I took a year off of rc. i was spending too much money (collected 14+ total rc cars,trucks, tank and boats) so i gave myself a break.

i got the bug again to play with them, but i am concerned about my lipo's. they have sat in the lipo bags for about 1 year with no top off or anything. just sat.

Is it safe to charge or should i just put them into the battery recycle at home depot.

Are the puffed at all? Do you have a charger that measures IR? If so, I would cycle the packs and see what the IR reads, if the cells are all similar and not over lets say 5moh per cell, they may be alright. Once you've cycled them several times the IR should drop a bit. A good pack should be around .8-2 moh per cell.

they are not puffed. i dont have an IR meter. maybe i should just charge it outside and run them on my weakest car

Were the batteries stored at storage charge (3.80-3.85v per cell)?

I can't say for sure but knowing me i would expect that i did

I'd say that charging them outside in a lipo safe bag for at least the first few cycles is probably your safest option if you plan on trying to charge them. Good luck!

just so long as none of the cells have dropped below 1.5V, then there won't be any risk of shunts forming, more info here:
BU-702: How to Store Batteries ? Battery University

regardless of the current health, your packs will age all depending on the temp and voltage they were stored... lots of variables

Rule of thumb is the packs should be discarded after they lose 20% capacity. If you have a digital charger which displays how much current is charged into the pack then you can do the math.

For example 5000mAh - 20% = 4000mAh

After a few cycles... drain each pack to LVC, then check to see how much charge each pack is taking in. For general bashing around it should be no big deal to continue using your packs provided they are holding enough charge, but IR will be more important for optimal performance if you will be racing.

I don't have an IR meter either, but I can usually tell when performance starts to fade and typically replace most of my 2S packs around the 6 month mark... my 4S packs typically go a little longer, I just need them to last 12 minutes for a 10 min main + 2 min of practice.

i checked my batteries
1 was stored at storage charge and the other was stored at full charge.

the one that was charged to full is sitting at 80% and the one in storage is sitting at 40%


I will give it a try because i dont want to have to buy new batteries, but i will charge outside and not use my good rc car for at least the first couple of runs

if the say for a year st storage they will be safe to use.. on strongest amp draw rc or weakest..unless physically damage or to high or ir... I have lipos that are still used by me that I have had for 6 years no issue on my high draw rc.... charge outside will be safest away from things that might catch fire..