Pl6 Charging in cold ?

[Mr.Gobler]

Is there some setting that tells the charger to run off or to stop charging at 4.10 per cell or 93% a pack. Mine keeps stopping now at 93% only way around it is to remove the battery unplug power to charger then start all over, what a pita..

[RedOctobyr]

Yes

It has a cold weather mode that will stop at 4.1V when below a certain temperature. It is there to protect the packs, but can likely be disabled if you would prefer.

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[Mr.Gobler]

Originally Posted by RedOctobyr

Yes

It has a cold weather mode that will stop at 4.1V when below a certain temperature. It is there to protect the packs, but can likely be disabled if you would prefer.

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well id like to fully charge my packs sooo, whats the point of this feature anyways ? Is it bad to disable it and continue charging or ?

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by itsparks

well id like to fully charge my packs sooo, whats the point of this feature anyways ? Is it bad to disable it and continue charging or ?

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=11

From our chief engineer who ran a lot of testing on charging Li in cold temperatures:

Lithium is a poor performing battery in cold weather. If the pack is cold, the cell damage voltage reduces from 4.35V down to 4.20V. That means charging a lithium pack to 100% when it is below 50 deg F will reduce cycle life.

You can disable it or lower the temp that the mode kicks in. But I would caution against lower it. Its a preset option available on the console. Even easier when using the CCS.

[Mr.Gobler]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=11

You can disable it or lower the temp that the mode kicks in. But I would caution against lower it. Its a preset option available on the console. Even easier when using the CCS.

lol 50deg is 10c exactly what i was flying in yesterday. So should i only charge to 93% then fly ? Also lowering my flight times..?

[RedOctobyr]

Reducing your timer would seem like a good idea to me.

The packs will start at a lower voltage. So they'll end at a lower voltage (not necessarily 0.1V lower, it depends on the discharge curve of a LiPo). Especially if you are already flying them to something near 80% based on a 4.2V charge, you might begin over-discharging them, if using your normal timer.

I'd target a new timer setting that gives the same after-flight voltages that I normally get when charging to 4.2V.

[Gregor99]

Originally Posted by itsparks

lol 50deg is 10c exactly what i was flying in yesterday. So should i only charge to 93% then fly ? Also lowering my flight times..?

Depends on your normal pack consumption. If you usually fly 80% of the pack, lowering your flight times a tad bit would be appropriate. Also since the effective C rating reduces in the cold, lowering your headspeed or softening your flight style would help preserve the packs.

Since you are close to 10c now you could reduce the cold weather offset by 50mv. That way the packs would charge to 4.15v instead. As the temps drop further you'd want set it back to the default of 100mv. The setting is in the charge tab. So you could have a "cool" preset as well as a subzero preset.

Either way, its your call. FMA wants to help you take better care of your packs. Its all optional and up to you how you treat them. At least now you have better insight into what can prematurely age a pack. I appreciate FMA's default settings raising awareness of how to care for packs. As well as the flexibility to leverage presets and multiple options so I can do what I want with my packs.

[Mr.Gobler]

Originally Posted by Gregor99

Depends on your normal pack consumption. If you usually fly 80% of the pack, lowering your flight times a tad bit would be appropriate. Also since the effective C rating reduces in the cold, lowering your headspeed or softening your flight style would help preserve the packs.

Since you are close to 10c now you could reduce the cold weather offset by 50mv. That way the packs would charge to 4.15v instead. As the temps drop further you'd want set it back to the default of 100mv. The setting is in the charge tab. So you could have a "cool" preset as well as a subzero preset.

Either way, its your call. FMA wants to help you take better care of your packs. Its all optional and up to you how you treat them. At least now you have better insight into what can prematurely age a pack. I appreciate FMA's default settings raising awareness of how to care for packs. As well as the flexibility to leverage presets and multiple options so I can do what I want with my packs.

I don't mind flying less time. I can charge to 4.10