This topic is meant to discuss LiPo charge tables and maybe best practices - not which brand should or should not be used. It is also meant to be for discussion, not necessarily for reference. I would like to hear your thoughts. I am not a battery expert but I have learned a bit in the last few months.
To gird your loins
Here is some general information about LiPo care and feeding for us RC types: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187 (don't overcharge, discard batteries that have swollen, max charge rates, recommended charge rates, LiPos are dangerous, etc. This is a post that had dozens of references but mostly other posts on forums. Still - his guidelines rang true to me)
Here is a wiki about LiPo and what the complete discharge state is (3 volts per cell): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery (it also has a lot of general information that is good background)
In a Google quest to find a charge table for LiPos, I found a bit of conflicting information (as always). I found charge tables that represented 'Fuel Table' that did not seem to follow the default recommendations of DJI in their assistant software. I also found information on LiPos that explain what represents a completely discharged battery (and therefore a damaged battery in most cases) but that wasn't even close to the values we normally work with.
In an endurance test for my 810, it fell out of the sky (no graceful/slow landing) when the battery state got to 3.15 volts per cell. In researching this, I found that the particular ESC had a low voltage cutoff (LVC) of 3.15 volts per cell so... duh...
****... that means whatever the tables and information out there are - I must work with what is MY system's restrictions. A nominal '20% battery level' figure may be something quite different on my machines - and it may not be a good difference. I could be ready to land upside down if I push the envelope.
So... and to the point of this post... I made up a charge table for MY machines. Each machine will have a different table if the ESC LVC is different but I now have a figure that at least makes sense to me... because I know the source data and logic that went into it. I know that 50% charged does not mean I've used half the battery (hope you can see why). And I also know what I'm doing when I change the values in the administrative assistant.
Here is a table I made using the nominal 3.15 volts per cell. Again, I used 3.15 volts per cell because that is drop dead (literally) for my ESCs on one of my machines.
To gird your loins
Here is some general information about LiPo care and feeding for us RC types: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187 (don't overcharge, discard batteries that have swollen, max charge rates, recommended charge rates, LiPos are dangerous, etc. This is a post that had dozens of references but mostly other posts on forums. Still - his guidelines rang true to me)
Here is a wiki about LiPo and what the complete discharge state is (3 volts per cell): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery (it also has a lot of general information that is good background)
In a Google quest to find a charge table for LiPos, I found a bit of conflicting information (as always). I found charge tables that represented 'Fuel Table' that did not seem to follow the default recommendations of DJI in their assistant software. I also found information on LiPos that explain what represents a completely discharged battery (and therefore a damaged battery in most cases) but that wasn't even close to the values we normally work with.
In an endurance test for my 810, it fell out of the sky (no graceful/slow landing) when the battery state got to 3.15 volts per cell. In researching this, I found that the particular ESC had a low voltage cutoff (LVC) of 3.15 volts per cell so... duh...
****... that means whatever the tables and information out there are - I must work with what is MY system's restrictions. A nominal '20% battery level' figure may be something quite different on my machines - and it may not be a good difference. I could be ready to land upside down if I push the envelope.
So... and to the point of this post... I made up a charge table for MY machines. Each machine will have a different table if the ESC LVC is different but I now have a figure that at least makes sense to me... because I know the source data and logic that went into it. I know that 50% charged does not mean I've used half the battery (hope you can see why). And I also know what I'm doing when I change the values in the administrative assistant.
Here is a table I made using the nominal 3.15 volts per cell. Again, I used 3.15 volts per cell because that is drop dead (literally) for my ESCs on one of my machines.