taking care of batteries

[wood man]

after a flight the batteries are warm , I get the impression from threads here its best to leave them at the percentage they are at and re-charge before a flight.
Its not recommended to fully charge a battery and store it till next time.....any ideas?
Also my last flight the landing gear did not auto come down....it sort of sat on the camera--no harm

 

[The Editor]

after a flight the batteries are warm , I get the impression from threads here its best to leave them at the percentage they are at and re-charge before a flight.
Its not recommended to fully charge a battery and store it till next time.....any ideas?
Also my last flight the landing gear did not auto come down....it sort of sat on the camera--no harm

This has been covered so many times before I do not want another thread to grow on the subject.
To summarise:
1. Charge fully
2. Fly
3. Allow packs to cool back to ambient
4. Charge back up to storage charge (3.86v per cell/50%)
5. Leave packs like that until ready to fly again
When ready to fly again - go back to number 1

DO NOT store packs either fully charged or depleted - they will die on you. Even if you are not flying for a day or two, store them at storage charge.

 

[wood man]

Again you have helped me and I appreciate that ,to cut off the charging at 50% you must have to watch the lights on the battery flash and hopefully catch it around 50%
Is this correct

 

[The Editor]

Again you have helped me and I appreciate that ,to cut off the charging at 50% you must have to watch the lights on the battery flash and hopefully catch it around 50%
Is this correct

Charge until the third led starts to flash, then leave it flashing for around a minute and a half.
Then disconnect the charger and you should be pretty much spot on at 3.86v per cell or very close.

 

[emtea]

Charge until the third led starts to flash, then leave it flashing for around a minute and a half.
Then disconnect the charger and you should be pretty much spot on at 3.86v per cell or very close.

Hey Editor,

What's your take on discharging a battery for storage if you're going to fly within 5-7 days?

E.g. You fly, you come home, battery is cooled and you charge it but you forget and disconnect it a bit late, so maybe it's at 70% charge. I typically just leave it and will fully charge it the day before flying, but would it make sense to discharge it to 50% even for a few days of storage?

 

[The Editor]

Hey Editor,

What's your take on discharging a battery for storage if you're going to fly within 5-7 days?

E.g. You fly, you come home, battery is cooled and you charge it but you forget and disconnect it a bit late, so maybe it's at 70% charge. I typically just leave it and will fully charge it the day before flying, but would it make sense to discharge it to 50% even for a few days of storage?

I have my self discharge set at 2 days so should this occur then it starts to discharge down to storage charge after 48hrs anyway.
I personally wouldn't want to leave it fully charged for anything more than a day but a 70% charge with a slow auto discharge after a couple of days should be fine.

 

[emtea]

I have my self discharge set at 2 days so should this occur then it starts to discharge down to storage charge after 48hrs anyway.
I personally wouldn't want to leave it fully charged for anything more than a day but a 70% charge with a slow auto discharge after a couple of days should be fine.

Ah gotcha--never thought of setting the auto discharge to a shorter timeframe but may do that now. I usually just force discharge the batteries one of those IC + lightbulb things. Thanks!

 

[Ward Paterson]

ALSO ensure you have the latest Battery Firmware, because the batteries are prone to "over discharge" after 90 days storage... As I found out by finding a battery dead and swollen..

 

[wood man]

the firmware is a little harder to check as it does not show up by itself only under the aircraft update...I think(asked about this)
This is not an inspire battery question ,but a phantom2 probably same lipo battery,have 2 swollen batteries software or firmware reports 95% life
but they charge up good nut only last 3-4 min, i would say they are shot even though the life looks good .
Utubes talk about life ,if that's below 80 throw them out ,mine are 95 but seem to be useless and swollen
These expensive batteries are hard to keep running

 

[emtea]

the firmware is a little harder to check as it does not show up by itself only under the aircraft update...I think(asked about this)
This is not an inspire battery question ,but a phantom2 probably same lipo battery,have 2 swollen batteries software or firmware reports 95% life
but they charge up good nut only last 3-4 min, i would say they are shot even though the life looks good .
Utubes talk about life ,if that's below 80 throw them out ,mine are 95 but seem to be useless and swollen
These expensive batteries are hard to keep running

If they are swollen, you should dispose of them and not use them. Puffed-up lipo packs are not safe to use.

 

[The Editor]

the firmware is a little harder to check as it does not show up by itself only under the aircraft update...I think(asked about this)
This is not an inspire battery question ,but a phantom2 probably same lipo battery,have 2 swollen batteries software or firmware reports 95% life
but they charge up good nut only last 3-4 min, i would say they are shot even though the life looks good .
Utubes talk about life ,if that's below 80 throw them out ,mine are 95 but seem to be useless and swollen
These expensive batteries are hard to keep running

Swollen/Puffed lipos should NEVER be used.
If they are swollen it is because the pack has leached electrolyte and or gasses which means the membrane in one or more cells is ruptured or a chemical reaction has occurred internally which has released gasses within the cell(s)

Dispose of any packs you have in that state - They are unstable and can cause a fire at any time!

 

[Batteryman1952]

Any LiPo battery should be treated with respect. Consider yourself lucky that your battery is warning you with a swollen cell. Over-heating by charging, storing in a hot car or in direct sunlight can be disastrous. You can Google the subject and will surprised how many house fires result. Though our PlaneGard case was designed for capturing / containing Li-ion / Po battery fires onboard airplanes from cellphones, tablets, etc. some are being used as battery storage boxes on airplanes, in cars and in the home.

 

[Ward Paterson]

Any LiPo battery should be treated with respect. Consider yourself lucky that your battery is warning you with a swollen cell. Over-heating by charging, storing in a hot car or in direct sunlight can be disastrous. You can Google the subject and will surprised how many house fires result. Though our PlaneGard case was designed for capturing / containing Li-ion / Po battery fires onboard airplanes from cellphones, tablets, etc. some are being used as battery storage boxes on airplanes, in cars and in the home.

I store all my batteries in Mil Spec Ammo boxes. Nothing less will do now..

 

[Batteryman1952]

An ammo box may sound like a good idea but it is not. I know others are using them but it may create a bomb since when a LiPo cell ruptures it releases about 30 liters of vapor in a few seconds. If the vapors catch fire (which they do about 50% of the time) then the pressure wave is even greater and faster and thus more powerful. Though PlaneGard may look like a sealed metal box, it has two high flow air filters in the lid that permit the pressure wave to exit with only a slight flex of the case. The filters collect the smoke and flammable vapors so there is no danger. Btw the vapors are a flammable mixture of ether with a fluorinated lithium compound that when burned produces hydrofluric acid. Here's a link to one of our flaming laptop videos that compares PlaneGard to a "burn bag". The burn bag does a very poor job of containing the pressure wave.