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Old August 8th 18, 05:08 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
George Haeh
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Default Test results LiFePO4 glider batteries after 6 years

I've had my K2's for about five years now. Last spring I bought a CTEK LiFePo4 charger, which has 8 stages and ran the batteries through several recharges. Each time the batteries seemed to absorb a bit more.

Last week I flew one battery for over 7 hours on two flights. The Air Glide S showed the voltage flipping between 11.9 & 12.1. Note that the Air Glide S seems to underread by about 0.6V compared to the Tasman. Poking around with probes showed no drop in voltage between the battery and the Air Glide.

Back on the charger it took over three hours to get the battery back up to float. The charger was quite warm for the 2.5 hours in stage 2.

The other battery flown for three hours charged back up in a little over an hour.

I suspect that the batteries need heavier usage than just 3-4 hours of flight before accepting a full recharge.