Charging Li-fe Rx packs!

[Tom Foley]

Bill and Ronnie,

Not sure when I will have the 800's again. Just placed a order but availability is not good on them right now. I will try again when I order again.

Just had one of those packs come up on the charger says "cell voltage error" . Tried discharging it then going back to LiFe balance charge mode and it kicked off again . Put it on LiFe charge mode and it is charging . Need guidance lol .

 

[Grimracer]

It was discharged to low.. if that happens just put the battery of NIMH charge at 1/2 amp for a few min. (DO NOT WALK AWAY!) after that you can just go back to Life charging.

In the end you COULD HAVE damaged the pack.. just keep a close eye on it

Grim

 

[SayMikey]

Worst issue I have had with LiFe batteries is parasitic draw. After killing a couple I always unplug them every day after racing.

 

[Daniel's Racing]

Worst issue I have had with LiFe batteries is parasitic draw. After killing a couple I always unplug them every day after racing.

What do you suppose is the cause for that ?

That would have to be a switch issue. If switch is off the line side of switch can't draw anything on it's own.

Wet maybe and the positive leaking to negative while both are going through the switch or bleeding through positive to positive and into receiver. What swicthes are you using ?
Ones with charge jack would do that because when they are off it turns the charge lead on and it is maybe wet so it creates a load.

 

[SayMikey]

What do you suppose is the cause for that ?

That would have to be a switch issue. If switch is off the line side of switch can't draw anything on it's own.

Wet maybe and the positive leaking to negative while both are going through the switch. What swicthes are you using ? Ones with charge jack would do that because when they are off it since it turns the charge leaad on and it is maybe wet so it creates a load.

Ive used a couple different switches, futaba and some of those locking lever switches. Most of my radio boxes appear dry when this happened. Im sure its the switches.

 

[Daniel's Racing]

Interesting.
I guess I would never know because the battery is the first thing I get out of the boat when I am done for the day. Good thing to do as the boat tends to be damp location sometimes. Want your batteries to be really dry if possible for best life of your LiFe's. Lol.

 

[Mike Byer]

Are they still ok if they puff up a little

 

[Grimracer]

Mike.. they CAN BE.. BUT.. they are indeed crystalizing and its just a matter of time..

most EVERY TIME this happens its low voltage OR high voltage + high heat.

Grim

 

[Mike Byer]

They are new properly stored never used waiting on me to finish the boat. Worth a chance to try them, or start with some new ones?

 

[Mike Hughes]

They are new properly stored never used waiting on me to finish the boat. Worth a chance to try them, or start with some new ones?

Toss them, if they are new and puffed. THose are bad and won't get any better. NO sense in trusting a 20$ bad battery to keep your 2000$ plus boat from hitting the beach.
Mike

 

[Mike Hughes]

It was discharged to low.. if that happens just put the battery of NIMH charge at 1/2 amp for a few min. (DO NOT WALK AWAY!) after that you can just go back to Life charging.

In the end you COULD HAVE damaged the pack.. just keep a close eye on it

Grim

I have done this with some dewalt and milwaukee batteries that we use at work. For what whatever reason they went low volt. I have brought back about 10 from certain death. I have about 25% success rate. The main thing is like Mike said. DO NOT WALK AWAY. You just need enough to get the voltage up and then switch back to LiFe/Lipo. Usually that is about 2 min. Really depends on the capacity of the battery.
Mike

 

[Daniel's Racing]

Puffed is never good.

When new did you charge to full capacity and then pull out at least 25% capacity before you stored them ?

Storing at 50% to 75% capacity is normally what is recommended. They don't like sitting fully charged for extended periods.

 

[Mike Byer]

No, never had them on a charger. I put them in the parts box for the boat I am building just as I got them from you. Could you school me on batteries a little?

 

[Daniel's Racing]

There is a book you could write on proper charging and care of LiFe batteries. Few basic rules are all there really is though.

You can't just let them sit for extended periods of complete non use. That seems to be worse for them than using them regularly. I imagine if you never topped them off then they simply went dead.

I looked up your last order and it was a year and 2 months. Did I miss a order more recent ?

Shipped voltage is around 30% capacity. It is a safety thing. Less volatile at this capacity. That is good for a few months before they may be low but that is not a good storage voltage either.

 

[Mike Byer]

14 months sound about right, I'm a slow builder with a lot of interruptions. I'm going to charge them today and see what they show. Not a fault of your batteries, just that I don't understand how they work.

 

[Daniel's Racing]

14 months sound about right, I'm a slow builder with a lot of interruptions. I'm going to charge them today and see what they show. Not a fault of your batteries, just that I don't understand how they work.

Mike,
They are different than how NiCd or NiMh were for sure.

Main thing is they can not be run or allow to drain in storage below 2.5 volt per cell.
Usually not a problem in storage because they are very low self discharge. If you started at 75% capacity to store long term then it would be good for a year I believe but still be good to monitor the pack every few months or recharge to full and pull 25% back out again to continue with storage.

They can't be series charged until balanced. Balancing must be used during every charge.

Don't store them at full capacity.