Battery Storage

[Dodgey]

Simple question guys: Is it better for the long-term health of the batteries to store them charged or drained ?
I've been storing mine charged, but 18 months on their life has dropped off noticeably....

 

[Ty Pilot]

Storing the controller battery fully charged - OK. Storing the LiPo flight batteries fully charged - not OK. In fact that is going to damage them. There are tons of threads on this site about propoer storage here is a link to get started. LiPo Guide

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

As well, it will be referred to in the link above... you will need a 3rd party charger to take care of your batteries... the standard charger supplied with the H will not cut it.

 

[rdonson]

For the H 480 there are many chargers available. For simplicity of use in charging and setting the H batteries to storage level its hard to beat a Morpilot or EV-Peak DY3

 

[AeroJ]

Yes, do not ignore advice you get about the standard charger not being good enough. I thought that as long as I didn't overstrain my packs it would be mostly fine, so I ran 50 cycles on my packs with the included charger. Flights seemed fine, total voltage always hit 16.7, but when I got my balance charger and H converter cables a month later, that revealed that one pack had one cell dangerously lower than the others. Had I not noticed that in time I could have found my H just falling out of the sky one day.

 

[Dodgey]

Thanks for your prompt assistance gents. The link is excellent.

 

[Sureshot]

I have had times when after charging a LiPo, plans changed, or weather closed in, and flying had to be delayed for a week.
To bring the LiPo's back down to storage level, I use a "3in1 Battery Balancer Discharger Voltage Tester 150W"
The 3 50watt bulbs get hot, so I used a salvaged CPU heat sink as a holder.
That & a DIY adapter For the xt60 connector to the banana plugs of the Yuneec battery adapter.

 

[Ideaman2]

Storing the controller battery fully charged - OK. Storing the LiPo flight batteries fully charged - not OK. In fact that is going to damage them. There are tons of threads on this site about propoer storage here is a link to get started. LiPo Guide

Great info.. So what is a good storage voltage 14.7? I too only have the stock charger so no way to hit the "storage" button...
My practice has been to fly to 14.7 - quit - cool if needed - store then charge the night before the next flight.
Sound right?
Thakns

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

That will work short term... 14.6-7V will be fairly close to the target of 15.2V under no load... however this method will not do any balancing to storage levels. It's up to you... I had to replace 3 H batteries over a 1 year period because at that time, I could not be bothered. Well those 3 batteries cost me about $200 versus an EV-Peak DV3 charger costing about $85 after that... like the old Midas commerical... you can pay me now, or you can pay me later.

 

[Ideaman2]

Hey thanks for the super quick response Eagle Eye. I had a EV- peak for my old Q500 and I agree with your assessment on balancing.
Does the rapid charge of the EV peak vs the trickle / slow charge on the stock charger have any negitive impact on the batteries?

 

[Ty Pilot]

You can charge the flight packs at 1C without any damage. I have three batteries that are over 1-1/2 years old with over three hundred and fifty flights and they are still at around 95% as good as when they started. The stock charger is not necessarily a trickle charge, but is not as fast as a 1C or 5.4 amps

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

It really comes down to how closely you want to keep track of the factors that directly impact battery life. The stock charger will only balance charge, but not allow for monitoring anything about the health of your batteries.

The first level of monitoring is being able to read individual cell voltages to monitor balance charging and being able to engage a "storage mode" that will set the cell voltages to approximately 3.85V per cell. The charger does all the work... if the cell(s) are below 3.85V they will be charged up to that level... if above 3.85V, they will be discharged to that level.

The EV-Peak/Morpilot DY3 will perform those functions, charges/discharges two batteries at a time and is designed specifically for the H batteries, so no adapter cables are needed.

Morpilot DY3

The second level requires a little more work, but not much more investment. Getting a charger like the Hitec X2 AC Plus 2 will provide additional levels of monitoring and battery care.

Hitec X2 AC Plus

The Hitec allows for easy monitoring not only of the individual cell voltage levels, but also the Internal Resistance (IR) of each cell. It is internal resistance that truly gauges your batteries condition. The enemy of all batteries is heat, which accelerates the chemical processes that cause swelling. Heat increases in direct proportion to increasing IR.

A charger like the Hitec also is able to charge a wide range of batteries... but because of this you need specific adapter cables for the H batteries, in addition to the charger:

Typhoon H Charge Cable

 

[Ty Pilot]

Those are two good chargers. I have the Hitec X2 AC and choose this over a dedicated charger like the DY3 because I wanted to be able to charge different types of batteries. For instance when the H Plus came out they switched to LiHV batteries and changed the contacts for charging. All I needed was to get the right charge leads and I was in business. Just something to consider.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Identical for moi... quite happy with the DY3... until I made the decision that I will pickup a Plus, so I needed both the flexibility of multi battery type capacity as well as IR monitoring. Those Plus batteries are too pricey to abuse.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I know, I am hoping at some point there are aftermarket solutions, then we should see the price get a little more reasonable. But right now I don't know if you can even get a spare at full price.