How many cycles from a pack?

[mk1spitfire]

Using the 80% rule of thumb how many cycles should you be able to get from a pack?

[devious17]

Flight power claims 500, I'd be happy it if it gave me 250 but my FP lipos konked out at 46 cycles. Lipos taken cared for very carefully with expensive charger, balancer, no over discharge and bla bla bla .......... but it lost power on the 46 cycle. Tested with Duralite load checker.

I'm gonna use the rest of the battery I have and when all lipos are dead I'll junk EP for GP.

[gadawg58]

Using the 80% rule of thumb how many cycles should you be able to get from a pack?
I've been flying both Flight Power and Thunder Power batteries and have right around 200 cycles on all my batteries(14 in total). I do keep them balanced and don't run them too low(now) but they are still strong. Powering my TREX 450 and 600e. I did recently loose 1 and expect to loose another 1 soon as last summer I was abusing them pretty bad when they were new (draining them way too low) but all in all been very pleased with both brands!

[andrewt1971]

I'm using Kokams in my Trex 450 and currently have 380 cycles on them and the're still going (despite being crashed and bounced a few times). I havent had much luck with Enerland cells, 100 cycles is about the best I achieved with those.

[mk1spitfire]

wow, that's pretty good cycles!

When they end, do they just completley fail? Would be bad if this happened in flight.

How do you discipline yourself to say thats it, bin them?

[istandalone]

Flight power claims 500, I'd be happy it if it gave me 250 but my FP lipos konked out at 46 cycles

have you contacted FP about this? i'd bet they'll meet you halfway on some replacments. i hope it's just a bad batch, being that i just ordered a pair.

How do you discipline yourself to say thats it, bin them?
i'd like to know this too. i just ordered two FP 3300mah 30c packs at $130 each. i'm going to have a hard time retiring a pack even if it is lacking in power. maybe i'll have to do a mythbusters thing will my old packs, blow em up. at least then i'll have some closure lol.

[mk1spitfire]

I heard the chemiclas inside react with air and causes them to puff if you were unfortunate to punture one of the cells. Epoxy can fix it, i believe before they self toast.

[HPSOV2]

The signs of a pack that is on its way out will be reduced flight times, reduced power at full throttle, hitting LVC sooner, increased heat after flight and slower charging (the battery reaches the CV stage sooner, and spends more time there).

I have only had one pack show any signs of 'puffiness' during death, it would come down after flight with a slight puff that would go away once it had cooled. This was well into its death though, as flight times were already half what they were when the pack was new.

To those getting 200+ cycles, what sort of time frame are you doing those in? Is this done over a number of years, or are you flying a LOT getting the cycles up in a matter of months. I ask because I am finding that age has quite a significant effect on the life of my packs, almost more so than cycles, despite always being stored at the correct voltage (3.85v/cell).

I find that I get 80-100 cycles from my packs, which usually takes me around 12-18 months.

[andrewt1971]

The Kokam packs of mine with 385 cycles are now 18 months old and are always stored fully charged though they usually dont go more than a couple of days without use.