Slightly Puffy Lipo
 

So I have a team powers 2s 6800mah 70c lipo battery that I bought last year and have probably less than 50 runs. I own two and treat both the same, but one decided to puff a bit. It is not puffy where its really obvious unless you look at the battery and notice both sides are uneven. I have never over discharge or overcharged. It is one expensive battery so I don't want to put it down, but nor do I wanna burn down my house.

I'm trying to find out what the reason is for this slight puffiness and if its still worth using. The cells are at their normal storage voltage with 3.7v and 3.8v.

Any help would be great.

Overcharged, over-discharged, very high/low ambient temps, not enough amps to handle load, crappy charging equipment, over gearing, leaving stored at full charge all lead to puffing. If it's not puffed more than a mm or two, I would keep using it but keep an eye on it. Or if you want the totally safe route, toss it.

Hmm all the reasons said have been followed so I still don't get why its puffy.

Try discharging it at a slow rate(0.1-0.2) then charge at a equally slow rate. This works sometimes.

Do you guys know anything about cycling? What does it do?

I cycle my lipo's if I don't use them for over a month or two. I throw them on the charger and fully charge them, then a discharge to 3.2v/cell, full charge, discharge to 3.2v/cell, then charge to storage 3.85v/cell. This keeps the juices flowing and active.

I have the cycle mode on my charger, but never knew what the use of it was.

Don't toss a Lipo. Take it to a recycling center. In the trash these can be very dangerous.

Yes the cycle mode is a good thing!! Before I got the charger I have now, I had to cycle manually, and that really sucked. I used to do a 5 cycle break-in whenever I got a new battery, but that's not necessary anymore.

Not if you discharge them properly.

Should cycling only be done if lipos sit for a while? I assume its like putting a lipo in a car fully charged and runned down then charged back up... I assume cycling is like a simulation just done on the charger instead?

Because no battery lasts forever.

To some extent or another, 50 runs seems like a reasonable life expectancy for a battery pack. Especially considering what we do to them.

Yeah that's the idea