Lipo discharge, or...

[snydercj7]

Ok, not sure I am totally following with the discharge of the lipo's.

Charger/ discharger: TritonEQ
Batteries: 1300 mah/ 11.1v/ 3s

So if I discharge it does it @ 1v rate and takes the battery down to 9v. Does that sound right for the battery I am running?

If I run my batteries down in my crawler then only charge to 9v would that be accomplishing the same thing for long term storage?

I did a search but not finding exactly what I am asking. Any positive input to answer my questions are appreciated.

[Coops]

9V is dead dead deadski for the 11.1V lipo. The charger is discharging to the lower limit. Storage should be around 11.7V I believe. Fully charged should be 12.6V.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by Coops

9V is dead dead deadski for the 11.1V lipo. The charger is discharging to the lower limit.

+1, that is a "Wee Bit" too low.

These are LiPO's, don't treat them like NiCD's.

[Trubble]

+1 on what Coops said, storage voltage should be as close to 11.55 as you care to get, or 3.85v per cell. 11.7 would be right about on the money.

+1 on what Charlie said, too. Pretty sure I lost a LiPo last night (being stupid). On a sidenote; if your ESC has a cutoff, use it. A lot of cutoffs are set at a factory default of 3.0v per cell, about as low as you'd wanna go. On my MMM, I run mine at 3.4v per cell just to be cautious. Or, if your LiPo has a balance port, get an alarm. I had no idea I was wrecking my battery, because mine has no balance plug, so I had no alarm, and there was zero indication in performance that I was riding into the danger zone.

[Manning]

If you want to "store" lipos, just run them in a vehicle until the resting voltage is about 3.7 volts per cell. Done.

[snydercj7]

Thanks for the input guys. Feel like an idiot, because I am still not really grasping how the discharge on the charger works.

I do have the esc cut off programmed. That sounds like the way to do it.

I did run a discharge @ the 9v with the balancer plug. When I put the battery on the charger it shows each cell @ 3.56. Hopefully it saved me from my stupidity. After this batter finishes charging I will see if I can set it to discharge to 11.7v.

[Charlie-III]

Discharge is one thing, storage charge is another.

[snydercj7]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

Discharge is one thing, storage charge is another.

Thanks bud... Now I am really lost, or maybe I was just using the wrong terminology. I was actually asking about storage.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by snydercj7

Thanks bud... Now I am really lost, or maybe I was just using the wrong terminology. I was actually asking about storage.

Discharge usually drops the voltage to a minimum "safe" voltage for whatever battery chemistry you put in (NiCD, NiMH, LiPO, etc) along with some adjusting.
A "storage charge" is usually about 1/2 of the allowable range for a battery chemistry (AKA, 50% charge).

Make more sense now? If not, ask.

[-BIGMAXX-]

So I have an SMC Sport Max 2s 2200mah and I run it in my Mini revo vxl until the truck pretty much stops (gets all jittery) I pull it and test voltage with a multi and get 6.98....am I killing my lipo by running it so low?

I have a balance plug but no alarm at this time.

Also Is this battery safe to use in my LNC? The book says the ESC can do a 2s, but is there anything I should do before using this in that rig? Ive been running nicd until now.

Not sure if I have a BEC but the motor came with a big BEC looking unit on both + and - sides.

I may be limited to 2s, but is there a max mah I should stay below?

Thanks for the help

[Charlie-III]

-You can run any mah that you can fit in the rig.
-When you check the voltage, it has rebounded with the load off, thus the actual voltage when things get jittery is lower. I would quit as soon as you see a loss of power/control.
-You can use any battery chemistry in any rig, it helps if the ESC has a low voltage cutoff (LVC) so you don't overdischarge your LiPO's (if you run them). The only thing the ESC cares about is the voltage & polarity.
-Those "big BEC looking things" on the motor are likely caps that filter out spikes & electrical noise from feeding back into the ESC or RX.

[-BIGMAXX-]

Thank You, you are a wise and all knowing Charlie

Got my first lipo only a month or so ago and was unable to use it till I got a charger for it so this is all new to me.

[Charlie-III]

Glad to help.
Even better is when I give good & correct answers!

Post back if you have more questions or issues.

[-BIGMAXX-]

as long as OP doesn't mind I could use a real good explanation of what exactly a BEC is and what it does, along with whats gonna happen since I don't have one. I know I should know this but I don't