I thought they were supposed to be stored with partial charge

Matth79 wrote on 2025-04-03, 20:18:

I thought they were supposed to be stored with partial charge

My exact thought, but maybe they change with age?

Matth79 wrote on 2025-04-03, 20:18:

I thought they were supposed to be stored with partial charge

Yes, I have never heard of deliberately discharging lithium batteries for storage. Please do not do this.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-04-03, 21:12:

Matth79 wrote on 2025-04-03, 20:18:

I thought they were supposed to be stored with partial charge

Yes, I have never heard of deliberately discharging lithium batteries for storage. Please do not do this.

Perhaps they meant to not store them with a full charge.

50% of capacity should be ok and safer than full or empty.

Do I need to say you shouldn't fully discharge a lithium battery?

If you are here on Vogons then I assume you have some IT background and don't need to be told this.

But I will clarify my post to stop silly conclusions.

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-04-04, 00:16:

If you are here on Vogons then I assume you have some IT background and don't need to be told this.

I think anyone is allowed to read the forums here, so I would not assume this at all. Weird\wrong\dangerous advice is constantly being posted online and it's important to point it out (even if it is just a misunderstanding) in order to hopefully prevent others from doing these things.

In this case, we said something about it and now your post is more clear about what you meant, and is in line with what is recommended for storage of lithium batteries. You literally posted a dedicated thread as a PSA about what to do and not to do with lithium batteries. In this situation, clarity is really important since lithium batteries are some of the nastiest things we have around us on a day by day basis.

I do appreciate the thread though. It's good to be careful with these things and to not mistreat them or leave them places where they could cause a serious problem.

They do make some fireproof bags to specifically store these batteries in. Plenty of them on Amazon when I search for: lipo bags.

Of course, that doesn’t make up for improper storage. I should also add that these batteries also don’t like being very cold for extended periods of time either, even when not in use. Less risk of fireworks, more risk of frustration when your battery only runs for 10 minutes or less.

emu34b wrote on 2025-04-04, 02:41:

They do make some fireproof bags to specifically store these batteries in. Plenty of them on Amazon when I search for: lipo bags.

Of course, that doesn’t make up for improper storage. I should also add that these batteries also don’t like being very cold for extended periods of time either, even when not in use. Less risk of fireworks, more risk of frustration when your battery only runs for 10 minutes or less.

How good are these bags?

Must be some stern materials to hold back a lithium fire.

Impressive if they can!

Trashbytes wrote on 2025-04-04, 03:33:

Must be some stern materials to hold back a lithium fire.

Only the finest asbestos. I'm joking of course but I don't think you can contain such a fire if it's big enough. So these bags are most likely good for just one, maybe a couple of cells.

New cells are usually made, shipped and stored at about 30% charge. You need some charge in them to prevent the self-discharge from dropping the voltage below safe levels. But not too much to minimize the risk of fire, and then also if it does occur to minimize the fire itself.

Point is, it doesn't much matter where you leave your lithium cells - in a bag or inside a device. Those must be periodically tested and recharged a bit if very low. Running flat a single use cell is not dangerous but it obviously it might have its own issues, like loosing some stored settings or even leaking and corroding stuff.

Deunan wrote on 2025-04-04, 10:20:

Only the finest asbestos. I'm joking of course but I don't think you can contain such a fire if it's big enough. So these bags a […]
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Trashbytes wrote on 2025-04-04, 03:33:

Must be some stern materials to hold back a lithium fire.

Only the finest asbestos. I'm joking of course but I don't think you can contain such a fire if it's big enough. So these bags are most likely good for just one, maybe a couple of cells.

New cells are usually made, shipped and stored at about 30% charge. You need some charge in them to prevent the self-discharge from dropping the voltage below safe levels. But not too much to minimize the risk of fire, and then also if it does occur to minimize the fire itself.

Point is, it doesn't much matter where you leave your lithium cells - in a bag or inside a device. Those must be periodically tested and recharged a bit if very low. Running flat a single use cell is not dangerous but it obviously it might have its own issues, like loosing some stored settings or even leaking and corroding stuff.

Losing zero point is what normally kills 18650 Lithium cells, you can sometimes recover cells from that point but its not easy. I see this a lot with the 18650 types which you can single out the dead cell and trickle charge it very slowly till it gets above minimum voltage and starts to charge normally, this process involves removing the charging circuitry so its not for the average person to do.

I have seen Big Clive do it a number of times to revive dead cells. (Still a scary business, I wouldn't try this with Li-Po but 18650 cells seems far more reasonable to work with, still precautions must be taken)