Li-Po and Li-Ion... How careful do you have to be?

[jimmy156]

Between my son and I we have a brushed Blackzon Slyder with a Li-ion battery and a brushless FTX tracer with a LiPo.

The manuals for the cars don't really have any info on battery care other than to inspect them, not over charge, not leave unattended when charging etc. Most people buying these as toys (non hobbyists) I guess wouldn't think twice about leaving fully charged / fully discharged etc.

A quick google suggests that LiPos in particular are more fragile than a premiership footballer!

I am not about to buy smart chargers / dischargers etc and will just be using the charger supplied with the cars.

We end up using the cars once a week or so, sometimes more than once at the weekend, charge the batteries to full straight away and then leave until next use. The internet suggests you MUST only leave them at "storage voltage" but i can't imagine most casual users are doing this? I appreciate over the course of the battery life, total life will be degraded a bit, but is it really going to be a noticeable problem?

Any recommendations if it turns out we won't use them for a month or so? Is fully charging them and then giving them a partial run better than leaving them full or empty?

[sausage76]

I always charge to storage charge and keep in a lipo safe bag inside an old ammo case I have.

Never had any issues with one

[jimmy156]

Without buying another charger I have no way of knowing when I am storage charge.

Furthermore, when one of the cars belongs to a 5 year old "We just have to wait to charge it because I can't leave them fully charged, we can play in an hour" isn't going to cut it

[simon_harris]

sausage76 said:

I always charge to storage charge and keep in a lipo safe bag inside an old ammo case I have.

Never had any issues with one

I do the same, doesn't usually take long to charge a lipo up from a storage charge (size dependant obviously) but for remote control cars it should perhaps take 20 mins or so, they are so cheap now you can buy a few and have one charging as another is in use.

[blueST]

I have a Tracer with the Li ion lack. The Li Ion are not worth getting too worried about I don’t think, they are the same as in my power tools, cordless shaver, torch and numerous other things I have round the house that never get any special treatment and give no trouble.

Li po might be different story, I have tiny 2s pack in my TRX4M that just has a basic USB charger. It does make me a bit nervous, but as I can’t storeage charge it, I just charge then run the car a bit so it’s not fully charged. Don’t keep it in anything special though.

[andrebar]

Li-ion I wouldn’t worry about. Lipos get stored in one of those old airtight metal biscuit tins when they aren’t being used. I don’t worry much about storage voltage unless I know they won’t be used again in a hurry.

[peterperkins]

Lipo's = You have to be very careful not to go outside the operating voltage window.
They can and do catch fire if abused. But they are light and powerful.

Other Lithium battery chemistries differ.
Some are much safer/robust but lack energy density.

We have all seen LIpo fires on YT...
Don't charge them with a cheapo Chinese charger indoors....

Edited by peterperkins on Friday 10th February 05:19

[Matt Cup]

andrebar said:

Li-ion I wouldn’t worry about. Lipos get stored in one of those old airtight metal biscuit tins when they aren’t being used. I don’t worry much about storage voltage unless I know they won’t be used again in a hurry.

I’d consider putting a few vent holes in your tin.