Thunder AC6 'discharge' mode

[steveap1]

This is my first charger, and I am very pleased so far, but I can't figure out what the discharge mode is for on LIPOs. I understand the storage mode, but why do you have a seperate mode for discharge?

The manual, which isn't bad, but not exactly good English, says:

The typical purpose of discharge is to determine the residual capacity of the battery, or to lower the voltage of battery to a defined level. When you discharge the battery you also have to pay attention on the process same as charging. To avoid the battery becoming deep discharged, set the final discharge voltage correctly.

It then goes on to suggest that discharging is a bad thing, which makes me wonder why they would have the setting to start with. Also, I don't know what 'residual capacity' is, and what exactly is the 'final discharge voltage' which has to be set correctly?

The best I can tell, discharge is simply the reverse of charge, but why would you use it when there is storage mode?

[Slyster]

You really won't ever use discharge mode. I never have. You want to store your packs at storage voltage.. regardless if they are high or too, you select storage mode.

[KSHeli]

Some people it appears are using the discharge mode to cycle their lipos for their break-in cycles. They charge or balance charge the batteries and then discharge to lets say 3.95V per cell and then recharge, then discharge to 3.90V and repeat down to storage charge of 3.8V. They do this so that when they get to the flying field then they can just fly down to 20%. If you document the mah that you put back in at each V level you will then have a table that will give a quick reference as to the remaining mah at a pack voltage.

[Mustang Fever]

I bought two AC6s, mostly for charging the pair of 6S 4000 packs in my 700E.

One died before it was 6 months old, and I bought another one.

Another one died recently and that's it for me and the AC6. It might be OK for 2 or 3 cell packs where it doesn't have to work hard, but it isn't worth s**t for real charging jobs.

I suspect it really needs a cooling fan.

It's a shame, because I love the way it worked and the ease of operation.