Do Lipos Automatically shut down at a certain voltage?

[StevenMax]

New to electric but was wondering what dictates when a Lipo shuts off? I have a Venom voltage alarm and I understand about charging discharging and voltages but if I just keep driving the car will eventually just turn itself off and stop working at a certain voltage like 3.0? Or will he just keep going until the battery is so far down the charger says voltage is too low and it can’t charge it? I ran a car today without the alarm and at first the charger didn’t want to charge it based on low voltage but I guess after a couple of minutes on the balancer it was enough since it was not really that much lower than 3.8 per cell. I want to make sure I treat my batteries as good as possible, I just ordered a newer model charger and I want to make sure they don’t go below the danger voltage, if there is one, and then not be able to be recharged simply because I drove the car for too long on that particular battery. Hopefully the batteries themselves take care of it but could be the ESC or dependent on the car, learn me guys!

 

[olds97_lss]

The ESC is what controls it. Many older (and likely some current brushed at least) esc's don't have an automatic shut off. It's typically referred to as LVC - low voltage cutoff. If your ESC doesn't have this feature, or if you have it disabled (which many allow for NiMH use), it will run a pack dead and likely ruin it. Lipo's don't like being discharged beyond 3V. Most set their LVC to 3.4-3.6V if they have the option to. Some ESC's don't, like traxxas's vxl-3s. It just has an "on/off" setting for LVC.

 

[StevenMax]

The ESC is what controls it. Many older (and likely some current brushed at least) esc's don't have an automatic shut off. It's typically referred to as LVC - low voltage cutoff. If your ESC doesn't have this feature, or if you have it disabled (which many allow for NiMH use), it will run a pack dead and likely ruin it. Lipo's don't like being discharged beyond 3V. Most set their LVC to 3.4-3.6V if they have the option to. Some ESC's don't, like traxxas's vxl-3s. It just has an "on/off" setting for LVC.

So basically check each model and use a lipo alarm on ones without it, gotcha!

 

[Heisenburg]

And always keep your lipos at 50% charge when at rest

 

[StevenMax]

And always keep your lipos at 50% charge when at rest

Absolutely! I was just under the impression if a Lipo went below 3.7-3.8 froknuse then the charger would see it had say 3.47v in it for example, and then say low voltage cannot charge. But I guess cutting off with my voltage alarm set at 3.8 is a bit too soon.

 

[olds97_lss]

Depends on the charger, but it's usually a lot less than 3.4V when a charger will complain. Usually <3V I think.

 

[StevenMax]

Depends on the charger, but it's usually a lot less than 3.4V when a charger will complain. Usually <3V I think.

Ok cool so then there’s no harm in running it down to 3.4 or so

 

[olds97_lss]

Ok cool so then there’s no harm in running it down to 3.4 or so

No. Mine come off at lvc usually between 3.3-3.5 depending on the cells/packs/esc. My traxxas vxl-3s runs them down lower yet. I think it's cut off was like 3.2 or 3.3. I don't use it anymore, almost all hobbywing now and I set them to whatever the "middle" setting they offer does.