Tech Tip: LiPo Break-In!

When I get a large amount of new batteries in a lot of people ask me if the batteries need to be “broken in” or not. I point them to this guide I found on multirotorsuperstore.com‘s website.

Break-In Procedure:

  • First Charge of 0.5c up to 100%
  • First Discharge at 0.5c to 3.7 volts / cell
  • Second Charge of 0.5c up to 100%
  • Second Discharge at 0.5c to 3.6 volts / cell
  • Third Charge of 1c up to 100%
  • Third Discharge at 1c to 3.6 volts / cell
  • Fourth Charge of 1c up to 100%
  • First flight with moderate current (gentle flying) to about 50-60% of discharge limit
  • Fifth Charge of 1c up to 100%
  • Second Flight with moderate current (gentle flying) to about 70-80% of discharge limit.

So lets get some terms out of the way for those that don’t know. C means capacity. So if you have a 1300mah battery 1c is 1.3amps, 0.5c is .65amps. How do you know where the discharge limit is? Get a current meter and fly based on current used (mah used).

 

So I do not follow this guide exactly. I actually do a lot more cycle before I fly the batteries. I typically have them doing charge / discharge cycles for about 48-72 hours. Is this overkill? Probably. I do 1-2 times at 0.5c/3.7v, 1-2 @ 0.5c / 3.6v, then about 5 times at 1c / 3.6v, and then another 2-3 times at 1c charge / 5c discharge (or the highest your charger allows). Following all that I do about 4-5 flights gentle around 50-75% discharge then I start to hammer on them.

Now does all this even matter? I don’t know… I am not a battery chemist. I just know that the batteries I have seem to last a bit longer than most. I also know they don’t get too puffy until I start abusing them where as the batteries I had when I first got into the hobby they were destroyed within 20-30 flights.

Quick Review: Turnigy Fire Retardant LiPoly Battery Bag (Zippered)

Turnigy Zippered LiPoly Bag
Turnigy Zippered LiPoly Bag

I was doing an order for some Bolt LiPo’s from HobbyKing and saw the “Turnigy® Fire Retardant LiPoly Battery Bag (Zippered) (200x155x95mm) (1pc) (US Warehouse)” for $3.55. It didn’t affect the shipping or anything so I figured why not. I have a lot of the standard LiPo bag’s from HobbyKing (like this) and they are garbage, the stitches fall apart on the hook/loop connection. The lining falls apart. This thing is quality. I’ve never had one of the $20-30 bags from any company but for the price this thing is great. The material seems very strong, the stitching on mine looks great. Honestly for $3.55 I think you should include one of these in every order! Wish I bought more…

Edit: One last thing, I can’t comment if it actually stops the spread of a fire or not, nor am I willing to test that feature. I would trust it a lot more than some of the other bags I’ve seen.  My charging setup is awesome and I only use this for storage / moving them.

Filled with several batteries, but could contain many more.
Filled with several batteries, but could contain many more.

 

Lost Quad!!

It’s official. I have lost my very first quad.

No I didn’t have a fly away. No I didn’t lose control of it. It actually happened as I was walking… yes I wasn’t even flying it. This past weekend we had the 2016 Maker Faire Bay Area. I was racing the Aerial Sports League track for most of the weekend. It was clear the track was small and I should be flying a 3″ quad versus a 5″ quad (which was all I had). So on friday night I built up a FloRotors 130 that I had sitting around. Swapped in a SPF3, FX799T, FrSky XSR and tuned it Saturday morning. After tuning it I headed to Maker Faire and parked at my friends place and walked to the race (.8 miles).

Sadly during this walk it was raining and I had an umbrella over my “cart” and at some point it fell off and didn’t notice it. Very sad times since I just threw on $100 worth of parts on it the night before and only got three packs in it before it was gone for good. Also really sad that I didn’t get a chance to fly in the “outlaw” races which added a lot of track time for those that were able to.  I am already planning another build for a 3″ Outlaw class.

The race itself was a mixed bag of results for me. I set fast times and had the fastest (at least as of the second day) set of five laps, but I wasn’t going through the “bonus” gate. Still I felt really good going around the track without it. Going into Sunday I was ranked #14 based on points and got into the AMain. In the first round I crashed going into the bonus gate. I second guessed myself and paid for it. Even though there were two rounds that basically eliminated me. So for the second round I just said “screw it, let’s have some fun”  I threw on my RunCam 2 and went crazy. Crashed multiple times, landed in the raptures, got back out. All for my RunCam not to record anything.

Anyways here’s some video of my “practice” on Saturday night. I am pretty sure it’s in “order” or my flights so you can easily see some improvement over just 2-3 flights.