how many cycles are lipos good for?
 

I ordered a set of 6S Hyperions. Wondering when they'll need to be replaced!?

I had several that were just getting to about 100cycles that went south when I had to leave country for work and stored them at 1/2 charge. They had all puffed when I got back about 3 months later. The were doing good up to that point, very little loss in capacity.

I see companies advertising 300cycles so maybe thats a better idea of how long. Going to be a while before I get mine back to where I was.

How many cycles you get from your Lipo's really depends on how far you push them and how hard you make them work. It also depends on how well you keep them in balance.

How much you punish them depends alot on selecting a Battery Pack that has some "head room" beyond what your setup will pull ampwise.

Let's say your setup is going to pull 50 amps continous with some 80 amp spikes.

Now let's put 3 different Packs to use with this setup.

Pack #1 = 5000mah 10C Cont 15C Burst (50 amps Continous, 75 amp Burst)
Pack #2 = 4000mah 20C Cont 25C Burst (80 amps Continous, 100 amp Burst)
Pack #3 = 5000mah 20C Cont 25C Burst (100amps Continous, 125 amp Burst)

All 3 of these packs will work with this setup.

Pack #1 will have the shortest cycle life. Perhaps even less than 100 cycles.
Pack #2 will go the distance. You could expect 300+ cycles.
Pack #3 will yield the most cycle life. It is being operated below it's ratings. It isn't going to run as hot as the other two. You could get 400 to 500 cycles with proper balancing and care.

That's my two cents worth anyways. I hope this helps.

I have heard a large portion of lipo's often don't make it past their ~150 birthday... they fail for some reason or another. Either by melt down, or puffing up and going bad, whatever. But refining process should be better all the time, quality control, etc... it happens less and less, especially when you have 25C continuous packs, they aren't stressed very hard in the typical R/C car.

If you are aiming for cycle life, A123's will have 1000+ cycles under it's belt, and that is just to the point where they are roughly 80% original capacity. I have run 200+ cycles of my A123 packs, and they still read 2350mah per cell, not bad, considering they are rated for 2300mah! :yes:

Nice, where is the best place to get A123's?

eBay... search for 36v DeWalt packs. You have to dissect the pack to make your own, there are 10 cells in series. One of the easiest way to use one is 5s2p pack, you just cut it in two places, solder in one place and solder wires on, connector, and you are set!

What are you using to charge your a123's?

Lipos are only good for 5-10 cycles. After that you must send them to me for proper disposal. I am the only person currently alive on earth who has been trained to do this properly. Please PM me for my address and contact info. Make sure all lipos are carefully wrapped and sent priority mail with insurance. I provide this service free of charge to all forum members and friends, my motto is safety first!

Please be carful, as using your lipos over 10 cycles will result in your death and possibly maiming/killing a bus load of nuns on their way back from confession. You do not want all of those deaths on your hands. Of the reported 56,897,462 lipo related incidents last month, only one man survived, and he has recently committed suicide due to the unbearable guilt of killing the nuns.

I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.

:lol::rofl:

I have a few with more than 10 cycles. How do I safely mail them?

It is very easy. The USPS priority packaging is very safe to use. If you wrap the lipo in bubble wrap, the combination of the plasic and air, coupled with the specially treaded carbdoard of the priority box acutally create a small time paradox. The lipo is then tricked into beliving that time has stopped, thus it is unaware of the transport time, and thus will not spontaneously turn into white hot plasma. I have a specially made building to house these lipos, that was actually designed and constructed by Thomas Edison, the forefather of lithium battery technology. The actual working of the building are very difficult to descibe, needless to say it will keep all hobbyists and passing nuns in busses 100% safe.

You are treading on very thin ice, young man. Just yesterday, the entire continent of antarctica was destroyed due to an improperly maintained cell phone battery. Luckily the NCFTINTLAIMLPB (national center for the immediate notification to lincpimp about improperly maintained lithium polymer batteries) contacted me before Canada was lost too (not that anyone would notice that). The risk is real, and dangerous. Trust no one...

Man thats some funny stuff.What were you on ?We can exchange addresses if you want.I'll send you some lipos and you send me some ???????

:lol::lol::lol: :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Damn Linc!!! You had me until 5 -10 cycles!

I use a BK PRECISION programmable switching power supply (LINK)

But now I found a much better one for this, 4.5 times more power, and cheaper. Tanic packs has it HERE. I am going to get one for myself soon.

With that thing, you could charge a 1p pack (up to 50v!) in less than 8 minutes. A 2p pack in roughly 15 mins... too bad there is no esc that can handle 50v (a good car controller anyways), as you could have over 30 mins of runtime with only 8 mins charging time.

Yes, they can handle being charged this fast, A123 even demoed a 6 min charge themselves!

He had you at " Hello " :rofl:

Not to pimp myself, but I have 24 new a123 cells for sale if you're looking for some.

PM for price.