# Would it harm a LiPo to charge it in several periods?

I have a 3.7V 5000mAh Lithium-Polymer battery cell, which I'm charging with the MCP73831, using the typical application circuit on page 1:

I have $R_{prog}=2\text{K}$ and $V_{in}=6.0\text{V}$. Normally, I'd charge the cell during the evening and night, since it takes 10+ hours.

However, I'm testing this circuit, so I want to be near to check if everything's fine and to do what's needed when something goes wrong. Problem: I don't have 10 consecutive hours.

So would it harm the cell to load it in several short periods? Does it depend on the length of the periods or the time in between?

• In which language is "accu"? Because in Turkish, we call it "akü". – abdullah kahraman Mar 8 '13 at 7:42
• @abdullahkahraman that's Dutch, sorry. I'll change it to battery. – user17592 Mar 8 '13 at 7:50

## 1 Answer

Charging the cell over shorter periods of time with a delay in between won't do any harm, in fact it may cause less heat and generally be better unless the period between each charge is so long that self-discharge comes into play, but that doesn't sound like it will be the case here.

However for testing the charger it also means you might not discover a thermal problem that only occurs after it has been running the full time. After the initial test if the end-of charge cut-off looks OK you might want to error on the side of caution and test in an environment with nothing flammable around (outside over concrete for example) so you can check temperatures towards the end of the charge cycle without having to be around to keep your eye on it during the earlier phase.