Storage

[Jonathan]

How do, I have recently purchased the electrical components for my next build junior 60, I plan on building during the winter months ready for spring next year.  Will the Overlander lipo battery pack be ok dormant for about 6 months,  it came with 50% charge, During the dormant period should I do a charge - discharge cycle periodically?. I realise now l possibly should have held off purchasing the battery.

[Shaun Walsh]

It's a reputable brand, it should be fine left at storage charge until next season.  Suggest that you stick a label on it with date of purchase and %charge or individual cell voltage so you can check it occasionally.  I usually measure the internal resistance of each cell and record it too so you can monitor deterioration over time.

[Simon Chaddock]

Jonathan

My recommendation as you are at 50% charge and if your charger can do it is to select a storage charge. It will discharge the LiPo to a storage level of about 3.8V/cell and importantly balance each cell to exactly the same voltage.

A LiPo self discharges at a very low rate. I have several LiPo with a dated storage charge that have been left for nearly 2 years. They have lost no more than 0.05V/cell in that time. At that rate they could be safely left for another 5 years before the voltage drop would become an issue.

LiPo do loose capacity over time but like the self discharge rate it is also very low. On the other hand LiPo do have a discrete cycle life so doing a charge/discharge cycle simply uses one of them up!

What shortens the life of a LiPo the most is the fast discharge rate typical with an electric powered plane but that is the penalty for LiPo performance.      

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Bin it Jonathan, get yourself an oily, noisy, smoky IC motor.😇