User Guide

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5
Guide to Lithium Polymer Battery’s
Another important thing to know, is to set the low voltage cut-off of the
discharge part of the break in cycles. Setting the cut-off voltage to 3.5v per cell
during the discharge part of the break in cycles is a good way to give the
battery a nice work out, and also for you to determine its true capacity.
Standard tests have repeatedly shown that when you discharge a battery down
to 3.5v per cell, at 1C discharge rate, when the low voltage cut-off engages and
stops the discharge procedure, the battery has been pretty much completely
discharged. During the first 2-3 cycles, the battery will not charge or discharge
to its full capacity, but on the following cycles you will see that the amount of
charged and discharged mAh will get closer and closer to the mAh capacity
written on the label. You might also notice that some brands have a real mAh
capacity slightly larger than the stated one, while others have real mAh capacity
slightly smaller. A smaller real mAh capacity does not mean the battery is bad,
it usually means it might be lighter than a comparable stated mAh capacity / C
rate / voltage Lipo from another brand. On average, new and good batteries
should discharge close to their stated mAh capacity, when discharged to 3.5v
per cell at 1C discharge rate.
Battery charging
Now, we come to charging the batteries during the course of their life span.
Battery charge C rates vary between 1C, for Tx and Rx packs, to 8-10C for high
performance packs. Most batteries have a charge C rate between 2C and 5C.
NEVER charge batteries at more than 1.5C, and that is only at the field, Always
charge them at 1C. Experience has proven that really expensive, high-end Lipos
do have a long life span (over 300 cycles), even when constantly charged at 4-
5C, however, these batteries cost quite a lot, and either way. Cheaper, and
more popular Lipo brands do suffer from high charge C rates, and in some
cases like helicopters, people are replacing them every 50 cycles, because they
can feel the oncoming lack of performance. Helicopters, however, are just one
part of the hobby, and is a special case. Helicopters are generally very
demanding of the batteries, so 50 cycles are actually pretty OK for packs used
in extreme 3D heli’s.