limiting battery charge to only 4.1v

[NewDudeHere]

will limiting the battery charge to 4.1v will increase the battery life? like restricitng it to 80% of the total capacity?

 

[Neelis]

I am no battery expert, but I have never heard that the 4.2 volts is an issue, unless you leave the battery unused for a long period of time at full charge.
The batteries are more sensitive to low voltage and stop using it at 3.6 or 3.7 volts and charge it up to storage charge, does help the lifespan of the battery.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

Storage voltage is the most stable state for lithium batteries. However, even at storage voltage, lithium batteries still have an effective lifespan. Over time they will break down and the IR will rise. Being at higher or lower voltages than storage will cause that lifespan to be decreased as IR rises faster at those voltage levels than at storage voltage. Therefore, minimizing time at full charge or fully empty will help maximize the amount of life you can get from the battery. In theory, you could try to extrapolate and say that only charging to 4.1v would help battery life. But I think the savings are negligent as long as you are always keeping your batteries at storage charge if you aren't using them, especially since the time you'd be at "full charge" would be kept to a minimum anyway. So I wouldn't be afraid of charging to 4.2v per cell.

To be fair, there are alot of other ways for a battery to die or be decommissioned. Damage from a crash, broken internal solder, overheating, poor quality manufacturing, etc. They are more likely to cause battery health issues than the voltage you charge to IMO (4.1 vs 4.2v).

 

[LibertyMKiii]

I have read that charging to only 4.15 or 4.18 is "easier" on the cells, but as mentioned above I doubt you would notice a difference.
There are plenty of articles online about LiPo care and cell degradation. It is good info to know, but most quality cells last just fine being charged up to 4.2v

I can confirm over charging to 4.23 - 4.25 will shorten their life drastically.

 

[Neelis]

I am always wondering how accurate an average charger is, as we are talking about 0.0x volt here.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

I am always wondering how accurate an average charger is, as we are talking about 0.0x volt here.

I was going to bring this up. My Venom charger is not accurate.... or the built in an offset to keep things safe.
My iSDT cell checker is very accurate and it will show 3.86 when my Venom charger shows 3.98 - 4.01 range.

I assume this is a safety margin to avoid issues, but either way it sucks and is a reason I would like to invest in a nicer quality charger.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

I am always wondering how accurate an average charger is, as we are talking about 0.0x volt here.

Actually i would think pretty accurate depending on how quality of a product you have. It's pretty common technology to be measuring voltage down to 3 decimal places in other computer components, such as processors. Those change voltage by 0.001v increments. Meaning they likely measure down to 0.0001v and report back in round 0.001v steps. So the technology exists and is relatively common place, it would more be a question of costs. Thus i would say on a $30 charger, you probably aren't going to see super accurate voltages, whereas on one that's higher end $150+, it could be more reasonable to believe it.

Calibration, is another issue entirely. But overall, whether a thousandth of a volt matters or not with respect to lipos, is another question. I would argue no. Getting two decimal places is sufficient to call cells balanced.