancing tap. They are cheap as chips, I have some and am about to give them a go. I bought my GT14B Pro for $100 but they were $50 a while after that, it makes for a decent value car if you have the bits needed (I put the ESC and motor from an EMB-1 in mine and found steel pinions at 13 and 14 tooth). Also if - like me - you just like all the shiny carbon fibre, green alloy shocks, and so on, it might make an interesting addition to the collection if they come back into stock (they only have the conversion kits right now). But batteries are do-able....

Last edited by jehosophat; 18-01-2016 at 10:01 AM.
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Old 02-02-2016
wombat1978 wombat1978 is offline
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I'll be interested to see where you go for this - juts picked up a GT14B Pro kit myself and was wondering about lipo options

Had a look at the maxamps 860mah saddles, but the shipping cost and poor Australian Dollar (against the USD) doesn't make them a cheap proposition by any stretch!

Keep us posted
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Old 02-02-2016
wombat1978 wombat1978 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jehosophat View Post
Also if - like me - you just like all the shiny carbon fibre, green alloy shocks, and so on, it might make an interesting addition to the collection if they come back into stock (they only have the conversion kits right now). But batteries are do-able....
They are back in stock at the special price at Carisma
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Old 06-04-2016
jehosophat jehosophat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wombat1978 View Post
I'll be interested to see where you go for this - juts picked up a GT14B Pro kit myself and was wondering about lipo options

Had a look at the maxamps 860mah saddles, but the shipping cost and poor Australian Dollar (against the USD) doesn't make them a cheap proposition by any stretch!

Keep us posted
Been a bit busy with work, but the maxamps packs never arrived (indeed I must look into whether they ever refunded me!). They were sill money already then UPS wanted about $50 cash on the door when they delivered them, well more than double the sales tax and handling fee I was expecting. My wife was in, had no cash at the time, and that was the only attempt UPS ever made. Usually when I import stuff I get asked to pay the tax and handling fee online then it gets delivered. Weird.

However, I had success with some much cheaper Turnigy 1S 750mah packs wiring them together myself to make a 1500mah 2S. I basically turned this:



Into this, 3 times:



And they work really well. Indeed while it is difficult to find 1S cells that are not too long, these ones have loads of space (I use foam insers to stop them rattling about). The standard wires on the packs were very thin but they claim up to 30C discharge, and having 2 sets of wires on each helped me wire them with the balance wire easily. I now have the GT14B Pro and a GT16MT - both bought for peanuts - running really well, with Carisma ESC's, Carisma 4500kv motor on the GT14B Pro and stock EMB-1H motor on the MT, as I had one spare and thought that could use the torque. Both run really well, and the turnigy packs were less than £15 for the pair in each case. I would not say they are as good as premium "stick" 2S packs, especially for runtime, but for the motors I'm using they are great, giving me around 7-10 mins blatting about mostly at max chat.

Last edited by jehosophat; 06-04-2016 at 02:56 PM.
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Old 06-04-2016
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good job ...I only managed barely 5 mins on my 900 mah..in the end I used two 2s in parallel which doubles the capacity,are you sure there not in series which keeps the capacity at 750 mah ??
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Old 12-04-2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dombrasky View Post
good job ...I only managed barely 5 mins on my 900 mah..in the end I used two 2s in parallel which doubles the capacity,are you sure there not in series which keeps the capacity at 750 mah ??
You are right, of course - that's why the runtimes are pretty short! I am no electrics expert...

Still, it gives a good enough run time on the GT14B Pro with a sensible KV motor and pinion. I like the car, it handles really well and certainly turns better than my EMB-1H on road.

For the GT16MT the runtime is as good (6 mins running flat out for most of it) as with a decent NIMH pack, and I could always use two of these LiPo packs I built in parallel! It's more of a hassle getting the batteries in and out of the Carisma cars, with the EMB it's very fast to change over.

Last edited by jehosophat; 15-04-2016 at 03:33 PM.
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Old 15-04-2016
jehosophat jehosophat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wombat1978 View Post

Had a look at the maxamps 860mah saddles, but the shipping cost and poor Australian Dollar (against the USD) doesn't make them a cheap proposition by any stretch!

Keep us posted
Just on the MaxAmps front, I would seriously avoid them! I looked into where my batteries had got to, and was told I had refused to take delivery from UPS (I hadn't - they made one attempt to deliver, insisting on cash at the door for the import fees with no warning, my wife who was in at the time had no cash, they said they would try again). MaxAmps have refused to either credit me, or attempt to get UPS to deliver again, so I paid over $100 US (which was a total ripoff already, I only ordered them as I could not find any other packs that would fit) for nothing.

I'm not sure how consumer law works in the US, in the UK the sender is responsible until the goods turn up.
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Old 23-05-2016
wombat1978 wombat1978 is offline
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Good work on the battery front man - I ended up getting some 2s dualsky Lipos, hooked up with a parallel harness (800mah each -> 1600mah total).

They are a touch too long though by 2-3 mm to fit in the standard batt holder without squishing, so have to modify the battery holders a touch with a dremel (and remove body posts), and ditch the top battery holder plate and opt for a velcro strap to hold them in place.

Yet to get my car sorted out (have all the bits) as wife just had a baby and also dealing with a 2 year old!

I'll try a post up some pics when I get a chance

Thanks for the response! Bummer about Maxamps though
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Old 12-06-2016
jehosophat jehosophat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wombat1978 View Post
Good work on the battery front man - I ended up getting some 2s dualsky Lipos, hooked up with a parallel harness (800mah each -> 1600mah total).

They are a touch too long though by 2-3 mm to fit in the standard batt holder without squishing, so have to modify the battery holders a touch with a dremel (and remove body posts), and ditch the top battery holder plate and opt for a velcro strap to hold them in place.

Yet to get my car sorted out (have all the bits) as wife just had a baby and also dealing with a 2 year old!

I'll try a post up some pics when I get a chance

Thanks for the response! Bummer about Maxamps though
Luckily for me I paid for the Maxamps via PayPal and they agreed wi me re: consumer law so I got refunded. Good service from PayPal actually.

I've been enjoying my Gt14B pro and MT but have yet to even link two of my Homemade packs together to make 1500 mah - I will, there should be plenty of room, though there will be cables everywhere! I have foam slock tyres on the 14B pro now as it has much worse dirt shielding than the EMB-1 or the 14B MT so has become my on-road basher.

Do you have a link to the 800mah's you have used? I've been looking again for bigger packs recently. My original battery life estimates were optimistic - I get 6 mins from both cars with lots of high speed running, with 4500kv motors and conservative pinions. I'd like to try a 5700kv that I have spare in the 14b pro. I have recently tried a couple of these:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._PKZ1032_.html

and they fit the 14B pro but not the normal 14B chassis out of the box, and seem to work really well, not a nano-tech however.

Last edited by jehosophat; 21-06-2016 at 08:13 AM.
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Old 05-07-2016
jehosophat jehosophat is offline
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Just some more on this as this thread seems to come up high in Google searches for GT14B batteries.

I now have a Carisma 5700KV motor with 12V pinion in the GT14B Pro and (because the Carisma V6typeR ESC was running a bit warm) the standard EMB-1 ESC, which seems punchier and stays cool in my EMB-1 and the GT14B Pro.

I've been using three battery options without trouble. First my own 2S wire-up of these tiny 750mah batteries as above, I'm now running two of these on each side for a 1500mah pack with a 2 into 1 cable:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dproduct=41271

These 800mah ones (below) are ideal for the GT14B Pro and fit the battery cradle perfectly, they won'f fit the standard GT14B chassis as in my GT16MT without mods (the packs I made from the ones above do).

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idproduct=9276

And I got a pair of the 1000mah ones below, used like the Turnigys with a 2 into 1 cable, they seem to run just like the above really, and fit the GT14B Pro perfectly again:

http://www.banggood.com/ZOP-Power-7_...-p-955391.html

So basically it took a while for me to find them and learn about series and parallel cables and so on, but its not hard to find decent - and cheap - LiPo packs for these cars. Which given the prices Carisma sell them for direct, especially when they have their offers, makes for a good car at a good price.

To drive, the stock EMB-1 is still faster than the GT14B Pro with 5700KV and 12T, which surprises me. It is also stronger, but heavier - the GT14B accelerates a little faster initially and it corners much better (on road anyway) with less roll and far less drama accelerating out of corners, plus it is more balanced - the EMB-1 wants to wheelie all the time, sometimes onto its back if you accelerate hard over bumps.

Pics of the batteries, GT14B Pro with the 2xTurnigy 800mah, and GT16MT with 2 of the 750mah 2S packs (so 4 of the original 1S cells, a paair on each side) below. GT16MT is running the Carisma V6WP ESC (not the standard V6 Type R from the RTR) and a EMB-1H motor with a 13T steel pinion.

The stock Carisma 4500KV motor ran quite hot in the MT so I took it to add to my daughter's GT14B Sport, which is fairly modded now, shown at the bottom - it has a Tamiya brushed motor (soon to be V6 Type R Carisma ESC with 4500KV), the Pro shocks, bumpers front and rear securing the undertray which originally fell off a lot, and Overlander NIMH battery (miles better than the stock Carisma NIMH, of which I have two, and they are crap):








Last edited by jehosophat; 05-07-2016 at 05:08 PM.
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Old 28-09-2017
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Zoea Zoea is offline
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Hi

Sorry to bump this old thread

I've just got a GT14B Pro and am looking for LiPo options since I only have a nimh saddle at the moment.

I would like to get close to the factory 2000mah spec without spending £35 on ebay for such a overpriced pack.

What cells should I consider these days? I'm ok with hooking up wiring harnesses etc and buying cells to run in series / parallel or whatever.

There's a lot of good information in this thread I'm just wondering if any new better options or cheaper have come out.

Many thanks
Zoea
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