lipo charging and storage

[fred0000]

I searched, didn't see anything, the puffed lipo thread gave me the idea.

so how do you guys charge and store your lipo's

on a lipo pack it says "charge on pavement atleast 10 feet from any firehazzard" I live in an apartment, i'm not sitting outside in the parking lot for XX amount of time while my lipos charge.

I have a lipo storage sack. I charge my lipo's either in it, or on it (always balance charged), and ALWAYS when i'm there to supervise, if I know I wont be around long enough to charge a lipo I simply wont.

storage is something i've been sorta worried about, I have a lipo sack as mentioned, but is this enough? I store my lipo's fully charged too.

what are your storage and charging routines, would be some good info for others looking to get into lipo's

 

[2500hdon37s]

never store a lipo at full charge, 60%

i always balance charge mine an, if they are gonna sit for over a week ill put them in storeage mode

 

[fred0000]

never store a lipo at full charge, 60%

i always balance charge mine an, if they are gonna sit for over a week ill put them in storeage mode

am I suposed to guess when its 60% charged? or is that what the lipo discharge 6.0v function on my charger is for?

i've been storing them fully charged cause thats what i've been told by local lipo users, thanks for throwin in some info!

 

[2500hdon37s]

am I suposed to guess when its 60% charged? or is that what the lipo discharge 6.0v function on my charger is for?

i've been storing them fully charged cause thats what i've been told by local lipo users, thanks for throwin in some info!

im not sure what charger you have so i dont know, but my hyperion charger has a mode that discharges or charges a lipo to around 60% for storage

 

[fred0000]

sounds good, i'll defenatly look into it, thanks. any storage tips? and anyone else?

 

[CreepyCrawl]

There is no need to discharge a Lipo with your charger even though there is a setting to do so, unless your charger doesn't have a storage setting, in which case you would use it to discharge them down to the correct percentage.

Chargers with a storage feature will discharge a fully peaked pack to the appropriate limits when using that setting.

Always balance your Lipo packs when charging/discharging as well, this is vital to getting the most out of your packs in both performance and cycle life.

If your charger does not have a storage charge setting, simply check the mAH and voltage of a fully peaked pack and then when you're ready to store it, stop the charge at approximately 50 to 60 percent of it's overall capacity.

It's also a good idea to check the voltage every once in a while if they're going to be stored for a substantial length of time, like over the winter.

Connecting each pack to your charger and briefly initiating the charge cycle will work, or you can pick up one of those slick little voltage testers on Ebay for about $6.00

Pesonally, unless my packs are nearing the end of their cycle life, I charge them on my bench without a Lipo sack, but it never hurts to err on the side of caution if your're not sure.

I typically use the storage setting if I know that I won't be using them for a week or more, then it's a simple matter of peaking them out when I'm ready to use them.

 

[fred0000]

I typically use the storage setting if I know that I won't be using them for a week or more, then it's a simple matter of peaking them out when I'm ready to use them.

so, your saying its OK if its within a week or so? I go crawlin about twice a week, hence why i've been keeping them charged, but I would make the effort to store them in the storage setting if i'm doing something unsafe.

no ones mentioned anything about proper storage, proper storage in my opinion should mean the packs are somewhere safe in the event a pack were to fail.

 

[fred0000]

ok, so i've been doing some reading, and i've read that storing fully charged has nothing to do with safety, and only to do with battery life, if this is the case I will continue to do what i'm doing, unless I stumble accross something that convinces me otherwise (or one of you does)

The usable cycle life will be somewhat shortened by storing fully charged. I think many folk are prepared to accept that in exchange for convenience.
For maximum life store around 3.8v per cell and refrigerate, not freeze. Unless I shan't fly for some weeks I don't bother to refrigerate. However I usually charge the morning of flying.
I will keep lipos stored at full charge for up to 2 to 3 weeks. Beyond that, I take them down to a storage charge level of about 3.8 volts per cell.

I don't think i'll be storing them in my refrigerator though....

 

[CreepyCrawl]

so, your saying its OK if its within a week or so? I go crawlin about twice a week, hence why i've been keeping them charged, but I would make the effort to store them in the storage setting if i'm doing something unsafe.

no ones mentioned anything about proper storage, proper storage in my opinion should mean the packs are somewhere safe in the event a pack were to fail.

If you're running your packs twice per week there's no need to put them into storage mode. I choose to store mine if I am certain that it could be a week or more before I use them again, that's my preference, you're not doing anything wrong.

As far as what to store them in, alot of people use military surplus ammo cans, or fire safe boxes.

Because of my experimentation with different brands and types of Lipo packs, this will be the first winter that I actually store them for the long haul...I'll be using an ammo can "thumbsup"

 

[skinner]

x2 all my lipos are put in ammo cases when not in use..