If reading this, you might already know about the lithium polymer battery. For those who might not know, a LiPo battery is a rechargeable battery that, in the case of true LiPo, uses solid polymer for the electrolyte and lithium for one of the electrodes. Commercially available, LiPo are hybrids.
There’s no denying that LiPo batteries have not reached commercial viability. The batteries referred to as LiPo in commercial use offer reduced thickness, flexibility and weight. In this blog post, we will take you through some of the important things you should know before using LiPo batteries.
LiPo’s Don’t Like Extreme Temperatures
By now you should be aware of the sheer fact that heat and cold are the enemies of LiPo batteries. Allowing your round LiPo battery to get hot either during use or especially during charging will damage it. And on the other side, cold temperatures tend to decrease the performance of a novel LiPo battery.
Try as much as possible to keep your batteries warm, but not hot, before use in cold weather. Once in the air, the use of the batteries will help keep them a little warm, but you’ll notice that they will not perform quite as effective as you are used to.
LiPo Lifespan
We can never conclude without mentioning the sheer fact that LiPo batteries have a limited lifespan. Eventually, after 300 or so charge cycles, you’ll find that most LiPo batteries have lost a lot of performance and it will be time to retire them. You’ll notice that you get less and less flight time and not as much ‘punch’ as was the case initially.
Another indicator of a mini LiPo battery being ready for disposal is ‘puffing.’ Worn out or abused batteries tend to expand or puff up as components inside the battery turn into a gas. Last but not least, if your medical battery charger can measure the batteries internal resistance, be sure to keep a close eye on those numbers.
Any sudden jump, or having one cell have an internal resistance that is much higher than the others is an indication that the battery should be retired. In this case, you should head back to the battery factory and get yourself a new high discharge rate battery. It is only then that you can continue reaping maximum benefits from your wearable battery.
