Frequently Asked Question

How can I test or check the voltage of my Lithium-Polymer Battery?
Last Updated 9 years ago

Proper Lithium-Polymer (Li-Po) battery maintenance is a pivotal aspect of this hobby. Suitable care is important for these batteries when they are being stored or used. It is likely that the time will come when the battery must be checked prior to being stored or used. Below are the steps on how to correctly check for the voltage of a Li-Po battery.

There are several tools available in the industry that can help when checking your battery.

A Volmeter such as this one is commonly used:
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A battery checker such as this one is also commonly used:
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For both of these tools, you can use the battery balancing lead to check the voltage.

This is what a balancing lead looks like on a Li-Po battery:
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For the battery checker, you would simply need to connect the battery balancing lead as shown in the photo above, then information such as the remaining voltage is accurately displayed on the screen. A battery checker can be readily found here: http://www.bananahobby.com/digital-battery-capacity-checker-tester.html.

For the traditional voltage meter, additional steps will need to be done to get information such as the remaining voltage. To obtain a voltage reading from the balancing lead you will first need to understand how each of the wires work. Simply put, when a pair of wires are tested then they will indicate a voltage reading for a cell, or even the entire battery.

In the photo example of the battery balancing lead, the top red and black wire will give a reading of one cell, the middle two black wires will give a reading of another cell and the bottom two black wires will give a reading of the last cell. If the outermost wires are tested (see below), then the total voltage reading of the entire battery will be obtained. Note that a 3S 11.1V Li-Po battery is used in the photo examples, hence why there are only three available cells to test.

Remember to be careful when testing the battery by ensuring the testing probes do not touch. The testing probes should only make contact with the metallic ends of the leads as shown in the photo examples.

Example for obtaining the voltage of the entire battery:

Step 1: Check

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Step 2: Voltage Readout
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Example of obtaining the voltage for an individual cell:

Step 1: Check

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Step 2: Voltage Readout
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Note that this battery is severely discharged and may no longer operate correctly. It's very important to maintain suitable voltage levels for your battery to prevent it from over discharging during use. Information on battery voltage can be found on another guide.

If you obtain a negative number, for example -11.61V, then it means the red and black probes from the volt meter are reversed from the battery contact point (red going to black and black going to red). If you exchange their places to match the colors (black to black, red to red) then the same voltage value will be provided but not with a negative value.


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