First board battery advice - What to put in my Trampa Monster box?

ESK8 Electronics
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Hey all, I’m a noob to the building community, but I just purchased a pre-built Trampa e-MTB! It’s coming with helical gears, 160kv 6376’s, 9-inch wheels in the rear, everything I ever wanted basically.

I’m just a bit hesitant about ordering batteries, and I’d like to advice on how to do things as simply and safely as possible.

Currently I’m planning on purchasing two giant LiPos. They’re hard to come by these days in the US, so hopefully nobody cart-jacks these last 3 here: https://www.getfpv.com/lumenier-16000mah-6s-20c-lipo-battery.html

They’re 16,000Mah each, 6s, 20c (40c pulse). And they both fit in the monster box! Huzzah! Only took me like 2 hours of shopping to find a pack that checks all the boxes. Anyway, My questions are, are these worthwhile for the first year or two riding my Trampa? Will this charger work well for them? https://www.getfpv.com/hota-d6-300w-ac-dc-dual-channel-smart-charger-discharger.html

Also, I’m curious about how to wire them up. Do I need some anti-spark XT90s? I’m going to harness them in series, and I believe the Trampa folks are supplying me with a harness. Still, I need to adapt them from their EC5 connectors to XT90s. I’m planning on using these: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/xt90-female-to-ec5-male-adapter-2pc.html

Is that all I need to buy for this build? Do I need some anti-spark connectors, and would that mean I have to solder? I’m still a novice solderer, but I could probably figure it out if that makes the setup safer. Again, my top priorities are 1: safety, and 2: simplicity. I suppose convenience and cost are also factors, but I’m thinking this’ll take a few weeks and cost several hundred $ any way I do it.

One final question: should I just talk to someone about a custom 18650 build instead?

Thanks in advance for any advice, and also thanks to the community in general. I’ve been lurking for about 6 months and already learned so much from you all.

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I just remembered to mention, I’m also planning to get these extension wires, so I can keep the lipos inside the monster box while charging. Pretty sure the monster box has side panels for the 6s charging wires, so I can just plug these into the sides and then into the Hota charger? I don’t think I need any other cables, since the charger plugs right into the wall? Also I assume I disconnect the series harness from the batteries before charging them? Except, if the harness is inside the battery box, then I would still have to open the box to charge the batteries every time?

Sorry if I’m making this confusing, and thanks again!

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damn. that’s some big lipos you found. :slight_smile:

They way you are phrasing your questions suggests to me you should try to really understand how you’re wiring things up how it works and what can go wrong. You do need an antispark system of some kind otherwise when you connect the battery pack to the ESC it will spark. as the capacitors in the ESC rapidly draw current. I lurked here for years but then got a lot more help over at the replacement forum on esk8 news. they may be able to help you further better.

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Yes, I do need to understand how the wiring works and what can go wrong :laughing: I clearly know next to nothing about this technology. I’ll keep reading, probably post on that other forum, and I’ll hold off on buying batteries until I know what I’m doing. Thanks for your advice mate.

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Okay, just bumping my own thread because I already got some new info from the other ESK8 forum. Apparently the Trampa boxes come with anti-spark connectors? So I’m thinking I shouldn’t need anything in addition to the parts I already selected? I still could be convinced to buy a giant Li-ion from someone in the US, but it have to be simpler and safer than these Lipos. Still, I’m just trying to figure out if the parts I selected will technically work and be safe. Thanks!!

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Ok the lipos should be perfectly safe as long as you use a good lipo charger and keep them at 50% when storing them. Get a lipo bag and keep them inside there that should help with safety. Everything else is fine by what I can see. I would say its a good parts list.

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Thank you so much! A little reassurance before I throw $500+ at these lipos really helps. I am also planning to get a battery safe bag, just in case.

One tiny final detail - and I already emailed Ted at trampa about this, but I’m hoping to actually charge the batteries inside the monster box. If i read the diagram correctly, the harness that links the batteries sits inside the box, and only connects one pole of the batteries. So with that alone, no current can flow? Its only when the loop keys are connected that the circuit is complete (thats why they’re called LOOP keys?) That would mean i just disconnect the loop key before charging, and can keep both my lipos inside the box, “harnessed” together. Assuming I balance them to the sane voltage before connecting the loop key?

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That is correct make sure to check them out once in a while to check for puffing.

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1_HI4kj-TPAQrfQkAdrw2KTA plz

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Thanks everyone.

I figured it out, just got those two Lumenier batteries and the xt90 adaptors. Also got the Ultrapower 1200 charger listed on the Trampa website. They emailed me back explaining basically all the cables are in the box already, no need to buy extra stuff, except make sure my batteries connect to xt90s. Also, I found the videos they posted to youtube showing how to wire the battery box, and how to charge it with the Ultrapower charger.

That HOTA charger I mentioned earlier wouldn’t have worked to charge the batteries inside the box though. It’s a dual 6s charger, and the harness inside the Monster box combines the 6s’s into a single 12s output. So to charge that without opening the box, I needed the 12s charger, otherwise I would have to unplug the harness each time and charge the 6s batts individually. I was right about the balancing cables connecting through the box’s side panels, but those aren’t the primary charge cables. The balancing current is a smaller current that does go to each cell in the battery individually, but it’s used in combination with the stronger current going through the xt90s.

Hope that helps someone else in my position!

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