Discharging without a hobby charger

[moderator007]

@Yellowhorse

Here’s my take on this. Quit guessing and wasting your time. Buy an inexpensive hobby charger and be done with it. There are dozens to be had for under $40. I have well over 100 lithium batteries of varying chemistry’s and I can’t even imagine trying to maintain them without my iCharger 3010B. Without a hobby charger or a bunch of really expensive test gear, you will never truly know the status of any of your batteries. Not knowing what is going on is never a good thing and potentially dangerous.

Just do it.

I consider it a tool for batteries, just like a soldering iron for modding drivers and leds.
I don’t worry about the voltage to much. Fully charge them and let’em set until I get ready to use them. If they go bad, good excuse to buy newer better cells, just like someone else posted.
I’m a firm believer that the stored temp’s are more important in cell life than stored voltage. Storing them in a cool place will extend the life of the cell and also reduce the self discharge. In this thread I have had a battery stored fully charged for better than 10 months and it has lost .02v measured a week or two ago from a week after fully charged. The stored temp is around 65°F.