Quick Question about discharging Lipo

[tlandauer]

I have never had to discharge a lipo before, but I had a set of Dinogy ( 4s, 5000mah, 65c) charged up but looks like no time to run the boat since I am going on a road trip, I use Duratrax Ice Charger with external balancer: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMGS7&P=SM
How much discharge should I set? I know the storage voltage, just not sure what is a good discharge current rate.
Thanks in advance.

[Fluid]

No limit, my discharger pulls about 15 amps.

[tlandauer]

Fluid,
Thanks for the advice!

[J.W. Pepper]

Tim,
I use home made dischargers that I originally made to discharge my NiMH packs all the way before re-charging. They're automotive light bulbs wired to a Trax power connector, everything I have use's them.

I use this device... http://www.electrifly.com/miscproducts/gpmm3210.html - plugged into the balance tap with the discharger on the main lead to keep the pack balanced and to monitor voltage's. I was told the recommended storage voltage = 3.7v/cell. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that number, I'm still in the learning process about LiPo's.

I have never had to discharge a lipo before, but I had a set of Dinogy ( 4s, 5000mah, 65c) charged up but looks like no time to run the boat since I am going on a road trip, I use Duratrax Ice Charger with external balancer: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMGS7&P=SM
How much discharge should I set? I know the storage voltage, just not sure what is a good discharge current rate.
Thanks in advance.

[stadiumyamaha]

I just use jumper wire with alligator clips with a h4 12v to discharge. Works great and much faster than the charger will do.

[tlandauer]

Tim,
I use home made dischargers that I originally made to discharge my NiMH packs all the way before re-charging. They're automotive light bulbs wired to a Trax power connector, everything I have use's them.

I use this device... http://www.electrifly.com/miscproducts/gpmm3210.html - plugged into the balance tap with the discharger on the main lead to keep the pack balanced and to monitor voltage's. I was told the recommended storage voltage = 3.7v/cell. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that number, I'm still in the learning process about LiPo's.

I personally store my lipo between 3.7-3.8v/cell. I also use this lipo monitoring device. It's just that I have not used the discharge feature on my charger and was wondering how much I should set. I see that you discharge your NiMH packs before re-charging, I wish I were as meticulous as you are with my NiMH.

[tlandauer]

I just use jumper wire with alligator clips with a h4 12v to discharge. Works great and much faster than the charger will do.

please don't laugh: what is h4? I feel very stupid at this moment, any chance you can post a picture?
One thing I realized was that my charger was really hot, both fans were working over time and I ended up using cold-wet towel to chill the heat sink! , I was discharging 4s, 5000mah lipo at 1C .
about the heat issue on the chargers.

[J.W. Pepper]

I see that you discharge your NiMH packs before re-charging...
For a couple days till there's nothing left in them

With new packs, I discharge all the way, then charge up all the way a couple times before using them. You'de be amazed at how much of a diff it makes for conditioning the pack to take a proper charge consistanly & long life too.

And only charge at 1.5A, no safety timer, no trickle, I don't care if it takes longer. It's safer & charges the batteries better. That's why all my packs are still in perfect condition.

I've got 4x associated packs, the 3600's goto precisely 3900mAh & 4200's that goto 4600mAh each & everytime. I got 'em for a DuraTrax Evader EXT2 that I used to own - first R/C truck. Sold that rig long time ago, tried selling them to the buyer but no luck.

I used them with my Trax Blast boat when I first got it, but after the BL upgrade (3000Kv BLM) + the weight of the batts, only got bout 5~6mins runtime before performance fell off. That's when I finally made the decision to goto LiPo's.

While back I got a pair of Traxxas 5000mAh humps for my pede because they're the only one's I could find that would handle the BL setup that I put in it. With Onyx 5700mAh 2S it's faster than 8.4v and will do wheelie's all day no prob, go figure.

Add a Duratrax 8.4v 4600mAh DTX series hump pack to that collection.

But now that I gone to LiPo's i don't need them, and not having much luck selling them either. What, am I supposed to just throw them away??

Worst of all, last summer I bought 6x Gens Ace 5000mAh hump packs for the AQ WC I had - that's when I should have got my 1st 3S's. At least I can still use them with the Rio till I come up with an effective 3S LiPo solution.

I personally store my lipo between 3.7-3.8v/cell. I also use this lipo monitoring device. It's just that I have not used the discharge feature on my charger and was wondering how much I should set. I see that you discharge your NiMH packs before re-charging, I wish I were as meticulous as you are with my NiMH.

[Peter A]

H4 is a halogen headlight bulb, good for see the road at night!

please don't laugh: what is h4? I feel very stupid at this moment, any chance you can post a picture?
One thing I realized was that my charger was really hot, both fans were working over time and I ended up using cold-wet towel to chill the heat sink! , I was discharging 4s, 5000mah lipo at 1C .
about the heat issue on the chargers.

[tlandauer]

h4 is a halogen headlight bulb, good for see the road at night!

I need that in my brain!!!!

[Cooper]

Personally I would get a quality lipo charger that has storage setting (discharge). For what it's worth the money spent on quality batteries is gone to waste if not using a quality charger that will stop or let you know if there is a problem, will prevent lipo damage.

[tlandauer]

Yeah, I agree: It should be on my agenda. My Duratrax ICE have proven to be really good ones and I like the manual, straight forward, not like some of the more recent ones that you have a looped manual---keep pressing one button till you get it right. In fact that is why I bought four of them for a song when they were discontinued. But the Storage Setting is very useful and I have many more packs of batteries to deal with now.
Thanks! Any brand you would suggest?

[785boats]

I don't have one of these but I'm thinking of getting one. Sounds like a handy little unit. There is also a 50W discharge version available.
But, read the reviews at the bottom of the page.

http://www.himodel.com/electric/3_IN_1_Battery_Meter_Balancer_Discharger_LCD_Display_150W_Discharge.html

[NativePaul]

[COLOR="#0000CD"]But now that I gone to LiPo's i don't need them, and not having much luck selling them either. What, am I supposed to just throw them away?

No don't throw them away, they may be crap compared to LiPo but they are fab compared to the industrial NiMh in your cordless drill, swap the cells over and turbocharge your drill, you get more torque, more speed and more runtime with hobby grade cells in your drill battery case.

[tlandauer]

I don't have one of these but I'm thinking of getting one. Sounds like a handy little unit. There is also a 50W discharge version available.
But, read the reviews at the bottom of the page.

http://www.himodel.com/electric/3_IN...Discharge.html

Thanks for the link! Most interesting!