constant charging

[dal]

Hi Guys, Up until today i`ve kept my raptor 30 in the utility room and charged the tx, heli, and starter the night before flying. Which worked fine. Now my wife wants the utility room back, and the heli and kit is down the shed. Is it ok to leave them all on charge all the time ? or will this damage the batterys. Or is it better to do this and protect them from over discharging with the cold weather ( that we should have this time of year) .

Thanks for any answers you have!!

Darren

[Boggy]

i dont see your problem Dal keep the heli where it is and send the mrs too the shed!!! sorted

[Nutz]

I would never store or charge batteries were cold and damp could get to them.
I recently wrote an article for my clubs new letter about the hazards for storing and charging batteries after I read about a number of incidents involving Ni-Cd/Ni-Mi type chemistry (2 of them were peoples cars being burnt to a shell form this forum).
Basically I never store or transport batteries in a model and always charge them out of the model with supervision so I can monitor what they are doing.

[David Drew]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It must take some time to put Rx batts in every fly day, but I suppose reducing all the risks is sensible. However, what I am thinking of doing is connecting my wall chargers (NiCd & NiMh only) to a timer and giving them an hour a day to keep the charge up. Inside & in the warm I have to say. I can't get my head around storing a heli or Tx in a damp, cold garage or shed. The possible damage to the electronics puts me off.

Anyone else use the hour a day method?

David

[jiberjaber]

Unless you have a programmable charger, you shouldnt leave your kit plugged in and charging 24/7. Even with a programmable charger, you should still keep half and eye on it. Although most of mine is done down the shed also, they sit on a sheet of metal, and the lipos are charged in a fire proof bag (liposac).

If you have the standard wall charger for the TX and similar "wall-wart" for the glow stick, then these will generaly be uncontrolled and should not be left charging for longer than recommend in the instructions.

[trebor27]

1. LiPo's age fastest when stored fully charged, and at high temp! Hence for storage your best off storing them at 50% charge, and somewhere it doesn't get too hot. (You have to be sure they are not allowed to drop, self discharge, too much either.. So regular top-up's to 50% again... Say every two weeks minimum?)
2. If you charge a lipo to 100% in a warm environment, then the night comes and the temperature drops significantly then you will cause it to be permanently damaged! (Some charges, like the CellPro 4s, will charge to a lower level if it's cold they actually added a temp sensor to the charger!)

So leaving a fully charge lipo in a shed where it could experience a wide temperature range a very bad idea!

Storing a fully charge lipo will reduce it's life span, so I'd say thats bad too!

Yoru best off storing partially charged and fully charging them when you need them..... (night before shoudl be ok! Just beware of the "warm charge and take out in the cold" issue! If it's been warm charged, keep the batt in your WARM pocket until you need it... It heat generated during flying should keep it good too!

[JayLex]

Dal,

Have a look at this it might help you in your decision. Actually storing them in the cold would seem to be better.

http://www.bladebusters.com/batteryguide.html

Alex

[Pipistrelli]

1. LiPo's age fastest when stored fully charged, and at high temp! Hence for storage your best off storing them at 50% charge, and somewhere it doesn't get too hot. (You have to be sure they are not allowed to drop, self discharge, too much either.. So regular top-up's to 50% again... Say every two weeks minimum?)
2. If you charge a lipo to 100% in a warm environment, then the night comes and the temperature drops significantly then you will cause it to be permanently damaged! (Some charges, like the CellPro 4s, will charge to a lower level if it's cold they actually added a temp sensor to the charger!)

So leaving a fully charge lipo in a shed where it could experience a wide temperature range a very bad idea!

Storing a fully charge lipo will reduce it's life span, so I'd say thats bad too!

You're best off storing partially charged and fully charging them when you need them..... (night before shoudl be ok! Just beware of the "warm charge and take out in the cold" issue! If it's been warm charged, keep the batt in your WARM pocket until you need it... It heat generated during flying should keep it good too!

Dal,

Trebor27's advice is sound and up to date especially for Lipo technology.

You also need to be aware of Black Wire Corrosion which destroys the battery leads of TX and Rx's. In fact BWC can penetrate all Tx wiring and reduce it to scrap, usually after you have crashed a few models because of it.

In order to avoid BWC keep your TX/Rx and batteries somewhere dry without too many severe temperature changes, so if thats in a spare room in the house, so be it!

Hope this helps!

[quanter]

I seem to remember reading that NiMH battery life is a function of the number of charges, so you dont want to be constantly charging them either.

Brian

[philiphenderson]

1. LiPo's age fastest when stored fully charged, and at high temp! Hence for storage your best off storing them at 50% charge, and somewhere it doesn't get too hot. (You have to be sure they are not allowed to drop, self discharge, too much either.. So regular top-up's to 50% again... Say every two weeks minimum?)
2. If you charge a lipo to 100% in a warm environment, then the night comes and the temperature drops significantly then you will cause it to be permanently damaged! (Some charges, like the CellPro 4s, will charge to a lower level if it's cold they actually added a temp sensor to the charger!)

So leaving a fully charge lipo in a shed where it could experience a wide temperature range a very bad idea!

Storing a fully charge lipo will reduce it's life span, so I'd say thats bad too!

Yoru best off storing partially charged and fully charging them when you need them..... (night before shoudl be ok! Just beware of the "warm charge and take out in the cold" issue! If it's been warm charged, keep the batt in your WARM pocket until you need it... It heat generated during flying should keep it good too!

I hear what you're saying but there is not a cat in hells chance of me carrying a li-po (for model use) around in my pocket.

Phil.

[Smoothound]

I seem to remember reading that NiMH battery life is a function of the number of charges, so you dont want to be constantly charging them either.

Brian

I guess that goes for all batteries to a greater or lesser degree, in this life you get nothing for free and each charge is a nail in the coffin be it NiCD, NiMh or Lipo

[trebor27]

I hear what you're saying but there is not a cat in hells chance of me carrying a li-po (for model use) around in my pocket.

Phil.

I see no problem with it! Protecting it from the cold is whats gonna save the battery. It's more likely to puff if it gets cold when you have charged it to 4.2V... Plsu if it's puffing up in my jeans pocket, I'm likely to notice it! lol.. Or do I have unusually tight jeans?

It's posisbly worth pointing out I only walk around the corner to fly my heli.. I'm not suggesting you drive 100 miles with a lipo battery in your pocket! lol... Keep it somewhere safe for your journey (but warm, like inside the car).
Incidently I walk around with a lipo battery in my pocket 365 days a year, it's in my mobile phone. They have been know to go pop occasionally too, once that I know of, with fatal concequences in Korea where a blokes mobile blew up in his shirt pocket, killign him!

----

As for storing your battery in a cool environment if you have it partially charged (say 50% for arguments sake) does actually reduce the aging effect...

i.e.
The higher the charge state you store it at, the shorter the "shelf-life" of the battery.

The higher the temp you store it at, the shorter the "shelf-life" of the battery.

Just be carefull not to fully charge the battery then to store it somewhere cold! (I think they say below 10 degrees C)

So 50% charge is a good trade-off... Enough charge it won't "self-discharge" too soon (longer between top-ups) but also low enough it doesn't reduce the battery life either! i.e. 80% charge is better than 100% charge, but not as good as 50% charge, but LOADS better than 0% charge!

Cheers
Rob

PS. I didn;t know BWC affected lipo's but I don't know anything about BWC anyway! (Other than it happens)

[Ade_Law]

who cares about batteries what about all the metal work? temerpature changes = condensation

condensation = rust

and its not just nuts and bolts its going to affect the electronics too.

Ade

[Smoothound]

Like he said

I put my Helis in loft for a short time, never again