To start this off right, I must say WOW. The reason for the change is the proven reliability and shelf-life. In recent weeks, my temperamental IB packs had a bad cell or cells and it’s a costly burden no one should have to deal with.

Now onto some things I noticed about the EP batteries. When I first opened the box received from Trinity. I really liked the shrink wrap they chose. It sets the cells out from the rest with the black and red shrink wrap. I also notice the numbers on the packs. The run time was higher than the IB cells I have received in th past, but the voltage was a little lower. Well, the Trinity Matchers typically read lower than other cell matchers. Although you know what they say, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”.

Building of EP Cells…
I was excited to build the packs and test them out for the first time. After assembling the cells into 4 and 5 cell pack configuration, I put them in the DPD Discharger made by Trinity and noticed all the cells were very close in voltage across the discharger for each cell. When the packs were discharging they all dropped off to 0.9 volts very close together. Another good incling, there were no dead cells in any of the packs I received from Trinity so far. This is a good thing, compared to the IB cells. The East Power cells seem to be more consistent over the Intellect cells.

Charging of EP Cells…
After the cells were equalized from the DPD Discharger it was time to charge them up. When finally charging the cells, I used a Turbo 35 GFX Charger. I charged the cells with a cutoff of .02 peak detection and at a 5.5 amp rate. They took well over 4700 mAh to completely charge as a pack. Any time a pack takes this much of a charge, I feel confident and knowing they are going to perform well in the car.

On the track performance is what tells the tale my opinion. I must say these are the best cells I have ever had in my car! I ran the IB cells in a 5 cell pack configuration along with a brushless 3.5 motor. When I put this pack in my car and pulled the trigger I quickly noticed there was a difference. The EP pack not only had as it seemed more voltage “punch” but more runtime. When running the pack I noticed when the pack was getting near dumping, the pack dropped off very quickly. Any other time I have had this happen, it usually means the pack is very matched and was correctly discharged while running on the track. Obviously, the first run on a pack is normally its best performance, so I decided to try it a few more times to make sure I had correct test results with these new EP cells. The first run I though the EP cells performed very well.

After, Running the EP Cells…
I quickly went back to my room at the track of Mikes Hobby Shop in Carrollton, TX and took the cells out of the car. I immediately placed them into the DPD Discharger at a 30 Amp rate and noticed all the cells discharged when running on the track to an abnormally equal voltages across the discharge board. I must say, I was extremely impressed. I wanted to run again, but before I charge the cells back up, I had to let them sit for about an hour or so. This gives the cells an adequate amount of time to rest. Truley needed to get the correct second test results.

After the hour was up, I placed the cells back into the DPD Discharger until equalized again. When the cells were dropped to the same voltage in the discharger I then charged them back up at the same rate as mentioned above. Once again the packs took an enormous charge of over 4800 mAh. I must say very impressive and it is nice to see a consistent charge time when charging the cells up agian. One thing I would like to point out, is the cells didn’t vent or make any sounds while charging unlike the IB cells did. Very pleasing to know the pack isn’t going to blow up in my face, lol. Now it is time to run the true test again on the track.

Running the EP Cells Second Time in the Same Day…
With running the same brushless speed controller and motor configuration in my Losi JRXS Type R Sedan. I must say, WOW! The pack is really showing its true performance this time. I even thought the second run on the pack in the same day was better. The voltage seemed to be like the car had a second gear going down the straight away. Once again the pack discharged on the track with an amazing curve of full power to dump.

I repeated this process a couple more times and noticed the pack did not fall off one bit. The charge time and performance on the track didn’t seem to fall off from run time to how it went from full speed to a dump quickly.

Conclusion of Testing the EP Cells…
In my opinion, these cells were immediately better right out of the box from Trinity. Obviously, the building would be the same, but from the discharging to charging and running the packs on track testing was impeccable. There were no dead cells out of the box. They were all close to the same voltage when in the discharger and on the track. The performance was impressive and seemed to have way more voltage. I not only noticed the packs punch off the line, but throughout the power band overany other cells I have run before. The durability, seemed not to be as much of an issue for these cells, with this batch anyways. I will have to acquire some more packs from another batch to give a 100% assurance these new EP cells are more durable. As of right now, I would easily recommend the new cells to any consumer wanting to get into this hobby with intent to have as little issues as possible for the money.