Shelf life of unused LiPo Batteries
03-24-2012, 10:33 AM
#1
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Shelf life of unused LiPo Batteries
I have dozens and dozens of 3S 2200 ma and 4S 2200 ma LiPo batteries that I bought new back in 2009 and I have not used them at all...................also back in 2009 I bought 4 brand new Airtronics RDS 8000 radios that are still new, untouched in the boxes and the transmitter and receiver batteries were also unused since 2009. I have not flown RC in about 2 years and when I was flying before that it was with 1 pound park flyers with 3S 1100 ma LiPo batteries and I used the cheapo HobbyKing 4 channel 2.4 gh radios. I never used those Airtronics RDS 8000 radios and I never used those 3s 2200 ma and 4S 2200 ma LiPo batteries. What is the shelf life of LiPo, A123, NiCad and Nimh batteries??? What universal(if any) battery tester do I need to check these batteries if they are still any good??? Thanks for your valuable reply. Larry
03-24-2012, 10:43 AM
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RE: Shelf life of unused LiPo Batteries
Depends on many things including luck!
Best course of action for lipos is to use a volt tester, I dropped more than 3v per cell then prob broken.
Anyway, balance charge them at .8c (800mah for a 1000mah pack) and as ever watch closely. Skin temperature is getting near too hot. Swelling will also be an issue.
Discharge the Nicd and nimh to 1v per cell then charge them. If you put in less than 80% of the capacity they are probably dead.
Life cannot be Trieste with volt metre because discharge curve is too flat (doesn't really change much from full to empty).
Discharge them to say 3v per cell then balance charge as per the lipos.
I would suggest discharging in the plane on the ground before taking to the skies!
03-24-2012, 03:14 PM
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RE: Shelf life of unused LiPo Batteries
High temps and high (or very low) voltage is the worst case for long term storage. Ideally they should be close to 40 deg F and 3.7 volts/cell. I think that if they aren't puffed AND the voltages are close to 3.8 per cell then it would be a good idea to test them out on a CBA battery tester.
