Originally Posted by
billjacobs
Which charger lets you charge beyond 4.2v a cell? Just because something exists doesn't mean it is a pandoras box waiting to be opened.
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billjacobs - overcharging lipos is a pandora's box waiting to be opened.
Yes - overcharging will give better discharge performance.
It is also extremely unsafe. Repeated slight overcharges will make a safe cell unsafe as well as killing the cycle life tremendously. Please read the thread title "Lipo Fires 101" for a detailed explanation. A gross overcharge will destroy the cell and have a high liklihood of a fire.
Great - now that I confirmed it, there will be a ton of people who will try it.
If ROAR ever legalizes lipos, there should be a rule to prevent this. It's fairly straight forward to spot an overcharged lipo. All someone needs to do is measure the open circuit voltage with a voltmeter - it should never exceed 4.20V/cell or 8.40V as a pack.
It's quite easy to overcharge a lipo. Anybody can get a hold of an adjustable voltage benchtop power supply. You can also charge a lipo in NIMH or NICAD mode where the voltage can greatly exceed 8.40V. You can also go inside your charger and twist the little voltage calibration potentiometer so that when the charger thinks it' at 8.40V, the battery is actually at 8.60V. One of the integy chargers (which I think should be banned) even has a setting for 4.25V/cell.
The bottom line is: DON'T OVERCHARGE A LIPO....EVER.