Li-Pol Battery Replacement

[Bosun]

I have recently purchased a replacement Li-Pol battery as I have had the previous one a while.

I have disconnected/connected the battery before but the new one was a stubborn little sod,ended up bending two of the pins but managed to straighten them again and eventually got it in place.

I know it has been mentioned before but what a nasty little device this plug is on an otherwise quality product.

However it got past ( or even reached ) the design stage I don't know.

Ian

[Rogerfrit]

Agreed - probably the weakest part of an otherwise good design.
That and the non-waterproofness of the USB cover.......
I don't doubt that it will be adressed in any future revamp, but I do doubt that we early adopters will benefit as a retrofit wouldn't necessarily be very easy.
Ho Hum

[Bosun]

I am surprised there hasn't been an upgrade model brought out by now.

It would be nice if any such future model had basically most of the same innards as the Active 10 and could be upgraded by returning it to Satmap for a nominal amount for an upgrade instead of buying a whole new unit at several hundred pounds.

I would have thought any "improved" model would have to be the same external shape as the present one or it would entail redesigning the range of Pro Shield covers,batteries,screen protectors,cases and other bits and bobs.

Ian

[Rogerfrit]

Indeed.
The changing of the "plug" on the LiPol and the "socket" in the battery compartment to more "user friendly" components shouldn't be enormously difficult to incorporate in one of the Service Packs.
Incidentally - I have had my LiPol now for over 3 years. How long is it due to last? I got 10 hours out of it yesterday with display continuously on. Pretty good I reckon.
I do flatten it every few weeks and do a full recharge. Is this still necessary? Or is this just a hang-over behaviour from less modern batteries?

[Bosun]

Roger,

I am no expert in this but I don't think it is necessary to flatten batteries anymore as modern ones don't have the "memory effect" that older ones did.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that batteries should be kept in the highest state of charge to preserve their life.

Found this which may be of assistance:-

OVER DISCHARGING - THE NUMBER ONE KILLER OF LIPO'S!!!

The other thing that will heat a pack up fast is if you push it right down to or lower than 3.0 volts per cell under load. Even if you have a 40C pack and can only draw half that amount, if you push it hard right down to 3 volts per cell - it will become very warm/hot and will shorten its life substantially.

A very good rule to follow here is the "80% rule". This simply means that you should never discharge a LiPo pack down past 80% of it's capacity to be safe. For example, if you have a 2000 mAh LiPo pack, you should never draw more than 1600 mAh out of the pack (80% x 2000). This is assuming a healthy pack as well that has the full 2000 mAh capacity (as packs age, their capacity drops).

Ian

[Rogerfrit]

Ian
Thanks so much for that information.
I am changing my habits as of now!
Cheers

[M8TJT]

[davidor]

M8TJT: I think you are reading it the wrong way round; Bosun means not discharging a battery by drawing more than 80% of its capacity i.e. as in his example, don't draw more than 1600mAhr from a 2000 mAhr battery.

For comparison, lead-acid batteries shouldn't be discharged to less than 50% of their capacity (unless they are proper, very expensive, deep-discharge traction batteries).

[M8TJT]

Davidor.
You are of course correct on about my third reading. Thanks for pointing that out. In which case I recind my comments.

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