Outrage releases a new brand of lipo, I put it to the test!
In their continuing endeavors to expand their brand and bring quality products at competitive prices to enthusiasts, Outrage RC recently introduced their line of NRG lithium-polymer battery packs. Outrage RC has targeted these new batteries for RC helicopter use, but other applications are reportedly on the way.
The batteries are made overseas and are designed with a low cell internal resistance on charge. They have found that this correlates with lower discharge internal resistance, better current and voltage delivery along with lower operating temperatures. In their lab tests they ran over 136 cycles and found the battery continued to deliver strong performance.
For this review I was supplied a 6s 2500 25C from HeliDirect.com. The battery does not come with a power connector. I choose to use a Dean’s Ultra connect. The battery also comes with a Thunder Power type balance connector, but a PolyQuest type adapter is also included.
My test model is a carbon fiber framed, Align T-Rex 500 Torque Tube model helicopter with the following equipment:
Motor: Align RCM-BLS500L 1600kv in-runner
Pinion: Revco 15 tooth
Speed Control: Castle Creations Phoenix ICE 100
Governor High Target head speed: 2800 RPM
Governor Gain: Medium
BEC Output Voltage: 5.5 VDC
Cyclic Servos: JR Z3650
Tail Servo: Futaba S9254
Gyro: Futaba GY401
Receiver: Futaba R617FS 2.4GHz
Main Rotor Blades: CYE Radix cosmetically flawed carbon fiber 425mm
Tail Rotor Blades: Helidirect carbon fiber 70mm (ED-1192CF)
Battery Specs:
Review Battery:
Outrage 25C 6s 2500
Price: $108.49
Weight: 426g (advertised, with wire), 421.2 (measured)
Size: 140x45x33mm
Max discharge rate: 50C
Max charge rate: 2C
Comparison Battery:
FlightPower EVO25 6s 2500
Price: $184.99 (last known retail price, now discontinued)
Weight: 334g (advertised), 338g (measured)
Size: 131x20x36mm
Max discharge rate: 50C
Max charge rate: 1C
For the purpose of this test I decided to fly each battery for 4-minutes divided up into hovering, figure-8s and vertical pitch-pumping. This would illustrate each battery’s ability to power the model through flight specific loads.
Outrage NRG battery measured weight:
Thanks to the internal data logger incorporated into the ESC I was able to quickly compare the performance capabilities of the packs. The most telling data is when you look at the pitch-pumping section of the graph and review the RPM fluctuation between the peaks. In the case of the FlightPower pack, the most fluctuation was 423 RPM during the last pitch-pumping exercise. For the Outrage pack I found a 421 RPM fluctuation in the second round of pitch-pumping. This is a small difference, but shows that the Outrage pack performs nearly identically to a pack that is just over 70% more expensive.
Flight Test 1, Outrage pack, Hovering – Forward Flight – Pitch Pumping
Data Displayed: Voltage, Ripple, Current, RPM
Flight Test 2, FlightPower pack, Hovering – Forward Flight – Pitch Pumping
Data Displayed: Voltage, Ripple, Current, RPM
Flight Test 1, Outrage pack, Graph: Current & RPM fluctuations during pitch pumping
Flight Test 2, FlightPower pack, Graph: Current & RPM fluctuations during pitch pumping
The ESC graphs also displays battery ripple. The battery ripple data is indicative of the cumulative (for multiple cell batteries) voltage drop during operation. This indicates how well a battery responds to imposed loads where a lower number indicates a more resilient voltage level or stronger chemistry. A higher number indicates that the battery isn’t performing as well in a given application.
As a hypothetical example, using the same brand and series of battery, a 10C rated battery pack will have a higher number (higher voltage drop during loading) compared to 20C rated battery when used in the same model under the same flight conditions. In the case of a lithium-polymer battery, if your battery ripple data starts to near the 2.0 mark, then you should either change to a less demanding motor/pinion setup or upgrade to a higher C-rated battery to better sustain the demand without potentially damaging the cells.
For the test flights performed, I found an average battery ripple of 0.29 and a max of 1.04 for the FlightPower pack. In the case of the Outrage pack, I found an average of 0.33 and max of 1.34. Again, the less expensive Outrage pack wasn’t far off from the much more expensive and only marginally more capable FlightPower pack.
To surmise, the Outrage lipo performs exceptionally well when compared to a premium lipo, is able to be charged safely at twice its C-rating and delivers a significant value for the money.
You see the full Outrage battery line-up at HeliDirect.com
These kind of tests are nice and should be done more often. However, I don't understand why flightpower was used as the benchmark to compare against. Flight power is widely considered to be inferior to most other brands of lipo batteries, and cost much more to boot. I would've found this article much more useful if the comparison had been against a similar CX hyperion battery that is supposedly capable of 5C charge rates.