Batteries,which,what,why. Knowledge, opinion ,fact.

QAVRT · Jun 1, 2017

2 to 3 days is not a big deal to keep your batteries fully charged before using them. No need to "reduce" the voltage to storage levels as doing this basically uses one of the finite cycles your battery has. I've been using Lipos for many, many, years. I started using them in R/C cars and learned a few lessons as there wasn't alot of information out there back in the day. I raced both nationally and locally for many years so I got to know lipos pretty well. Now mind you batteries for R/C cars are/were typically more expensive. Spending over 100 bucks a pack was very common. So I treated my packs well.

Sometimes I had batteries that were fully charged for a couple weeks and I experienced no issues. No puffing, no noticeable difference in performance, longevity or run time.

Now given that, I usually run my flight packs and leave them at 3.8 volts till I'm ready to fly again at which point I'll charge them. And now-a-days, If I charge my packs and can't use them immediately I have no issues leaving them fully charged for a week. If longer than that (which hasn't happened yet) I'll use my charger to put them in storage mode. Just my experience that 2 to 3 days or even up to a week fully charged won't hurt your packs. (DISCLAIMER: I'm not telling people how to store or charge their batteries, just my experience. Always follow battery manufacturer's recommendations and guidelines)

Jtrjr said:
Another battery tip: Most chargers have a ""Lipo Storage Charge". If you know you wont be flying for a day or two but you've got charged (or discharged) packs laying around, put them on a storage charge. This will bring them to a good storage (or as Green noted "resting") voltage. Personally, I don't intermix charged and discharged batteries. I like my cell voltages between packs to be fairly close to each other before I charge/discharge them in any mode.

Jerry

Speeder · Jun 1, 2017

Exactly...follow the battery manufacturer recommended charging procedures. FIRES ARE BAD!!!!

Keith

VirtueViolater · Jun 1, 2017

from what i understand, one of the selling points of lipos is the fact they can be stored charged for extended periods of time

theGreenOrange · Jun 1, 2017

VirtueViolater said:
from what i understand, one of the selling points of lipos is the fact they can be stored charged for extended periods of time

I think that is teue, as long as they are stored somewhere near the nominal voltage, typically 3.7V/cell. They won't do as well long term of they are charged or discharged.

QAVRT · Jun 3, 2017

Back to my R/C car days racing story... (can you tell I'm old)...

I quit racing a few years ago. I stored some lipos at "storage" levels for over 3 years. I also "found" a fully charged battery stored about the same time...

The fully charged battery which was in a hard plastic case had split so bad you couldn't stuff the cells back in the case. So that went to a recycle center immediately. But its good to know that you can store a fully stored Lipo for many years full and it didn't blow up in flames.

The other 6 packs went to a friend of mine who was just starting out in R/C. Of the six packs 2 had issues. One would not balance charge and the other for some reason had discharged very low. We were able to bring it up to what appeared to be a full charge, but during the run it basically died. The other 4 "seemed" to run fine. I say seemed as they ran fine, plenty of power, and seemed to have a good run time...
They were a mixed "bag" of different battery brands. So I can't say that it was one brand over another...

theGreenOrange said:
I think that is teue, as long as they are stored somewhere near the nominal voltage, typically 3.7V/cell. They won't do as well long term of they are charged or discharged.

Speeder · Jun 16, 2017

Batteries are not created equal...
Look at the weight difference in these batteries.
1. Pic graphine turnigy 1300mah 4c
2. Pic thunder power 1300mah 80c
3. Pic tattu 1550mah 65c

Peace Keith