Lipo and Storage of Lipo

[tigerman]

I am a bit confused again,I have a Overlanded battery charger and when I put it in Storage mode it will either charge or discharge the lipo depending on its charge state .That is fine but at the end of the charge it will leave the lipo at about 35% charge left in the battery .I thought the because that is what the charger set it at that ,that was it should be and it was OK .Now everyone tell me that is too low it should be about 50to 60% charge left in the battery So if that is correct why is the Overlander charger set to leave the lipo at 35%,if that is to low why have Overlander not set it at 50/60% charge?

[tigerman]

Basicly what is the best setting to store lipo 35% or 60% of the charge

[Chris Walby]

As Overlander manufacture Lipo's and chargers I would say they know best! 35% it is (if you bother at all). I have heard that legislation (on contained energy sources during transport) is pushing new lipo storage capacities down (sub 35%), but that is not a restriction for you.

If you asked Overlander, might be worth giving them a call

[MattyB]

Forget % of charge - just look for 3.75-3.85V/cell. Exact value is unimportant; the main thing is you should not be storing it above 4V/cell, otherwise anode degradation will be occurring at an increased rate and your battery will lose capacity and increase it's IR.

Edited By MattyB on 12/05/2017 23:21:35

[KiwiKid]

Just to confuse you further, my personal preference has always been 40% (3.78v per cell) and have never had any probs. 35% is a bit on the low side.

Yes, there is legislation in place in some areas and adopted by some shippers that require lipos to be shipped at 30%. The batteries usually come with a warning to the purchaser to get 'em recharged up to storage or full use pronto. Probably something to bear in mind when purchasing locally as it could occur that an importer/retailer may sit on 30% charged batteries for awhile and then flick them off to unsuspecting customers.

[Dave Bran]

Posted by tigerman on 12/05/2017 20:00:51:

Now everyone tell me that is too low

No, I didn't, and I resent that accusation...............................

As they say, 40,000 Frenchmen can't be wrong, can they??

Firstly you should have a calibrated (at the least checked against a decent quality Multi-Meter) LiPo checker. Many are complete rubbish.

Secondly, every battery you receive should be immediately checked by you for voltage level and particularly balance, and rejected back if not as per sellers info. If you receive batteries WITHOUT specific seller info then reject them.

Recent supplies from China have been arriving via Sweden, and these have been at depressed voltage with suitable instruction, though on smaller packs (micro stuff) you need an electron microscope to read it!!.

[Nigel R]

New legislation is for airborne transport if I remember right. The 30% figure applies to this.

Storage, anywhere between 30 and 50% works for keeping lifespan maximised.

[stewart BAKER]

does anyone know how long a lipo can be left in storage capacity before they require topping up .as I wont be flying much over the next few months and have some very expensive 6 cells currently put as storage

[Don Fry]

Check at (about) two month intervals. That's what the makers recommend. But in my (limited) experience Lithium batteries store forever.