Battery Depletion On Simplex

[Germanrazor]

Anyone observed on full charge without use how long it takes the battery to deplete to maybe 1/2 charge?  Wondering the dormant time on the battery and if it should be stored full charge or depleted somewhat?

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, Germanrazor said:

Anyone observed on full charge without use how long it takes the battery to deplete to maybe 1/2 charge?  Wondering the dormant time on the battery and if it should be stored full charge or depleted somewhat?

It is lithium polymer so it has minimal self-discharge effect.  You should basically see no notceable change in charge level after 3 months of storage.  Lithium cells should be ideally at 60 to 75% of full charge if stored for 3 months or more.  You probably would not actually have any significant issues (i.e., reduced service life) if you stored it at 100% charge, just avoid storing it with less than 50% charge.  The things that kill lithium battery service life (the life at which the battery retains only about 80% of its original capacity after a full charge) are frequent charge backs of greater than 80%, frequently taking the battery down to its shutoff voltage (e.g., running it empty - which also results in the large charge back cycle I just mentioned), storing it empty, and avoid attempting charge a battery when ambient temperatures are below 32F/0C (so be careful about using an onboard charge bank in the cold) or charging at elevated voltages that cause self heating.  Store the battery/detector at reasonable temperatures, especially avoid high temps (see p. 2 of the Simplex manual).  While charging under freezing ambient temperature conditions can be harmful to a lithium battery, storing or operating the detector in below freezing temperature conditions is not harmful but battery capacity will suffer.  HTH

[Germanrazor]

Thank you for the information.  I was wondering since for my agency I oversee a UAS (drone) fleet and they use LiPo batteries and our manufacturers tell us to never store even overnight if it can be helped the batteries at 100%.  In fact, they suggest storage at 30% for the longevity of the systems batteries.  This is a nightmare as we may have to fly at a moments notice and arriving on scene then having to charge a troop of batteries for another hour give or take is sometimes killing daylight as we say.  But the manufacturers stand behind this and the batteries are what they call intelligent batteries < which I laugh at.

 

Good to know CG.