Lipo Battery In Controller

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Hi All... Hope Everyone Is Enjoying The Summer...
I have a quick question which I've had for awhile, so I thought I'd run it by you.
We all know its better for lipo's not to remain fully charged for an extended time. We all talk about the drone lipo, but why is nothing ever mentioned about the controller lipo ?? I have never once heard anything about running them down to storage voltage (60%). Just curious o_O
 
Hi All... Hope Everyone Is Enjoying The Summer...
I have a quick question which I've had for awhile, so I thought I'd run it by you.
We all know its better for lipo's not to remain fully charged for an extended time. We all talk about the drone lipo, but why is nothing ever mentioned about the controller lipo ?? I have never once heard anything about running them down to storage voltage (60%). Just curious o_O
Lots of previous similar questions here which you can find using the search function (magnifying glass at top right). Try various keywords such as 'storing rc battery/storing controller battery/discharging rc battery' etc etc...

Read all the relevent threads you find and then please come back here if you have any questions left (which I doubt you will...) :)
 
The main reason (at least for me) is because the Tx battery isn't a High Output type of draw so battery performance is not high on the priority list. Where-as for the aircraft itself when the battery performance starts going down hill the aircraft performance does as well.

I've got Tx LiPo that are over 5 years old and still seem to work just as well as brand new but I've got aircraft LiPo that are 6 months old and just don't have the POP they had when I first bought them.
 
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The main reason (at least for me) is because the Tx battery isn't a High Output type of draw so battery performance is not high on the priority list. Where-as for the aircraft itself when the battery performance starts going down hill the aircraft performance does as well.

I've got Tx LiPo that are over 5 years old and still seem to work just as well as brand new but I've got aircraft LiPo that are 6 months old and just don't have the POP they had when I first bought them.
Thanks For Your Reply...

Since, as you mentioned, the Tx does not have exactly a huge draw. I normally run my drones all summer with hardly a charge or two on the Tx side. I do top my controller off the night before flying only to get the strongest radio signal out to the drone. Perhaps topping off the lipo does not affect the strength of the signal going out to the drone. (???)

I feel most flyers take the Tx battery for granted. Unless you take the controller apart you cannot see the battery, so you don't know physically the health of the battery (if it is swollen). You can't "watch" the battery when it's being charged as we are told to do. I'm sure not too many, if any, take the time to run it down to the 60% each week while it sits waiting for the next flight. (And) if anybody cares, how would you drain the battery down to 60% ? Turn the radio on and leave on for days, with the annoying beeping ?? Rip the case open and drain the battery with a light bulb ???

So I am interested in what others do with their controllers between flying sessions. It seems most people don't pay much attention to the Tx battery. My thoughts are the controller a critical part of the whole drone package. This radio sends the signal which controls the drone. No signal, no control.

Sorry for ranting, but like I said, I am just curious.... Gotta run... Daybreak is almost here... (LOL)

Have A Good One.
 
Thanks For Your Reply...

Since, as you mentioned, the Tx does not have exactly a huge draw. I normally run my drones all summer with hardly a charge or two on the Tx side. I do top my controller off the night before flying only to get the strongest radio signal out to the drone. Perhaps topping off the lipo does not affect the strength of the signal going out to the drone. (???)

I feel most flyers take the Tx battery for granted. Unless you take the controller apart you cannot see the battery, so you don't know physically the health of the battery (if it is swollen). You can't "watch" the battery when it's being charged as we are told to do. I'm sure not too many, if any, take the time to run it down to the 60% each week while it sits waiting for the next flight. (And) if anybody cares, how would you drain the battery down to 60% ? Turn the radio on and leave on for days, with the annoying beeping ?? Rip the case open and drain the battery with a light bulb ???

So I am interested in what others do with their controllers between flying sessions. It seems most people don't pay much attention to the Tx battery. My thoughts are the controller a critical part of the whole drone package. This radio sends the signal which controls the drone. No signal, no control.

Sorry for ranting, but like I said, I am just curious.... Gotta run... Daybreak is almost here... (LOL)

Have A Good One.

The following comments are my personal opinion and are not necessarily backed up by any research or facts. Just so you know.

When I first got involved in R/C planes, virtually everyone was using LiPo batteries and specialized chargers. The LiPo world was very new to me and I had read frightening stories about batteries leaking, exploding, etc. I now own half a dozen charging systems specifically designed for LiPo batteries. One of the great features of virtually every one of the chargers I own is that they *automatically* stop charging when the battery is "full." I'm aware of a few systems back in the "old" days where the charging did NOT automatically stop. There was (again, in my opinion) some serious problems. There can't be too many things worse in life than overcharging a LiPo battery!

Over the years, once in a while I've had a battery start to swell. *Some* of my flying friends say that's just fine. Most of them are very skeptical. The owner of our local hobby store says "...when they can roll on the floor they're too far gone to be usable!" He says that tongue-in-cheek, of course.

The charging system for my P3Pro is awesome. Whether charging a flight battery (it ain't for nothing it's called an Intelligent Flight Battery) or the battery in the RC, those systems are at work to help prevent overcharging. Now, when I leave the house, I never leave a battery in the charging process. While the charging is going on, I'm generally not more than a few feet away and when the charging lights go out, I disconnect the appropriate parts. And, as you probably already know, the flight batteries are indeed intelligent - sufficiently so that you can program them for discharge to storage levels - after which they can apparently remain on your storage shelf for quite some time.

Meanwhile, all my other "standard" LiPo batts (for my airplanes) typically sit in an old, steel ammo case - just in case one of them catches on fire!

Sounds scary, but it really works out quite well.

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL
 
Thanks For Your Reply...

Since, as you mentioned, the Tx does not have exactly a huge draw. I normally run my drones all summer with hardly a charge or two on the Tx side. I do top my controller off the night before flying only to get the strongest radio signal out to the drone. Perhaps topping off the lipo does not affect the strength of the signal going out to the drone. (???)

I feel most flyers take the Tx battery for granted. Unless you take the controller apart you cannot see the battery, so you don't know physically the health of the battery (if it is swollen). You can't "watch" the battery when it's being charged as we are told to do. I'm sure not too many, if any, take the time to run it down to the 60% each week while it sits waiting for the next flight. (And) if anybody cares, how would you drain the battery down to 60% ? Turn the radio on and leave on for days, with the annoying beeping ?? Rip the case open and drain the battery with a light bulb ???

So I am interested in what others do with their controllers between flying sessions. It seems most people don't pay much attention to the Tx battery. My thoughts are the controller a critical part of the whole drone package. This radio sends the signal which controls the drone. No signal, no control.

Sorry for ranting, but like I said, I am just curious.... Gotta run... Daybreak is almost here... (LOL)

Have A Good One.

Flying season? We fly year round :)

I take every Tx out 1x a month if I'm not already using it and use it to fly an aircraft (P3S, P3P or Inspire). We have backup aircraft and everything gets flown 1x a month during our "Inspection" process. This has been our SOP for 4 years now and we've yet to have a Tx go out of service (other than the one that fell off the top of a car and crashed into pavement).

The "Draw" on the Tx battery is low enough to where even a very poorly maintained battery can still maintain FULL functions in the Tx. Keep in mind there is a WORLD of difference between the needs of different applications:

Rotor Craft relied upon the battery to produce enough power to produce life and keep the bird in the air. This goes even more so for MultiRotors which have SEVERAL rotors to create lift and control direction and attitude. For this application you need a High End battery and it needs to be operating fairly much at the TOP of it's power envelope at all times.

Fixed wing aircraft use the battery to provide propulsion to get the aircraft moving forward at which point the WINGS produce lift. The demands on the power system are significantly less (unless we're talking aerobatic/3D type flying) than Rotor Craft and therefore we can get away with less than stellar batter performance. Keep in mind that fixed wing aircraft can usually glide to landing once a motor gets shut-off due to low voltage (Due to BEC in the aircraft which will save enough power to control the flight controls by turning the motor OFF) where-as our MR do NOT glide so well LOL.

When my Helicopter batteries get "sluggish" they get moved into the Airplane inventory. This usually gives me another season or part of a flying season before I have to remove from inventory and dispose of the battery.

Transmitters don't require any type of PUNCH of power so they are the most lenient in terms of LiPo performance. So long as the battery can produce enough voltage to run the Tx it's pretty good to go. I've noticed my older P3P Tx doesn't stay fully charged as long as it used to but I still get over a week of flying from a full charge. Keep in mind that on some days we are flying for hours on end and I rarely charge any of my Tx more than 1x a week. One thing I do is that if I have a busy day the next day and the Tx is showing 50% or less I will fully charge it before the next day.

My Search & Rescue platform Tx(s) gets charged after every flying session. Both go onto the chargers as soon as we are done flying because we keep them in a Mission Ready status 24/7.

While I fully agree the Tx is a VERY important component of the "System" once you understand how the Tx works, how Lipo batteries work, and how they degrade you'll understand why we aren't nearly as worried about their storage/charge/performance as we are our flight batteries.
 
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Meanwhile, all my other "standard" LiPo batts (for my airplanes) typically sit in an old, steel ammo case - just in case one of them catches on fire!

Sounds scary, but it really works out quite well.

Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL

I know exactly where you're coming from. I've been around before LiPo even came on the market so I've seen some of those worse case scenarios in person. I had a large pack go from a full charge to full discharge in about 20 seconds here in front of my office. The amount of heat/energy released in that short period of time (and nasty smoke) was AWESOME! It was so hot it melted the asphalt where I tossed the pack on when I heard the battery leads touch, arch, and weld together.

I've got a whole array of chargers as well. From battery specific to multi-chargers I've got a slew of them too LOL! I love the new SMART batteries and how the charging "intelligence" is built right into the battery. I charge my DJI batteries in a charging station in my home but my "old school" generic LiPo get charged in my basement, on a concrete floor and inside of Cinder Block just in case.
 
Thanks To Everybody For Your Thoughts And The Procedures You Go Through. Many Of My Questions Have Been Answered Which Is Very Much Appreciated. You All Have A Great Summer. And Yes, BigA107 >>>> I wished I lived in NC !!! Bye :)
 
I know this is an old thread but I came across it whilst searching because my P3A transmitter (GL300C) wouldn't fully charge, last led always flashing. Tried another charger (no difference), wasn't too bothered because you can fly for several missions before the transmitter beeps (tap the power button to dismiss the warning aka 'snooze').

What I didn't know is that you can fully charge the GL300C from the usb port - it's now showing full four solid bars.

Hope this helps someone.

Adam
 
I know this is an old thread but I came across it whilst searching because my P3A transmitter (GL300C) wouldn't fully charge, last led always flashing. Tried another charger (no difference), wasn't too bothered because you can fly for several missions before the transmitter beeps (tap the power button to dismiss the warning aka 'snooze').

What I didn't know is that you can fully charge the GL300C from the usb port - it's now showing full four solid bars.

Hope this helps someone.

Adam

The P3P and P3A controllers in fact will charge your Phone / Tablet via the USB as well ... that is why you should not leave them connected when not actually flying.

Nigel
 
Interesting comments.. Thank Guys... Wishing you a good day !! (not flying today... 28 mph gusts @ 300 feet :mad:)
 

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