Did I kill my LIPO battery?
January 25, 2010 12:41 PM Subscribe
Did I kill this little Lithium Polymer (LIPO) battery?
Got a cool little indoor R/C helicopter for Christmas.
It's powered by a tiny (half matchbook sized) Lithium Polymer ("LIPO") battery.
To run the chopper, you put the battery in the chopper frame and then attach the battery power lead to the chopper electronics. There's no "on/off" switch, you just connected/remove the battery.
It also has a "wall wart" charger. To charge the battery, you take it out of the chopper and attach the lead to the wall wart charger. The charger has a charging indicator LED that blinks fast when charging, slow when fully charged, and is steady on just to indicate that the charger has power from the wall.
I stupidly left the battery attached to the chopper overnight and I think I completely discharged it. When I attach it to the charger, there's no blinking, the indicator just stays red.
The charger and the battery are festooned with decals warning not to leave the charger unattended and to only charge it on fireproof surfaces, so I've been hesitant to just leave the battery on the charger overnight.
Did I kill the battery by draining it entirely? If not, do I need to somehow get a low level of charge in the battery in order to get the charger to actually charge it?
Got a cool little indoor R/C helicopter for Christmas.
It's powered by a tiny (half matchbook sized) Lithium Polymer ("LIPO") battery.
To run the chopper, you put the battery in the chopper frame and then attach the battery power lead to the chopper electronics. There's no "on/off" switch, you just connected/remove the battery.
It also has a "wall wart" charger. To charge the battery, you take it out of the chopper and attach the lead to the wall wart charger. The charger has a charging indicator LED that blinks fast when charging, slow when fully charged, and is steady on just to indicate that the charger has power from the wall.
I stupidly left the battery attached to the chopper overnight and I think I completely discharged it. When I attach it to the charger, there's no blinking, the indicator just stays red.
The charger and the battery are festooned with decals warning not to leave the charger unattended and to only charge it on fireproof surfaces, so I've been hesitant to just leave the battery on the charger overnight.
Did I kill the battery by draining it entirely? If not, do I need to somehow get a low level of charge in the battery in order to get the charger to actually charge it?
Best answer: Yeah, it depends on the battery and whether it has a low-voltage cutoff. Most batteries that I've seen do, but it's entirely possible that a cheap one might not.
If I were you, I'd order up a new battery from a RC-hobby supplier. If you can fit a bigger (in terms of mAh capacity) into the chopper, go for it -- you'll get more flying time. And you might see about wiring a switch in there while you're at it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:10 PM on January 25, 2010
If I were you, I'd order up a new battery from a RC-hobby supplier. If you can fit a bigger (in terms of mAh capacity) into the chopper, go for it -- you'll get more flying time. And you might see about wiring a switch in there while you're at it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:10 PM on January 25, 2010
In addition to a switch, they also make little alarms that go off when the voltage gets too low. Don't know if it would fit in a tiny heli, but look into it.
posted by JauntyFedora at 1:16 PM on January 25, 2010
posted by JauntyFedora at 1:16 PM on January 25, 2010
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If your battery was overdischarged, it may be dead. I hear there are ways to revive it but LiPos are a bit more volatile and all you have is a wall wart charger. Be careful, these kinds of batteries can explode if improperly charged.
posted by JauntyFedora at 1:03 PM on January 25, 2010