What is the shelf life of a lipo?

[Beemerider]

What is typically the shelf life of a lipo? I know they retain a charge better than most but my question is regarding the wisdom of buying several new lipo's because of a good price. They would probably not get much use till spring.

[Mojo]

A friend sent me this recently:

http://uterc.org/files/LipoStorageTips.pdf

While it is about storing lipos, there is a bit of information about aging and avoiding voltage loss.

I completely disregard it. In my mind, lipos are consumables.

[flydiver]

Pretty good if you follow those instructions (cold storage at 50% charge)
For high-C lipos it can be quite poor if you don't (full charge in a warm spot)

[Beemerider]

Seems like the best place for a "storage charge" lipo is the fridge.

[flydiver]

In a zip-loc. Yep, that's where my whole collection is currently.
They've even displaced beer space....

[rcers]

Fresh is better. I would wait to buy them until spring.

[copterrichie]

Hey Guys, what is a good brand batteries with a good shelf-life? What I would like is some batteries that I can keep in storage for while and charge them when needed and they are good to go.

[stuart]

another way to ask this question might be...how long after buying a lipo will it last if unused. example:manufacturer has it in stock for a year,we buy and store for 6 months with little use.how long will a battery last?there must be a certain amount of loss in performance.

as for me,i use and abuse them and buy new ones as needed. never know when flying weather will be good here in nj. last winter was awesome.

i'v also stopped worrying about discharging them if i'm not flying for a week or 2 and have left some charged for much longer periods when not flying certain planes....i hope to use every battery charged last night on sunday as today was spent with honey do lists.9 of them are brand new,8 others are going on 2 years old and flown all the time. they are zippy batteries from hk.

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by copterrichie

Hey Guys, what is a good brand batteries with a good shelf-life? What I would like is some batteries that I can keep in storage for while and charge them when needed and they are good to go.

They are 35% heavier than LiPos, have lower voltage output, but I've been using those A123 cells. They don't appear to have any shelf life issues, where five year old heavily used A123's have the same performance as brand new ones.

They can be stored 1/2 charge, full charge, room temperature, don't seem to matter much.

Take a look:
http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65583