Charging new lipo batteries ?

[Andris Golts]

Hi all just purchased a pair of 2500 mah lipo's for the first charge cycle should i go lower than c-10 rate e.g. 1 amp instead of 2.5 amps . Which method would give me the best performance and longivity? As i have been dissapointed with quite a few lipo's that i have purchased over the last few years. Regards Andris Golts.

[shua]

There is no need to go less than 1c charge rate.

For best performance and longivity, I always balance charge the packs and place the packs in "storage" (60% capacity) when not in use.

For example, I will charge my packs the morning that I am using them and before puting things up for the day, I will run my equipment for approx half its normal run time to bring the batteries down to half capacity.
Then it only takes several min. per battery to put them into storage mode. Alot of Lipo chargers have a preprogramed "storage" option in their charging menu.

[kevinpratt823]

Depends who you ask. SMC actually recommends never charging lower than 1c for whatever reason.
I cycle brand new packs on the charger 5 times, and keep the first few runs shorter than usual just as habit.

[Brushless55]

Andris, charging packs at 1C is perfectly fine
the first few uses I always cycle my packs at 1C then 2C loads and charge at 1C to make sure things are good with them and take them down to about 40% during the cycling
and always put them in storage charge after use, and that is around 3.80v-3.82v per cell or about 35-40% capacity of the pack