Lithium polymer batteries - part of our terms and conditions
1. Always charge on a surface that can not catch fire easily, concrete, steel etc...Do not charge on carpet, paper or any other items that can catch fire easily!
2. Never over discharge your battery. What does this mean?
It means when you notice a power drop (when playing with your chopper), stop! Immediately!
It also means disconnect your battery from the helicopter, even if you switch off the helicopter or transmitter and you leave it connected it will still discharge really slowly. Really slowly for a day is a lot!
If you over discharge and then charge again you may experience puffing. Puffing? I didn't buy a bird I bought a battery! This is where the cells swell. If this happens you can never use the battery again. If you charge a puffed battery then expect a fire!
3. Use the correct charger....
You have noticed we supply the AC wall adaptor for charging, we also provide some slightly more expensive options with built in cell balancers.
The wall AC adapter charger is a UL approved liion charger it has a max output of 1000 mAh. You could probably use this safely on 750 mAh pack, but don't drop below a 1000mAh battery is my advice. I use it on 470 mAh (but this is a 1S configuration see below) with out problem (don't do as I do do as I say). You can go up to a charge rate of about 1.5C and will not suffer problems . As soon as the battery charger light changes to green/yellow disconnect the battery.
How does this work charger work? It trickles charge into the battery when it is doing this it has a red light and this means it is charging, when the battery is full it will stop accepting charge the light will change to green or yellow. Nothing fancy! Further charging times here.
Can I increase my battery life by getting a more fancy charger? Yep is my answer.
If for example you got this...
It has a cell balancer lead built in and this is where it is connected to the charger. What does this do?
*Firstly I'll briefly give you a quick insight into lipo battery design. Most batteries that come with the helicopters we sell have a configuration of 3S1P (3 cells in series and 1 in parallel). Other 6S1P (6 cells in series and 1 in parallel), 3S2P (3 cells in series 2 in parallel). This charger linked to above is for 2 and 3 cell batteries that means you could safely use it on any 3S and 2S config, you couldn't use it on anything else!
The cell balancer will ensure that each battery connected in series has fully received all its charge giving your battery max charge, hence max capacity, voltage etc.... It also ensures that each cell in series does not become out of balance with the other.
Lipo batteries are expensive and need to be treated with care, if you need any help with charging email me at joel@heliguy.com.