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Liperior Storage Warning...

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Greywolf74

I'M TO BLAME!
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Long time no see, RCTalk fam!

As you guys are aware, I haven’t really been engaged in the hobby for quite a long time now, but a couple of days ago I started my yearly cycling of all my LiPos (FML 😂), and I’m noticing a pretty disturbing trend with my Liperior batteries—the regular yellow ones, not the black Liperior Pro packs.

All 15 of my yellow Liperior packs have started puffing lately while just sitting at storage charge. Some are puffier than others, but every single one of them is puffing. It doesn’t matter whether they’re newer packs that have only been cycled as part of my upkeep, or packs that have actually been used and have legit cycles on them.

In contrast, none of my Liperior Pro batteries—and, for the most part, none of my other-brand batteries—are experiencing this issue. Every once in a blue moon I’ll get a random puff from something, but this goes way beyond the occasional one-off here and there. Out of all the LiPos I own, and you guys know I have a ton, I’ve only had 3 other used packs puff in the last year. Zero to three packs a year is fairly normal for me, especially for test packs, which all 3 of those other puffed packs were.

But quite a few of these yellow Liperior batteries are basically brand-new, other than having a few cycles on them just to keep them fresh while in storage. Out of the 15 puffed packs, only 3 were test packs, 4 were used a good amount but were still far from worn out, and the other 8 were lightly used to basically brand-new with just a few upkeep cycles on them.

To be clear, I’m pretty sure all of these packs are at least 3 years old at this point, but so are all 10 of the Liperior Pro packs I own, and not a single one of those is puffed.

I’ve been a huge proponent of Liperior over the last several years, but this has me reconsidering my exact position on them. They perform, without a doubt, but why are all of these going belly up while none of the Pros are? I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a Pro, but the regular yellow packs I probably won’t buy again because of this.

I do find myself wondering whether things would be different if I cycled packs every 6 months instead of once a year, but I’m not seeing this happen en masse with any other brands I own—just random one-offs here and there in normal amounts. I know all LiPos will degrade from sitting for extended periods of time, but this is unprecedented in my experience.

At any rate, I'm hoping you guys are wearing your LiPos out before you have this storage issue, but I just thought I’d give you guys a heads-up on my latest battery discovery. ✌️
 
Excellent reminder! All my lipos have been sitting for close to and some over a year.. I need a discharger to help speed up the cycling process. It’s just not nice enough outside to use them for their intended purposes.
 
Excellent reminder! All my lipos have been sitting for close to and some over a year.. I need a discharger to help speed up the cycling process. It’s just not nice enough outside to use them for their intended purposes.
The SKYRC BD250 Battery Discharger is quite handy for that. I've had one for years now. Set what voltage you want to stop at and the amperage of the discharge and it'll run it down to that voltage and done. I dont know anything about that particular website I linked to there but thats one of the better prices I currently see for it.
 
I should go through mine again.

I lost a CNHL 10000mah 4S 70C G+ pack over the winter when I checked. Lost 2 cells in it. It was 1 of 2 that I made out of 2x5000mah 4S packs a couple years ago for my xmaxx.

I didn't run any RC at all last year, interest waned, job became a bit of a mess, stress in general at ridiculous levels, etc.

I still try to remember to run through my lipo's every few months to check them. When the CNHL pack died, I now have a single 4S 10000mah pack that I don't really have anything to run it in... so that's kind of annoying. For some inane reason I bought a replacement pair. After the pack died, it's like the internet new it and CNHL had a sale running on 4S 9500 90C packs... so, instead of taking 2 remaining 5000mah packs I have and building another (wouldn't have matched well, newer, less cycles), I bought a pair and now they sit on the shelf. lol!
 
I just bought a gensacearespammers gtech 2s 4000mah pack.
Instructions say to check status of the storage box every 2 weeks and to perform a charge discharge cycle once every 2 months to maintain the stability of the battery.

I assume this means to check voltages every 2 weeks.

I was under the impression that lipos were stable at storage voltage for longer than 2 months at a time.
 
I just bought a gensacearespammers gtech 2s 4000mah pack.
Instructions say to check status of the storage box every 2 weeks and to perform a charge discharge cycle once every 2 months to maintain the stability of the battery.

I assume this means to check voltages every 2 weeks.

I was under the impression that lipos were stable at storage voltage for longer than 2 months at a time.
Most of the actual battery manufacturers/retailers I've seen recommend 3-6 months but I've been using lipos since about 2010 or so and I usually cycle them once a year. Even if I'm active in the hobby I usually end up with lipos that dont get used so I make sure I try to maintenance everything once per year. I've had very little issues using that schedule. A lipos health degrades from age though even if proper voltages are maintained so you can still lose a lipo just due to it being a few years old even with only a few cycles on it.

I guess if you wanted to be aggressive with battery maintenance you could check them every 3 months and cycle then if any cells drop below 3.8v and then just cycle everything once a year to make sure everything is staying used. Well I guess technically you could get more aggressive than that if you wanted but I personally dont see a need for that.

I'm not sure why gens recommends 2 months. The only time I could see being more aggressive then what I mentioned above is if you had batteries with some sort of protection circuitry or BMS (battery monitoring system) in them but RC hobby pack dont generally contain those types of systems.
 
Most of the actual battery manufacturers/retailers I've seen recommend 3-6 months but I've been using lipos since about 2010 or so and I usually cycle them once a year. Even if I'm active in the hobby I usually end up with lipos that dont get used so I make sure I try to maintenance everything once per year. I've had very little issues using that schedule. A lipos health degrades from age though even if proper voltages are maintained so you can still lose a lipo just due to it being a few years old even with only a few cycles on it.

I guess if you wanted to be aggressive with battery maintenance you could check them every 3 months and cycle then if any cells drop below 3.8v and then just cycle everything once a year to make sure everything is staying used. Well I guess technically you could get more aggressive than that if you wanted but I personally dont see a need for that.

I'm not sure why gens recommends 2 months. The only time I could see being more aggressive then what I mentioned above is if you had batteries with some sort of protection circuitry or BMS (battery monitoring system) in them but RC hobby pack dont generally contain those types of systems.
Gtech is supposed to monitor something when used with gen chargers. I have a Hota so no idea what gtech does.

When I got the pack, I read the sheet. I remembered this post so I thought I'd share.

I don't remember if any of my other batteries came with anything other than foam. I don't remember instructions or anything.
 
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