Lipo fresh out of the box

[TheJackal]

I am in the process of building my first heli (T-Rex 450S) which comes with an Align 2200 lipo. Is there anything I specifically need to do to charge it for the first time. Do I "break" it in or use it straight away until the power tails off and then charge it fully? Do I charge it at 2.2A or go easy on it with say 1 or 1.5A?
Also, what is "puffing"? I am assuming it is when there is a major imbalance in the cells or when you are pumping too many Amps through it and it heats up too much and expands and potentially explodes.
I have been reading lots of posts on here (the best site out there as far as I can see) but havent seen any reference to these things.
Go easy on me I'm new, any links would be much appreciated.

[odieser]

first yes you charge this battery(2200MAH) at 2.2A on your charger
second I believe you should break in a battery although not all believe it is necessary
for 3 or 4 cycles limit your flying time to where you may only use around 50% of the battery and then charge fully each time then slowly increase flight times till you are using 80% of the battery in your flights

Third puffing generally occurs when you over use a battery (run it until the power drops usually beyond the 80% rule)
Or from charging when you are not using a balancer and all the cells get out of whack
Or you leave a battery charged to 95-100% and do not use it for a long time say over a week or so. You should always store your batteries in a 50% state if you leave it for a long time so to be safe after a flight top the battery to 50% then leave it till you are going to fly then charge it to full to be safe
Also a battery will puff from getting warm as these are made with chemicals and such that interact to retain electricity and then release it but extreme heat is harmful ( heat from either where it is stored or from over use in a hot environment is equally dangerous to a lipo)
Always monitor your battery during charging to watch for overheating as well as chargers are not infalable

I hope this helps somewhat perhaps others may be more helpful but these are the rules I charge and fly by.

Mark

[Pinecone]

Do NOT fly until the power drops off, that will put you well on the way to puffing a pack.

You want to fly out no more than 80% of the pack capacity. If you charger doesn't tell you how much you are putting back into the pack after a flight, you will want to get one that will.

If you feel break in is needed (jury is out, but I figure it can't hurt), then hover the pack no more thna 4 minutes for the first 3 - 5 cycles.


A lipo alrm is also a good thing. Efliernz here on HF has a nice Trex lipo alarm that will warn you when to land. Mine is pretty close to 80% of the pack capacity.

[TheJackal]

Cheers guys that info is really helpful and straight forward.

[becook1]

Step 1. Take pic of LiPo still sealed in factory bag.
Step 2. Post on eBay for sale.
Step 3. Use proceeds towards a real battery.

That is what I did. LOL