Battery charging question

[shawnebob]

Please forgive my ignorance. I was wondering how far you discharge or use your battery up before recharging? I've been watching different vids and I'm taking from them that you don't fully discharge them like a ni-cad. I haven't even flow the plane yet. I've just been getting the tx set up and running the servos and stuff.

[STOOPIDMONKEY]

RE: Battery charging question

I do not discharge past 3.80 per cell, most chargers have a storage mode that is what I use for discharging. Oh I also discharge no higher than 1c.

[farmflyer]

RE: Battery charging question

I try to keep my end flight voltage 3.8 per cell. If you fly to the low voltage cut off your batteries won't last long. This may require you to start with shorter flight times and work your way up.

[shawnebob]

RE: Battery charging question

All I have right now is a base charger that has three red lights that light up green as each cell is charged and a multi-meter.

[Lon]

RE: Battery charging question

Please forgive my ignorance. I was wondering how far you discharge or use your battery up before recharging?  I've been watching different vids and I'm taking from them that you don't  fully discharge them like a ni-cad. I haven't even flow the plane yet. I've just been getting the tx set up and running the servos and stuff.

I like to try and fly mine down to about 50%. I'd advise to try and never get below 30%.  http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-lipo-batteries.html
Here's a very good site to go to and read up on everything about Lipo's.
If you don't have one yet, get yourself a battery voltage checker or/and a low voltage alarm that you can actually hook up to your battery when you fly, and would warn you of low voltage. Batteries are not cheap. And crashing a plane because of a low battery can be costly.

Lon

[STOOPIDMONKEY]

RE: Battery charging question

This is a good beginner charger for and for the price you cant go wrong! It is what I have and use, you can take it to where you fly and use your car battery to charge your plane batteries.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Imax-B6AC-80W-Dual-Power-w-LiPo-Li-Ion-LiFe-NiMH-Nicad-PB-Balance-Charger-US-/141061352958?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d7e9 6dfe

Also when you upgrade your TX from AA batteries to lipo the cord you need comes with the charger... just an after thought.

[shawnebob]

RE: Battery charging question

Thanks guys your input is so helpful.

[LucaBerns]

RE: Battery charging question

Please forgive my ignorance. I was wondering how far you discharge or use your battery up before recharging? I've been watching different vids and I'm taking from them that you don't fully discharge them like a ni-cad. I haven't even flow the plane yet. I've just been getting the tx set up and running the servos and stuff.

As per the matter of battery, you must take care of the its charging and discharging. There are some simple rules you must be followed. Do not recharge it again until you get the full discharge or atleast 10% level. Also do not discharge it less than 10% level.

[WintrSol]

RE: Battery charging question

Please forgive my ignorance. I was wondering how far you discharge or use your battery up before recharging?  I've been watching different vids and I'm taking from them that you don't  fully discharge them like a ni-cad. I haven't even flow the plane yet. I've just been getting the tx set up and running the servos and stuff.

As per the matter of battery, you must take care of the its charging and discharging. There are some simple rules you must be followed. Do not recharge it again until you get the full discharge or atleast 10% level. Also do not discharge it less than 10% level.

For lithium polymer, this is just wrong. For maximum battery life, you should never discharge below about 20% left, which is about 3.7V per cell resting voltage. If you can change the full charge limit in your charger from 4.20V to 4.15V, they will last even longer.

[doctormike]

RE: Battery charging question

I am working on timing to fly my batteries down to storage charge. It's more fun than storage charging on my icharger. I get about 5 minutes of flying time to do this, depending on how I'm flying. Doc

[WintrSol]

RE: Battery charging question

I am working on timing to fly my batteries down to storage charge. It's more fun than storage charging on my icharger. I get about 5 minutes of flying time to do this, depending on how I'm flying. Doc

My transmitter (Futaba) has a timer for each model, and I fly until I have about 1 minute left, then land. I adjust the timers so that the battery is between 3.7V and 3.8V when I get back to the bench. I find that using storage charge on my charger works faster when it is charging rather than discharging the batteries.

[Lon]

RE: Battery charging question

I am working on timing to fly my batteries down to storage charge. It's more fun than storage charging on my icharger. I get about 5 minutes of flying time to do this, depending on how I'm flying. Doc

My transmitter (Futaba) has a timer for each model, and I fly until I have about 1 minute left, then land. I adjust the timers so that the battery is between 3.7V and 3.8V when I get back to the bench. I find that using storage charge on my charger works faster when it is charging rather than discharging the batteries.

I use the Spektrum TM 1000 with my Dx6. I get real time data on my battery level while flying. For about the price of one 4S battery.  The guessing and depending on timer is gone. I know sometimes I fly very casual.  And other times I'm ringing her out. Either way, I land when down to desired battery level.

[viya0414]

Do not recharge it again until you get the full discharge or atleast 10% level. Also do not discharge it less than 10% level.


pcba

[WintrSol]

Do not recharge it again until you get the full discharge or atleast 10% level. Also do not discharge it less than 10% level.


pcba

I believe we're talking lithium batteries here, not NiMH or NiCd. You can stop the discharge of a lithium battery and recharge at any level, as long as you don't take them too low (<10% left). Stopping at about 20% left is usually considered the best for long life of the typical battery; some can go lower without any apparent loss.