LiPo Battery Basics: How to Make Them Last Longer!

All it takes is a few simple habits to increase the lifespan of your LiPo batteries tenfold. Don't spend more money on batteries than you have to! You're already going to have to buy a ton.
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/ matt_pochwat

[@MattPochwat]

Woo! Thanks for watching. Are you guys tired of all these battery-related videos yet? I hope to get into more interesting stuff soon. Just working from the ground up! Hopefully I can start releasing videos more frequently too!

[@jaysee6320]

Matt Pochwat I find these videos super helpful! So thanks for uploading them, i learned alot!

[@seannalder7848]

Keep them coming mate!

[@BravoSix_Going_Dark]

Thx ,just getting started and looking over all to know things and this really helped :) thank you.

[@g1gamanx]

I would have wasted a lot of money if I didn't watch this video first. My HOTA charger just arrived and all settings immediately made sense for discharge, charge, storage, and balance. Thanks Matt!! Not sure what I would do in this hobby without your easily digestible videos for us beginners to the hobby.

[@ChrisQuadFPV]

I have 7 of the 4s Arris 1500mah lipo's for 2 years now and use them a lot. They are going strong, long flight times and No sag at all. Im impressed 👍👍

[@YellRyan]

I just checked on some old batteries I've had for probably over 3 years now, They were all under 2v. Safe to say I am glad I saw this video and that it reminded me of them

[@VitaNovaProductions]

This video deserves more views. Great job!

[@jakestyles002]

Outstanding work with your "B-Roll".

[@marcowolfart1977]

I like the way you explain things. It seems always so clear and easy to understand. Congrats. Great content!

[@philiproszak1678]

Great explanation of storage voltage. Loving these battery videos.

[@AdventureFPV]

Matt, thanks for your content, I am new to FPV and must say you and Bardwell gave me the final push!!!

[@jordannovek2911]

Thx Matt, I just bought a new dual charger so this was a great refresher . Peace !

[@SwarmPainntball]

Thank you for your informative and simple videos. Keep it up!

[@larrygonzalez4375]

New into electric motors, and so on. I find your videos very engaging; your pace and cinematics are excellent.

[@smithwrx5910]

You can get to a million subscriber's! You will!! Glad to be apart of your upcoming journey!!!

[@rileyhicks8421]

Great video. Well explained

[@the.just.able.biker67]

Thank you. 👍 I'm new to the RC world and I've struggled to understand lipo batteries even after watching countless videos!! Your explanation using food and exercise made perfect sense.

[@stevendegiorgio3143]

You can also use a plug in voltage alarm that you set the minimum voltage you want It has 2 very loud horns on it and it's a very small unit to install on your model.

[@blip30]

this content is so helpful dude and its presented in away that makes it supper easy for us beginners!

[@KTHKUHNKK]

Super great video. I learned a lot and I love it

[@MasqUp]

Thank you! Awesome valued information!

[@DanJonesShow]

Great stuff! Just stumbled upon your channel and Instagram! You have a great channel here!

[@tomchapman3315]

I just found your videos. Well made and very helpful. I just ordered a Hobbymate D6 pro charger. Thanks

[@littlethingsbig5718]

That was super helpful!

[@johnjohnson2394]

Keep it up. I have been flying for a while and find your videos very refreshing, well thought-out, clean, and organized. You even spent time making a boat load of pancakes just for an illustration- kudos! These are modern videos for new and upcoming drone pilots and its a needed niche! Many videos are slapped together-even by seasoned pilots and reviewers because their in a rush to create content. If you have to speak to your future self- your posting too quickly. Stay in the lane you created and subs will follow. Thanks!

[@JorgeJimenez2020]

Come to think about it, one thing you did not mention is that if your quad has a current sensor, you can also use that as a very accurate "fuel gauge". If you fly with a 1000 mah battery in good condition, you can fly it safely and use about 800mah of current. This may be worth its own video, because you still want to double check the resting battery voltage and that your charger puts back 800 mah into the battery when charging. Good habits that also help you monitor health of your battery if you notice this capacity change when flying and/or charging. If you do make a follow up video about this, it may also be useful to talk about what a battery with a damaged cell looks like, where you may charge a pack and 3 out of 4 cells show 4.2v per cell and one of them may show 4.05v or something. This is a sign of a battery with a bad cell that should be retired or at least grounded.

[@ghosty8121]

Love the the tips bro!

[@cadd9511]

Awesome video for us newbies to the rc hobby.

[@pirates0des0iles]

Great job man !

[@zerakhu]

Thank you this vid helps me a lot

[@danielnunez3518]

I have a 3s that I’ve had for over 5 years. It was my main battery for at least 3 of daily use

[@user-rl5uh6td2s]

wow man, your getting lots of subscribers, keep it up, im sure you'll reach 1k in no time!

[@droneexplorer2167]

Thanks Matt this video helped heaps I’m new to FPV and I’m getting really overwhelmed watching what seems like millions of YT videos on how to charge, discharge & storage on lipo’s 🤯 just bought the GEPrc cinelog 25 it’s been sitting here for a week because I’m try to get this charging info correct researching in my spare time. Your video is easy to understand. And what I’ve learnt from this video and comments are : Battery normal voltage written on my 650mAh 4s is 14.8v ✅ Fully charged it’ll be 16.8v ✅ storage voltage is around 15.2v ✅ Flying up until landing at 14V @ 80% empty ✅ I’ve yet to start watching your Parallel charging video but I’m guessing for example on 2x 650mAh: since I’ll set my charger to 0.7A it’ll be double @ 1.4A for x2 batteries and so on for x3 or x4 batteries. ? I don’t expect a reply but if you see this pls confirm then I’m set. Keep up the great work I’m lovin your channel 👍🏻

[@itsjonnyfpv]

Hey, I'am a professional battery builder and I think you need to try out using liion batteries on your Nazgul5. With 4s1p 3000mah u get 14 Min of flight time and its as heavy as a 1300mah 4s lipo. Great Video btw

[@reinoutwijnholds3347]

Wow, really? That's insane. Do you have a link?

[@reinoutwijnholds3347]

Which C-rating would you use then?

[@mariusschmitt5855]

Great Videos for beginners you deserve more likes

[@themusichallacademy2787]

thanks a lot #Matt for deep details. you saved my lipos. I was so rude with them. I put the alarm on my tx and mission planner at 3.7v per cell, and now I try to fly safe and land before alarm buzz!

[@user-bl6uj4fo5c]

valeu amigo, vc incrivelmente explicou melhor que qualquer um que eu tenha visto videos, parabéns pelo video

[@danielshtainer7106]

Great video!

[@leonie9248]

Helpful - thanks!

[@jamiemonkey1362]

I've been flying for years and I wish videos like yours were around when I started. I always use a timer on my transmitter. I know how long my batteries will last and land if I've been speeding about or not so.

[@vmiget01]

good video! thanks

[@LastChaosTyp]

I am still flying my 3 year old batteries until today. I mainly use them to warm up a little bit and then start using my newer ones. Obviously I can feel a pretty noticable power difference, but for my use case these are totally fine. Even when I crash them (bottom mounted batteries) I don't really have to care about them...

[@stanp6126]

good video Matt

[@BIG_PETE_787]

I wish I knew this before, lol, keep up the great instructional videos

[@SAYEDTAYYAB_]

I have also damaged 2 costly batteries

[@justinsurla6043]

Great content pls keep posting more fpv related video. Even though you said your not. BTW your skills is improving than your first time keep it up!!!

[@MattPochwat]

Do you mean more flight footage? I actually might release something next week. I will upload flights sometimes if I feel like I've made some significant progress or if I learned something new.

[@justinsurla6043]

@@MattPochwat That sounds nice

[@droneready8278]

Great info bro...new sub.🙏👍

[@_Brando_69]

I got some tattu r line 3.0 I've raced super hard but always kept them at storage when not in use and they still strong to this day. Low IR and still got punch. Just takes a little bit of care

[@JombieMann]

I have some 4 year old packs that I am still flying on fixed wing without problems. Without telemetry I don't usually know how much I have used but I'm pretty conservative. I usually do a discharge, recharge to storage after a day flying. I'm just getting into fpv quads so will watch the lifetime of batteries. I hope they last longer than a year as the price will add up quickly. Also delivery times and the hassle of getting the batteries imported (to Canada) is a pain.

[@subaehaitham]

Bro you should consider mAh consumption to know when to land, for example when the mAh readings reaches 900~1000 on a 4s 1300mAh, you know you should land immediately because you consumed 80% of its charge.. and a good idea is to calibrate the current sensor by taking average mAh consumed by about 5 batteries then compare it to how much mAh the charger provided while charging the same batteries and get that ratio and set it on betaflight current sensor calibration.

[@JorgeJimenez2020]

Good video and good info. Actually, discharging to a resting 14.7v is even pushing them a little. I also watched some of Steele's videos and I follow one of his recommendations that said that go to 14v under moderate load and then land. Aim for resting voltage of about 15v for a 4S or about 3.75v per cell

[@sylaswojciechowski6895]

I agree. 14.7 is not "very very early". But kinda late in my opinion.

[@FPV_TOMMY]

Ur the best

[@ocelee7794]

I've stop looking at voltage, its not accurate to gauge when to stop. I fly 1500mah batt and will stop at 1200mah, all my batt now last more than a year. But its a pain to setup the current sensor..

[@jumpstartfpv]

You could calibrate the voltage reading in betaflight for a more accurate reading

[@ChrisQuadFPV]

Flying to 3.5 us okay 👌 it won't hurt a thing. I do this on All my lipos. Then i store at 3.85 after my flights.😊😊

[@jays_jae]

Oh! Good to know! Luckily I have been flying alot since I got these packs, otherwise I would've kept them in storage at 4.3 volts, since they're high voltage batteries...

[@steffyweffy777]

So basically we must check the storage voltage is 3.8 for each cell in a battery ?

[@game-f-un-limitedgamer8958]

2:39 Most Canadian thing ever.

[@iramthunder1143]

Im new to the hobby i run a 4s lipo when its fully charged at 16.8 i always fly it to about 15.2 and sometimes 15.0v give me about 2 to 2min 30sec witch for me is a good enough flight time and when i check the battery im always on the perfect storage voltage

[@timscholtz2783]

I have had a pack of 6s 7000mah batts they lasted 11 years now 😉 bit puffy but still my best battery 😎😎

[@DobuDobuDobuDot]

It's a good practice to not look at pack voltage to land but at cell voltage. That way, every single pack you fly, 1s to 6s or higher, you always know consistently when to land. I land at 3.2v in my OSD but that jumps back up to 3.5v, 3.6v when I check the battery after flying so that's enough. Charging the battery also damages the battery in the end because there's only so much cycles it can do so if you really want to get the most out of your battery it's better to fly it till the lowest safe voltage.

[@someonespotatohmm9513]

its better to do more shallower cycles than fewer deep cycles. The damage from charging is less then the damage from going to the extremes, and every mah not drained doesn't have to be charged. So no its not better to get the max out of every charge cycle as that is not what is killing our quad copter batteries.

[@inemm]

I have five or six Lipo‘s that I have used for 3 to 5 years and I’ve never done anything special with them besides not letting them get below voltage and not overcharging them.... and of course I didn’t leave them in direct sunlight or store them anywhere hot... i’ve been using the same $20 fast charger all this time as well... I think what it boils down to is use some common sense as in don’t run them below voltage or Overcharge and store them correctly.. I have never discharge them Nor have I ever charge them for storage

[@gabinofpv]

so at how many amps do you discharge for storage? i have the same batteries and same charger. i usually discharge at a current of 1.5a. can i go higher for faster storage or is that the sweet spot for these particular batteries?

[@djilly75]

you csn get a pretty good reading when the quad is disarmed

[@nightmareinaction629]

I think of it this way if you charge at twice the c rating you save time you could be using to make money to just simply buy more batteries

[@alekstube_]

HIII, going to buy the Nazgul5 V2 6S drone and a TX16S reciever, wondering which type of reciever that works best with TX16S that I should choose on the drone and why? :)) any help is appreciated

[@revirb9049]

So what numbers should I follow with 6s 1300mah?

[@Hadeshinai1]

if the same battery management logic applies to li-po powerbanks that are used for smartphones etc. does that mean when im not using it too much i should leave a charge of abt ~20%? as well

[@LeicaM11]

A combination of accu cells is named a battery. How do you name single use batteries like alcaline types in Mignon or Micro size?

[@bengordon7635]

I had a 1300mah 6s battery charge to 1900mah with 26 volts motor caught fire big fire too crazy

[@rakshithbaskar6014]

Will a battery bought 5 yrs ago without used be able to work now?

[@pieterdeliho1492]

How many batteries you recommend

[@sikkomedema2305]

Thanks for the great videos! I don’t understand this one though, on my 4s battery it says it’s a 14.8V battery, so how can the storage voltage and lowest discharge be lower than that?

[@MattPochwat]

14.8V is the nominal voltage, which is pretty much the average voltage that your battery will have. The actual voltage in your battery will vary. Fully charged it will have 16.8V. Storage voltage will be around 15.2.

[@sikkomedema2305]

Ah that explains it, thank you!

[@FERNANDOPR_FPV]

Good video, but is okey to discharge all the battery?

[@MattPochwat]

All the way? No it's not okay. It will damage the battery

[@Lillmicky-vs4lh]

I have had mine for about 2years but its very swollen i think it Will explodera if i charge it again

[@PolarBearLP]

Does 3.25v destroy a lipo cell???

[@lennchadful]

dont they still make those discharge alarms for like 3 dollars?

[@slowentropy4531]

I don't learn anything from These as I've been flying since January and plenty of experience. But your voice is good and it's entertaining to watch for whatever reason haha. Cheers mate

[@cadd9511]

Does this apply to Li-ion batteries as well? If not, what's the proper storage voltage for Li-ion batteries?

[@BlueGorillaInTheMist]

Yes. Basically the closer you can keep them to 50% charge, the better.

[@AugustusMcMillan]

holdup. im a surface guy. and have had some batteries for my cars and boats for years. ive purchased a few drones. havent flown them yet. are yall stating that i shouldnt expect the batteries i use in my drones for more than a year?

[@looneytunes47]

Ive been getting 3 to 5 years life on my Lipo batteries on average be keeping them fully charged in storage so all this hubub about storage charge being so critical and important is a bunch of bunk. just like the big Covid Scare Tactics!

[@tobydyes]

Not all battery chargers actually store battery at right voltage for instance Traxxas live dual peak charger 3.9 volts Purcell for a $250 charger

[@photolab1656]

Out of context question : Is it important to calibrate your charger ?

[@stevendegiorgio3143]

We should get at least a few years out of a lipo battery.

[@gravity4514]

I let my 1s batteries fully charged in 3 months and they work perfectly fine and i still use them Edit: they are bad now 1 year later

[@justinsurla6043]

Sorry for many question, but can i ask whatgopro you use?

[@MattPochwat]

I have a GoPro hero 5 that I use for most of my videos. I also have a hero 8 that I plan to use in the future.

[@justinsurla6043]

@@MattPochwat thanks for replying. iam planning to buy a hero 6

[@HM-ke1qm]

I have no way to check my battery voltage.

[@threadoor1890]

I've been charging my 4s lipos to 14.8v because thats what it said on the packaging and stopping at 12v, no wonder they wont fly more than 30 seconds now LMAO

[@justinsurla6043]

can i ask how many lipo batteries you have?

[@MattPochwat]

I currently have 8

[@justinsurla6043]

@@MattPochwat wow that is so fast thanks for replying

[@dainius.stasiukonis]

DJI JUST DO WHAT HE SAYS :)

[@penhpouth5817]

that battery need olny about 8 hour

[@rodriguezperalta3212]

I still need some advice on how to take care of my 1s lipos. I use them till my m6hd says land now at around 3.0, if I only use it till 3.5 the flight time will be few seconds. Now my batteries are gone, I cannot even roll as the power is not enough to push up again.

[@puel]

Use only 60 percent of battery. Do not overcharge or over discharge.

[@Shingorani]

anyone else feels like he speaks in slow motion? sounds like 0.8 speed. I usually pump the video speed to 1.25

[@illmilltube]

Canadian's eat Kirkland brand maple syrup??? well I'll be damned.

[@MattPochwat]

When you live in Asia and that's your only option... Hard times call for desperate measures my friend haha

[@sebastiansaxon]

Lol... here after basically wasting a hundred bucks.... dang it.

[@shadowofchaos8932]

Lipo info also translates to cellphones. Don't let your battery drop below 20%.

[@aaronoken]

The bms board of the phones battery prevents it from going to a voltage that could damage the battery

[@SemiCollin]

@@aaronoken let’s say your lipo goes down to 3v to get damaged, that still doesn’t make it good to always go down to 3.2v or something, it’s the same with phone batteries

[@khairulanuarmd1976]

Thanks matt,,,,Are you guys tired of all these battery-related videos yet? Nope. Im totally new in Quad, in a process of customization to new comer spec, however im getting charger just like yours.

[@jonathanp639]

Landing your batteries too early is also bad. I would suggest everyone to never land before at a crushing level they are at 3.7 per cell. Also you can calibrate your readings in betta flight to get a more precise reading. I’ve never done this but I’ve heard it’s the right thing to do and very simple too. Also, balance charging the at a low Amp rate is very important.

[@someonespotatohmm9513]

The only bad thing about landing early is that you will have to discharge your batteries slightly when you get home. Which compared to using them doesn't cause noticeable reduction in life. There is also no reason to balance charge them slowly if your charger isn't garbage and does weird stuff you can balance them as fast as you would normally charge them, not that most charges are even able to do that. I aim for somewhere between 3.55 and 3.65 as then you are one big punch away from being at 3.5 and not really being able to fly anyway.

[@jhughes2286]

13.8v? Your quad must not be calibrated.

[@3eggerfpv397]

Hard to do with 6s, as those just freefall to nothing from 3.78 volts per cell! I always pretty much abuse cell voltage to 3.58 per cell, but they always charge backup and are no different! Fly it, abuse it!!

[@hoohaa559]

Lipos can last you years. Not " well over a year "

[@viro101]

honestly sounds like a huge pain in the ass