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Author Topic: LiPo Battery, when do I charge it?  (Read 1522 times)

ianb

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LiPo Battery, when do I charge it?
« on: April 15, 2011, 07:18:54 am »

Bought my first LiPo battery for the winch and the rudder servo in my Canterbury J. The J is 1.2m and conventional Bermuda rig. The LiPo is 2cell, 1700MAh.

Charging and balancing techniques came from reading all I could find from both the charger maker and the forums. Doesn't seem to be any problem there.

The LiPo appears to be good for at least 3-4 continuous days of sailing. I do however wonder about when I should recharge the battery, after every sailing session or when the battery is down to the point where the winch warns of low voltage (at 6.9V). Is there any problem regularly "topping up" the battery with 600 to 800 Ma, or is this not a good practice? I haven't managed to find anything definative on this.

From now on I will use LiPo's, can't imagine going back to heavy NiCd's and NiMh's!

Thank you in advance for any information.

Ian
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xilsoe

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Re: LiPo Battery, when do I charge it?
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2011, 08:40:38 am »

After using a LiPo I usually charge it to storage capacity (7,4V) or similar. Then I charge it fully the day before I am going to use it. Hopefully that will give me the longest battery life.

You should be careful about discharging LiPos too deeply. So from your description I would recharge after 2 days of use. Topping should be OK as far as I understand.

I agree fully on dropping NiMhs . They require so much maintenance  :((
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nick_75au

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Re: LiPo Battery, when do I charge it?
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2011, 10:34:29 am »

You can charge Li-po as often as necessary.

With your low current draw, you could discharge to 3 volts per cell (6 volts) with no ill effects to the battery.

 In your situation I would just charge it to storage voltage (3.8 volts per cell) at the end of each sailing day. Don't even bother to charge it to full capacity you only gain a small percentage of capacity and you will increase the life of the battery. Li-po don't like being stored at full charge voltage for more than a couple of days

Then the battery is ready at all times and after a days sailing you wont have to discharge for storage.

Nick
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ianb

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Re: LiPo Battery, when do I charge it?
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2011, 01:26:38 pm »

Thank you for the information. I'll take your combined advice, set my charger for "storage", and balance charge after every full day's sailing. The sail winch is set to shut down at 6.1V, so that should eliminate any possibility that the battery can discharge too deeply.

Your replies are much appreciated.

Ian
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