How to discharge a battery

[thatcraig]

What does it mean to discharge a battery?

 

[9x19]

It means to lower the voltage of the cells. Most Chargers have a discharge function.

 

[DavidB1126]

It's the opposite of charging.
Most chargers have a discharge function, but you will probably need a discharge bank to actually discharge.
Or you can do a salt bath
Or use the old fashioned light bulbs.

 

[Doom!]

The best way to discharge you lipo battery is to run your rc.

 

[F.R.S. Ninja_007]

I don’t use the discharge function on my charger, instead I run it then use the storage function

 

[Tunedfrog]

Fully charge it, set it out to 200+ yards, open a can of whoop ass with a .220 Swift.

 

[tntpoof]

salt bath does nothing but dissolve the solder tabs it does not discharge a cell or cells
a light bulb going to tell them what type?
A automobile light bulbs from brake to headlight small interior bulbs will fail. 3 cell max
here are some 2 cell dischargers.
discharging a battery is taking the voltage out of a cell or cells by use of some way usually producing heat
a nail thru battery will also work if outside and your smart about doing it

 

[9x19]

To completely discharge a pack, after using the discharge feature on my charger, I just use a 150 ohm 5W resistor.

 

[thatcraig]

It means to lower the voltage of the cells. Most Chargers have a discharge function.

Why would you.wanna do that though?

 

[9x19]

Usually done for storage, or disposal.

The "Storage Charge" function on most chargers will most often be discharging a pack.

 

[DavidB1126]

For storage charge, it charges or discharges the pack to about 3.8 to 3.9v/cell as it's the safest voltage for storing. If the battery is below 3.8v/cell it will charge / balance it back up. If it's above 3.8v/cell it will discharge and also balance out the cells while doing so. Most chargers have settings where you can change the voltage for it to stop charging or discharge too.
Note that most chargers can only discharge batteries around 1 to 2 amps if you don't have a resistor or discharge bank as it can only take in so much from the battery. Now with charging, it's the opposite so you can put in how ever much you want into the battery (charge rate) most likely 1C. 1C : 5000mah=5.0A charge rate, 3000mah=3.0A charge rate, ect. I charge my packs at 10A on balance charge so IRs can stay low and do it can be charged fully in a faster time for the next race. I discharge in the car. After a race (5 minutes) the battery is already at 3.9 / 3.8v/cell so I put it on storage charge after the race night to balance out the cells.
Now for discharging or running the battery down in the car, most ESCs today have LVC / LVD meaning Low Voltage Cutoff/Detection. You can change it in the ESC settings. I personally like to have mine set on auto or 3.4v/cell. After the battery is discharged more than 3.0v/cell, it doesn't hold a charge and it dies pretty quickly and is unsafe, but it can still be recoverable. Most batteries if ran down below that threshold, if you leave the battery sit, the voltage will rise by its self to around 3.3v/cell.
Discharging can also mean to get the battery completely dead to dispose/toss it.

 

[thatcraig]

U usually done for storage, or disposal.

The "Storage Charge" function on most chargers will most often be discharging a pack.

Thanks for all your reply guys really appreciate the help

 

[RustyUs]

This time of year I get sucked into thinking I have more time outside to run my RCs. Just the other day, I charged up three packs and only got to run one RC on track before sunlight went bye bye.

A lot of chargers come with ability to do only 10 watts of discharging power because of heat/space constraints. A charger would be huge if it had all the necessary resistors and fans shoved inside of it to allow greater discharging. I rarely use my chargers to do any sort of discharging simply because of heat and the length of time to bring voltage down. To quickly, or semi-quickly, discharge my LiPo batteries...