I have past experience in ordinary LiPo (no BMS) that I would like to share with you.
Generally LiPo Batteries have a Charge C-rating (usually less than 1C, meaning that a 5200 mAh LiPo, like the one Solo uses, could be charged with a max current of 5.2 A) and a Discharge C-rating (that varies a lot between 15C and 65C, meaning that a 5200 mAh with a 20C rating could be safely discharged at 104A continuous current). In addition LiPos have a burst (10 sec) discahrge C-rating that is higher than the continous discharge C-rating. But enough theory.
Solo's charge C-rating is 0.63 (3.3A / 5.2 Ah), if I am not mistaken. I have not read anywhere on the net what Solo's battery discharge C-rating is. Having some experience in flying Solo (around 50 flights already), it consumes 16-22A @ 16.80V (4S) = 369.80 W max. That leads me to the fact that if you wire 3 x 50 12DCV bulbs in parallel that will be 150 W @ 16.80V = 8.93A so after 20 min. Solo's battery would be aournd 50% of its capacity.
Talked to Mike (3DR CS) several weeks ago and asked him how do I discharge my batteries to storage levels (50%) and he gave me an advice that I turn on Solo and leave it as it is. Tried it this week as whether is going bad. Solo consumes around 1A when idle. It took me around 2,5 hours to discharge Solo's battery to around 50% of its capacity.
Another way (a more professional one) is to discharge Solo's battery is by using a Balance Charger. I use Imax B6AC v.2 for my ordinary LiPos. Unfortunately to be able to use this method you need to have a powerful Balance charger. Mine is rated 50W when charging and only 5W when discharging, meaning that when it discharges a LiPo to storage levels it uses 0.3A @ 16.80V (4S) = 5W and it takes forever -- 2.6A (50% of Solo's battery capacity) @ 0.3A = 8.6 hours. Tried once with a 5000 mAh hard case battery for my RC Truck and was stuck for hours.
Found this in another thread:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IV6QSMS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If this is a close to a OEM (same production factory, different labeling) battery, that means that Solo batteries are rated with 5C discharge rate = 5200 mAh x 5C = 26A constant discharge current. I have some other Zippy Compact batteries 2700 mAh, 25C that are rated with a higher constant discharge current (67.5A). I fly them on my fixed wing UAV and during take-off the OSD shows 25-30A constant discharge current. Just FYI.
I hope this helps.
