Need to solder connection

So my charger cable broke for my speedpack. I need to reconnect it and was wondering the proper solder cable to use. Any suggestions?

you would need to get a new end first, those ends aren't meant to be reused, I use deans silver solder on all my rc conections. If you are still useing the wall charger I would look into getting a better one, dynamite makes cheaper ones

Spanky said:

you would need to get a new end first, those ends aren't meant to be reused, I use deans silver solder on all my rc conections. If you are still useing the wall charger I would look into getting a better one, dynamite makes cheaper ones

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Thanks for the reply. Which brand is best? I managed to get the connector back together but made a huge mess of the solder since I'm new to doing it. Since you mentioned they aren't meant to be reused I'm thinking probably spring for a new one instead.

You can find those EC3 connectors at any hobby shop or online. Amazon should get them to you next day. That said I highly recommend a decent charger.

This guy has a great video on chargers and batteries. Connectors too. EC3 is fine if this is your only RC vehicle and you can get LiPo batteries with an EC3 plug as well as adapters.

Went to my local rc store near me in durham. Found a pretty good charger that will do 7 different types of batteries. Seems like a good fit for the price.

that one looks good,did it come with the adapters and the balance board for lipo batteries

No adapters came with it. When you say balance board what do you mean? For now i got a replacement cable for my speedpack 5100. It did come with a pretty technical booklet for setting charge voltage per cell for max and min voltage. Also something called a program flow chart. There are 10 presets dor different battery types you can program into the unit. It also has dual fans built in.

There is something called a balance lead socket input on the unit

There does appear to be something to hook up the balance board in order to even out the charge per cell..i assume that's correct..although i am new to this.

Is this screen accurate? I set the voltages as best I knew how from the booklet..then plugged the charger in then the battery and when I turned it on i got this. I set it up for auto.

Is this screen accurate? I set the voltages as best I knew how from the booklet..then plugged the charger in then the battery and when I turned it on i got this.

Sorry for the double post

Djones48 said:

Went to my local rc store near me in durham. Found a pretty good charger that will do 7 different types of batteries. Seems like a good fit for the price.

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Looks good, did it come with an AC power supply?

When you are going to use it for LIPO you need to choose Balance (not charge or fast charge) and set the amps based on the mAh of the battery / 1000. That is what they call a 1C charge rate and is safe. You can charge at half of that or somewhere in between and it will work fine, just be slower. Tgat seems to be a 6 amp max charger so a 7,000 mAh LIPO you can charge at 6 amps just fine. I tend to go a little under 1C charge rate so a 5,200 mAh LIPO I balance change at 4.8.

Djones48 said:

Is this screen accurate? I set the voltages as best I knew how from the booklet..then plugged the charger in then the battery and when I turned it on i got this.

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It depends on exactly what battery you plugged into it. If it was the 1,800 mAh NiMH stock battery then that looks correct.

For LIPO batteries you will need a balance lead and board. Looks like there is nothing I can get within a week from Amazon so have to go local.
2S-6S Balance Charger Expansion JST XH Adapter Board RC Lipo Battery Charging https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00RFEKFIG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_sXxdFbH6NZS6D

Like this. The board has balance lead plugs for 2s up to 6s batteries. They should have one at your hobby shop. You don’t need it to charge NiMH batteries but it is required for LiPo.

Thanks for the great advice. I was looking at this charger, the S65 and i do believe I had it right on the auto charge. I understand with a Nimh it will leave the maxed out cells and focus on the lower ones and achieve a balanced charge that way. Also with the balancing board you can tandem charge multiple batteries at once. The voltage seemed high but then i remembered 1.1v per cell or thereabouts.

What made me a little suspicious was that the 5100 mah speedpack i bought auto charged in like 10 minutes so I didn't think that was right because it had no residual charge in it when i bought it. I will have to do either a fast charge or auto for now until I upgrade the guts on my amp and require a lipo for the extra punch.

A 5,000 mAh NiMH will take longer to charge, but it may not have been as low as you thought. The stock NiMH I’ve had take an hour so that doesn’t seem right. What was the final voltage on it?

I have upgraded nothing on my Amp save the 2S LIPO. The NiMH pack is pretty much just as fast, the main difference is that the LIPO doesn’t drop off in performance as much as it comes off peak. Im interested To see how much run time you get from the 5K NiMH.

The big power upgrade is brushless but that requires metal gears, maybe driveshafts as well as a new ESC and receiver. That would make it too fast for my kids anyway, although chances are I would be the one to obliterate it.

The first time I ran my amp i bounced it off a curb and dislodged the hinge pin..5 minutes into using it. It helped because I was forced to disassemble the front end to put it back in.

With regards to final voltages on the 5100 speedpack I was so befuddled by the quick charge time I had the unit unplugged before I could check. Next time I'll get a pic. I'm curious how much run time I get. The battery is much heavier so it should be about 2.25 times more if I'm lucky. I'll save the motor , gears and other upgrades for another day. Just need to go slow with upgrades. Might install a lipo and voltage alarm to see what the punch is like.

So I was watching a video review of the S65 and the guy had the battery meter function set then plugged in the lipo and the readings came up. When i did this with my NiMH it had no readings. I was confused. Any advice on this? Why did it have no readings? Will it only show after a charge cycle?

He plugged the balance lead into the balance port, that’s what gives you the voltage for each cell. That is why there are different sized connectors on the balance board. 1 wire per cell + 1. The 2S port has three wires, 3S has 4 wires and so on. LIPO batteries have two sets of wires, the heavier gauge power connector and the balance lead with its small white connector that plugs into the balance board which connects through the balance lead to the charger. Without that the charger can only see the overall voltage for the entire pack. It doesn’t matter for NiMH chemistry, they basically self balance, but i
LiPo and others like LiIon and LiFe require individual cell balancing to prevent one cell dropping below 3.x and becoming damaged.

Yes that makes perfect sense now. I had checked the meter on the pack and did see a total voltage count. Thank You for the useful reply. Helps tremendously