One of the big things that makes testing batteries troublesome is that most these companies are not the manufacturer of the actual cells. You can buy an great pack one day, order again, and get a completely different cell. It is why I stopped recommending batteries except from brands I'm confident are either the OEM or have outstanding QC.
The 2 7000 mah Zee batteries I bought last spring were the highest IR of all my batteries with the worst voltage drop under load. I don't use them at all anymore.
Yep, it baffles me how others seem to get Zeee packs that run forever. Friend of mine has multiple Zeee 4s 6200mAh packs which he hasn't had issues with, measured around 6-8 mΩ per cell on my D200neo charger. Meanwhile, I bought 4 Zeee packs (2x 2s 6000mAh shorty packs and 2x 4s 7200mAh packs) and all had shockingly high IR readings of 22-23 mΩ at 3.8v per cell and at room temp. Then after just a few cycles, one of the 4s packs sat around 35-40 mΩ per cell... and I'm very thorough with looking after my packs. Sent all 4 packs back and bought 2x CNHL 4s and they sit around 5-6 mΩ after just a couple cycles. My expensive 4s packs sit around 3-4 mΩ after many cycles. Granted these are still relatively high IR readings, but charger IR readings aren't very accurate anyway. What matters is consistency, using the same charger to measure every battery.
I have about 10 zee lihv 4200mah that have been flawless well over 2 years, and a few older standard lipos. Not like my gensace adventures, which all 3 puffed about 3rd cycle. I will no longer buy over priced sticker packs. All my gensaces seem to puff, not the cheaper packs though.
That all I run. I’ve gotten 1 bad one new and was super simple to return. Have finally killed 1 one of my 4s 9000 mah. It’s 6 years old and I use it in a basher. 3 good cells 1 won’t register. No puffing and I do not ever balance or store charge. Just keep them in a metal locker
I have over 20 zeee lipos of varying sizes and some with over 50 cycles and over 5 years old. I love these batteries. Out of over 20 packs only had one go bad and I thoroughly abused it.
I’ve used Zee lipos for the last five years for crawlers and fast stuff in both 2&3s .when I first started using lipo’s .I bought the expensive named ones then I tried these I’m still running some five years later and still working fine .I’ve not got one of the expensive ones at all left .I’ll never buy expensive make lipo’s again these are my full time go to now ..
Yes, these will work if performance is not a requirement and you don't need the c rating that you are paying for. Glad to hear that the packs work well for many years. Thanks for the insight.
I have a bunch of Zeee batteries and the 2S batteries I use in my Losi Promoto work wonderful. Back and forth, full throttle, wheelies the whole time and still last 20-25 mins. The 4S batteries i bought for my Kraton 8S only last a few minutes before they hit LVC. Exactly what you mention here.
I have 3 of this exact pack, Run them in a stock Kraton 6S as well as a 1/8 race buggy with an XR8 hobbywing sensored combo. All of them run just fine, have never puffed, stay perfectly balanced, and have a reasonably accurate capacity. You either got a bad pack or something else was going on.
I've had 4/4 bad packs then. Unfortunately, I think this is just how they perform. I don't doubt they will work in a basher if performance is not a requirement and it's kept under 90 amps or so for 95% of the run. I had the other Zeee packs in a Limitless and yes it works, but the performance difference between an average pack and these is huge.
@@RCexplained Thats why I stated I run them in a race buggy with proper race grade electronics. Do these pack have the same punch as the proper race packs? No. Do they have enough power to make the buggy get around a track without any issues and cost literally 1/5 the price? yes.
I have four of these exact 4s 5200mAh 120C batteries and they work ok on my 1/8 buggy and truggy on a loose track. I knew when i bought them that i was paying for cheap batteries and i assumed that all the ratings on the case were just marketing (i.e LIES). Your test was great and just proved what i was thinking. Thanks!
Been using zee's for 2 years,2s,3s,with no issues at all.bought 4 spektrum batteries of the same specs for my pro moto and 6s kraton,and the biggest difference is I get a little more run time with the spektrum,but the power is the same.all batteries were rated at 100c 5200mah.
Very interesting. I have quite a few 2s packs from them and I have never had any issues with slow charging, being really unbalanced or performance issues. I have never measured the IR on them as I have never had any concerns but I will have to test a few and see where there at. Thanks for the look at them and I wonder if I made to make a change....
Can you measure the mAh charged to full from 3.84v at 50%? If it is not close to 50% of stated capacity, then it is not a real LiPo. Lion pouch cells are ~3.7v at 50%.
I use Zeee 7200 3S in a lot of my bashers, some as a single 3S, and I also have 2 pairs for my 6S vehicles. I tried to drag run them in my Infraction, and got a time measured as well as a huge voltage sag. Later down the road, I tried a GensAce 6800mAh 6S pack. The same weight as the 2x3S Zeees, so all in all no difference there. But with the 6800 GensAce, I got a fairly bit faster, drew more current and had muuuuch less voltage sag. So, I'll continue bashing the Zeees off road, and never use them for speedrunning or drag again. For bashing, they do absolutely fine. But for really high current applications, I wouldn't recommend them. Thanks for the video, I really didn't expect much from these batteries, but didn't expect them to be that bad either.
I tested an 8000mAh just before I commit to these standard tests that I run through now. The 8000 performed better but I have 4000mAh packs that outperform the 8000 packs.
Good video. Have you ever tested Hoovo? Also, I’ve used Zeee 3-6s and my experience has been across the board. The 3S 6000 mah, I believe are 80c hard packs work for a little bit and then go into LVC if running at 100% power. For my daughter’s Vorteks at 50% she can run for about 30-40 minutes straight with constant full throttle like you would expect from a 6 year old. The 4s 9000 mah 120c batteries work well for the most part in my XMaxx and 8s Outcast and will last approximately 30-45 minutes depending on what surface I’m running on. The 6s 6000 mah packs I believe are 100c and they seem to last about 20-30 minutes and they have decent punch. However, all that being said and the IR is high on most of them even when they are brand new. Their customer service is horrible if you have a pack that fails more than once they will literally stop responding to emails and no longer warranty their products. I switched to HOOVO and they are about equal or somewhat better in my opinion. What do you think of the hoovo brand?
Awsum video ! I keep thinking of the old saying "you get what you pay for" the battery industry appears to be mostly a rought from where I'm sitting ........ It'll be nice if we get to see any batteries that get to their advertised ratings ! ♥️😉🙃😎 NZ
Awesome video! Ima have to go back and watch the rest! Thanks for the testing! TLDR, is there a battery brand you’ve tested so far that has actually performed consistently well?
Good to know! I have 3300 HRBs and had one Ovonic which was lighter and had more "C". But flying the capacity was much lower! Good I could send that back. But on my HRBs I have also IR differences. Best 4-5mOhm while one has around 8mOhm. My Molicel P45B have warm also 8mOhm or cold 10 mOhm but 4500mAh :)
Well it boils down to price and battery ability for that price. For most of us a so called mediocre battery at a reasonable price is totally adequate for our vehicles that aren't being raced in competition but definitely fulfill our daily bashing and fun running abilities of our rc vehicles.
Not surprised…I bought 4 of those exact spec batteries for my limitless V1 when I had just got into electric rc’s. Was excited to go and hit 100 with it, best I got with smooth trigger pull was 95…bought a set of gens 11000 bashers and went 101 first run, that drove me to learn about batteries and then got an esc with data logging, found that I was dipping down to 2.9v per cell on a first run smooth trigger topping in the 90’s. Got some smc 6500 hp’s and have gone 129 with voltages not dipping below 3.55v per cell. These zeee’s work ok for me off-road with my Mojave 4s but any type of high load they do not fare well. I thought it was a deal when I bought them, and it was because it was a learning experience. Even in the Mojave under moderate running, they get hot. Measured approx 5 mohms per cell. The HP SMC’s I have were approx .8 per cell. I even used the Zeee’s in an SBR 2.0 and within 5-8 minutes of light to moderate driving it was hitting LVC. Not bad for low load type stuff though I guess. Nice video!!!
@@69Busa08Nova By no means am I here to defend Zee batteries, as I’ve never owned one and think they’re mediocre budget batteries at best, but why on earth would you compare voltage sag of a 5200mah battery to a 11000mah battery? The big reason speed run guys run high mah bats is to reduce sag. A gens 5200 would also sag more than a gens 11000, so I’m not sure what point your first sentence trying to make.
@@JT-6s Not comparing them per se, saying that I couldn’t even break 100mph with the Zeee’s, only reason I got those big 11000’s is that was the only thing the hobby shop had that I figured could do it. I was very new to electric cars at that point so I saw the “120c” rating and was like..that’s a no brainer for the price. As I stated later on in that comment, I then purchased smc 6500 hp batteries, and at 129mph only dipped to 3.55 v/p/c. That’s a big difference between 2.9v at 5200mah at mid 90’s mph, to 129mph with 6500mah at 3.55v/p/c. I get that the Zeee’s are budget batteries, that’s why I bought them as they were cheaper and had better stated output than others for 30%+ the price. Then I learned that battery companies inflate (in this case hyper inflate) their c ratings to get people to buy. Just the stuff I noticed. Had I known about that earlier, I would’ve just got better batteries, but it was a learning experience, so for that I’m grateful…as a more apples to apples comparison, I bought the cnhl 5000mah 70c batteries and tried in the same car, got 111 out of it with less stated mah and c rating. Although that was basically the limit in my personal experience, I don’t remember what the sag was with those, would have to check my saved logs. I did just pick up some cnhl racing 8000mah 120c that I’ll be trying out and see how they do.
@@69Busa08Nova I agree C ratings should be taken with a grain of salt and are mostly a marketing ploy. Certainly other metrics, for example SMC’s so called “power factor,” would be far more useful. But then again even simple things like mah capacity are fudged by many brands, so it when it comes to maximum performance, reputation is more important than label specs. I have a 120c CNHL racing battery and it’s decent for the money with fairly low ir, I wish you luck with yours.
@@JT-6s thanks!! I haven’t really put the 8000mah cnhl racing batteries to the test yet, ran them a couple time at lower loads just to exercise them a little, plan on going out at some point soon and seeing what they can do. Been nice talking and wish you the best as well!!
I always buy cnhl batteries, they are one of the cheapest batteries on sale. Definitely not the best, but can't complain for the price. Bought 4x 8200mha 3s lihv for 20 euro each during flash sale.
Makes me wonder if there is knock off ones getting around I've only ever bought mine off eBay and I love them and been going for about 3 years and been buying this brand for probably 5 years
I've been using Zeee batteries for over 2 years. I love them. Very affordable and works good for both speedruns and bashing BUT I only use the ones that are less than 3000mah ones... not sure if they're made differently? Lol not likely but no complaints here. HRB(2600mah 60 or 70C) batteries on the other hand.. they worked good until they puffed up in less than 10 uses and got hot every use.
Before watching this video I got myself a 6S, 6000mAh, 100C Zeee battery pack off eBay. All I want to do with it is bashing and having fun with my Arrma Big Rock 6S, no speed runs or racing of any kind. So I am not concerned about peak performance. But what I do worry about, is whether the battery's lack of performance might damage the capacitor pack and subsequently the ESC of this vehicle. Any thoughts or experiences?
A weaker battery places higher stress on the capacitors as Ripple Voltage goes up. Whether or not this causes damage depends on many items. Most setups these days do ok.
Honestly had no complaints from these 5200 3s in my 6s Arrma cars. Lots of performance and run time. Used the 5200 4s in my 8s 90mm Phantom rc jet. No complaints either. Never puffed.
I do appreciate your video's Ryan. Your in-depth battery tests expose unreliable battery brands with their bogus capacity and C rating claims, so you're definitely helping the RC scene! I can't thing of any other consumer goods that are as frequently under-performing as RC Lipo batteries, it seems to be a "anything goes free-for-all" out there. Actually a battery that is as bad as the one in this video, is borderline fraud. Either you just had bad luck and received a dud battery - in which case Zeee should provide you with a good battery pack free of charge, OR you should get a refund. Regarding chargers, I need to get myself a charger that can measure internal resistance, as it seems to be one of the most important aspects of battery performance. Looks like you use a Graupner charger, am I correct? Are there any other brands you might recommend? Thanks in advance Ryan, keep those video's rollin', and greetings from the Netherlands 😊
Finally, I can show your proof that this brand sucks, so are many brands on Amazon. I have a Zeee 6000mAh 6S and it can't handle 50A (an actual reading) continues for 30min. Battery got hot to 145F overheated and after a few discharge and 2 months of storage, it became swollen. They send me a new one and I had to monitor the temp while using it. Oh, the IR is a lot higher than yours, around 18mohm per cell
@@RCexplained Zeee Premium Series 4S Lipo Battery 9000mAh 15.2V 120C, they are red instead of blue. been running these in my basher for several months without issue.
I am a newbie to rc, and i have 3s and 4s zeee batteries and also have some other brands. I honestly don't notice differences with what I do. I go to the park or track and enjoy the cars. I don't race (other then my buddies) and i have not had any lipos die bloat or get unbalanced thus far. My big concern is safety, are these zeee batteries just considered poor performance by your tests or is there a safety concern with general use? I appreciate your time and thanks in advance for any info you can give me.
The packs I charged in this video were way out of balance. This can be an issue if it goes undetected. If you are very easy on the packs and make sure cells are balanced, they probably will be ok. I can't really comment much on long term reliability or safety.
My 2 cents - most lipo safety concerns are going to be because of: 1) an external puncture or internal rupture of a cell. These are generally caused by such things as a catastrophic crash or by heat and the swelling (puffing) of a cell. 2) user error such as cross wiring jst plugs while charging multiple batteries or failing to balance charge, both of which allow the charger to dangerously over volt cells. 3) an electrical short, ie. the internal wiring is damaged, which might happen immediately in a catastrophic crash or be a precursor in which the battery at first seems fine despite having broken internal wiring or loose solder connections that allow heat to rupture a cell. Long story short, as long as you keep an eye out for puffing (this goes for all lipo brands), I don’t think you should have any particular safety concerns with Zee batteries.
The Zees LIPOs puffed like popcorn on scar Quad @ 6ah 6s and 12s. I’m guessing ~50 cycles. I had to go recover them from a client cuz I got so worried, now they r my trash cells for testing. Test grepow cells those are flight worthy cells. Hold up well upwards 200+ cycles.
@@RCexplained Grepow is the manufacture of gens ace which owns the tattu brand of LIPO batteries. Very popular. I’d say most common brand in FPV/RC at the moment. But grepow branches out to other devices. Like phones etc. they are everywhere.
@@RCexplained Zees level of QC is seen as a disposable and even dangerous LIPO by the pros. Mainly used by newbies on a budget for RC car builds. That’s why it’s in a hard plastic case (protect from RC car crash’s) flight or FPV packs don’t have hard plastic cases to save on weight. Plus won’t help protect much when aircraft crash. (More kinetic energy on impact)
As I was stating I run a heavy 6s on a 4s and it seems damn fast so how much C are we using in most situations… I hit 100mph on two 4s zee easily! … in series 😊
I have 3 zee lipos and they work ok but I had to charge them up first and discharge them down to storage mode a couple times to get the power out of them
I just bought 2 x zeee 4s 9000mah to run 8s in my boat. 1650kv 200A and a ABC 1817 high rake. I haven't received them yet, but I think I'll l just bite the bullet and order a pile of SMC's, or Gens Ace. thanks for the video.
I haven't tested the 9000mAh cells but if they are of a similar cell to the 5200's, you may see better IR but not as good as SMCs. Sounds like you will have a setup that can draw 150amps continuous for the entire duration of a run or is it a SAW boat
My (2) Zee 7200mAh 3s get 10 minutes of runtime. When I got a Gens Ace 6S 5600mAh 80c, I get 45 minutes of runtime. Spend your money carefully; from now on, I'll be paying for the good stuff right out of the gate.
Amazon keeps selling all these fake LiPos. They are just Cobalt free 18650 LiIon chemistry in pouch form. Basically, the same performance and chemistry as a DeWalt 5.0 battery.
Great info. But how many packs of this size and brand have u tested ? I find that most lipo makes will turn out a 'lemon' now n then as it is with most products. I'd be interested to see you test at least 3 of each make and sie to try and nullify this. Great vid 👍
It'd hard to budget this. That could mean $400 CAD for one test depending on brand. I'd love to have as many as possible but it doesn't seem realistic. At least right now.
@RCexplained I understand dude 😎 I've had some zeees last a few months and others still going two years later. I've never had one that cuts into LVC as quickly as you described though. I'd defo like to see other battery makes of the same size too if you could do more. I found it interesting to see how you hooked it up and looked right into it. Nice job bud
Hi, what do you think about lipo cycling ( charge 20A and discharge 40A ) ? It was proved to better IR ( at least for competitors with good lipos). Do you think it'd work with these ?
I have a video on the channel. I did not notice any difference when cycling. In fact I remember performance actually going the other way. But if you warm the pack up, they definitely perform better.
Thats what I've found with cheap battery brands they are not good once you start going above 65amp draw. I use them in planes and helicopters that draw max is 65 amps or less an their fine for that . The price is the real specs. most of the time lol and yes the companies are just lying about their specs. Nice video good to see the real data.
Good question. All tools that measure resistance, calculate it using ohms law. You need a voltage change and current to calculate the resistance component. 2nd reason, I use the charger is because it has proven to create reliable data sets that are backed up by the 105A load test. 3rd reason is that Viewers are able to use this method to run tests they can replicate at home using their own batteries and equipment. I want to promote this idea.
@@RCexplained Ok great.. thanks for letting me know you actually use them. That speaks volumes. I watched the older test video you did on these guys, and they didn't do very well.. so I was expecting a 'do not buy' reply 👍 ..not the best, but not terrible, as you said!
Its application specific. In the videos we are testing C rating and Performance. If you don't need accurate C ratings / high performance, then this video doesn't really help. I do these battery tests for the guys interested in being able to compare battery to battery and to get to the bottom of C rating accuracy.
@@RCexplained I like 'best bang for your buck' and also watch battery comparisons and videos like these to make the best purchase for what I can afford. Thanks.
First lol , I have a couple of these I think 9 ZEE batteries from 3s to 6s . I bought the v3 smc for speed runs in cape breton ns it was like 500 for 3
@@toolbaggersI think these were really cheap the bigger 4s 9000mah and 6s 5200 were 100 ish. It makes me wonder how they lie about C rating what do we need because I had my kraton 6s on a zee 4s today with the dogs chasing it and it was flying not even full trigger I made a video on my channel so it begs the question how much C do we need?
I have about 31 zee lipos, 21 of them I used them for a 21s3p 77v 200amp (500 phase amps) diy ebike battery pack for my Stealth Bomber ebike. Ive ran these batteries down to 2.9-3volts a few times on my ebike, shorted a few while building a bms and I run the 4s 10000mah off ebay for $110 a pair bucks in my 8s Vesla and 8s Vigilante and I easily blow tires. I dont disagree with the findings in the video but the battery will get the job done. They do get a little warm at times but I have never had one puff or lose a cell over about 3 years. I have Gens Ace batteries also that I baby also but the Zeee's so far have never let me down especially since I dont expect much from them.
@@nicod974do you rely on the media to tell you how to think and what to believe. That's a silly and immature question to ask anyone. Every man and his dog across every area is on this platform. You aren't even laughing with tears coming out of your eyes behind your screen Einstein, so why type them. Silly people
Interesting help you have received from the others I think the answer to your question ultimately depends on what your battery buying values are. A few variables that will influence your decision could be cost, performance, life span, capacity and proven results. But you may not be able to trust my advice here as I'm an influencer.
Based on peoples experience, if a battery works in an RC, it's good. The marketing label to me is quite successful as it's very easy to get away with advertising insane c rating values.
I can change the charge level for IR measurements but then it would add a lot more time to my process. I would have to charge it to said level, then wait until temperature returns to controlled level and then resume the IR test.
I am kinda sad. A Real test would have been soo cool, but a calculation chart? My Zeees has 0.7 mOhm, so what? Use a wattmeter or something, a Motor that pulls the max amps out and check, if the lipos can do it. I run 3s 5200mAh 80C with ease in my Hobao MTX😊
The test used was a real load test. 105A load with recorded data shown in the video for half of the videos length. Also, IR tests have proved time and time again on the channel that they are indicative to performance. The reading has to be done correctly otherwise the wrong results could be shown. I know these lipos won't hit 0.7mohm following the correct procedure. If they could, they would be performing like 0.7mohm lipos and they are not.
Zeee batteries are garbage HRB 100 c are another cheap brand and they get my Rc rigger to 120.8 mph on 8s 2x4s 5000 mah 100 c So not all china lipo’s are crap
Unfortunately I have a pair of these and asked the arrma forum what was up with my 4s outcast hitting lvc after 2 speed passes and it was because these aren’t as great as advertised . I take care of the packs too . Hit and miss because I’ve heard of people running these for years
I have the same batteries, a couple 2S and a 3S hard shell. Three years now still going great.
One of the big things that makes testing batteries troublesome is that most these companies are not the manufacturer of the actual cells. You can buy an great pack one day, order again, and get a completely different cell. It is why I stopped recommending batteries except from brands I'm confident are either the OEM or have outstanding QC.
That's a really good point.
That’s the smartest most correct statement on TH-cam
Just finished my second summer with a pair of 6000s 80m . My Fireteam loves them . Great price
The 2 7000 mah Zee batteries I bought last spring were the highest IR of all my batteries with the worst voltage drop under load. I don't use them at all anymore.
Yep, it baffles me how others seem to get Zeee packs that run forever. Friend of mine has multiple Zeee 4s 6200mAh packs which he hasn't had issues with, measured around 6-8 mΩ per cell on my D200neo charger. Meanwhile, I bought 4 Zeee packs (2x 2s 6000mAh shorty packs and 2x 4s 7200mAh packs) and all had shockingly high IR readings of 22-23 mΩ at 3.8v per cell and at room temp. Then after just a few cycles, one of the 4s packs sat around 35-40 mΩ per cell... and I'm very thorough with looking after my packs. Sent all 4 packs back and bought 2x CNHL 4s and they sit around 5-6 mΩ after just a couple cycles. My expensive 4s packs sit around 3-4 mΩ after many cycles.
Granted these are still relatively high IR readings, but charger IR readings aren't very accurate anyway. What matters is consistency, using the same charger to measure every battery.
I have about 10 zee lihv 4200mah that have been flawless well over 2 years, and a few older standard lipos. Not like my gensace adventures, which all 3 puffed about 3rd cycle. I will no longer buy over priced sticker packs. All my gensaces seem to puff, not the cheaper packs though.
That all I run. I’ve gotten 1 bad one new and was super simple to return. Have finally killed 1 one of my 4s 9000 mah. It’s 6 years old and I use it in a basher. 3 good cells 1 won’t register. No puffing and I do not ever balance or store charge. Just keep them in a metal locker
I have over 20 zeee lipos of varying sizes and some with over 50 cycles and over 5 years old. I love these batteries. Out of over 20 packs only had one go bad and I thoroughly abused it.
Love to know why@@redndeyes
I’ve used Zee lipos for the last five years for crawlers and fast stuff in both 2&3s .when I first started using lipo’s .I bought the expensive named ones then I tried these I’m still running some five years later and still working fine .I’ve not got one of the expensive ones at all left .I’ll never buy expensive make lipo’s again these are my full time go to now ..
Yes, these will work if performance is not a requirement and you don't need the c rating that you are paying for. Glad to hear that the packs work well for many years. Thanks for the insight.
I have a bunch of Zeee batteries and the 2S batteries I use in my Losi Promoto work wonderful. Back and forth, full throttle, wheelies the whole time and still last 20-25 mins. The 4S batteries i bought for my Kraton 8S only last a few minutes before they hit LVC. Exactly what you mention here.
Thanks for sharing and the insight you provide.
Thank you. I've been looking for the information you've giving in this video. Just as I've said for years, it's only a label 🏷.
Yep it's only a label. But it's hard to argue the tested data values.
I have 3 of this exact pack, Run them in a stock Kraton 6S as well as a 1/8 race buggy with an XR8 hobbywing sensored combo. All of them run just fine, have never puffed, stay perfectly balanced, and have a reasonably accurate capacity. You either got a bad pack or something else was going on.
I've had 4/4 bad packs then. Unfortunately, I think this is just how they perform. I don't doubt they will work in a basher if performance is not a requirement and it's kept under 90 amps or so for 95% of the run.
I had the other Zeee packs in a Limitless and yes it works, but the performance difference between an average pack and these is huge.
@@RCexplained Thats why I stated I run them in a race buggy with proper race grade electronics. Do these pack have the same punch as the proper race packs? No. Do they have enough power to make the buggy get around a track without any issues and cost literally 1/5 the price? yes.
I have four of these exact 4s 5200mAh 120C batteries and they work ok on my 1/8 buggy and truggy on a loose track. I knew when i bought them that i was paying for cheap batteries and i assumed that all the ratings on the case were just marketing (i.e LIES). Your test was great and just proved what i was thinking. Thanks!
Glad to hear you understood what you were buying. Thanks for your insight.
Been using zee's for 2 years,2s,3s,with no issues at all.bought 4 spektrum batteries of the same specs for my pro moto and 6s kraton,and the biggest difference is I get a little more run time with the spektrum,but the power is the same.all batteries were rated at 100c 5200mah.
Very interesting. I have quite a few 2s packs from them and I have never had any issues with slow charging, being really unbalanced or performance issues. I have never measured the IR on them as I have never had any concerns but I will have to test a few and see where there at. Thanks for the look at them and I wonder if I made to make a change....
Can you measure the mAh charged to full from 3.84v at 50%?
If it is not close to 50% of stated capacity, then it is not a real LiPo. Lion pouch cells are ~3.7v at 50%.
I have had multiple cars running on these for years. They are great for the money:
I use Zeee 7200 3S in a lot of my bashers, some as a single 3S, and I also have 2 pairs for my 6S vehicles. I tried to drag run them in my Infraction, and got a time measured as well as a huge voltage sag. Later down the road, I tried a GensAce 6800mAh 6S pack. The same weight as the 2x3S Zeees, so all in all no difference there. But with the 6800 GensAce, I got a fairly bit faster, drew more current and had muuuuch less voltage sag. So, I'll continue bashing the Zeees off road, and never use them for speedrunning or drag again. For bashing, they do absolutely fine. But for really high current applications, I wouldn't recommend them.
Thanks for the video, I really didn't expect much from these batteries, but didn't expect them to be that bad either.
Thank you for the insight. Inexpensive batteries can be great for bashing where performance isn't needed.
That's wild... I thought my 9000mAh battery was pretty strong😅 It did at least have a long runtime.
Thanks for showing us REAL DATA
I tested an 8000mAh just before I commit to these standard tests that I run through now. The 8000 performed better but I have 4000mAh packs that outperform the 8000 packs.
Good video. Have you ever tested Hoovo?
Also, I’ve used Zeee 3-6s and my experience has been across the board. The 3S 6000 mah, I believe are 80c hard packs work for a little bit and then go into LVC if running at 100% power. For my daughter’s Vorteks at 50% she can run for about 30-40 minutes straight with constant full throttle like you would expect from a 6 year old. The 4s 9000 mah 120c batteries work well for the most part in my XMaxx and 8s Outcast and will last approximately 30-45 minutes depending on what surface I’m running on. The 6s 6000 mah packs I believe are 100c and they seem to last about 20-30 minutes and they have decent punch. However, all that being said and the IR is high on most of them even when they are brand new. Their customer service is horrible if you have a pack that fails more than once they will literally stop responding to emails and no longer warranty their products. I switched to HOOVO and they are about equal or somewhat better in my opinion. What do you think of the hoovo brand?
Good insights. I haven't tested hoovo yet. But it can be something added to the list.
This is very informative thanks, yoir like the engineering explained for RC.
Glad it was helpful!
Awsum video ! I keep thinking of the old saying "you get what you pay for" the battery industry appears to be mostly a rought from where I'm sitting ........ It'll be nice if we get to see any batteries that get to their advertised ratings ! ♥️😉🙃😎 NZ
Awesome video! Ima have to go back and watch the rest! Thanks for the testing! TLDR, is there a battery brand you’ve tested so far that has actually performed consistently well?
Good to know! I have 3300 HRBs and had one Ovonic which was lighter and had more "C". But flying the capacity was much lower! Good I could send that back. But on my HRBs I have also IR differences. Best 4-5mOhm while one has around 8mOhm. My Molicel P45B have warm also 8mOhm or cold 10 mOhm but 4500mAh :)
Well it boils down to price and battery ability for that price. For most of us a so called mediocre battery at a reasonable price is totally adequate for our vehicles that aren't being raced in competition but definitely fulfill our daily bashing and fun running abilities of our rc vehicles.
Yep, battery tests are to create a better standardization for what each batteries performance will be like as we can't rely on the C rating.
Not surprised…I bought 4 of those exact spec batteries for my limitless V1 when I had just got into electric rc’s. Was excited to go and hit 100 with it, best I got with smooth trigger pull was 95…bought a set of gens 11000 bashers and went 101 first run, that drove me to learn about batteries and then got an esc with data logging, found that I was dipping down to 2.9v per cell on a first run smooth trigger topping in the 90’s. Got some smc 6500 hp’s and have gone 129 with voltages not dipping below 3.55v per cell. These zeee’s work ok for me off-road with my Mojave 4s but any type of high load they do not fare well. I thought it was a deal when I bought them, and it was because it was a learning experience. Even in the Mojave under moderate running, they get hot. Measured approx 5 mohms per cell. The HP SMC’s I have were approx .8 per cell. I even used the Zeee’s in an
SBR 2.0 and within 5-8 minutes of light to moderate driving it was hitting LVC. Not bad for low load type stuff though I guess. Nice video!!!
Thanks you for the insight.
@@69Busa08Nova By no means am I here to defend Zee batteries, as I’ve never owned one and think they’re mediocre budget batteries at best, but why on earth would you compare voltage sag of a 5200mah battery to a 11000mah battery? The big reason speed run guys run high mah bats is to reduce sag. A gens 5200 would also sag more than a gens 11000, so I’m not sure what point your first sentence trying to make.
@@JT-6s Not comparing them per se, saying that I couldn’t even break 100mph with the Zeee’s, only reason I got those big 11000’s is that was the only thing the hobby shop had that I figured could do it. I was very new to electric cars at that point so I saw the “120c” rating and was like..that’s a no brainer for the price. As I stated later on in that comment, I then purchased smc 6500 hp batteries, and at 129mph only dipped to 3.55 v/p/c. That’s a big difference between 2.9v at 5200mah at mid 90’s mph, to 129mph with 6500mah at 3.55v/p/c. I get that the Zeee’s are budget batteries, that’s why I bought them as they were cheaper and had better stated output than others for 30%+ the price. Then I learned that battery companies inflate (in this case hyper inflate) their c ratings to get people to buy. Just the stuff I noticed. Had I known about that earlier, I would’ve just got better batteries, but it was a learning experience, so for that I’m grateful…as a more apples to apples comparison, I bought the cnhl 5000mah 70c batteries and tried in the same car, got 111 out of it with less stated mah and c rating. Although that was basically the limit in my personal experience, I don’t remember what the sag was with those, would have to check my saved logs. I did just pick up some cnhl racing 8000mah 120c that I’ll be trying out and see how they do.
@@69Busa08Nova I agree C ratings should be taken with a grain of salt and are mostly a marketing ploy. Certainly other metrics, for example SMC’s so called “power factor,” would be far more useful. But then again even simple things like mah capacity are fudged by many brands, so it when it comes to maximum performance, reputation is more important than label specs. I have a 120c CNHL racing battery and it’s decent for the money with fairly low ir, I wish you luck with yours.
@@JT-6s thanks!! I haven’t really put the 8000mah cnhl racing batteries to the test yet, ran them a couple time at lower loads just to exercise them a little, plan on going out at some point soon and seeing what they can do. Been nice talking and wish you the best as well!!
I always buy cnhl batteries, they are one of the cheapest batteries on sale. Definitely not the best, but can't complain for the price. Bought 4x 8200mha 3s lihv for 20 euro each during flash sale.
I did test the CNHL, look for that video if you get a chance and was quite happy with its performance. Way better then Zeee if you like performance.
Thanks for the info bro 👍
No worries, glad to be doing these tests to reveal the true data.
Using Zeee in an all metal super heavy abs bodied mojave. No issues at all. Runs in the hi 50s off road with a 20t pinion.
Yep, no doubt. If the RC draws a lot, LVC will be hit. If it draws not so much, everything will run as normal.
Makes me wonder if there is knock off ones getting around I've only ever bought mine off eBay and I love them and been going for about 3 years and been buying this brand for probably 5 years
I've been using Zeee batteries for over 2 years. I love them. Very affordable and works good for both speedruns and bashing BUT I only use the ones that are less than 3000mah ones... not sure if they're made differently? Lol not likely but no complaints here.
HRB(2600mah 60 or 70C) batteries on the other hand.. they worked good until they puffed up in less than 10 uses and got hot every use.
Before watching this video I got myself a 6S, 6000mAh, 100C Zeee battery pack off eBay. All I want to do with it is bashing and having fun with my Arrma Big Rock 6S, no speed runs or racing of any kind. So I am not concerned about peak performance. But what I do worry about, is whether the battery's lack of performance might damage the capacitor pack and subsequently the ESC of this vehicle.
Any thoughts or experiences?
A weaker battery places higher stress on the capacitors as Ripple Voltage goes up. Whether or not this causes damage depends on many items. Most setups these days do ok.
Honestly had no complaints from these 5200 3s in my 6s Arrma cars. Lots of performance and run time. Used the 5200 4s in my 8s 90mm Phantom rc jet. No complaints either. Never puffed.
Same, i have the zeee premium 4s 120c and they are awesome. Perform with no hiccups at all. I wonder if its just a quality control issue
What brand is the most durable, least likely to puff and easily available in the UK? I'm after 2 4s batteries for my XRT
No idea what is out there in the UK
I do appreciate your video's Ryan. Your in-depth battery tests expose unreliable battery brands with their bogus capacity and C rating claims, so you're definitely helping the RC scene! I can't thing of any other consumer goods that are as frequently under-performing as RC Lipo batteries, it seems to be a "anything goes free-for-all" out there. Actually a battery that is as bad as the one in this video, is borderline fraud. Either you just had bad luck and received a dud battery - in which case Zeee should provide you with a good battery pack free of charge, OR you should get a refund.
Regarding chargers, I need to get myself a charger that can measure internal resistance, as it seems to be one of the most important aspects of battery performance. Looks like you use a Graupner charger, am I correct? Are there any other brands you might recommend? Thanks in advance Ryan, keep those video's rollin', and greetings from the Netherlands 😊
Nice to hear from you. It's a graupner. Love it. I don't really know what else would compare with it.
Finally, I can show your proof that this brand sucks, so are many brands on Amazon. I have a Zeee 6000mAh 6S and it can't handle 50A (an actual reading) continues for 30min. Battery got hot to 145F overheated and after a few discharge and 2 months of storage, it became swollen. They send me a new one and I had to monitor the temp while using it. Oh, the IR is a lot higher than yours, around 18mohm per cell
Using them along with ovonic's. Neither brands have turned into a spicy pillow which was a goldbat brand. Great magic smoke.
I've been using these for years in my bashers and also oval track racing, However I do use the Zeee Premium series, not the standards..
I can put these on the list, what's the model name of these.
@@RCexplained Zeee Premium Series 4S Lipo Battery 9000mAh 15.2V 120C, they are red instead of blue. been running these in my basher for several months without issue.
I am a newbie to rc, and i have 3s and 4s zeee batteries and also have some other brands. I honestly don't notice differences with what I do. I go to the park or track and enjoy the cars. I don't race (other then my buddies) and i have not had any lipos die bloat or get unbalanced thus far. My big concern is safety, are these zeee batteries just considered poor performance by your tests or is there a safety concern with general use? I appreciate your time and thanks in advance for any info you can give me.
The packs I charged in this video were way out of balance. This can be an issue if it goes undetected. If you are very easy on the packs and make sure cells are balanced, they probably will be ok. I can't really comment much on long term reliability or safety.
My 2 cents - most lipo safety concerns are going to be because of: 1) an external puncture or internal rupture of a cell. These are generally caused by such things as a catastrophic crash or by heat and the swelling (puffing) of a cell. 2) user error such as cross wiring jst plugs while charging multiple batteries or failing to balance charge, both of which allow the charger to dangerously over volt cells. 3) an electrical short, ie. the internal wiring is damaged, which might happen immediately in a catastrophic crash or be a precursor in which the battery at first seems fine despite having broken internal wiring or loose solder connections that allow heat to rupture a cell.
Long story short, as long as you keep an eye out for puffing (this goes for all lipo brands), I don’t think you should have any particular safety concerns with Zee batteries.
@@JT-6s thank you, much appreciated
@@RCexplained thanks, fair enough.
These c ratings are no more than think of a number !
Sounds like they are
So then what batteries are you recommending?
This depends on what you are really looking for. I've done many battery tests with multiple different brands.
The Zees LIPOs puffed like popcorn on scar Quad @ 6ah 6s and 12s. I’m guessing ~50 cycles. I had to go recover them from a client cuz I got so worried, now they r my trash cells for testing. Test grepow cells those are flight worthy cells. Hold up well upwards 200+ cycles.
Are the grepow cells popular?
@@RCexplained Grepow is gens ace manufacture which makes the tattu brand of LIPO battery’s very popular.
@@RCexplained Grepow is the manufacture of gens ace which owns the tattu brand of LIPO batteries. Very popular. I’d say most common brand in FPV/RC at the moment. But grepow branches out to other devices. Like phones etc. they are everywhere.
@dronelabs556 interesting, didn't know this.
@@RCexplained Zees level of QC is seen as a disposable and even dangerous LIPO by the pros. Mainly used by newbies on a budget for RC car builds. That’s why it’s in a hard plastic case (protect from RC car crash’s) flight or FPV packs don’t have hard plastic cases to save on weight. Plus won’t help protect much when aircraft crash. (More kinetic energy on impact)
Yeah I tried racing on 4s Zeee they let me down a few times 😢. Lesson learned I guess.
That's what I hope these videos can prevent. Wasted money if you are expecting performance.
As I was stating I run a heavy 6s on a 4s and it seems damn fast so how much C are we using in most situations… I hit 100mph on two 4s zee easily! … in series 😊
I have 3 zee lipos and they work ok but I had to charge them up first and discharge them down to storage mode a couple times to get the power out of them
I just bought 2 x zeee 4s 9000mah to run 8s in my boat. 1650kv 200A and a ABC 1817 high rake. I haven't received them yet, but I think I'll l just bite the bullet and order a pile of SMC's, or Gens Ace. thanks for the video.
I haven't tested the 9000mAh cells but if they are of a similar cell to the 5200's, you may see better IR but not as good as SMCs. Sounds like you will have a setup that can draw 150amps continuous for the entire duration of a run or is it a SAW boat
My (2) Zee 7200mAh 3s get 10 minutes of runtime. When I got a Gens Ace 6S 5600mAh 80c, I get 45 minutes of runtime. Spend your money carefully; from now on, I'll be paying for the good stuff right out of the gate.
Great Point!
Should do Spektrum batteries.
I want to as these are very expensive packs.
People with fast electric boats say " it's a brand new battery , it can't b the battery " lol 😆
😂😂😂😂😂
Amazon keeps selling all these fake LiPos.
They are just Cobalt free 18650 LiIon chemistry in pouch form.
Basically, the same performance and chemistry as a DeWalt 5.0 battery.
Great info. But how many packs of this size and brand have u tested ? I find that most lipo makes will turn out a 'lemon' now n then as it is with most products. I'd be interested to see you test at least 3 of each make and sie to try and nullify this. Great vid 👍
It'd hard to budget this. That could mean $400 CAD for one test depending on brand. I'd love to have as many as possible but it doesn't seem realistic. At least right now.
@RCexplained I understand dude 😎 I've had some zeees last a few months and others still going two years later. I've never had one that cuts into LVC as quickly as you described though. I'd defo like to see other battery makes of the same size too if you could do more. I found it interesting to see how you hooked it up and looked right into it. Nice job bud
Thank you appreciate it. I've done quite a few packs in the area of 5000mAh. Will continue to do more.
Hi, what do you think about lipo cycling ( charge 20A and discharge 40A ) ? It was proved to better IR ( at least for competitors with good lipos). Do you think it'd work with these ?
I have a video on the channel. I did not notice any difference when cycling. In fact I remember performance actually going the other way. But if you warm the pack up, they definitely perform better.
Also, I have a 7000 4s 100 C That’s still going strong couple years now
Thats what I've found with cheap battery brands they are not good once you start going above 65amp draw.
I use them in planes and helicopters that draw max is 65 amps or less an their fine for that .
The price is the real specs. most of the time lol
and yes the companies are just lying about their specs.
Nice video good to see the real data.
Why not invest in proper internal resistance instrument? The chargers only do approximation by changing current and looking at voltage change...
Good question. All tools that measure resistance, calculate it using ohms law. You need a voltage change and current to calculate the resistance component.
2nd reason, I use the charger is because it has proven to create reliable data sets that are backed up by the 105A load test.
3rd reason is that Viewers are able to use this method to run tests they can replicate at home using their own batteries and equipment. I want to promote this idea.
Zee hard packs are way way better than the soft packs. Treat them right and they’ll last
Believe it or not, a lot of my zeee packs came in well under 4
I've been struggling with zeee packs. I now have 4 and they are all brutal for IR
Bought a 2 pack one has worked for 2 years and the other one not at all , so it wasn't a bargain for me 😕
I would like to see him do the same test with their Premium series... Not their standards
Do you have a name of what they call this series?
@@RCexplained Zeee Premium Series 4S Lipo Battery 9000mAh 15.2V 120C
You're kidding, LiPo vendors exaggerate their C ratings??
Of course they do. All do.
@@kaiarneberg9203 it was a joke son I say a joke
Much appreciated and wow. Maybe they just left the decimal point out and thought nobody would notice?😄 What's your opinion on HRB packs?
Hrb perform better than these. I use some in a plane.
@@RCexplained Ok great.. thanks for letting me know you actually use them. That speaks volumes. I watched the older test video you did on these guys, and they didn't do very well.. so I was expecting a 'do not buy' reply 👍 ..not the best, but not terrible, as you said!
Its application specific. In the videos we are testing C rating and Performance. If you don't need accurate C ratings / high performance, then this video doesn't really help.
I do these battery tests for the guys interested in being able to compare battery to battery and to get to the bottom of C rating accuracy.
@@RCexplained I like 'best bang for your buck' and also watch battery comparisons and videos like these to make the best purchase for what I can afford. Thanks.
CNHL are really good best bang for buck batteries.
I have 1050 mah packs with better IR than that! Lol - I never buy any hobby stuff from Amazon.
Wow, that's nuts! Thanks for the insight!
First lol , I have a couple of these I think 9 ZEE batteries from 3s to 6s . I bought the v3 smc for speed runs in cape breton ns it was like 500 for 3
Don't waste money on expensive batteries. Just buy the cheapest directly from China.
@@toolbaggersI think these were really cheap the bigger 4s 9000mah and 6s 5200 were 100 ish. It makes me wonder how they lie about C rating what do we need because I had my kraton 6s on a zee 4s today with the dogs chasing it and it was flying not even full trigger
I made a video on my channel so it begs the question how much C do we need?
I have about 31 zee lipos, 21 of them I used them for a 21s3p 77v 200amp (500 phase amps) diy ebike battery pack for my Stealth Bomber ebike. Ive ran these batteries down to 2.9-3volts a few times on my ebike, shorted a few while building a bms and I run the 4s 10000mah off ebay for $110 a pair bucks in my 8s Vesla and 8s Vigilante and I easily blow tires. I dont disagree with the findings in the video but the battery will get the job done. They do get a little warm at times but I have never had one puff or lose a cell over about 3 years. I have Gens Ace batteries also that I baby also but the Zeee's so far have never let me down especially since I dont expect much from them.
so who makes the best Lipos?
😂😂😂 do not rely on TH-camrs informations...
@@nicod974do you rely on the media to tell you how to think and what to believe. That's a silly and immature question to ask anyone. Every man and his dog across every area is on this platform. You aren't even laughing with tears coming out of your eyes behind your screen Einstein, so why type them. Silly people
Interesting help you have received from the others
I think the answer to your question ultimately depends on what your battery buying values are. A few variables that will influence your decision could be cost, performance, life span, capacity and proven results. But you may not be able to trust my advice here as I'm an influencer.
Close your eyes and it's Kermit the frog talking
Yes, I do get these comments from time to time. I should start my video with a Kermit intro.
Would LEDs on a car --that indicated temperature of the batteries, ESC and motor- be of any value to anyone?
And these have 4.5 stars on amazon. This is why positive reviews have no meaning to me on Amazon.
Based on peoples experience, if a battery works in an RC, it's good. The marketing label to me is quite successful as it's very easy to get away with advertising insane c rating values.
i find the zee batterys die fast on rc cars
Same here . I just made a post on the arrma forum the other day and got educated
Is it fair to judge all Zeee batteries off testing one bad battery, or is this a consistency that Zeee are crap?
I've tested 4 Zeee batteries now. Two of this type. not one.
IR of a battery should be measured at full voltage 🙃
What are you gaining from this change of procedure?
@ to have the actual internal resistance, since this one will vary with charge and temperature
I can change the charge level for IR measurements but then it would add a lot more time to my process. I would have to charge it to said level, then wait until temperature returns to controlled level and then resume the IR test.
I am kinda sad. A Real test would have been soo cool, but a calculation chart? My Zeees has 0.7 mOhm, so what? Use a wattmeter or something, a Motor that pulls the max amps out and check, if the lipos can do it. I run 3s 5200mAh 80C with ease in my Hobao MTX😊
The test used was a real load test. 105A load with recorded data shown in the video for half of the videos length.
Also, IR tests have proved time and time again on the channel that they are indicative to performance. The reading has to be done correctly otherwise the wrong results could be shown. I know these lipos won't hit 0.7mohm following the correct procedure. If they could, they would be performing like 0.7mohm lipos and they are not.
SMC is so much better for about the same price
Agree
zeee is great for bashing. speed runs quickly show you why theyre so cheap
Why not test a soft pack guy?
I can.
Zeee batteries are garbage
HRB 100 c are another cheap brand and they get my Rc rigger to 120.8 mph on 8s 2x4s 5000 mah 100 c
So not all china lipo’s are crap
Name a battery that doesn’t come from China.
What a piece of garbage xD Latest tabless Li-Ion 21700 cells have better discharge specs...
They do an they probably don't lie about the specifications
Unfortunately I have a pair of these and asked the arrma forum what was up with my 4s outcast hitting lvc after 2 speed passes and it was because these aren’t as great as advertised . I take care of the packs too . Hit and miss because I’ve heard of people running these for years
You probably can run them for years too. Just gear down and draw less power from them.
4s 6800 mah 120c packs out perform spectrum 4s batteries all day long in my experience.. just saying
120c.....😅😅😅😅bullshit
The best battery I have tested is nowhere near 120