Keeping Battery's Alive

[wicksy101]

Hi Guys,

I hope you are well., I have been having some issues with my batteries. I play most weekends and I charge my battery's the night before. I'm finding that my batteries are below dead when i come to charge them. I often have to use NimH for a small time before swapping them back over to lipo to bring them back to life. I have already killed one in the space of less than a month that was unrecoverable. 

I charged on on Sunday night after a game and I have come to charge it again tonight for a game tomorrow (Z-Mart!) but it appears to be dead again.

1. What am i doing wrong

2. How can i stop this from happening

3. Is it worth buying a better charger than the current crappy one i have at the moment (One that allows me to balance ect)

Thanks!

 

[Asomodai]

Buy a proper smart charger. 

When you have finished your skirmish, once you get home, put all your lipos on storage charge.

I have used the same lipos for 3 years with no issues.

 

[wicksy101]

Buy a proper smart charger. 

When you have finished your skirmish, once you get home, put all your lipos on storage charge.

I have used the same lipos for 3 years with no issues.

Any recommendation? 

Below is what I currently have. No option for a storage charge

https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/nuprol-lipo-life-balance-charger

 

[Rogerborg]

Nuprol

View attachment 64035

You are, and I am quite serious, lucky that it hasn't burned your house down yet.

SkyRC S65 seems to be the latest suggestion from our RC nerd chums (nerrrrrrds!). See:





And the later post about an XT60 to mini-Tamiya cable (or whatever power connector you have on your batteries).

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Sounds like your over discharging them?

Better to swap out earlier rather than later. Whilst you *can* dodge the low voltage bullet by being concientious of stopping the moment the gun starts to sound sluggish, its no alternative to having a proper cutoff in a mosfet.

If i were you whatever battery you're using either get a larger capacity or get a second battery to swap over at lunch.

And getting a better charger like this: https://www.modelsport.co.uk/skyrc-s65-ac-charger-65w/rc-car-products/438918

Other shops are available

 

[Iceni]

What batteries are you using?

How are you using them?

If for instance you are trying to get a full day out of a low capacity battery and you are then spiking them with a Nimh charger to get them back to a state where the charger will accept them - you are doing it wrong, Dangerously wrong.

Lipo's regularly set on fire when charged from a voltage bellow the battery safe voltage. If a lipo charger tells you to fuck right off, it's not something you want to circumvent with the NiMh charger. One it kills the battery as you are seeing, secondly your chance of a fire on the charger skyrockets.

My advice is buy 2 or more of whatever battery you are using, or better still ask what batteries work well in your gun, buy 2 of those and swap at lunch regardless of charge level.

 

[Chev Chelios]

Accucel are a good low end charger, had mine for years and was used at sites charging battery's all day (everywhere out of stock ATM because of the coof it seems) https://www.componentshop.co.uk/accucel-6-digital-charger.html

While buying a charger I would recommend a whoopsie bag https://www.componentshop.co.uk/lipo-battery-fireproof-charge-bag-small.html

And a low voltage alarm for when using https://www.componentshop.co.uk/in-line-low-voltage-alarm-deans.html

Edit -  Dang