E-Flight Batteries Life Expectancy?

[lenix38]

How many flight on the stock e-flight batteries are u guys getting at this time? Also how can one tell if the batteries are starting to give?

[FuntanaS]

I don't have any of the E-Flite batteries so I couldn't say. (I do have several Parkzone batteries for a couple airplanes and they work well) That said the number of cycles you can get from a battery is going to vary greatly by how well you take care of them. If you fly the battery until the helicopter can't stay in the air any longer them you won't get very many cycles out of it. I would guess that if you treated them properly you could get 150-200 cycles out of them. Just a guess?

A battery that is starting to give out will be out of balance after flying, take longer to balance when charging, have less power when flying, shorter flight times, may run warmer, and after charging the voltage will drop from ~12.6V right off the charger to less than that (such as 12.4 after a few hours).

[Thalios]

Over 100 here, no issues.

[dl5973]

follow the basic rules and lipos should get 100+ cycles

1. 80% rule. Never use more than 80% of the battery capacity when flying. Try to make sure at end of flight each cell voltage does not drop below 3.7v per cell
2. dont charge above the speciified charge rate of the Lipo. Usually that is 1C but most modern lipos can be fast charged at 5c
3. Make sure the lipos are charged with a balancer
4. Never store a battery at full charge. Lipos should be stored at 50-60% capacity

Heat is what casues a lipo to loose its capacity and power. After every flight the batteries should not be hot.

The fastest way to kill a lipo is to leave it fully charged in hot weather for long periods or over discharge it so that cells fall below 3.7v per cell.

[Thalios]

Originally Posted by dl5973

or over discharge it so that cells fall below 3.7v per cell.

above 3V is ok. The actual damaging voltage is 2.7v, but below 3v, you'll start seeing diminishing returns (charge capacity decreased, becomes warmer, etc)

[Being]

Originally Posted by Thalios

Over 100 here, no issues.

Thought you were using Gens??

[Thalios]

1 stock, 2 Gens Ace, 3 Turnigy (2 puffed, 1 trashed), 1 zippy (trashed), 1 Tenergy, 1 Parkzone.

[Being]

I've got 4 stock, 1 puffed (motor grind damage), other 3 are doing great...over 100 flights each and I don't even follow the rules... I leave them charged for weeks.

[Desolas]

Originally Posted by lenix38

How many flight on the stock e-flight batteries are u guys getting at this time? Also how can one tell if the batteries are starting to give?

You can tell the battery is starting to give mainly by paying attention to how it feels in the air, and how long it lasts. You will get a feeling for when a battery is "softer" than another pack, the heli won't feel like it has as much horsepower.

If the battery starts having issue making runtime also you know it's degrading.

Usually a battery is pretty soft after 150+ cycles or 2 years, whichever comes first. Might still be usable, however.

I have 4 eflight 2100mah packs that are all at over 125 cycles and over a year old; still work fine but the newer packs feel much stronger.

[Psuedo_Heli_Commander]

My 450s I have 5 eflight, 3 gens ace, and 1 park zone battery. All the eflights and 1 gens have easily passed 200 flights. 2 of my eflites are a bit soft, but still change and balance. 1 Gens that was seriously flattened twice, 2175 ma taken to charge, still lives though a touch less snappy. The other gens and the park zone are the newest and still strong. I did have a park zone new that had a flakey cell, which HH replaced. Go HH!

I use 6s but none of those are eflight...yet.

The SR batteries. 7 eflight. Lost track of flights...and repairs. 5 of 7 still peppy, 2 soft. None swelling.

In comparison my 200/240 ma bats, eflight and thunder power. I have 9 of my 12 eflights with 1 of those degrading and the other 3 swelled or just had limited runtime. I have 3 of my 6 thunder powers. 2 of 3 swelled and all 3 lost power. These batteries have over 1000 flights so that's pretty impressive.

My smallest 100-160. Of my 8 Eflite, only 2 remain. Of the 10 thunder power, I have only 4. To be fair, the small batteries were run everyday multiple times, up to 7 times...as stated elsewhere I'm retired and I fly all my helis inside and out everything except planks.

I also have a plank that uses the same battery, and I don't bother tracking them...my oldest working batteries are nicads. They are old. I used them in my old rc days....when i was in my teens. When they got tired, froze them, thawed them out a few times and back in business. I have 4 of my original 8, and my 2v wet cell glo plug battery.

Trying not to over charge/discharge them warm and storage environment seems to be the most important. I very rarely charge @ 2C, mainly 1/2C to 1C. Storage is generally below ambient room temp in fully charged state, unless I won't be flying for a week, like on vacation. I always break in motors and batteries. New Batteries are not run out 80% more like 50-60% the first 5-7 flights. Motors are low speed run a bit, then oiled every 25-35 flights there afterwards.

All in all, in my usage Eflight batteries have worked out ok, actually better than ok for longevity.
Snappier batteries are out there, but that was not the OPs question.
Edit: lost the park zone battery. One of the eflight 1.8amp chargers errored out battery was 12.88 volts! Discharged it and on recharge in my better charger 1 cell refused to balance, by .5 volt. I.e. 4.2 4.2 3.7


P_H_C
MCX2,MCPX,mSR,mSRx,MQX,SR,B450,550e 3gx

[dl5973]

Originally Posted by Thalios

above 3V is ok. The actual damaging voltage is 2.7v, but below 3v, you'll start seeing diminishing returns (charge capacity decreased, becomes warmer, etc)

this is voltage under load when you are flying.

I would not go below 3.0v anything below is damaging the Lipo.

resting voltage dont go below 3.7v per cell. If you go below this you are breaking the 80% rule

[FuntanaS]

Originally Posted by dl5973

this is voltage under load when you are flying.

I would not go below 3.0v anything below is damaging the Lipo.

resting voltage dont go below 3.7v per cell. If you go below this you are breaking the 80% rule

+1