Battery storage

[Stephen1988]

how do others store there batteries? I store them in these air tight ammo cases , 10 per case. My thinking was no oxygen no potential fire. I have since read that these lipo batteries don’t need oxygen to burn as they can create their own. Also wondering about leaving batteries fully charged, I know it is safer to store them on a storage charge at about 50 percent. The issue here in Ireland is u think u might get out for a few flights and after charging the rain makes an ugly appearance, the following day might be to windy to fly. I don’t want to run the chance of the batteries puffing so should u not store them full for any length of time or Is it ok to have them fully charged if u intend on using them that week. I’m considering in the summer installation an insulated metal box outside the house on one of the walls with a power feed, this way the batteries could be stored there and if any potential fire while charging or storing it won’t burn down the house

 

[Pier2162]

Hello.

The risk of batteries catching fire by themselves is very very remote, usually this happens during charging if the maximum allowed current is exceeded or if the battery has a high internal resistance. It can also happen during use on the drone, although the risk of an internal short circuit I think is very rare.
The storage charge should be about 30%~35% of the capacity. 50% is too much.
Personally, I put them in storage immediately or the day after the flight, I never leave them charged or discharged for more than 24 hours, even if landing immediately at the first low battery alarm more or less the battery is very close to the storage level. In the rare cases that them remains fully charged because I can't fly due to bad weather, I discharge them by connecting a car headlight lamp using the charging cable and keeping the voltage checked with a multimeter. Then i put them on the charger (I've an aftermarket one) for storage.
I also keep them in ex-military ammunition boxes that I keep at home, for many years now and I have never had troubles.
It's not a bad idea what you recommend, but not everyone has the opportunity to put the box outside protected from rain, fog or intense cold, or worse in summer from the scorching heat (obviously is not your situation).

 

[Stephen1988]

Hello.

The risk of batteries catching fire by themselves is very very remote, usually this happens during charging if the maximum allowed current is exceeded or if the battery has a high internal resistance. It can also happen during use on the drone, although the risk of an internal short circuit I think is very rare.
The storage charge should be about 30%~35% of the capacity. 50% is too much.
Personally, I put them in storage immediately or the day after the flight, I never leave them charged or discharged for more than 24 hours, even if landing immediately at the first low battery alarm more or less the battery is very close to the storage level. In the rare cases that them remains fully charged because I can't fly due to bad weather, I discharge them by connecting a car headlight lamp using the charging cable and keeping the voltage checked with a multimeter. Then i put them on the charger (I've an aftermarket one) for storage.
I also keep them in ex-military ammunition boxes that I keep at home, for many years now and I have never had troubles.
It's not a bad idea what you recommend, but not everyone has the opportunity to put the box outside protected from rain, fog or intense cold, or worse in summer from the scorching heat (obviously is not your situation).

Cheers for reply. Yes here is always pretty mild overall, just lots of rain. Very rarely is it very hot or cold, in these days moving batteries in doors might be best. I think the dy5 charger I use runs them to 50 percent for storage charge, I’m not sure if I can set the level on certain chargers to 35 if that would be better. Also is there any harm on running a storage charge on a battery that’s 100 percent full , I’m not sure how quick the discharge rate is but I’m sure it’s a lot slower that the discharge rate while in flight

 

[Pier2162]

I don't know about yours, my charger has the discharge program set to 2 Amps, not adjustable, and in fact it takes many hours to discharge a fully charged battery. The same if I use the storage program. For this reason I use a 55W lamp as explained above, it's faster.
For the storage, my charger has a display where I can see the percentage of the battery, it stops when capacity is 34%.
My charger is this one:

Q200 Charger - SkyRC

And this is the adapter (I've 4 of them)

 

[Stephen1988]

I don't know about yours, my charger has the discharge program set to 2 Amps, not adjustable, and in fact it takes many hours to discharge a fully charged battery. The same if I use the storage program. For this reason I use a 55W lamp as explained above, it's faster.
For the storage, my charger has a display where I can see the percentage of the battery, it stops when capacity is 34%.
My charger is this one:

Q200 Charger - SkyRC

And this is the adapter (I've 4 of them)
View attachment 31651

A yes this charger looks very similar to a yuneec a10 charger I have. I’ve never tried it. I sell these wires on my eBay account for the 480 like ur picture and also the ones for the h520, pretty similar but different connection for the balance charge. These wires seem much cheaper in the states than they are here. I tried the discharge on the dy5 charger and I noticed the shell of the battery cracked after the discharge process, that charger takes them down to 50. Hence why I asked about the discharge from full. Needless to say that battery has now been disposed off

 

[Pier2162]

These wires seem much cheaper in the states than they are here

To be honest I bought them on Aliexpress (I live in Italy, here very expensive too).

I tried the discharge on the dy5 charger and I noticed the shell of the battery cracked after the discharge process

This is very strange, I did it several times without issues. May be the battery was already damaged?

that charger takes them down to 50

Mine to 3V/cell, but I stop it manually when reach 3,3V.

 

[Stephen1988]

To be honest I bought them on Aliexpress (I live in Italy, here very expensive too).


This is very strange, I did it several times without issues. May be the battery was already damaged?


Mine to 3V/cell, but I stop it manually when reach 3,3V.

Yes that battery was already slightly puffed so must have had some issues. Funny sometimes the slightly puffed batteries have a longer flight time than the ones that look good. Just decided to dispose of any that were puffed as a safety precaution