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Battery Conditioning

Discussion in 'Electronics' started by Ben Altenes, Jul 28, 2013.

  1. Ben Altenes

    Ben Altenes New Member

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    How often does one do a Full charge - Discharge - Store charge, to keep there batteries in good condition?
     
  2. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    I just fly 'em. And if I'm not going to fly again for a while, I leave them discharged.
     
  3. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

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    I have 18 QC 6200 batteries. I always put them on store charge after flying. I cycle the batteries from charged to discharge about once every 2 months. I never keep a battery fully charged for more than 2 days tops.
     
  4. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Based on some earlier research I did, I've seen quite a few folks who charge them up, fly, and then take them to storage voltage.
    That's certainly what I do. If I have unused charged batteries, and I'm not going to fly for 48 hours or so, then I'll take them down to storage voltage.

    I've never used the "Discharge" capability of the Hyperion Superduo for a flight battery other than when I had one damaged with an arboreal encounter and needed to render it safe before putting it into the trash. I then checked with a voltmeter that it was inert.

    A good reference source appears to be batteryuniversity.com -- for example, see http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries
    Yeah...I know it's for Lithium Ion, but those (according this web site) are essentially the same as LiPo -- it's more the packaging and gel.

    Andy.
     
  5. Ben Altenes

    Ben Altenes New Member

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    Thanks for all the input
     
  6. Sebastian Meredith

    Sebastian Meredith Active Member

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    Same as most. Fly then Charge up to Store if i'm not flying again for more than 48hrs. Otherwise I i charge them fully and leave them charged for the next days flying. I never leave them discharged. I have started using a Lipo log to monitor our lipo life and usage. Should have done so a long time ago. It's an iPhone app, works quite well.
     
  7. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Sebastian which app?
     
  8. Nick Adams

    Nick Adams Member

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    I am not sure where I read it, I think it was on the multirotor forum but a guy there was saying that if you were not to 'store charge' your batteries after every use then the effect would be that you would lose 5-10% capacity of the battery each year. My thinking is that if a battery only has a life expectency of 2 years then its a small price to pay. I have heard about only leaving your battery charged for up to 48 hours before discharging it but in practical terms it can be tuff to do. Before I went on vacation, I was I trying to fly every day for a couple of weeks. Between the bad weather and my schedule it was not possible. It seemed like I was constantly either charging or store charging the batteries. I wonder what effect that has on the batteries?, I would suspect that has some derogative effect, although I don't honestly know. It would be nice to know the science behind the '48 hour charge' rule of thumb that seems to have become the norm and what the real consiquencies would be if it is not followed.
     
  9. Sebastian Meredith

    Sebastian Meredith Active Member

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    Hey Gary.
    It's called LipoLog. Nice and neat. No frills. Quite like the summary graph, gives a clear view of the batteries performance. There is a neat feature that you can assign a QR code to each battery. I created a QR Code for each battery. Printed it out and stuck in on each one. After a flight the app scans the code and pulls up the log for that battery. Nice feature if you have loads of batteries and don't want to trawl through a list to find the right one. Works for me.
     
  10. Sebastian Meredith

    Sebastian Meredith Active Member

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  11. Ben Altenes

    Ben Altenes New Member

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    Pretty slick app
     
  12. Gustav Raberg

    Gustav Raberg Member

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    Sebastian Meredith likes this.
  13. Sebastian Meredith

    Sebastian Meredith Active Member

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    Just make a note in the message section which battery number you paired that lipo with when you capture the lipo details. At the end of the day you wanting to track the longevity and performance if a battery, does not matter whether it was used one up or two up.
     
  14. Bo Tornvig

    Bo Tornvig Member

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    I crash landed and broke the landing gear yesterday, with a one year old 6200 mah battery. It just died on me. I discharge my battery's after every flight. But I see in this thread, that's not the way to go... Will the Lipo Battery accept a full charge without being totally discharged?
    Cheers Bo
     
  15. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Bo can you describe what you mean by "I discharge my battery's after every flight"? Discharge them how and to what voltage?
     
  16. Bo Tornvig

    Bo Tornvig Member

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    Hi Gary,
    On my charger there is a "discharge" option. There I can discharge my 4S battery down to 12 volt. That´s what I have bin doing after every flight.

    Cheers
    Bo
     
  17. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Bo which charger are you using? If it is really taking them down to 3 volts then you are likely killing the battery longevity. Most chargers take the storage voltage to 3.7 volts, not 3.0 volts per cell.
     
  18. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Bo: Gary's absolutely correct -- there is a big difference between taking a LiPo to "storage voltage" (typically 60-70% of full charge) and "discharging voltage."

    In some cases, if you discharge a LiPo you may find that you cannot re-charge it.

    Andy.
     

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