Hey all,
I notice on a lot of the forums that there is a bit of fear mongering and misinformation being spread about lipos, so I've decided to write a quick and easy guide that everyday blue collar folks can relate to. I'm not going to get technical and I expect you have basic understanding of terms like C rating (capacity) etc.
First off, like anything thing there are a few necessary items to purchase:
1.A large or round TIN of cookies $5
This is a double bonus because instead of paying $25 for a 2 cent lipo bag , you 1: now have delicious cookies to enjoy and 2: You have your charging / storage box taken care of. Sweet deal!
2. A decent quality Lipo balance charger, try to spend $40 to $60 here. Lipos are balanced charged , becuase of the 2 to 8 S packs they consist of. These lasagna layers of power need to be balanced. Now you don't need to cycle them and drain them. so try to get a good dynamite or similar brand charger and make sure it's at least 3 to 4amps as anything else is overkill , I'll explain later but in short as a rule you always only charge at 1 amp. Always . Final. So a 3 or 4 amp lipo balance charger is perfect. 2 and 3s packs are perfect for cars and trucks . The bigger stuff is for drones so just never mind them and buy yourself a treat with the money you saved.
We are car men so we shall not drone on about drones.
Suggested budget charger:
www.horizonhobb...dync2005ca
Basically you just plug your balance wires of your battery into the port on your charger, set to 1AMP, and start your charge,because we always charge at 1amp. ALWAYS CHARGE AT 1 AMP. remove when charger beeps as you of course are in the same room or home and constantly monitoring your charger as you do with all batteries. 1 amp , 1 amp 1 amp.
3.Now, you're going to need a battery.
Now this part can get confusing because drones. So as a rule I keep it simple for car and truck and buggy power. Use a 2s 4000 to 5000mah stick with a minimum C rating of 25 but always always try to get a 50 C.
C rating is kinda like a turbo charger. It delivers constant amps under load. So basically when you hit the throttle the motor requires juice to g'ver . Now if your can is big enough and your using, lets say a 20 C pack you will probably find the car cutting out at full bore. This is because the " boost " tank in the battery is no able to deliver the constant voltage required to the engine so it droops or sags below low voltage protection and your esc will shut off.
To remedy this you will just brake and let the esc and battery come back to load and go again. Kinda like a 5 second penalty stop for using too low a c rating. This can also cause the battery to puff. At that point we discard the pack but in 4 years of lipos using proper care and brain power ive never puffed a battety.
So by using a 50 C battery you are ensuring your turbo is "Beefy" enough to handle your 540 can or brushless setup. I highly recommend 50C and you will never have an issue in cars or trucks.
With care and storage in mind for lipos it's really easy. Don't poke them or puncture them. Store them in your cookie tin with the lid closed in a cool place, keep them out of your car trunk on hot days and places like direct sunlight or high heat, i feel like i shouldn't have to say that but again , lets remove the user error.
Your reassurance will be that you take the time to care for your batteries as you do your cars. The biggest cause of lipo problems (fire) is this :
1.WIRING. If you are new to RC and not confident in building pr assembling your electrical setup , get help. The only time and I stress this massively, the only time a lipo will go up without a hole in it or when it's puffed is when A SHORT IN THE ELECTRONICS CAUSES THE FAULT. Double check your polarity and setup and you can be confident to have a problem free journey with your new power house.
2. Punctures. Holes , rips tears etc. As a rule ALWAYS ALWAYS buy a hardpack ( like a Armour suit for your ion drive) for off-road / Buggy vehicles or on road rally cars that could be subject to sharp rocks etc. Basically asses the situation and avoid the user error and you're golden.
Starting to see a pattern with the user errors?
4. A LOW VOLTAGE ALARM. These are an ABSOLUTE MUST and should be purchased and Velcro-ed to each stick you buy.
There's all this stupid debating about what to set you're alarm to but after 4 years I can safely say that 3.4 is the perfect setting for a decent battery and long run time which can be stored safely for a long while at this voltage with no risk of damage.
For long term storage , which I don't know why any one would do, just charge your pack and set your LVA to 3.7 and you'll get a nice little 15-20 minute run and the lipo is safe and all happy and ready to store.
Lipos don't lose charge like other battery types so as long as you store them with the right voltage, damage is impossible.
You NEVER store a fully charged lipo for longer than one evening , ie charge at night and go play the next day. There is no danger in this as you are properly storing your lipo in your delicious cookie tin and using it next day.
I have never heard of a proper voltage non damaged lipo catching fire during storage ever.....so again remove the user error and remove damaged batteries from your life and replace them like you would with any damaged battery source.
As a rule never let your pack drop below 3.0 and you're golden. Below 3.0 and your pack is done, pooched, RIP. This happens because lipos need a minimum charge in them to keep charging. This of course will never happen because we are all using our low voltage alarms set to 3.4v to 3.7 so no worries there!We got tons of safety net there! Thanks LVA!!!.
PS. The LVA will have a plus and minus on each side the 8 pins. You simply plug the balance plugs of the pack ( every lipo has one, it's the small one you plug in to your charger not the t plug or dean's we use for the car itself.) with the black wire side of the balance cable into the negative side of the pins on the LVA and beep beep beep your in business. This is the rule for any size pack black side into negative. Most LVA will be able to read up to 8s hence the extra pins. So yes you should have 5 pins left out on our 2s packs.Cover your ears they are loud and bright, At this point three glowing red letters are flashing at you in series followed by numbers:
All
S1
S2
Don't panic, Its not the bomb pack from the movie predator, Lets explain:
ALL IS the total charge of both S packs in your 2S battery a proper healthy battery will generally read 8.4volts charged followed by the 1S which will be around 4.2 and sane goes for the S2 reading. These can be plus or minus between packs. To set push your button and release at your desired voltage cut off. 3.5 is good. Drive your butt off and when the lipo gets to the selected voltage your alarm will sound and bring her on home to the pits. as long as both S1 and S2 read around the same level of voltage , you have a healthy battery, When they start to get way off and wont come back into balnce, you can usually save them by repair charging at .5A but this is usually caused by charging at over 1A WE ALWAYS CHARGE AT 1A and we don't have issues.
BRANDS BRANDS BRANDS:
Which brand of battery and how much to spend. Well in my drifting community there is a name synonymous with quality , value and power. Gens Ace. A 5000mah 50 C 2s stick costs $50cad. Stuff like Venom etc is also decent.
a 3S pack is pretty much overkill but if you're serious about racing or are running a heavy brushless you would probably look into one. For daily hobby grade running everything in this guide is more than enough.
I suggest the Gens Ace brand 5000mah full stick for TC chassis and any size half pack for the M chassis so you can distribute weight from front to back depending on drive.
Lipos come new at half charge and have an agent in them to prevent damage so don't charge them until your going to use them as that agent will be washed away during your first charge. Take it easy and set your LVA to 3.7 for the first 2 charges and try to keep your throttle to about 75% and your pack should be a happy camper for a long time to come. After those two charge cycles let her rip boys and squirrels.
Lipos can be stopped and started at any time during a charging cycle with no worries.
I have successfully run the above on the Tamiya TBLE-2S 60amp with zero issues.
Basics for run times on lipos are simple. The more juicing and less consistent your driving the shorter your runtime because you're discharging your turbo tank faster as you're "bursting" amps out of the system thus creating higher demand on your pack. I suggest at 40 to 60 amp esc minimum for problem free running.
So I hope this relieves some of the hype surrounding these fantastic power sources and by understanding and safely handling your packs , allows a few skeptics to make the switch.
I guarantee the first time you pop one in you'll be checking your watch and wondering when it's going to die( when your LVA goes off in 30 to 50 minutes of course) and smile at the new runtime and power noisy your getting with those constant amp being delivered to your precious road warriors.
Follow the basics of this guide and you will never have an issue or need a tissue.
If I missed anything I'll edit it in and let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
Cheers guys!
Helpful buddy. 
I think a monitor is about $3 at Hobby King and if I am being honest here I like their Turnigy batteries too. I am on a budget for these things and my dollars go further shopping there. 
