LiPo Battery Best Charging Practices

The highest voltage of LiPo battery charging, I believe that the majority of mold friends can know this common sense.4.20V is the highest voltage of LiPo batteries, but with the development and improvement of technology, most of the current manufacturers LiPo batteries can safely reach 4.25V, and some top technology manufacturers can achieve 4.30V, the voltage of 4.30V is the highest voltage of the current technology. Because the charger for the polymer battery of our RC model is basically a set voltage of 4.20V, it can be charged according to 4.20V. If you use other methods to increase the maximum charging voltage (such as 4.35V), it will cause irreversible damage to the battery.

LiPo battery charging mode

All LiPo batteries are charged in constant current and constant voltage to meet the requirements of fullness.

First of all, to explain to you what is called constant current and constant voltage charging. As the name implies, it is charged in a constant voltage after constant current. For large household B6 or A6 or other chargers to charge the RC battery, you should first set the two parameters of charging current and S number. In fact, this is to set the constant current value and the constant voltage value of the constant current and constant voltage mode.

For example, the parameter set to “5A, 6S”, after starting the charger, under the control of the program, the charger will charge the battery with 5A current in the early stage, while sampling and monitoring the battery voltage, when the battery voltage is close to or arrives 4.2V, the charger will gradually reduce the charging current, until the voltage is kept at 4.2V and the current is less than the preset value, the charger is considered to be fully charged and stops automatically.

So what is the default value mentioned above? According to our actual measurement data of some chargers, this preset value is generally divided into two situations.

1. Some manufacturers set the preset value as 10% of the charging current. For example, if you choose 5A charging, when the current is lower than 500MA after constant voltage, the program determines that the preset value has been reached.
2. Fixed values. Some chargers, like the A6, have a preset charging value of 100MA, while others have a simple charging setting of 20MA. If you use your own 4.2v power supply, you can make the charger smaller without limit.

This indicates that the smaller the present value is, the more the battery will be able to charge up to nearly 4.2v, the higher the battery will be fully charged.

LiPo batteries charging current 

Talk about the charging current of the LiPo battery. Battery charging is actually a process of converting electrical energy into chemical energy, which is a chemical reaction. As we all learned in school, the intensity of a chemical reaction is strongly related to temperature and pressure. The speed of charge and discharge is actually the speed of chemical reaction. Conditional RC enthusiasts can find the relevant substances to do the experiment by yourself. The reaction speed is quite slow.

According to the experimental data and theoretical proof, lithium battery charging current within 1C without any damage to the battery. More than 2C current will cause a slight drop in capacity, while 5C charging will have a significant decrease in capacity. The reduction in capacity is mainly due to the damage caused by the crystallization of materials inside the battery, but after dozens of times, you will know that the battery capacity decreases and this is irreversible. Therefore, it is suggested that the model friend honestly control the charging current within 1C, which is better for the battery.