LiPo Battery Burst Current Calculator
Find your LiPo battery maximum burst and continuous discharge current.
Enter capacity and C-rating to avoid motor burnout or ESC damage.
A LiPo battery C-rating tells you the maximum safe discharge rate as a multiple of capacity. The formula is:
Max current (amps) = capacity (Ah) × C-rating
A 2200 mAh (2.2 Ah) battery with a 30C burst rating can discharge at up to 2.2 × 30 = 66 amps peak. Run it beyond that and you generate heat that swells the pack, reduces cycle life, and in extreme cases causes thermal runaway.
Most LiPo packs list two C-ratings: continuous (sustained safe limit) and burst (absolute maximum for a few seconds). Both matter for different reasons.
Continuous = capacity_Ah × continuous_C Burst peak = capacity_Ah × burst_C
When selecting a battery, your burst current must exceed your motor’s maximum amp draw. If your ESC is rated 60A and your motor can pull 55A at full throttle, a 2200 mAh 25C battery (55A continuous) is marginal. A 35C pack (77A) gives comfortable headroom.
Cell count affects power, not current. A 3S (11.1V) and 4S (14.8V) battery of the same mAh and C-rating both deliver the same maximum amps. But the 4S delivers more watts (watts = amps × volts), so a 4S motor at the same current produces significantly more power.
Quick health check: after a hard flight, touch the battery. Warm is normal. Too hot to hold comfortably (above roughly 45°C) means you are regularly exceeding the pack rating, running a degraded cell, or both. Retire the pack before it fails mid-flight.
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This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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