ORIGINAL: Jack Diaz
Hi Oli, good idea to dedicate a thread to this issue.
I am reposting here my comments on the previous thread:
''One of the lessons learned after Gerardo's L-39 crash, was the dramatic difference between Li-Po and Li-Ion regarding battery voltage versus remaining capacity.
The easiest way to illustrate this point is with the attached chart.
Basically, at the voltage where a Li-Ion still has about 50% of its capacity remaining, a Li-Po is almost totally drained.
This is mandatory to understand, specially if you use both types of batteries.
Checking battery voltage will be useless unless this is fully understood.''
Jack
Jack, I appreciate your chart, but lipo voltage discharge percentage below 7.4v is not relevant because anything below that is below the batteries nominal voltage. I recharge or replace all my packs at 7.6v and use the "80%" drain rule across all my lipo batteries, whether it be a 2s rx pack or 12s set-up in a large heli.
To the A123 fans, When flying IMAC, I used A123 packs, but playing the guessing game on voltage got annoying. There are pros and cons to each battery type and no "best" battery. As Jack has wisely stated, the user needs to understand how to use their packs.