Solved How much can I expect from my slightly damaged battery?

RC Soarer

Member
Hi there,
Today I left my battery connected to my ESC and receiver and drained it dead (as in the display on the charger said: cell error voltage invalid). I fixed it using the method mentioned by this guy: RCModelReveiws. He mentions that I can't expect much out of it still. Can anyone give more detail on what I could use it for? I am using a Turnigy 500 mah lipo battery.
Thanks,
RC Soarer
 

FDS

Elite member
It’s life will be shortened and duration will be a lot lower. You could end up with noticeably less flight time. Those little batteries are so cheap I would get a replacement and dispose of that one safely.
I never trust necro lipo, certainly not enough to save $10 vs potentially crashing my plane or having a lipo fire whilst charging at some point in future.
Bruce’s method of revival is not unsafe, but you have permanently altered the battery chemistry.
 

epsilon

Active member
It’s life will be shortened and duration will be a lot lower. You could end up with noticeably less flight time. Those little batteries are so cheap I would get a replacement and dispose of that one safely.
I never trust necro lipo, certainly not enough to save $10 vs potentially crashing my plane or having a lipo fire whilst charging at some point in future.
Bruce’s method of revival is not unsafe, but you have permanently altered the battery chemistry.


Agreed, dispose of properly soon as you can. If money is tight, you can probably still use for a short while but a new battery should probably be your next RC investment. Actually, a couple batteries as it's much more enjoyable to be able to fly at least a couple batteries before having to charge! Just be cautious during charging... don't leave it unatended or sitting around flammable materials.
 

FDS

Elite member
Money will be a lot tighter if the plane crashes from going dead stick or the battery catches fire when charging!
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
I agree with @FDS, you definitely damaged the pack. How much damage is impossible to predict. It could be significant or it could be minimal. I have run into similar situations, had a plane in a tree, by the time I got it back a couple of days later. The battery was flat. I put it on the charger & got the low voltage error. I put th charger on lead acid setting & let it build up some voltage. Then switched it to Lipo, balance mode ASAP. In my case, there was no noticeable reduction in performance.

Always keep an eye on charging Lipos, especially those with any damage.
 

quorneng

Master member
How long the battery was in a discharge state determines how much damage has been done.
Assuming all the cells have recovered their normal voltage its internal resistance will now be higher.
The charger will recognise this and it will take longer to charge and may even be unable to reach a full charge state.
So apart from having less charge to start with the higher battery internal resistance also means more voltage 'sag' at a high current so less motor power and more alarmingly the power 'lost' to the motor is being absorbed by the battery so it will tend to get hotter and internally generated heat degrades the battery still more.
Used in these conditions it will not be long before the battery becomes either unusable or at worst it catches fire!

A 'damaged' LiPo may be of use in light duty applications. I have one such, now 3 years old, that I use to 'bench test' servos and receivers.
 

RC Soarer

Member
How long the battery was in a discharge state determines how much damage has been done.
Assuming all the cells have recovered their normal voltage its internal resistance will now be higher.
The charger will recognise this and it will take longer to charge and may even be unable to reach a full charge state.
So apart from having less charge to start with the higher battery internal resistance also means more voltage 'sag' at a high current so less motor power and more alarmingly the power 'lost' to the motor is being absorbed by the battery so it will tend to get hotter and internally generated heat degrades the battery still more.
Used in these conditions it will not be long before the battery becomes either unusable or at worst it catches fire!

A 'damaged' LiPo may be of use in light duty applications. I have one such, now 3 years old, that I use to 'bench test' servos and receivers.

I agree with you quorneng,
I will use my damaged lipo for light operations. I was think of using it to only power planes in a wind tunnel.