Example 1: If your battery is a mAh pack, your 1C charge rate is 5A. Example 1: Our first example was a mAh pack, which gives us a 5A charge rate at 1C. How to determine which "rate" you should use for your LiPo Battery? About the Author. August 8, September 22, Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top.
Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. At what current should I charge a LiPo battery? Ask Question. Asked 1 year, 6 months ago. Active 1 year, 6 months ago. Viewed 3k times. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. The faster you charged the more punch you would get. This also tended to lead to less cycle life. Opposed to charging packs at faster rate you would see more benefit from charging your packs just before use because you would maximize capacity.
Balancing tends to be an equalizer here, though. At a 5C charge rate, it is more likely for cells to get out of balance. The farther they are out of balance the longer it takes to balance at the end of a charge cycle.
This can, in turn, increase overall charge times. Higher grade batteries can handle these rates at little to no degradation but lower grade cells have a much higher probability of failure at higher charge rates.
Make sure to charge your battery according to manufacturer recommendations to ensure long life and great performance. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Do you have a video to share with RotorDrone? Submit your video here. Most LVCs cut-off around 3. For our two-cell example battery, that would be 6. But if our battery isn't balanced, it's possible for the total voltage to be above the cutoff threshold, yet still have a cell below the 3.
One cell could be 3. That's a total of 6. The vehicle would continue to operate, allowing you to further degrade the battery. That's why balancing is so important. So when running your LiPo, make sure you have the Low Voltage Cutoff enabled, set up correctly, and certainly don't continue to run it after the LVC has kicked in! It may be a slight nuisance, but it's worth enduring so that your LiPo batteries remain in good health.
It's worth noting that most helicopter speed controls and some airplane speed controls do not have a Low Voltage Cutoff, as disabling the motor in mid-air wouldn't be a good idea.
For these kinds of applications, it's best to set a conservative timer some aircraft radio systems have a timer function built in and land when the timer goes off. In the old days, we used to run our cars or airplanes until the batteries died, then just set the batteries on the shelf at home, waiting for the next time we could use them. We just stored them dead. But you should not do that with LiPo batteries. Nor should LiPo batteries be stored at full charge, either. For the longest life of the batteries, LiPos should be stored at room temperature at 3.
Most modern computerized chargers have a LiPo Storage function that will either charge the batteries up to that voltage, or discharge them down to that voltage, whichever is necessary.
I recommend to our customers that they put their LiPo batteries in storage mode after every run. This isn't necessary per se, but it does build up good habits. If you do it every time, you don't have to worry about whether or not you remembered to put it in storage. I have had many customers come to me with batteries that died because they charged it up, intending to use it, but life got in the way and they never remembered to put it back to storage voltage.
Lithium-Polymer batteries can be damaged by sitting fully charged for as little as a week. This doesn't mean they will get damaged every time you leave them for over a week.
It just means they can, and I've seen it happen. So don't forget to put your LiPos at storage voltage when you're done using them. They should also be stored in a fireproof container of some sort. As I mentioned above, most people tend toward leaving their LiPos in a LiPo bag, as they are portable and protect your workshop from catching fire should the LiPo combust. I have also seen people use empty ammo boxes, fireproof safes, and ceramic flower pots.
Whatever you have or can buy that will prevent any fire from spreading will be worth it in the unlikely event that anything untoward should happen. I feel the need to reiterate: the most common problem people have with LiPo batteries is a direct result of improper storage. When a LiPo battery sits for a long period of time and not at proper storage voltage , it tends to discharge itself.
If it drops below 3. Sometimes, batteries with this problem can be rehabilitated, but just as often, they are a lost cause. So again: if you take a 'laissez-faire' approach to the storage of your LiPo batteries, it's entirely likely that you will be purchasing new batteries sooner than you think.
Before disposing of your LiPo, check to make sure the warranty has expired. Some companies have one-year replacement warranties that you can take advantage of, but most warranties will be voided if you perform the following steps before seeking a warranty replacement. So you have a bad LiPo battery? No one really wants to keep them around fire hazards that they are. So what is the process to get rid of a bad LiPo battery safely?
Let's go through it. Discharge the LiPo battery as far down as you safely can. You can do this a number of ways. Most computerized LiPo chargers have a discharge feature in them. If you don't have a charger with a discharge feature, you can run down the battery in your vehicle - keep in mind that you risk a fire and potentially damaging your vehicle doing this, so take care to have the necessary safety equipment around. Alternatively, you can build your own discharge rig with a taillight bulb and some wire.
Simply solder a male connector of your choosing to the tabs on a taillight bulb, and plug the battery in. Make sure to have the battery in a fireproof container while doing this. Place the LiPo in a salt water bath. Mix table salt into some warm not hot water. Keep adding salt until it will no longer dissolve in the water.
Ensure that the wires are all entirely submerged. The salt water is very conductive, and it will essentially short out the battery, further discharging it. Leave the battery in the salt water bath for at least 24 hours.
Check the voltage of the LiPo. If the voltage of the battery is 0. Move onto the next step. Otherwise, put it back in the salt water bath for another 24 hours. Continue doing this until the battery reaches 0. Dispose of the battery in the trash. They can be thrown in the garbage with no problem. Alternatively, if you don't feel like going through this process yourself, you can bring the battery in to us and we will dispose of it for you at no cost.
If you're not in our area, check with your local hobby shop to see if they offer a similar service. LiPo batteries have all sorts of power just waiting to be unleashed, and we want as much of that power to reach the motor as possible. But all too frequently, I have customers come in with a great LiPo battery attached to a terrible connector.
Bad connectors increase resistance and prevent all that power from being used efficiently. So while it's not specifically about LiPo batteries, let's talk about connectors a little. Traxxas' High Current Connectors have been gaining in popularity over the last few years. The main appeal of these connectors is the ease of assembly. The terminals are separate from the plastic housing, making them easier for novices to solder. They don't require heat shrink, as the plastic housing shrouds the terminals completely.
They are polarity protected, so they can't be plugged in backward. Recently, Traxxas locked their connectors down, and now only they can produce batteries with these connectors. EC3 connectors came onto the scene because Horizon Hobby was looking for a connector to replace the Tamiya connector as its standard plug. So the story goes, Horizon approached Deans with the intent to license the connectors and obtain them at a bulk rate so they could install them on their batteries at the factory.
Deans refused to be "reasonable" in negotiations, so Horizon was left to come up with an alternative. They found the EC3 and licensed that connector. From there, it's no surprise that the EC3 spread like wildfire. Deans Connectors are really the king of connectors. They are somewhat difficult to solder, especially for novice users. Deans connectors slide together smoothly, and are very well designed. Like almost every modern connector, they are polarity protected.
Only through the shear force of Tamiya's market share did these connectors take on their name. Originally called a 'Molex' connector, these connectors were the de facto standard of the hobby industry for years.
This is a terrible connector with lots of resistance. You are more likely to melt these connectors than anything else. If you have a LiPo that has a Tamiya connector on it, cut it off and solder on one of the above connectors. XTs have gained a little bit of ground in the last few years.
But whatever their origin story is, the XT connector is getting some adoption due to their prevalence on the LiPo batteries coming directly out of China. As far as I know, there aren't many domestic battery manufacturers that use the XT plug as their default. I do like the plug; it's easy to solder to. It's relatively small and compact as well. It's not my favorite, but I don't mind these connectors.
You could do worse. These connectors were widespread in the early days of radio control. As most of our stuff is borrowed from other industries, Anderson Power Poles are no different. Originally designed by the ham radio industry for their 12V DC standard connector, they were quickly adopted in the radio control community.
Power Poles are the only plug on this list that is hermaphroditic, meaning that the plug is neither male or female. They are all the same - so no worrying about which gender plug goes on the battery or the speed control. They do take up a lot of room, though, and as such, may not be useful in many applications.
Now let's talk about balancing plugs. There are many different plugs here as well, but there are only two main plugs. This plug is as close to an industry standard as we will ever have in a balance plug. Most of the cheap battery places out of China use this plug as well. While it's not quite as nice as the Thunder Power plug below, it's ubiquitous, and that makes it the logical choice for these brands. Just make sure to unplug it by grasping the plastic housing.
Pulling on the wires will almost certainly pull the wires out of the housing, potentially shorting the battery out. I bemoaned Thunder Power's choice of balance connector for years. That having been said, it's a nicer design, with a little clip on the top of the plug, allowing the user to unplug the connector much more easily. It's hard for me to recommend this connector, as it's only used on Thunder Power and Flite Power battery packs.
Another reader, Aaron, emailed me, suggesting a section on soldering — what to do, what not to do, etc. I thought this sounded like a great idea. Soldering is as much an art as it is a tool, and there is a right way to solder when you're talking about battery packs. Cutting both wires at the same time will short out the battery pack, which will generate a lot of heat. Think of it this way — when a welder completes a circuit and welds two pieces of metal together, that's called Arc Welding — and the same principal is at play in Arc Welding as it would be when you touch positive and negative on your battery together.
Cut, solder, and heat-shrink if necessary one wire at a time. It might take a little longer, but it's far and away the safest way to solder a battery. Get Your Polarity Right: One sure-fire way to destroy a speed control is to solder your connector on backwards. Reversing the polarity is never a good idea. Red is positive and black is negative. If both wires are black, look for one of them to have white dashes on it — that's the positive wire.
0コメント