Range is definitely the bullet point on these. Today i went 15 miles from 25.1 to 22.5 volts.
That’s basically only half the usable charge.
One of my Multistar packs decided to quit today, two cells dropped way below 3.2V and the pack couldn’t be balanced afterwards. The pack had maybe 10 cycles max. False economy ?
Sure sounds like it. I actually also got myself a few of these 16ah 6s. I run them in series with no problem. Only gone through 2-3 cycles though. I run single motor. Planning to use them for a dual 12s setup when the VESC’s arrive. Has anyone tried multistars with a dual setup?
Yes I have. One decided to die on me but I’m not sure if it was my fault or not.
My setup is a dual motor 12s, four 3s 5.2Ah packs in series.
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So after doing a sort of hybrid range test/speed test last night, and documenting the whole thing in Map My Ride, i realized there is a very specific use case for this Turnigy Multistar 6S 16Ah pack: Commuting.
The Average Speed listed in the pic there is on the low side of what i was actually maintaining most of the time because it of course averages in slow downs for people, intersection crossings, passing people with dogs and kids, etc. But the vast majority of the time i was cruising at a very comfortable 18mph. For well over an hour and a half.
From 25.1 volts to 20.1 volts i got 21 miles while maintaining around 18mph and frequently flooring it up to around 25, which seems to be the top speed of this board in its current configuration on a fresh charge.
just to refresh your memory: this rat board is a dual drive with twin NTM 270kv 5060s, 15/36 pulleys, 9mm belts, twin favourite 6S 120amp ESCs, Turnigy multistar 16Ah 6S lipo, enertion mounts, flywheel clones with bones reds, and a 7ply Scarlet deck with custom fiberglass enclosures.
on a smaller, lighter board, these parts may take you a little further, but i think this is a great sample of what these packs are made for: flight hours and not so much flight speed.
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Ahh, gotcha. These are turtle batteries, not hare batteries. Thanks for the great report! And when you run out of battery, the bottom of your board looks like it would make a sweet fingerboard skatepark!
I just picked up 4x 5000mah Multistars, and was going to wire them in parallel & series for a 10,000mah 6s setup. Hopefully the 10c rating will not be a limiting factor in that configuration. Can’t wait to find out what kind of range I get with this setup.
This pack i’m reporting on is 10c, but with four packs in the config you’re describing, you should ultimately end up with an effective 20c rating because you are making two 10c packs in parallel.
So you should see more top end than i am.
The 20c equivalent is what I’m going for. But if I understand this stuff right, the C-rating is related to the capacity of the battery, correct? So, you should still have a higher max discharge rate at 10c on your larger pack, but we shouldn’t actually pull anywhere near these amp levels anyway, right?
My situation (single motor): 10Ah x 20c = 100A max discharge rate vs. Your situation (dual motor): 16Ah x 10c = 160A max discharge rate
Do I have this right?
That is correct. However, I’ve been discharging my Multistars at close to their theoretical C rating and they don’t like it. I’d say you need to apply a 30% ‘reality’-margin at least.
Yes, and this whole c rating thing is seeming like a lie of many shades to me at this point. It’s only useful as a vague reference as far as I can tell. 160 amps doesn’t behave like this in my experience. I’m lucky if I’m seeing 80 or 100 by my gut guesstimate.
Wouldn’t 10Ah x 20c = 200A max discharge rate (not 100)?
So using the~30% rule practical application of ~140A
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You’re right. You passed the test! Lol.Yeah, basic math owns me. I noticed that earlier and meant to change it. So, LHB was right.
Just while we are here talking about C rating and multistar.
My zippy packs that I have always used are 20C. The multistar pack I bought is 10C.
On that information alone you would assume that the zippy can output more current than the multi.
However half the equation is missing. The zippy is 5000mAh and the multi is 10000mAh so the are actually the SAME C rating on paper.
So when do we get the side by side test results? 
When I get back from Vacation.
Ive found out why I hate(d) multistar packs so much! and it kind of makes me hate them a little less!
The solder connections keep breaking between the 2nd and 3rd cell and 5th and 6th cell. Both of my packs did this same thing. I had to take the whole damn thing in individual cells to figure out what it was.
The reason the middle connections didnt break is because i did them.
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@trbt555 Well at least you’re quite lucky that the multistar pack is in discount at the moment for half price. 3s 5200mah for only 15 euro lol http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/_65267__Multistar_High_Capacity_3S_5200mAh_Multi_Rotor_Lipo_Pack_EU_Warehouse.html
I rode quite a lot during the last few days an my Multistar 3s 5.2Ah packs are really starting to suck. One cell just died, the cell voltages are all over the place in the remaining packs. But most importantly, I’m lucky if I get 3Ah out of them lately. (My low cutoff is set to 3.6V because under that there isn’t much happening.)
Anyone have similar experiences ?
Hey Tom after I analyze my lipo packs an configuration abit, I found something very interesting.
I found that my longboard is better running with 50c rating compared to 25c rating. So I better off with 2 series and 2 parallels instead of all 4 in series.
I have to agree that higher voltage is cooler for motor and esc, but it gives alot of stress to the batteries. You have multistar with only 10c rating, connected them all in series. That means each acceleration pulling high amp close to the limit of each batteries could provide. Thats probably one of the reason your battery are down so quickly.
The power that is used or drain by motor is still the same in watt hours. If it doesnt stress the motor and esc, it stresses the batteries. Too low voltage put stresses in motor and esc. Thats something we have to choose.
I literally have double acceleration and more agressive ride when connected them in parallel.