Smart G2 Charger + Smart G2 LiPo: settings?

[roco_kiefa]

Hello,

I am new to RC and I bought a Spektrum S155 G2 Charger and a Spektrum Smart G2 LiPo (4S).
The manual is very poor. I have a few Newbie-Questions:

- The standard storage voltage setting of the LiPo is 3,9V. Is that ok? I thought the right storage voltage is 3,8V?

- There is an option in the Smart-Settings for „update battery“ What does this mean?
A Firmware Update for the LiPo?

- I have only a function to charge the battery. Why is there no setting for discharge or storage?

maybe my questions are stupid, but I do not want to make any mistakes.

best regards from Austria
Roco Kiefa

 

[Johnny b]

Not an expert but those lipos will self discharge to the proper storage voltage on there own after 3 days I believe.

 

[Xjeepguy]

Welcome! And to answer your questions,
1. Yes, 3.9 is fine for storage
2. Yes, these batteries can update firmware, and actually store charge history among several other things.
3. There should be a way to enter settings, I only use the S2200 G2 chargers, so I’m not totally sure how, but it does have a storage charge function.

Your questions are not stupid at all, we all started somewhere.

 

[CrashBoom]

3.8-.3.85v is typically storage, but 3.9v would probably fine too. It's possible they use a higher storage voltage to help account for drain by "Smart" electronics in the batteries.

Cheaper chargers may not have a discharge function, charger discharges are so slow as to be almost useless anyway. There is probably not a storage function because they rely on the battery electronics to do that automatically.

 

[Xjeepguy]

I looked it up, I think (but not sure) that if you hold down the far right button after plugging in the battery, it will bring up the menu for the charge function. Just scroll up or down to find the charge function, press the menu button, select storage, press menu button, then scroll down to start, and press the menu button again.

 

[roco_kiefa]

Thanks for your answers
That helps a lot.

So the LiPo will discharge by itself after 72h (or the hours that I choose).
But how? Is there any resistor for discharging in the LiPo?

The manual of the S155 says that there is a manually discharge and storage function. But when the LiPo is connected, there is only the charge function in the menu. Thats strange.

The charging current is set to 5A
Is ist better for the LiPo to charge at lower settings (3A for example). It is only slower, right?

 

[CrashBoom]

Yes, it will discharge after the number of hours that you set. I'm not sure how they implement the discharge.

You generally want to charge the batteries at a 1C max rate, so for example a 5000mah battery you'd charge at max 5A, a 10000mah battery at max 10A, etc. There isn't really any benefit to charging below 1C, it doesn't hurt either if your charger can't support a 1C rate.

 

[Xjeepguy]

But after running a battery down, it needs to be charged to storage level.

 

[roco_kiefa]

Thank you for the advice to charge the battery to storage level. that is easy to forget.

How long can I drive with my RC car? Can I drive until the LiPo is completely empty? Until the car do not drive anymore?
Is there any safety level, so that it is impossible to destroy the LiPo?

 

[rotauq]

The esc has a low voltage protection. it will turn the car (off/limit current) a set the value. In use the battery will be slightly lower, so whiles the protection kicks in at like 3.3V (default i think), after some rest they will go up to like 3.5V. When they fo below 3V the battery dies. Between 3V and 3.3V the battery resistance will grow over time (lets say wear down)
Generaly, people with many of batteries will just drive them down to 3.8V and go for the next. Then battery are around storage voltage.

 

[SrC]

Hello,

I am new to RC and I bought a Spektrum S155 G2 Charger and a Spektrum Smart G2 LiPo (4S).
The manual is very poor. I have a few Newbie-Questions:

- The standard storage voltage setting of the LiPo is 3,9V. Is that ok? I thought the right storage voltage is 3,8V?

- There is an option in the Smart-Settings for „update battery“ What does this mean?
A Firmware Update for the LiPo?

- I have only a function to charge the battery. Why is there no setting for discharge or storage?

maybe my questions are stupid, but I do not want to make any mistakes.

best regards from Austria
Roco Kiefa

You are not alone. That whole Smart Eco Spektrum thing doesn't want you to be smart and ask questions. Charging/ discharging and all is done for you, and blindly for the most part.
Looks like what you really wanted was a dumb Charger and Lipo setup.
Yeah, storage volts is ideally 3.80-3.85v per cell. Why Spektrum has 3.9v is strange to me also. But .5v per cell more (3.9v) is probably inconsequential. Yet still out of the Norm IMHO. Not the Lipo industry standard. Not sure what Spektrum is doing there at all. They do odd things with their lipos. If you are ALL in with the Smart stuff, good to also buy the Spektrum Smart Lipo programmer. Might as well. You already made the $plunge$.

 

[roco_kiefa]

Another short question:
Are the values okay for a brand new LiPo?