LiFe Newb Question
#1
Thread Starter
LiFe Newb Question
Though I am well versed in battery ettiquette, charging, etc, with NiCad, NiMH, and LiPo, I've never used LiFe before and recently had an experience that's a little unnervinvg. I'm wondering if I should be concerned or not. I purchased brand new LiFe 6.6v 4000 mah 2s, two of them. Charged them up no problem, so I could get the plane finished. Both packs have two different leads each. One lead is the regular servo type end, and the other is IC3, and of course there's the balance lead. When I charged, I used the IC3 and balance leads. In the plane, the packs are connected to a switch via the regular servo lead connections, then to the RX. I worked on the plane, and when I was done, I forgot to disconnect them. From what I've read and been told, this is not a really big deal as LiFe packs are supposed to hold on to their charge for a really long time. The work I was doing on the plane was simple adjustments, and it was only for about a half hour or so. When fully charged, they topped off and settled at about 7.08 volts apiece, fine. Jump forward almost exactly a month later, I went to put them in storage. When the storage began, the voltage on each pack read roughly 6.7+ volts, ok, that seemed normal. My discharge rate I set at 500 mah. What's concerning is that only 29 mah went by and the store mode stopped, both at 6.6 volts. Now I understand that this is where you want them. I also understand that a month went by, and there will be some loss of capacity, even though the switches were in the off position. But for only 29 mah to be used to get to store condition? Makes me kinda iffy about using them for flight. None of my LiPos or NiMH packs have ever discharged this quickly over a longer period of time, so my initial thought is these packs are defective.
Is my understanding of what's happened wrong? Do I have reason to be concerned?
Thanks in advance!
Is my understanding of what's happened wrong? Do I have reason to be concerned?
Thanks in advance!
#2
My Feedback: (19)
What you describe sounds perfectly normal. The battery had settled down to nominal voltage after being in storage awhile, the charger saw that and stopped the charge / discharge operation to get to storage voltage. No issue unless I missed something in your description. As a rule storage mode is not required on LiFe batteries.
Last edited by Truckracer; 04-08-2022 at 05:26 PM.
#3
Thread Starter
What you describe sounds perfectly normal. The battery had settled down to nominal voltage after being in storage awhile, the charger saw that and stopped the charge / discharge operation to get to storage voltage. No issue unless I missed something in your description. As a rule storage mode is not required on LiFe batteries.
Thanks again!