Solved Charging a battery.

[Joseph Lever]

Hello,

I have just receved this in the post and I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared of them, there were 6 warning stickers! So I decided to come to the forums for some help.

How do I store batteries? I know it says to discharge them but how long could I leave a battery charged / At what point should I discharge it?

Do I need to do anything to the battery now it has arrived or is it already discharged out the box?

How do I charge it / what settings will I need to change?

Any tips on charging would be very appreciated.

Thanks for the help, Joseph

 

[Innaviation]

Charging lipos is a super hefty topic and sometimes a very controversial topic. This a great article to help with you with charging and maintenance with lipos https://www.propwashed.com/lipo-battery-charging-basics/

Personally I use store and charge my batteries in two separate ammo cans which I got from Walmart for about 12 bucks. I general only leave my batteries charged for a few days at a time before there discharged to a safe storage voltage but you can probably leave them charged for longer if you need to. I don't general find that aspect of lipos difficult because most of them time I will have discharged the lipo from using it before I even need to worry about storage.

Whenever I get a battery its normally at storage voltage but even so I'll charge up full then fly with it so I at least know it works before I put it in storage.

Charging batteries can get really mathematical and complicated but this article helped my a ton when finding out the proper charging settings for the battery. For the battery in the image I would do a full charge (4.2V) and set it up for 3s the charge at 2.5A and discharge 1A. Again, other people would probably do different settings but thats what I would personally use.

One tip I could give is to NOT keep the charger plugged in while your not charging. I've had the charger wire short while its plugged in even without a battery connected so thats definitly not something you want to do.

I'm not professional but once you get used to charging lipos you'll find its simple and not that dangerous. Good luck!

 

[Joseph Lever]

Charging lipos is a super hefty topic and sometimes a very controversial topic. This a great article to help with you with charging and maintenance with lipos https://www.propwashed.com/lipo-battery-charging-basics/

Personally I use store and charge my batteries in two separate ammo cans which I got from Walmart for about 12 bucks. I general only leave my batteries charged for a few days at a time before there discharged to a safe storage voltage but you can probably leave them charged for longer if you need to. I don't general find that aspect of lipos difficult because most of them time I will have discharged the lipo from using it before I even need to worry about storage.

Whenever I get a battery its normally at storage voltage but even so I'll charge up full then fly with it so I at least know it works before I put it in storage.

Charging batteries can get really mathematical and complicated but this article helped my a ton when finding out the proper charging settings for the battery. For the battery in the image I would do a full charge (4.2V) and set it up for 3s the charge at 2.5A and discharge 1A. Again, other people would probably do different settings but thats what I would personally use.

One tip I could give is to NOT keep the charger plugged in while your not charging. I've had the charger wire short while its plugged in even without a battery connected so thats definitly not something you want to do.

I'm not professional but once you get used to charging lipos you'll find its simple and not that dangerous. Good luck!

Should it be in balance charge mode or just charge?
Thanks.

 

[Mhesche]

Lipo battery charging is the safest in balance charging. If you have both options I would go with balance.

 

[Innaviation]

Lipo battery charging is the safest in balance charging. If you have both options I would go with balance.

For sure, balance is the way to go. You should try charge too though because sometimes those modes on chargers will do both balance and regular charging through the connector. You might be able to find that info in the manual too.

 

[sundown57]

I'm sure lots of ppl here will give you good advice on how to charge them. so ill chime in with my 2 cents on how not to charge them. Whether you have then in a lipo bag, ammo can whatever, If they are being charged or discharged you need to be within eyesight of them. Don't just plug them in and walk away.

 

[Hai-Lee]

My turn! I have managed to extend the life of my batteries way beyond 2 years without the usual extreme puffing by following a simple approach. I temperature manage them!
I do not charge at more than 1C or 1 Amp which ever is smaller.
Before charging and after returning from the field I refrigerate my batteries to a low temperature, (a couple of degrees C - NEVER freeze).
After fully charging I return them to cold storage!

Even without discharging to storage charge for low periods of inactivity, (the recent COVID lockdown period - a few months). I just removed the batteries and gave them a top up charge, (balanced of course) and then took them out flying without any apparent loss cf capacity or increase in internal resistance. Mind you I do not use the expensive batteries!

Currently I am thinking about revamping my hangar, (getting rid of most of my planes and upgrading to float planes. I may add a few batteries to my swap over but my current range are still quit good so it is not a compulsory requirement.

LiPos will catch fire and even explode but the temperature must be high to support the fire - cooling is one of the fire fighting tools! If the batteries NEVER get hot then they cannot swell or catch fire!

Just what works for me and those with whom I fly!

Have fun!

 

[Joseph Lever]

My turn! I have managed to extend the life of my batteries way beyond 2 years without the usual extreme puffing by following a simple approach. I temperature manage them!
I do not charge at more than 1C or 1 Amp which ever is smaller.
Before charging and after returning from the field I refrigerate my batteries to a low temperature, (a couple of degrees C - NEVER freeze).
After fully charging I return them to cold storage!

Even without discharging to storage charge for low periods of inactivity, (the recent COVID lockdown period - a few months). I just removed the batteries and gave them a top up charge, (balanced of course) and then took them out flying without any apparent loss cf capacity or increase in internal resistance. Mind you I do not use the expensive batteries!

Currently I am thinking about revamping my hangar, (getting rid of most of my planes and upgrading to float planes. I may add a few batteries to my swap over but my current range are still quit good so it is not a compulsory requirement.

LiPos will catch fire and even explode but the temperature must be high to support the fire - cooling is one of the fire fighting tools! If the batteries NEVER get hot then they cannot swell or catch fire!

Just what works for me and those with whom I fly!

Have fun!

I have just noticed it says shiped at %30 charged return to storage charge ASAP does that mean I have to discarge it?
This confused me because when I plug it into my ESC nothing happens is there any way to see how much charge its got? Will my charger tell me?

 

[Hai-Lee]

I have just noticed it says shiped at %30 charged return to storage charge ASAP does that mean I have to discarge it?
This confused me because when I plug it into my ESC nothing happens is there any way to see how much charge its got? Will my charger tell me?

I use the same model charger and when you start the balance charge it will display the battery voltage. I am unceratin about your ESC as from experience even a battery that is almost flat will still have enought terminal voltage to allow the ESC to complete its boot up. Mind you you need to have it plugged into your receiver if possible as some ESCs will not boot up without seeing a ZERO throttle output from the Receiver.

Have fun!

 

[Joseph Lever]

I use the same model charger and when you start the balance charge it will display the battery voltage. I am unceratin about your ESC as from experience even a battery that is almost flat will still have enought terminal voltage to allow the ESC to complete its boot up. Mind you you need to have it plugged into your receiver if possible as some ESCs will not boot up without seeing a ZERO throttle output from the Receiver.

Have fun!

Hello, would you reccomend charging the battery and testing it with my ESC and discharging it straight after? Or as that dangerous?
Sorry if I seem a bit to over the top about charging this battery I just really don't want it to explode. haha
I have put some pictures below and I was wondering if all that seems ok to you? Cables, Settings ect...

 

[GremlinRC]

I have just noticed it says shiped at %30 charged return to storage charge ASAP does that mean I have to discarge it?
This confused me because when I plug it into my ESC nothing happens is there any way to see how much charge its got? Will my charger tell me?

30% is typically storage charge. This typically equates to 3.8v per cell. When charging or discharging (with the balance plug connected) usually you can press the 'INC' button and the display will change to per cell voltage. Fully charged is 4.2v per cell, 30% storage charge is 3.8v per cell. Don't leave your batteries at close to 100% charge for more than a day or two. Don't get too hung up about it either. Anything between 30% and 50% will be no harm. Another bit of kit you should consider is a battery checker. This is the one I use and I love it;
https://store.flitetest.com/isdt-bg8s-smart-battery-lipo-cell-checker-isd-bg8s/p694594

This will give you an exact % value and also the per cell voltages. Very handy when out at the field to get a good idea of how far to fly a battery. Personally I aim to fly to 30% charge but I don't get too hung up about it. If I fly to 20% I won't worry too much. However once you get below that (20%) you risk the current pull of the motor bringing the voltage below the cutoff of the ESC. If you really drive a battery too low, you risk a brownout on the receiver, but usually your motor (ESC) will shutdown long before that happens.

 

[GremlinRC]

Hello, would you reccomend charging the battery and testing it with my ESC and discharging it straight after? Or as that dangerous?
Sorry if I seem a bit to over the top about charging this battery I just really don't want it to explode. haha
I have put some pictures below and I was wondering if all that seems ok to you? Cables, Settings ect...

Relax. With a normal healthy battery. The risk of exploding your battery is very low unless you do something stupid like charging at a rate well in excess of design. I think that charger can do 5A charge at max so unless you mistakenly charge a very small capacity battery at the full 5A there is likely little damage you can do.. Typically I would charge at 1C. That is, whatever the capacity is on the pack, that is the charge rate I use. So a 2200mah battery like yours, I would charge at 2.2A in balance mode. I see you charging at 2.5A. That likely wont do any harm, but I would recommend sticking to the 1C rule to give your battery the longest life.

Just one other thing. Discharging a battery on your charger will take forever. Personally I use a dedicated discharger like to ISDT one;
https://store.flitetest.com/isdt-fd200-8s-smart-lipo-discharger-25a-200w-isd-fd-200/p999240
That discharges a battery like yours in about 3 minutes. Very handy when you come back from the field with a load of charged batteries.

 

[GremlinRC]

I should also clarify something here. I said the risk of a battery going bad under normal conditions is very low. However it is not zero, so always do battery charging operations outdoors or in the shed/garage. Anywhere but in your house!

 

[Bricks]

When flying set a timer one of the quickest ways to wreck and puff a battery is over discharge it.