Gens Ace 2200 3S 45C Lipo batteries initial impressions

Hi Everyone -

I recently received three Gens Ace 2200 3S 45C batteries in the mail using up some of the last of my Christmas money😉

 

As most folks who have followed me for awhile now, I have been a huge fan of the Zippy Flightmax 2200 3S 40C batteries from Hobby King for a very long time, some of my batteries are over three yrs old, a bit tired, but still move my planes around pretty decently.  This battery is about a year old and still is in really good shape, no puffing, swelling and still delivers excellent power.

I have also had some pretty decent luck with ZOP Power 2200 3S 45C batteries from Banggood.  This battery is also about a year old.  The ZOP batteries deliver good power, but a couple of them after about 100 cycles are becoming a little harder to balance when I charge them.  They aren't puffy, nor do they come down hot after flying, but this tells me they are starting to break down in some way.

However, Banggood will no longer ship batteries to Canada, nor can I get any batteries from Hobby King's Global warehouse any longer.

Not that I really needed batteries, but I like to pick up a few now and then as my older batteries get too tired to really give me good performance any longer, I like to have some fresher ones to use, especially for field testing of new motors, etc.  After watching rcplanepirate's (RCPP) video below and having a bit of a conversation with him by e-mail, I decided to shop around for some Gens Ace batteries to give a try.

WARNING, you might want to sit down and not take a drink or eat anything until you finish reading this next paragraph lest you fall down or choke at the cost of getting LiPo batteries in Canada!😏😒😧😉😲  Not whining here, just the reality of it😐

After doing a little bit of a cost assessment (I won't bore you with the exact figures of what is what), to order three Zippy batteries from the Hobby King US West warehouse would end up costing me $33.20 USD per battery.  Of that cost, $19.84 was in shipping (Fed Ex), duty and taxes.  Wow😲.  So I looked around and found a local vendor (the link is in the first paragraph of this post) and after the dust settled, it cost me $34.12 USD per battery.  However, the batteries were just shipped right to my mail box in four business days with no hassle and only $6.12 of that cost per battery was tied up in shipping and taxes (no duty or handling charges like I would have to pay Fed Ex to get my packages).  Although I spent nearly 30 yrs serving this country that I love, anytime I can pay less to the government and more to a guy trying to keep a business going in a cutthroat world I will😊.  Plus, Gens Ace has a pretty good name in RC, so I'm feeling confident I got my money's worth😊

More about the Gens Ace batteries, they came well packaged in the boxes you see above in the first picture, wrapped in bubble wrap.  Each battery came with full two sheets of safety information and charging instructions which is a nice touch I thought.

Here is the battery out of the wrap before I cut the tape that holds the battery connector against the battery.  Please note the protective cover on the balance lead which helps keep from pulling the wires out of the clip, I think I'll leave those on, they might weigh a gram or two, but make it easier plugging and unplugging the balance lead when charging the battery. 

I thought this was another nice quality touch, they put a small piece of black foam between the Deans plug and the battery for shipping to prevent any of the sharp plastic edges from damaging the battery. 

A bit more a close up of the front of the battery. 

Here is a picture of the Gens Ace, Zippy and ZOP Power batteries all together.  Please not the leads on the Gens Ace battery are quite long, I will be trimming these back and changing the connectors on them once I know they work well and don't have to send them back for any reason.  The batteries are all about the same size.  The Gens Ace might be a mm or two wider, but a mm or two thinner which really doesn't matter too much to me for use in a park jet as I normally have plenty of room to fit my 2200 size batteries.

RCPP had warned me that the Gens Ace batteries might be a bit heavier, so out came the scale.  The Gens Ace battery as is weighs 190 gr.  I think once an inch or more comes off the battery leads, this will lighten it up a few grams. 

This year old Zippy Flightmax weighs 188 gr. 

This year old ZOP Power battery weighs 184 gr. 

So not a huge difference in weight, as I mentioned, once I get the battery wires shortened and a different connector on there, I think they will all be pretty close in total weight.

I have no real idea how long ago these Gens Ace batteries came out of the factory, but they were still very close to optimal storage level of 3.8V per cell, about 30-40 minutes on my charger in storage mode and they were all ready to sit for a few days until I can get them charged and start using them at the field.😊

So more to follow as I start getting some cycles through them to see how they perform at the field where it really matters😃

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott