RC car lithium batteries

At a local Walmart, I saw some New Bright R/C cars that didn't look like the other ones they had on the shelves.

After looking at in details, its seems like they both were manufactured LAST YEAR 1) April 2016 & 2) May 2016.

My question is:
Will the battery be damaged/deteriorated at all since its been sitting on the shelf for 1.5+ years without being used or even charged?


Thanks.

Essentially all common batteries degrade with time

It's probably fine, they are precharged to like 50% or so, shouldn't have fully discharged in a few years.

archimedes said:

Essentially all common batteries degrade with time

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I know that. What I am asking, if anyone can answer, is: If a lithium-ion battery, having been sitting on a shelf for 1.5+ years, would it be damaged or degrade at a much faster rate than normal, since its been just sitting there, not having been used, or even recharged throughout this time? Is the life expectancy affected/shortened?Would a charged battery still last/work as if it were brand new/newly manufactured?

prof student said:

At a local Walmart, I saw some New Bright R/C cars that didn't look like the other ones they had on the shelves.

After looking at in details, its seems like they both were manufactured LAST YEAR 1) April 2016 & 2) May 2016.

My question is:
Will the battery be damaged/deteriorated at all since its been sitting on the shelf for 1.5+ years without being used or even charged?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

archimedes said:

Essentially all common batteries degrade with time

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... which is a slightly different question and reply than ...

prof student said:

I know that. What I am asking, if anyone can answer, is: If a lithium-ion battery, having been sitting on a shelf for 1.5+ years, would it be damaged or degrade at a much faster rate than normal, since its been just sitting there, not having been used, or even recharged throughout this time? Is the life expectancy affected/shortened?

Click to expand...

And the answer to this is yes.

Lithium ion batteries degrade with ...

• age
• heat
• extremes of voltage (state of charge)
• duty cycles (discharge / recharge)

(and other factors, but the above are the most relevant here)

prof student said:

Would a charged battery still last/work as if it were brand new/newly manufactured?

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So, your answer to this is no, and to be precise about it ... it will not be identical to a brand new newly manufactured battery.

Now, will it be "ok" , or "similar" , or "acceptable" ... ?

Maybe, but that depends upon many factors, most of which you have not stated (and may not be available to you)

What is the current voltage ?

At what temperature has it been stored ?

Has the voltage and temperature (both) been (relatively) constant ?

Etc, etc, etc ?

prof student said:

Will [a LiPo] battery be damaged/deteriorated at all since its been sitting on the shelf for 1.5+ years without being used or even charged?

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Hard to say. Depends on many factors: the initial storage charge, the storage environment (notably temperature), the BMS quiescent load, etc.

In the best possible scenario there may be very little degradation in 1.5 year storage. In the worse case there could be significant degradation.

It is difficult if not impossible to make useful guesses without knowing such crucial information.

Not a perfect analogy but perhaps this will help ...

Think of the stored energy in a rubber band.

Does a 20 year old rubber band work as well as a fresh one ?

It gets brittle in the cold and melts in extreme heat.

Is it damaged by staying above 90% stretched for a long time (especially in hot conditions) ?

Does a band that has been "cycled" 100,000 times work as well as a brand new unused one ?

Qualitatively similar (although not quantitatively so, of course, and obviously mechanical instead of electrical / chemical) in concept.

Hope that's helpful.

AS far as I know, its been sitting on a shelf the whole time, indoors, constant room temperature. So no extreme heat, fluctuating temps, being thrown around, etc.... I don't know the current voltage.

prof student said:

AS far as I know, its been sitting on a shelf the whole time, indoors, constant room temperature. So no extreme heat, fluctuating temps, being thrown around, etc.... I don't know the current voltage.

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So ... yes, not as good as new, with an unknown amount of degradation ....

Gauss163 said:

Hard to say. Depends on many factors: the initial storage charge, the storage environment (notably temperature), the BMS quiescent load, etc.

In the best possible scenario there may be very little degradation in 1.5 year storage. In the worse case there could be significant degradation.

It is difficult if not impossible to make useful guesses without knowing such crucial information.

Click to expand...

Agreed.