How to Care for LiPo Batteries
Lithium polymer, or lipo, batteries have high energy storage to weight ratio along with a high discharge rate. These batteries are able to give off a bigger flow of energy over a long period of time. They are fairly fragile; if not handled with the proper care, these batteries can get extremely damaged.
Materials needed:
- Lithium battery charger
- Pyrex dish
- Sand
- Fire extinguisher
- Lipo tap voltage meter
- Lithium polymer battery pack
- Flashlight bulb
- Insulated wires
- Wire stripper
Count all of the cells in your battery pack. All of the batteries in one pack are counted as one cell.
Set the lithium charger to same voltage as your battery pace. To find out what the voltage is for your battery pack, you just simply look on the label located on the battery pack.
Place the charger in the middle of a surface that is fire proof. Put a layer of sand that is one fourth of an inch thick on top of the Pyrex dish. This is to make sure that if something happens and flames erupt from your battery pack, the fire will be under control until you can get there with a fire extinguisher.
Put the LiPo tap voltage meter to the taps for each one of the cells. Put the negative connector on the negative tap and the positive connector at the head of the cell. Look at the voltage on all of the cells. Make sure that all of the cells are within .1 bolts of each other. If they are not, you can charge each cell separately from the taps. Set the battery charger to 4.2 volts when doing this to balance the battery pack.
Connect the leads from your battery pack to the connectors from the charger. Check out your cell display on your charger for the first few minutes when you start charging to make sure that it is showing the proper number of cells in your battery pack. If any corrections need to be made to the cell count, make them as needed.
Start charging your batteries. An indicator light will show that they are charged when they are finished. Remove the charged pack from the charger quickly.
Before you store them, charge the batteries completely. A full charge will start to go out in about six months. At this point, recharge the batteries again. Use stored batteries every two years.