It does have a certain simplicity to it doesn't it?!I think I like @Tunedfrog 's methodthe best.
Looks a bit like my workbench, except yours is cleaner! LOL. I actually have a half dozen lipo's laying around that I need to "do something" with.. been tempted to just throw them in the fire pit and give em a whack w/hammer or similar.. Maybe I'll just hook them up to a cheap charger outside on "discharge mode". I really don't want to pollute our environment any more than necessary.
A lipo charger will not discharge a lipo down past unsafe voltages. At least not a modern one, anyway. I use a SkyRC lipo discharger to take them down to about 3v/c, and then I take them outside and put them in an ammo can, where I plug a 5v fan and an LED in to the pack. This will drain a 2S pack down to about 2–2.5v. When the LED is no longer being lit at all, I then strip the wires and twist them together and leave them there for a week. That will drop the 2S pack voltage down to about .1 - .2V. At that point, you can throw it in the trash. Technically, at 2.5V there's not enough energy left in the pack to be reactive even if you drive a nail through it, but I like to take it down all the way.
Good info, thanks. When I suggested plugging into a charger, I meant a charger set to a different battery chemistry. IDK if that's possible as I never tried. But I have plenty of fans and light bulbs around I could easily wire too. I already have loped off the connectors from several of the "bad" packs (to reuse). I even dissected some packs with intentions of making new packs from the good cells. I couldn't figure out how the heck the leads and balance wires are connected, so I gave up on that idea. I mean really, trying to save a cell from a $15 2s Zeee battery is going a bit too far I guess.. LOL. But I do have actually a pile of batteries with bad cells now that I think about it.. I know they have to be same specs, and still not likely "worth it".. like trying to get change from a penny I suppose.
I wouldn't recommend taking a cell from one lipo battery and placing it in another lipo battery anyway. The cells are matched when they are originally assembled. I have removed a bad cell from say a 4S pack to create a 3S pack because all the remaining cells were matched originally. That being said, It's really not worth the effort/risk anyway unless it's a really expensive battery you're trying to salvage.Good info, thanks. When I suggested plugging into a charger, I meant a charger set to a different battery chemistry. IDK if that's possible as I never tried. But I have plenty of fans and light bulbs around I could easily wire too. I already have loped off the connectors from several of the "bad" packs (to reuse). I even dissected some packs with intentions of making new packs from the good cells. I couldn't figure out how the heck the leads and balance wires are connected, so I gave up on that idea. I mean really, trying to save a cell from a $15 2s Zeee battery is going a bit too far I guess.. LOL. But I do have actually a pile of batteries with bad cells now that I think about it.. I know they have to be same specs, and still not likely "worth it".. like trying to get change from a penny I suppose.
Agree, thanks brother!
