Batteries and their storage

DrAbsurd

DrAbsurd

Well-Known Member
I see a lot about not storing your batteries full charged or letting them go completely empty. What time frame are we talking about? How long fully charged is to long?
 
I try not to let my batteries sit fully charged for more than a week & then discharge them to ~ 40%. This should leave them at ~ 15.2 volts for storage.

I've recently began using an ISDT FD-100 Discharger. It is especially convenient in the winter with the larger batteries.
 
Any amount of time fully charged increases IR (internal resistance) which is cumulative. Therefore if you left them full for only 2 days but did this 20 times, this would have a cumulative effect of leaving your lipo fully charged for 40 days. So although it's not always possible, the perfect answer is as little time as possible.
 
I picked up a SKYRC iMAX B6AC V2 AC/DC Dual Power Professional LiPo Battery Balance Charger/Discharger.

It has a storage mode for the batteries, should I be using that mode to charge the batteries for storage and then fully charge before flying?
 
Steven Campbell said:
I picked up a SKYRC iMAX B6AC V2 AC/DC Dual Power Professional LiPo Battery Balance Charger/Discharger.

It has a storage mode for the batteries, should I be using that mode to charge the batteries for storage and then fully charge before flying?
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Yes, that is the best practice for maximum battery life.
 
A feature I've tried on the charger is the discharge and then to recharge it to check the true mah on the battery if I'm using it right.

On a toy drone, the factory battery charged from a full discharge on discharge mode, took 1950mah on a 2000mah rated battery for the spare batteries from another company claiming 2000mah only charged to 1485mah.

When time permits I'm changing the connectors on the batteries and the drone to XT60 to try and unify my charging setup.
 
Steven Campbell said:
On a toy drone, the factory battery charged from a full discharge on discharge mode, took 1950mah on a 2000mah rated battery for the spare batteries from another company claiming 2000mah only charged to 1485mah.
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That's quite common especially with Chinese lipo manufacturers. It's called false advertising, but what can you do about it?

In the world of vapeing where battery safety is critical in complying with Ohms Law & avoiding an explosion, counterfeit batteries are a big problem.
 
I put neutral to negative review and the company sent me out a second set.

I'll likely discharge and charge them and record the mah for all and review it as such.
 
I wouldn't leave a battery for more than 2days fully charged. Either use it up or put it to storage charge of 3.8v per cell.
Battery should be ok for 2 months atleast on this. Then just storage charge again if it's lost a few volts. This is how I find failing Lipo's. Usually these ones sag or run out quick.so I will mark them & keep my eye on them.
 
Are these Lipos really that dangerous ? I am a skeptic on this.
These batteries are sold every day to unsuspecting parents and given to their kids to play with toy's quads.
I would suspect that we would have an epidemic of house fires and explosions and that's not the case!
I call hysteria on all this Lipo battery nonsense.
Anyone who can post a link to a fire started by a Lipo battery being used in it's intended manner should post it.
I store gun powder and worst yet black powder and for over 30 years, have never had a problem.
Stop the HYSTERIA or the government will ban LIPOS !!!!!!
Common sense is they key here folks.
Some are born with it and others are just totally clueless and should be eliminated from the GENE pool because they are retards.
Due to Political Correctness we shouldn't say the RETARD Word any more.
They should be referred to as Mentally Challenged Imbeciles.
 
Lipos are dangerous if even a lipo that looks ok can go up in flames , I have never had one do it to me the rules are
Never leave a lipo charging unattended
Don't store fully charged
Store Lipos in an ammo box of lipo sack
Don't charge over it C rate unless it says you can on it
Take extra care if it's starting to puff , think of disposal of the battery

Store at 3 to 3.2 volts per cell and check every month
Imax and some other chargers have a program that does internal resistance this will give you a clue if there is an internal fault starting in the battery like a cell going bad
 
John Scott said:
Are these Lipos really that dangerous ? I am a skeptic on this.
These batteries are sold every day to unsuspecting parents and given to their kids to play with toy's quads.
I would suspect that we would have an epidemic of house fires and explosions and that's not the case!
I call hysteria on all this Lipo battery nonsense.
Anyone who can post a link to a fire started by a Lipo battery being used in it's intended manner should post it.
I store gun powder and worst yet black powder and for over 30 years, have never had a problem.
Stop the HYSTERIA or the government will ban LIPOS !!!!!!
Common sense is they key here folks.
Some are born with it and others are just totally clueless and should be eliminated from the GENE pool because they are retards.
Due to Political Correctness we shouldn't say the RETARD Word any more.
They should be referred to as Mentally Challenged Imbeciles.
Click to expand...
Ummmm Mentally Challenged Imbeciles Huhh. This is a perfect example of talking before you know anything about what youre talking about. Good practice is trying to state an opinion without being rude or mean, just in case youre wrong.
 
I'm sort of feeling mentally challenged for buying a fire extinguisher to put near my work bench. :rolleyes:
 
This is why you should monitor your battery charging. It may not happen 99.99% of the times, but that 0.01% is when your house burns down. Luckily this guy only lost his radio.

Reddit thread

Wb0jibB.jpg
 
DrAbsurd said:
I see a lot about not storing your batteries full charged or letting them go completely empty. What time frame are we talking about? How long fully charged is to long?
Click to expand...
I have one of those multiple chargers that allows you to charge three (Phantom 4) batteries at a time. Let's say I use all of them up on a weekend and will not be flying until the following weekend. On Sunday night, I put all three of them in the charger and charge them to 65%. The charger has a switch that allows you to charge to either 65% or 100%. Once they are charged to 65%, I unplug the charger from the wall and let them sit there until Friday night. On Friday night, I reconnect the charger and charge all three of them up to 100%, ready for the next two days of flying.

This is what I do. It may not be the best way to do it. If anyone has comments or suggestions regarding how I can improve my charging procedure, whip on - I welcome comments.

Edit note: One thing learned from reading the posts on this thread - from now on, my 65 % charged lipos get stored in their fireproof containers (I have one for each battery) from Monday to Friday, rather than just letting them sit in the charger.
 
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holtneil said:
Watch this guys
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That's one, scary video. When those baby's go, they really go, don't they? I have heard of an airplane (a large, cargo jet) that crashed while transporting a load of lipo batteries in a lower, storage area of the plane. One of them went off, setting off others and the plane ended up going down.
 
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