Jetskeeter

Hi, I hadn't been using my 2 1000mah 11.1v 3s lipos for my king 2 lately but I've been using a 1800 mah. I decided to use them and charged them up again and put them in my king2. I spooled up and the heli wouldn't lift off with either lipo and sounded like they were drained. 1800 mah worked fine. Guess I gotta trash them now unless some knows of a way to rejuvinate them.[&o]

rh8807

Just a thought, are you using a balancing charger or the stock charger? I think my friend had the same problem and he bought a balancing charger. Im fairly new to the hobby, im sure the others will post other possibilities as well. good luck

ct420

They're probably toast. I've done the same thing in the past. Now, I never store a lipo fully charged for more than a couple days MAX.

If you're not going to use a batt for a while, best to discharge it to 50-60% capacity, and store it at room temp. They can last quite a while that way!

butters149

about how many voltage should the LIPOs be at when you wanna store it?

jimbyjoe

mate, am wondering if this is what has happened to mine - if you see my thread about my Comanche not throttling. I use the Esky charger that comes with it, but when i tested the voltage it was 8.3v or so. all other servos but the throttle were going. i hadn't used the battery for about 5 days and had charged it a few times to use it but never did.
k

coondog32

How do you discharge the battery to 50 to 60%?

ct420

There are many ways to reduce the pack to storage charge. There are chargers that can do it automatically.

The "quick and dirty" method would be to just charge it up, put it in your heli, and hover around for a little less than 1/2 as long as normal. That should get you pretty close.

chris6414

My Feedback: (10)

I haven't had a problem yet and will fly a charged pack that hasn't flown in a few weeks and see how it does today.

belloq

For my NiMH, which do like to be discharged more fully than a lipo, I hooked up to 120mm computer fans with a Y and JST connector and let the batteries drain down on that. Of course, I have no idea what 50-60% would be timing wise on that setup for a lipo, so in the past I've done things like hover around or do some extra checking for vibrations and blade tracking for a few minutes to drain it down.

ct420

Based on my experience over the last few years, I have found that not all Lipos are created equal when it comes to being stored with a full charge. As a rule, the higher end packs seem to handle it much better than "cheap" or "off brand" ones do.

I've had TP packs that sat with full charge for a few weeks with no apparent problem. I've also had several "bargain" packs that went bad after only about 5-7 days. The E-sky 2S lipos for my Lama2 were the worst. I had 3 of those go bad after sitting only a few days. I guess you get what you pay for

At any rate, the general rule is that you can store them fully charged for a few days with no problem, but if you aren't sure you will be able to fly a fully charged batt within a few days, best to drain off some of it's charge, then just top it off later when you do get a chance to fly...

coondog32

my problem is I have 2 brand new fully charged lipo's and a KingBeeV2 with a bad ESC.....I dont know of anyway other than using the helo to discharge, but I can't. How can I save my batteries?

coondog32

my problem is I have 2 brand new fully charged lipo's and a KingBeeV2 with a bad ESC.....I dont know of anyway other than using the helo to discharge, but I can't. How can I save my batteries?

stallard

You can buy some 1157 automotive tail lamp bulbs, solder on some leads and use them to discharge your packs slightly. Each bulb draws 2 amps. That's 2000mah per hour, so 15min on a 1000mah battery would take them down half way.

devens

Great,

I haven't lost a lipo yet do to over charging while stored. I have read I beleive in the manufactures information on a lipo pack that they can be stored at any level of capacity. I will have to look through my file folders to find that again. Of course you can't beat good ole field knowledge like we have here at RCU!

coondog32

I will play it safe because I am using Esky lipo and a no name brand and I will use the light bulb method to play it on the safe side.

THanks for your help

xodarap1

My stock ESKY batteries kicked my 1350 15C Mega Power battery's butt ..and I flew the ESKY's much harder. I'll take 15 no name or ESKY brand batteries and 5 cheap chargers anyday over 3 high end batteries and one expensive charger. I'll easily get over 150 flights out of each of them and can charge 5 at a time ..more flight time and be back in the air again sooner and longer again. The high end stuff can fail just like anything else. As for storing, I've had fully charged batteries for over 5 weeks and they flew great for 6 mins and have charged fine since. Not sure about storing them longer than that but if I did I would use em for a short 4 min test flight, then put them on the charger and go back to regular use.

boosst

xodarap1--i was about to buy a good charger...are you saying that buying a couple stock chargers work just as well as a high end charger?
i have had no problems with mine but was thinking about getting something a little nicer than the stock charger. i just figured it would maintain the battery a little better than the stock charger.

xodarap1

A better charger will do a better job. It will better balance the cells and your batteries will last longer. All I was saying was that for me, my main goal is minimal cost, fast mulitiple charging and lthe most flight time I can get for the money (that's the only reason I buy batteries). A cheap stand alone balancer used every few cycles will balance the cells well enough and they are cheap.
We all have different ideas on what is best, long and short term goals, cost, value etc. I have seen high end Li-Po's fail when properly charged with great chargers and have seen the cheaper ones fail. I like the most bang for my buck and don't mind spending $60 or so a year to replace cheaper batteries that may have failed.. especially after they have given me 150+ flights for $19 each. I do like having a lot of batteries and like to be able to charge a lot of them at the same time. It has worked out well for me and after 300+ flights is still working well and I'll stick to it.
I'm not saying my way of thinking or method is correct or the best way to do things with Li-Po's, but it works well for me. You can get a cheap blinky (can use before, during or after charging) and run that every few cycles on your batteries and accomplish the same thing that most of the high end chargers will do, really. We each have our budgets and mine is tight but I have managed some great long term flight time results for less money. Please don't make your decision based on my experience, but on proper research. I'd hate for you to travel where I did and have problems.. that would bite.

boosst

well, it makes sense. if i were to spend $100 on a charger for the 3 batteries i have, that would have bought several more batteries, a esky charger or two and a balancer. and i plan on going nitro within the next year or so...so even better reason not to spend big bucks on a charger.

boosst

heli-direct has the orange esky chargers for 9.99 if i get a couple of those, what would be a good balancer to use every other charge or so? thanks

tsruppert

Can anyone recommend a battery for the ESKY Belt-CP. I have no problem with the stock EK1-0186 but want to get a spare pack. Should I stay with the same brand & model or get something else? Any suggestions where to get the spare pack? Thanks.

chris6414

My Feedback: (10)

Hextronix from United Hobbies perform well from what I've read and great prices. I also run a Cama from Hobby Estore.com. Heli Direct has many types.