Lithium Polymer Battery - Conditioning & Performance

[OTH]

Pease forgive a couple of basic questions.

I have a lithium polymer battery.

1. Does this need "conditioning"? If so, how many times should it be fully discharged?

2. With the battery showing approx 50% discharged the motor still gives significant assistance, but markedly less than when fully charged. Also, there is no appreciable difference between selecting high and low assistance at this level of discharge. By the time approx 70% discharge is showing there is hardly any assistance at all. Is this reduction in performance normal as a battery discharges?

Many thanks.

 

[Scottyf]

In answer to the above questions :-

1) Some people complete a cycle of 3-5 times to get the battery up to speed. However its not as important as other battery chemistries. Some people do it to make sure all cells are ok as well as condition the BMS and battery indicators.

2) Yes this is normal. Think of the battery as a Human. I iknow this sounds far fetched but bear with me.
When your fully rested your fully charged and ready to go. Towards the end of the day you become tired and your not able to exert as much energy.

This is the same as a battery. When fully charged you have full capacity of energy. As its run the battery looses its energy and becomes slower. Untill the point the battery managment systems kicks in and no longer allows you to draw power from it.


Battery cells in this case lithium should never be taken below 3v or the risk of the cells being damaged or becoming unusable will happen. This is why there are BMS circuits that monitor voltage to ensure this never happens.

 

[OTH]

Thanks, Scottyf.

I've found it quite difficult to achieve a full discharge because of the lack of assistance towards the end of the process. Have settled for 70-80% discharged and hope this will do.

 

[Scottyf]

Most people believe that in order to achieve a better life cycle of cells that you only charge to roughly 80% full capacity while only discharging to 20% capacity.

As most ebikes in standard trim don't really stress the cells to much with the discharge levels that we dont have to quite follow this rule.


Please charge up and ride and enjoy the bike as much as possible. If its a standard battery / charger / controller kits bike or even a brand bike the manufactures have pretty much put all the steps in process to make them virtually idiot proof so that you can enjoy riding rather than worrying about such issues.