LiFe Batteries - the Down side

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LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby Jon Luscomb » Mon Oct 14, 2013 10:16 am

I purchased a Hobbico LiFe 3200 Mah battery pack and loved it. After sailing one Sunday with my club, I forgot to turn off the receiver in the boat. I did not sail for a couple of weeks after that. When I opened the boat and pulled the battery out of the bilge, the first thing I noticed was if felt "puffy". I didn't remember it feeling like that before, but I plugged into the charger and the balancing board and turned it on. Beep Beep Beep! Error message. HMMM. I charged up another NiMh and whent sailing. I spoke with some of my fellow members at the pond and I was told that LiFe batterys are ruined if totaly discharged. Man O Man - I was pretty bummed that I ruined an expensive battery after only a couple of uses.

Not to be beat, I looked and looked on the web for any information about "resurecting" a LiFe battery. I could not find any definative information except that my freiends were right. I thought about what to do. Two ideas came to mind: make a lead to connect a NiMh to the LiFe or use a standard NiMh/NiCd charger. My thinking was that the LiFe charger needs to receive some feedback that there is some voltage in the pack before it will charge. So the battery to battery would balance voltage between the two and the NiMh charger wouldn't care. So, I decided to try charging it with a battery charger not specified for LiFe Batteries. I put the charging leads on the puffy pack and set the charge rate at .08amps on a trickle mode. I did not get the error message this time, but nothing was happening. OK what next? Turn the Amps up and hit it with the fast charge.....drum role.....voila! The battery began taking the charge, stayed cool and did not blow up. I left it on that charger for less than 3 minutes and the moved it to the balanced charger. Amazingly it charged. As it was on the charger, I closely monitored the rate, the voltage balance between the cells and the temperature. Almost immediately the puffiness went down. When the battery had charged to 2100MaH, the charger "stopped". It took about 45 minutes at 1.5amps. The battery was still cool so I let the charger rest a bit and then upped the charging voltage up to the manufacturer's recommendation of 3.0 Volts. The charger stayed on and the battery topped out at around 3200 total MaH. The charge signaled that the charge "ended" rather than just "stopped". I sailed with it all morning yesterday and it worked like a charm. Whew!! I am not sure if I was just lucky, but who cares, it seemed to work well and I hope that this information might help someone else who drained the battery below its threshhold voltage.

Lessoned learned: Unplug your LiFe batteries after use to insure this does not happen.

By the way, does anyone know of a usage meter that can be installed between the battery and the receiver which would measure the nuber of MaH's used? I have read that it is critical to not let the battery be over discharged(obviously), but but because the voltage on these does not drop measurably until it reaches that low voltage threshold ( about 2.5 volts) and then drops dramatically to the "dead zone" (Read Dick Hedderick's excellent article on the buid page). So, a load tester really does not help and a volt meter does not really help either.

Flyers measure the number of MaH used by measuring how many it took to bring th battery back up to full charge after use. So they measure "time" not volts. Usually, this battery burns about 450MaH for 2 hours of sailing in light/medium conditions so about 3.75Mah/hour. I suppose if my math is right I should be able to sail safely all day. Hope this helps. :D
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby RMDJBD » Tue Oct 15, 2013 8:26 am

Jon

Hobby King and Hobby Partz sell an Audible and Visible low voltage alarm ( HK-CM-06, $5.63 PLUS POSTAGE ). It is for LiPo's but will work on Life with no problem, it is programable. You plug it into the balance plug and leave it there. When the voltage gets to the low alarm setting it will start screaming and an LED light comes on, it only weighs 12 grams.

I use one on my Drone and it works fine, can hear the alarm from good distance. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby Jon Luscomb » Tue Oct 15, 2013 9:39 am

Thanks Bob. I will order one. Hi to Dee. :D
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby Rick West » Wed Oct 16, 2013 11:10 am

These devices are handy for flying but not thought of them for a boat. I am not sure what good one will do for you if in the shop or garage at home. Yes, we can forget sometimes like when having the first four-stroke outboard and leaving it running next to the big boat on the Barge because I could not hear it. Ways have to change, I thought, not to mentioned being pointed out by a mooring friend.

LiFe batteries have a good safety record but they are lithium none the less. I remove the battery at the lake when I leave and cradle the boat religiously. Should fate be unkind you could lose a boat or a vehicle. It is too part of my sorting practice for these batteries do not need to be topped off when unused. I love them and cannot believe the patience and practice followed with Ni-cad and NiMH stuff in days gone by. Argh.
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby Jon Luscomb » Wed Oct 16, 2013 11:59 am

Rick:

The device connects to the balance plug on the battery. I am intending to attach it to the battery with velcro, plug it in and leave it in the boat while sailing. I research others after RMD's post and there a a few different kinds. One looks like the RMG Winch voltage meter.

Hey, for 5 bucks what the heck. You are right about removing the battery from the boat.

Best,
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby greerdr » Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:13 pm

And even in a "dry" boat I remove batteries after the lake,and set the boat in the driest place I have with hatch removed to help all moisture out.
I submit it is important.
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby hedderick » Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:01 pm

I have been using a "LifeSource" LiFe battery in my EC-12 for about two years.
It is a 1800mAh battery. The "milli Amp Hours" is the amount of "gas in the tank" of a battery. I have checked the consumption of "gas" and it runs 200 milliAmps or less per hour in an EC-12 using an RMG winch, even in windy conditions. This means if you go to a regatta and sail continuously for 6 hours, the amount of "gas" consumed will be 1200 mAh and you still have 600 mAh in the "tank". The battery will be only 2/3rd's spent (probably less spent than the skipper). So, since I recharge the battery before every day of sailing, I feel no need for a low battery warning device.
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Re: LiFe Batteries - the Down side

Postby Jon Luscomb » Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:32 pm

I have brought another LiFe back from the dead using the same procedure in my original post! They are saveable!
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