Almost new 4s battery’s displays balance error and only show three cells

[Karim]

So i bought this super nice used RC truck that the owner bought at august and wanted to get rid of it

but I'm having an annoying issues with it

1- when i tried to charge the batteries it show balance error so i checked online and found out i can do the nimh cell charge but
i wanted to check the cells and found out that the two batterie only shows 3 cells not 4 cells even though they are rated 4 cells ffs

So i dont know what to do and wanted to ask here before i try to restore them using the nimh method

 

[tntpoof]

Id check the balance plug 1st.. does it have a broken wire?. If you dont have alot of lipo repair behind you might be best to just buy another and start fresh. there are lipo repair vids on youtube.. that battery to me just looks way to outa balance for my task.id trash them call it a day..even when a lipo is damaged it always shows a voltage in a cell usually never zero. Id go to broken balance wire.

 

[Greywolf74]

I would test each cell on the balance plug with a multimeter. Theres a few different reasons it could be showing up as zero voltage.

1) Could be a broken balance wire.
2) Could be an actual dead cell. It does happen, I have a 3S pack right now that has a cell reading 0V on my Fluke and its not because of a broken balance wire.
3) battery checkers and some LiPo chargers (Like my Hitec X2 700) will display 0V for cells under a certain voltage level. For example the 3S LiPo I have with a dead cell. The other two cells are 1.6V and 1.8V and both of the cells read 0.00V on the X2 700. My iChargers will read the low voltage cells voltages but the dead cell obviously has no reading.

No matter what way you slice it though, those LiPos imho are trashed and should be safely disposed of. Even if (best case scenario) its a broken balance wire on both LiPos, its pretty obvious that they werent maintained and most likely were abused which is why they have 0V cells and the other voltage levels of the cells are all over the place. Trying to use or salvage them is risky and potentially dangerous.

 

[tntpoof]

id agree with grey . recycle them get them outa the house and outside in safe fireproof place. inside a cinder block will do.. with pale of water on top.make Y splitter n go 2 x 2 cells...

 

[Karim]

Ok i did some crazy poopy idea
i put it in nimh charging mode and on 0.2 amp and kept checking its temp with my hand
it showed 11 v which meant that the cell that showed zero isnt zero but may be having a short or fault so i kept checking
after 2 very long mins i stoped charging and went to check the battery meter
voillaa. Thats 2.8 or 2.9 charges per cell of the 4 cells
i went back to nimh and kept charging till i got 13.2 volt then went to balance charging but instead of the 5 amp i charged on 2.5 A till i reached 14.8 v
i did the second battery the same way
that was a very annoying anxious procedure
i just want to understand what the hell might have happened to make the second cell fault in both batteries
i contacted the man i bought them from and he assured me those are new batteries

 

[WickedFog]

In some instances, you can recover a LiPo that way, but any cell that goes below 3v is going to have sustained some damage. If you use them, don't ever go off and leave them charging unattended. Check the resistance on the cells. If one is way off, pitch it.

 

[Greywolf74]

Ok i did some crazy poopy idea
i put it in nimh charging mode and on 0.2 amp and kept checking its temp with my hand
it showed 11 v which meant that the cell that showed zero isnt zero but may be having a short or fault so i kept checking
after 2 very long mins i stoped charging and went to check the battery meter
voillaa. Thats 2.8 or 2.9 charges per cell of the 4 cells
i went back to nimh and kept charging till i got 13.2 volt then went to balance charging but instead of the 5 amp i charged on 2.5 A till i reached 14.8 v
i did the second battery the same way
that was a very annoying anxious procedure
i just want to understand what the hell might have happened to make the second cell fault in both batteries
i contacted the man i bought them from and he assured me those are new batteries

I assure you that those are not new batteries. If they havent been used then they have sat around so long without being maintained that the voltages have all degraded to the point where the lipos are damaged and no longer safe to use. Doing what you did with NiMH mode may have charged the cells but you're using damaged LiPos and playing Russian roulette.

 

[Karim]

I assure you that those are not new batteries. If they havent been used then they have sat around so long without being maintained that the voltages have all degraded to the point where the lipos are damaged and no longer safe to use. Doing what you did with NiMH mode may have charged the cells but you're using damaged LiPos and playing Russian roulette.

Ok thats scary and alarming
what should i do then , and how do i know that they will not go in fire or whatever crazy damadge
I'm new to RC and everything is new to me and I'm starting to get tired of those long searching on youtube hours

 

[Greywolf74]

Ok thats scary and alarming
what should i do then , and how do i know that they will not go in fire or whatever crazy damadge
I'm new to RC and everything is new to me and I'm starting to get tired of those long searching on youtube hours

Discharge the lipos on your charger as low as the charger will let you. Cut off the connector on the battery and soak it in salt water for a couple of weeks outside. Its should then be safe to dispose of.

or, take them to a battery recycling center.

Then buy new lipos. I would suggest Liperior brand from RCBattery.com