Graham-RCU

I am curious as to what should be expected as a lifetime for the lipoly batteries. I am new to electrics and at the price of these batteries..you certainly would prefer to invest in long life batteries if there is such a thing??

Thanks

Graham-RCU

Maybe there is no answer to this question...

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

IIRC it is around 200 to 300 charge/discharge cycles....

less if the batteries are stressed....

I use LiPo's, but for now that is one of the big drawbacks... IMHO

Graham-RCU

Thank You....

michpittsman

My Feedback: (11)

That's great! I'm used to electric RC cars where you get 40 or 50 runs before the battery starts to go over the hill. Jim

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

...except that you can't say that for sure. Yes, the advertised number of cycles may be XXX-hundred, but that's under ideal conditions. Advertised cycle life for NiCds is 500 cycles, and 1000 for NiMH, but as michpittsman has testified, if you beat 'em, they only last 40-50 cycles.

Graham, you were closer to the truth in your second post. There's no hard-and-fast answer.

Greg Covey

Although the lifecycle answer is a moving target, it appears that Lithium batteries can last up to 500 cycles when not abused. Test results will be published soon from FMA Direct. A slightly abused pack will typically last 200-300 cycles. This so-called "abuse" can be from normal operation like 100% full charges and continuous discharging at the rated C rate. Unknown to most people is that this is also true for NiCd/NiMH technology...it just isn't published.

In the R/C car industry, the Kokam 3.2AH cells are totally outlasting NiMH cells by a factor of 3:1. This information will be avaialable soon as part of a research project done for the new Scorpion packs from FMA Direct. Tests were performed by several third party groups.

As far as we know, only Kokam publishes extensive data on Lithium cells.

Graham-RCU

Thanks Greg....Matt....

For a newbie to this... what are the rules to longer life.

1) Do not discharge at a rapid rate??
2) Do not charge to full capacity?

If there are things that can be done to ensure the longest life possible, I am listening.

Thanks again.

Graham

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

The "golden rule," IMHO, for long battery life:

Don't abuse them.

That means don't discharge below 3.0 Volts per cell, don't discharge at a higher rate than the manufacturer recommends, provide for the best possible cooling airflow in flight... It's mainly common sense stuff. Read and follow the directions, and if you don't understand something, ask.

Greg Covey

Good advice from Matt.

Graham-RCU

Thanks... will be following that.

Graham