General 2 questions : need suggestion with batteries and weather condition

[eseeweb]

Hi

May i know if a LIPO battery swell a little bit, is it still safe to use. I have a couple of 2200mah 3S 25C batteries that i can take but they seems to swell a little bit and is a couple years old. I charged them and seems to be ok except one of the battery has a cell that is 4.02. The rest of the cells are 4.2ish.

Also, what temperature drop to before i stop flying out door. In Canada, we are at 45-60 F and no snow yet.

thx, Ted.

 

[pvolcko]

A little swelling is fine. And .2v on that cell is something to keep an eye on, but it is not necessarily a problem. If they give you the power and flight duration you want, then keep using them. I wouldn't draw them any lower than 3.7v/cell, in order to help them last longer and keep swelling to a minimum.

I've flown in the dead of winter, snow blowing. Just need to make sure the plane is in good working order, bearings lubed with a lube good for colder temps (scorpion motor bearing lube is famous for being poor in the cold, for instance). If you are likely to crash, maybe don't fly because the cold will likely make crash damage worse than normal. Things get brittle. Also with planes be careful with the cold and any stick built planes due to the covering shrinking a bit. Foam panes are ideal for the cold since they are relatively unaffected by the cold temps.

 

[eseeweb]

Hi pvolcko, thx for the reply. I do charged the 2200mah batteries a couple times and seems ok. Temp here is getting a little cold now when standing outside... my hand feel like freezing a little bit