shogun zoom cutoff voltage

[sportygreg]

When a lipo gets hot and balloons in a heli it's usually due to too high a discharge rate-not because of voltage dropping too low.If you run too big a motor with too big a pinion or gear mesh or belt is too tight this results in high amperage draw.The same with too small a motor trying to handle too much load-the motor tries to draw more amperage than the battery can supply at it's C rating and this is what causes ballooning and possible explosion.Under normal conditions you will get a decrease in performance before cutoff kicks in and you lose power.They use lipos in phones and people talk until phone is dead without explosions!

[mike the snake]

Yes, but those phones are also not drawing the power from the battery at the rate that our helis are.
It's when you have a high draw (Normally tolerated just fine above the point at which you should land) AND the battery is allowed to drop too low voltage-wise. This is when they get HOT QUICK!
As I stated, I THINK the 3v limit is the "NEVER go below this point" voltage, for safe operation over a long time, I still think 3.6 or 3.4 is the actual cutoff point most experienced flyers are using.
I may be wrong, but safer is better, plus we're talking about the last few breaths the battery has in the charge, it's already not going to have the "Punch" that it has at the beginning of a flight, why chance hurting the battery for a couple extra seconds of flight? IMHO
If I AM Wrong, someone please tell me. I Know what it says from the manufacturer, but I'm MUCH more interested in what expert heli flyers using BIG expensive LiPo packs are doing!
You can BET they know, at Hundreds of dollars per pack!!!

[sportygreg]

I do not disagree with you about voltage cutoff point-if you can program cutoff at 3.4 0r 3.6V then it is wise to do so for extra margin of safety.Some ESC's [like mine] only have 3V/cell option-of couse it is wise to time flight so you don't reach cutoff point and lose power or damage battery.Using the right motor/pinion combination will keep amp draw down and help battery as well.Phones do not use as much power but they don't use 10 or 12C batteries either.

[turco]

here is a thread on rcu where they tested all the most common lipoly's
in all the tests they run them down to 3V per cell.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=342568

ive been running lipoly's since 2002 and have always run them down to 3V per cell on my 3 cell packs and have never had any problems. i use a low voltage warning light set to 9V. my voltage cut off is turned off or at lowest voltage on my ESC's. i dont like the idea of the throttle going to brake/off.

with my moth it runs on 2 cells and the heli will not fly on 6 volts so there is never a chance of going under voltage.

i have packs that are a few yrs old and they still run fine. ive ballooned a few packs charging on the wrong voltage like 2 cells charging on 3 cell voltage.