LiPo reduced capacities
 

Hi,

I after a number of cycles, I decided to measure the capacity of my Thunder Power 3S 2100 (12C older version) LiPo pack. I charged it at 1A (nearly 0.5C) and then discharged at 0.75A. I used a Schulze Chamaleon charger for the cycles.

Well the discahrged quantity is 1895 mAh which is around 90% of 2100mAh. From the early charges this pack seemed not to fully charge. I read in a post that +-5% of the original capacity is not an issue according to Charlie - Thunder Power. However mine is 10% less, do you think there's a problem ?

I measured also the capacity of my KOKAM 3s 2000 mAh, the situation is similar it gives me around 1770 mAh which is around 88% of total capacity. That's pretty interesting...

As I wrote I use a Schulze Chamaleon charger, do you think there's possibility the charger to stop charging before those packs reach full capacity to avoid overcharging and cell heating?

Does anyone have experience with this particular charger?

Nick

RE: LiPo reduced capacities
 

What is the voltage of your packs when fully charged? A 3S pack should be about 4.2V per cell, or 12.6V for a 3S pack. If it is more than that, the pack is being overcharged. If it's much less than 4.2V per cell, the pack may not be charged to full capacity.

Another question. What is the voltage of your packs when discharged? If you are discharging them to less than 3V per cell, you are very likely damaging the packs, reducing both their capacity and their lifetime.

- Jeff