How Far Do You Discharge Your Lipos?

[LiPo Power]

This is from Max amps:

Storage: If you don’t plan on using your lipo pack for longer than a week, store it at 50-60% of the pack’s rated capacity. Make sure to cycle and/or balance your packs at least once per month since leaving them on the shelf for a prolonged period of time can cause the packs to get severely out of balance or even go dead

http://www.maxamps.com/lipo-care.php

...so if I will balance them at 50-60% without cycleing that would do the trick right???

[Ub Hauled]

Huh.....well, i'm just gonna stick with 3.3 per cell. Guess I can't really go wrong with that. Thanks fellas.

yes it can go wrong... BUT, as long as you have your cells balanced you'll be fine.

[Ub Hauled]

Well this is what i have found recently. I feel.......in my own opinion and im sure many others will agree, but its possible i could be wrong, that when my batteries are on freaking fire on a SAW run, and smoke is pouring out like the forth of july that im just about at the "dont bother checking voltage" stage of there life.LOL!!!!!!!

LOL, you are right about that...

The shelf life of a lipo is I think about three years following recommended storage and usage. I believe they self deteriorate faster if they're stored fully charged for months on end. I don't necessarily sweat it for a week here or there.
Lithium based laptop batteries are similar... It's actually good to cycle them and not store them fully charged.

If you use lipo packs in boats, forget what they say about the shelf life, chances are you'll never comply with the requisites for long lasting packs.

So week or so is no problem I take it?
How would you store them over the winter before next season comes arround?
Good staff, thanks?
Robert

RObert, I have had different experiences w/ pack life... some I left stored for more then weeks fully charged (accidentally) and still, the packs are holding good voltage and others just are reincarnating right about now.

...so if I will balance them at 50-60% without cycleing that would do the trick right???

SOme chargers have an option that says " Charge for Storage" (or something in that realm), not sure what the parameters are. Mine is one of those and I do use it w/o a problem.

[domwilson]

LOL, you are right about that...



If you use lipo packs in boats, forget what they say about the shelf life, chances are you'll never comply with the requisites for long lasting packs.



RObert, I have had different experiences w/ pack life... some I left stored for more then weeks fully charged (accidentally) and still, the packs are holding good voltage and others just are reincarnating right about now.



SOme chargers have an option that says " Charge for Storage" (or something in that realm), not sure what the parameters are. Mine is one of those and I do use it w/o a problem.

What charger do you have? I'm curious.

[Ub Hauled]

I have an iCharger...
have been using it w/o problems able to charge packs in parallel (up to 10k), volts/cell, charge, charge w/ balance, discharge, store, motor mode, internal resistance, etc.
pretty good charger.

[domwilson]

Is that from Hobby City?

[Ub Hauled]

I bought it from a guy in CA (http://progressiverc.com/), but I think they sell it overseas as well...

[domwilson]

Cool. Thanx.

[ED66677]

I used to stick to 3.2V with the cheap packs I first purchased but since I have the Rhino's it's really different, after 95% discharge, witch is way too much, the voltage is 3.52V, measured 30 minutes later once back home, but the LVC would not trigger during the run and could not feel any power loss at the end of the pack!!!

[AntronX]

I bought it from a guy in CA (http://progressiverc.com/), but I think they sell it overseas as well...

Great charger. The manufacturer started a thread on rcgroups to ask what features people wanted in a charger. But there are still some hardware improvements needed. I had 2 of them burn up. I suspect my last 1010B+ had a toroid coil short out to the charger's aluminum case. There's a sharp ridge that puts pressure on the coil's insulation, and eventually it broke through. I made sure to cut away some metal in the new charger. So far working good.

[785boats]

Well this is what i have found recently. I feel.......in my own opinion and im sure many others will agree, but its possible i could be wrong, that when my batteries are on freaking fire on a SAW run, and smoke is pouring out like the forth of july that im just about at the "dont bother checking voltage" stage of there life.LOL!!!!!!!

Gary.
That is one of the funniest descriptions I've read in a long time. "She who must be obeyed" couldn't understand why I couldn't stop laughing.
But back to the topic.

FE_Chris.
It is generally accepted to leave 20% capacity in your packs after use to make your packs last longer (more cycles).
3.0V would leave that in the packs (roughly ) but the newer 30c & 35c & up to 50c packs with the higher charge rate capabilities (lower internal resistance) can be nearly fully discharged in regards to capacity at 3.0V. So limiting the discharge voltage under load to 3.3V seems to still leave 20% capacity in the packs ( sort of ).
3.3V seems to be the new cutoff point.
I try never to hit the cutoffs when I run. They are just a backup for me.
I did see a site explaining all this, but do you think I can find it now?
I'll keep looking
Paul.