The use of RC airplane batteries has become more widespread, and the field of application has now largely completed the transition from rare to more common. So the question is, how to judge the quality of an RC airplane battery? Here, we will judge from a monolithic cell and a battery pack.

Judging from the performance of Monolithic cell   

1. RC airplane battery capacity is up to standard

The capacity reaches the capacity value of the RC airplane battery identification. Generally speaking, the high-quality  RC airplane cell will exceed 3% – 5% of the design capacity, such as the Ovanic 5000mAh RC airplane battery, and the monolithic cell capacity is generally Up and down 5200mAh, it belongs to high-quality RC airplane cell.

2. The C-rate RC airplane battery reaches the standard

The discharge rate can reach the magnification value of the RC battery identification. The C-rate here is not only the pressure drop but also the indicators such as the endurance, temperature, flatulence, safety and so on.

3. RC airplane battery cycle life

There is no standard for the cycle life of the RC airplane battery in the industry. This life is closely related

to the process of battery production. According to our current test data, the RC airplane battery capacity will be reduced to different degrees， with each charge and discharge. There will be varying degrees of capacity reduction. The reduction of the RC airplane battery produced by each manufacturer is different. The reduction of the RC airplane battery of the same batch of the same manufacturer is different. The same batch of batteries of the same manufacturer is not the same. This is why many models of the same brand of batteries bought by the same model have different life spans.

Judging from the performance of RC airplane battery

The high-quality monolithic cell does not necessarily produce high-quality RC airplane battery packs, but excellent RC airplane battery packs must require high-quality cell for production. This is mainly about the problem of pairing. Pairing is a very complicated process, and its requirements for equipment are quite high. A pair of batteries that require the same capacity, C-rate, and lifetime decay rate can be a group. If any of these three indicators are too different, the life of the whole battery will be reduced. The closer the three indicators are, the better the performance of the battery pack will be, and the safety of the flight will be guaranteed.

1. When the C-rate of RC airplane battery is the same

For example, 5000mAh 30C 3S RC airplane battery, if the capacity of the three batteries is 5120mAh, 5120mAh, 5320mAh. The three batteries will be charged to 4.20V. After

discharging 5000mAh on the model, the remaining power of the three RC airplane batteries is 120mAh, 120mAh, and 320mAh. Due to the certain relationship between the power and the voltage, the voltage of the 320mAh battery is high, and the other two voltages are low, resulting in an imbalance of the RC airplane battery voltage. If it discharges to 5150mAh, two batteries may have been in reverse charging state due to over-discharge. However, because there is a voltage in the RC airplane battery, it is believed that the RC airplane battery still has electricity, which is bound to affect the life of the RC airplane battery. This is caused by the imbalance of capacity.

2. When the capacity of the RC airplane battery is the same

Some RC airplane batteries have the same capacity. For example, the three RC airplane batteries of the 5120mAh have a large difference in C-rate. In the case of large current discharge, the imbalance of the discharged power will also be caused, which will eventually affect life. Because the same capacity of the RC airplane battery (the exact same capacity, such as 5215mAh), in the case of high current discharge, the C-rate of high discharge power itself consumes less power, C-rate is small, the discharge of electricity is less than its own consumption of electricity. For example, 40C and 20C, the same two RC airplanes with a capacity of 5215mAh, all discharge with 100A current, the 40C can discharge 5000mAh, and the 20C can only discharge 4800mAh (just for example).

3. Method for testing RC airplane battery quality

So if you look at an RC airplane battery and see if it’s good or not, there’s a very simple way to detect that. The first step of full charge to ensure that the voltage of each chip in the same group is 4.20v; The second step is to mount the aircraft and fly to the single-chip voltage of about 3.66v; The third step is to test the voltage difference of each piece of RC airplane battery separately. If the difference is less than 0.01V, the qualified high-quality RC airplane battery will be qualified. The Ovonic RC airplane series of batteries can achieve an accuracy of 0.003v, but considering the performance problems of many chargers, the voltage difference of 0.01v is generally guaranteed.

It is important to note here that the single measurement voltage of the high-precision digital multimeter shall prevail, and the BB ring or other integrated voltage detection tools used in the RC airplane are generally not accurate. It is best to measure with a thousand-digit digital multimeter.