Lipo battery charging/discharging & storage
 

Hi All.


I have just purcharsed some Lipo shorty 4200mah 120c batteries and was after some advice on charging/discharging etc using a Core RC UAC50 charger. I guess i will be using the balance charge method and using the 1c rule charging the pack at 4.2amps?


The storage mode is currently set to 0.1amp and 7.4V (2S) but there is no infomation on what the final storage voltage would be set to, unless this is done automatically by the charger?



The discharge function is set at 1.0amp and 6.0v (2S)? I am able to change the amperage but the 6.0v is preset?



I would really appriciate any help and advice on programing/using this charger as i am new to the lipo battery technology :confused:

You'll be fine balance charging at 5A.

Ignore the discharge function and just use storage when putting the cells to bed after use - I'm sure on that charger is will only go up to 2A in storage and discharge mode but it's fine at that too.

The final voltage in storage mode is set by the charger - as long as you've got it set to Lipo it will be 3.8V per cell and will cut off automatically when complete.

Thank you for the reply. So would I be right in thinking the battery would take a long period of time to discharge/charge to the correct storage voltage with the amperage set to 0.1amps. And setting to 1.0-2.0 amps would decrease the time required to hit the storage voltage?



Also do the batteries need to be put straight into storage mode at the end of a club meet?

Yes and it will still take a long time at 1-2A....What you will find is that most 5 minute races will take 2000mah give or take out of a battery and it won't be far off storage level anyway. What you want to avoid is charging a battery and then not using it ie if you had two and charged both but only had 1 race left.


You shouldn't leave a lipo fully charged for more than a couple of hours else it will likely puff up. If you have done a full race then you will be ok to do the storage later on that day and you may find it isn't needed due to my first paragraph.

Thank you all for the advice, very much appricatied. I feel more confident now that I have a better understanding of how to handle these batteries.

Yes as above - using the batteries in the car is the quickest (and most fun) way to drop them down, a lot of the time they will be below storage voltage so when putting them on the charger in "storage" they will actually be charging back to 3.8V per cell, rather than discharging.

After a race meeting when I get home I set the charger up and sort all my packs out back to storage.

I charge at least one of mine up late at night the night before a race, as sometimes we have a 2hr drive at 6.30am to get to the track, and I ain't getting up at 4am to charge my packs up! :woot: