How many do you have........Batteries

[Maurice Dyer]

Just to ease my conscience; how many Lipos or whatever

are you harbouring in you model cave ?

I'm trying to convince my self I need them whilst pondering two more lipo s  for my next project. 

 Having gone from 4s to 3s to solve a problem, I NEED two more.......

[Dickw]

A quick count seems to come to 34 in various configurations from 2s 300mAh to 10s 1500maH, via 6s 5000 mAh.

If you need them you NEED them ?.

 

Dick

[leccyflyer]

65 at the last count from 2s1p 450mah to 6s1p 5200mah, plus maybe a dozen 1s1p single cell lipos for UMX and such like.

[Steve Colman]

I have 62: 2s to 4s, the majority of which are 3s. Like leccyflyer I also have around a dozen 1s lipos for small indoor helis/multirotors.

[Maurice Dyer]

Understand, but I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to lipos and the subject of where to keep them. Oh well, I will think about it. Thanks.

[leccyflyer]

I keep mine in 2 firesafes, 2 BAT Safes, four large original Lipo Sacks, with the discharged packs stored at 3.85v/cell separate from the smaller number of charged packs.

[Tosh McCaber]

All you guys with many, many batteries- how do you keep count of what's what?  Since they mostly look the same?  And how do you know when to discharge/ charge them??

 

[leccyflyer]

Excel spreadsheet. Batteries are checked regularly for condition and balance,  stored at storage voltage and separated into those at storage voltage and those which are charged, in different bags. I've always just charged at the field until recently and packs which come back from the field fully charged stay like that until next time out. Every pack has a doober -a  length of blue Sullivan outer - over the 4mm male pin - blue for discharged, green for charged.

[Tosh McCaber]

Very well organised!

[Ron Gray]

I have to say I don’t know how many batteries I’ve got, but I do know the numbers I have for my most used leccy ‘planes (I like to have enough for a minimum of 5 flights - I don’t field charge). As per Leccyflyer, they come back from the field either used or not and they stay that way until I next want them then it’s a case of, the day before, checking the state of charge and charging the ones that I need to take. Storage-wise, they are kept in ammo boxes apart from half a dozen 6s 5000 which sit on a shelf ?

[Phil Green]

I recently realised that nearly all my umpteen packs are 8-10 years old, early Giant Cod era. 

Many are slightly swelled, some have an X in indelible marker, some have had surgery to remove a duff cell....

I need to man up, ditch the lot and start again.  Not so easy for a Yorkshireman ?

 

[leccyflyer]

I've been using lipos for many years,  had indirect experience of a few lipo fires in those early years and was more comfortable with just carrying on the field charging which was completely necessary for optimum performance with NiCds and NiMhs. At the time I didn't have an external workshop and the risk vs benefit of charging in the house did not favour that. Since moving to our current place I have a longer trip to the flying field, or a very much shorter trip to my local strip and I alternate between those. I also now have an external workshop, so have changed my charging protocols, with some charging at home. That meant a rethink in LiPo charging and storage - hence the pair of Batsafes for charging, to supplement the pair of Sentry firesafes for storage.

I've been looking at some of the other alternative methods for storage, which involve splitting the lipos into smaller groups and an attractive one is a pigeon-holed steel cabinet with storage compartments lined with fire-retardant board. I could make space for such an arrangement under the bench- where the small building board is stashed.

[Tosh McCaber]

I met a chap last week who has lined a couple of ali boxes (flight case style), with fire blanket material, for carrying his (fair amount of) lipos to the field- very neat and comparmentalised.

[Tosh McCaber]

That's a well organised work bench, Leccy!

[Steve Colman]

I use an A5 size ring binder which has an individual sheet for each model as can be seen in the first photo showing a blank sheet prepared for my Marabu glider.

The second photo shows the current sheet for my Mpx Acromaster. In the top corner of each box I write the  number of the lipo in pencil and tick it in pencil when the flight is completed. When the batteries are charged for the next flying session I usually, but not always, record the mah put back into each battery and write the value using a pen and also overwrite the pencil, indicating a full charge. The large No 8 on the Acromaster sheet relates to it's model memory in my Tx. After a flying session the used lipos are stored; lipo's that were not used are left charged if I intend to fly in the next couple of days. If not then they are put on storage charge and then stored. 

 

I know this all sounds a bit of a faff; indeed my mates at the field see it as typically eccentric English behaviour, but it has proved to be very successful for me.

 

I use red and green rubber covers on my lipos to indicate discharged/charged batteries and interchange them at the field after a flight and also after a charge. This makes it easy to know whether the lipos are charged or not. I do 99% of my charging at home.

 

In the house we have a professionally fitted fully closed all metal wood burner with a chimney venting out of the roof. We never use it! So, with a clean out and with some suitable shelving installed it has become my lipo storage unit.

 

[Stuart Z]

Hi

12 made up of 

6 3S

6 1S

all stored in a Battbox.  
Batteries get replaced every couple of years or sooner if they puff.  I won’t charge a puffed one.
Costly but easier on the mind than some batteries I’ve seen.

S