Lipo battery life span

[DivenParker]

Hi,
I've had a Lipo 4s 5000mah 50c gensacearespammers pack for about 2 years. It ran great for the first year and a half, but I suddenly noticed some problems. The pack seems to be lasting much less long than it was lasting before. It's also getting hot. After my run yesterday the motor was at 90f, esc 80f, and the battery was 137f. I've used the pack approximately 40 times in 2 years, maybe a bit more than that. I never discharge it lower than 3.5 volts per cell, but usually try and keep it around 3.7. I was wondering if this is normal for a 2 year old lipo, and should I replace the pack?

 

[Certified Mike]

Have you been cycling the battery?

 

[olds97_lss]

Have you been cycling the battery?

What does that mean with a lipo? From my understanding, if you leave it sit for more than a few days, you should storage charge it. Other than that, I didn't know you had to cycle them outside of just running them.

I know NiMH's and NiCAD's liked to be drained fully, cooled, peak charged periodically. Just didn't think lipo's required the same.

 

[Certified Mike]

I am not a lipo guru, however, I was under the impression that a lipo did want to go from a full to a limited low charge, then balance charged back up again... And yes, without ANY question, a lipo DOES need to be 'storage charged' for it to sit safely for any period of time.
Poor terminology. Didn't mean to confuse

 

[olds97_lss]

I think my charger does balance when charging for storage. It just balances to 3.7V when I storage charge them. When I balance charge, both cells end with 4.2V.

 

[Certified Mike]

If I had to guess, I would say your charger likely does. If memory serves, you ended up getting a charger that is only steps away from being capable of launching missles! It would Def be good to know if it is balancing for storage.