6s lipo pack usage

[RFCXPerT]

I discharge the packs to 3.6V to cycle them. Is it too low? For storage at 3.7V.

How long can they be left at full charge 25.2V max before actual usage?

Is it normal to cycle the new pack a few times by fully charge then discharge to 3.6V and repeat?

Is Gens Ace 6s lipo 35C >4000mah any good comparing to Pulse, Venom, Turnigy, Zippy, OptiPower brand? How about Venom?

Thanks

[Smoggie]

There is no benefit in 'cycling' LiPos, and yes 3.6V is a bit on the low side. 3.7V is a safer minimum voltage if you want your batteries to last.
As for 'how long is ok to dwell at fully charged'.. There is no real answer because every hour does a tiny amount of damage and all the hours hour add up. All you can do is minimise as far as practical, but dont obsess too much about it to the point where it impacts your flying opportunities.
Opinions vary about the need to 'break in' LiPos.. safe to say that there is no tangible evidence to support it. But if you want to hedge your bets just take it easy for the first few flights. IMHO it's not worth wasting good battery cycles by cycling on the bench when there is no evidence that it has any benefit.

As for battery brands, everyone has their favourite. Gens Ace are good batteries, probably better than Turnigy or Zippy, but Turnigy and Zippy are about half the price so are good on the 'bang for buck' front.

[RFCXPerT]

Originally Posted by Grumpy_Old_Man

There is no benefit in 'cycling' LiPos, and yes 3.6V is a bit on the low side. 3.7V is a safer minimum voltage if you want your batteries to last.
As for 'how long is ok to dwell at fully charged'.. There is no real answer because every hour does a tiny amount of damage and all the hours hour add up. All you can do is minimise as far as practical, but dont obsess too much about it to the point where it impacts your flying opportunities.
Opinions vary about the need to 'break in' LiPos.. safe to say that there is no tangible evidence to support it. But if you want to hedge your bets just take it easy for the first few flights. IMHO it's not worth wasting good battery cycles by cycling on the bench when there is no evidence that it has any benefit.

As for battery brands, everyone has their favourite. Gens Ace are good batteries, probably better than Turnigy or Zippy, but Turnigy and Zippy are about half the price so are good on the 'bang for buck' front.

Thanks for chiming in.

Here is the link to battery cycle from the guy living in EU somewhere.
http://www.rchelination.com/optipowe...ies-batteries/

[ticedoff8]

There are only 3 or 4 LiPo "manufacturers" in the world.
They make the cells that are used world-wide in the variety of different applications (cell phones, laptops, - you name it).
And, the cells are different grades - the highest grades cost the most.

The LiPo cells are sold to companies that assemble them into packs and then stamp their names on them (Gensace, Zippy, Turnigy... etc).
The quality of the cells is what drives the price that we pay for our hobby grade packs.
Lower quality = lower prices.

But, lower quality is a relative term.
It doesn't mean "lower quality" = "Crap". It just means there is some measurable difference between a "higher quality" cell.

Cycling a new pack on a battery charger is not needed.
But, if you are a 3D Master or "smack" style flyer, then flying a new pack gently for the first 3 or 4 flights will help with battery life.
If you are a typical sport flyer, you most likely don't stress the batteries enough to require the gentle flying cycles.

As for "How long can I store my LiPo battery at full charge?", the "tribal wisdom" is that you should store them at the 60% "storage charge" until you are ready to fly. Them charge them to 100%.
But, I've never seen any published guidelines from a manufacturer for our hobby applications on this.

[Smoggie]

Originally Posted by RFCXPerT

Thanks for chiming in.

Here is the link to battery cycle from the guy living in EU somewhere.
http://www.rchelination.com/optipowe...ies-batteries/

Interesting article... but there is absolutely nothing in it that proves or even supports the notion that 'bench break in' extends the life of a battery, or improves it's ultimate performance one iota.
If you take the article at face value there is a modest (10-15%) drop in 'true' C rating over the first 5 'bench' cycles.. Even if we accept this as fact there is nothing to suggest that he wouldnt have experienced the exact same improvement in C rating if he had simply flown the batteries 5 times instead of wasting the cycles on the bench. If fact his own testing showed that C rating continued to improve during the early flying cycles, and not just during 'bench cycles'.
Bearing in mind the tester decided that the batteries were no longer good enough for hard flying after 70 cycles then those 5 bench cycles on the bench constituted 7% of the batteries optimum life. For expensive LiPos that's about $20 of battery value wasted on the bench with no evidence that it does any good at all.

[TRex700MRX]

yes 3.6V is a bit on the low side. 3.7V is a safer minimum voltage if you want your batteries to last.

Which battery charger are you using? My Duo 406 was set perfect out of the box.

One thing I did, I threw away my flight timers which worked great. But it's too easy to put a $3.00 warning buzzer on the battery when flying. When my battery reaches 3.80v's, it starts flashing and make an audible alarm noise.

I see the warning buzzer flashing, then I know I have about a minute or two to get it down. Works perfect for me.

Dennis

[RFCXPerT]

Originally Posted by Grumpy_Old_Man

Interesting article... but there is absolutely nothing in it that proves or even supports the notion that 'bench break in' extends the life of a battery, or improves it's ultimate performance one iota.
If you take the article at face value there is a modest (10-15%) drop in 'true' C rating over the first 5 'bench' cycles.. Even if we accept this as fact there is nothing to suggest that he wouldnt have experienced the exact same improvement in C rating if he had simply flown the batteries 5 times instead of wasting the cycles on the bench. If fact his own testing showed that C rating continued to improve during the early flying cycles, and not just during 'bench cycles'.
Bearing in mind the tester decided that the batteries were no longer good enough for hard flying after 70 cycles then those 5 bench cycles on the bench constituted 7% of the batteries optimum life. For expensive LiPos that's about $20 of battery value wasted on the bench with no evidence that it does any good at all.

Below is an excerpt from his experiment:
"Break-in makes a huge difference! I logged an 18% increase in C rating over the first five bench cycles on the OptiPower batteries. Both Brand X and the Opti’s were cycled five times with a 10A charge and 5A discharge from 4.2V to 3.8V and back to 4.2V per cell."

And at the end he also mentioned that regardless you are smack 3D or spd flyer, bench cycling sure helps a lot.

[getsuyoubi]

I agree with Grumpy_Old_Man. Unless I overlooked it, there is no control experiment mentioned where he skips the break-in period on the bench and goes flying right away. Drawing ANY conclusions from that "experiment" is just plain wrong.
Here's the challenge:
I claim that the sudden performance drop after 70 flights happens due to the break-in period on the bench. Prove me wrong if you can!