My First Explosion!

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godale03

Awesomer!! Than Rolex!!
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Hey Guys,

Was out running my ERevo today, enjoying the little warming trend when my heart skipped a beat for a second or two. Just about finished with a run, when my left side 7 cell pack exploded a cell. It sounded like a gun when off and it damn near blew the battery door right off. Thankfully it blew outside and out the battery door side. At least it did not blow into the truck, or up. I think the only thing it broke was the battery door. I can't see any other damage, although I have not looked extremely close up yet. I still need to clean off the black goo that is now all over the battery compartment and the inside of the lid. Do any of you guys know what could have caused this? The packs charged fine, and I was only charging them at 5 amps so I know I wasn't over charging them. They were ProMatch Racings unmatched 4600 7 cell NiMh packs. Here are some pictures.

Tom


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I am by no means an electric guru but I would suspect that you had a bad cell. Unmatched is just that, but I would think they would be within a couple hundred mAh of one another... Did you balance your pack?

Glad it wasn't worse!

Guess you can call that "vented"?
 
They were not balanced. As far as I know they do not make a 7 cell tray.. but I could be wrong! LOL

If it was not bad then it is now. :eek:) I don't know what the hell happened. It definitely vented for sure. I am glad it was not worse as well. I still have not hooked up another pack to see if the electronics are ok, but they should be fine.
 
Off the top of my head, looking at the way the truck is designed, I would guess the pack just overheated. Either that, or amp-draw claimed it. Either way, you may want to consider dropping a tooth on the pinion(s). This will help lessen the draw on the packs.
 
Question about this situation, what is the best and safest way to clean that stuff off?
 
I know your pain bud. I had that very same thing happen to me just the other day too. Blew the battery door right off too! I was running 6 cell 3000MAH packs from Venom and the same side blowed up on me too, lol. Was fun to watch. Only mine looks alot worse (pics are coming). Stupid Venom battery pack explosion ruined the nicest day of the new year for me.
 
Wow. That's sux bro. Do you figure the other six cells are ok?

I am guessing that the other six cells are ok... but it is a pack from Promatch and that cold solder joint is almost impossible to get off without overheating the cell. I am going to check em anyway though.

Heartbreak...

I was running the truck hard... I mean I was full throttle a bunch. It is a fun truck to run. I was drifting it in the garage on the sealed concrete.... was fun drifting that thing around. The pack was not to hot to touch when it blew.. it was warm.. but not what I thought to be overly warm. I was starting to notice a drop in charge just before she blew. Could I have over worked the pack?

Destructomaxx... that stinks... I haven't had a chance yet to take the truck apart to make sure nothing else broke. I think I am ok. It ruined my first nice weather day of the year too! LOL
 
that didn't vent, it exploded. you are really lucky it happened facing the battery door
 
no doubt!! It could have been alot worse. If it had blown into the truck, I would be looking at a new chassis and trans housing, if not worse.
 
Heartbreak...

I was running the truck hard... I mean I was full throttle a bunch. It is a fun truck to run. I was drifting it in the garage on the sealed concrete.... was fun drifting that thing around. The pack was not to hot to touch when it blew.. it was warm.. but not what I thought to be overly warm. I was starting to notice a drop in charge just before she blew. Could I have over worked the pack?

It's entirely possible. But you said it was warm to the touch.... I'm leaning more towards a faulty cell at this point.

For cleanup, I'd say some water and baking soda (to neutralize the battery acid) should do. Provided baking soda is what you use, of course.
 
THankfully most of the goo ended up on the battery door which it blew off! LOL not to much got into the compartment. Probably should check it out today. Battery acid is nasty stuff when it starts to corrode. At least the battery door is only $5! Of course the pack was $50
 
The E-Revo isn't that old, just released like last year. I agree, I believe it's the 5A charging. I hear that it decreases lifespan. I always charge at 1.5A.
 
I've been charging my new Tenergy 7 cell packs at 3 amps. Temp wise, they reach about 110 after charge, which from what I know, is pretty good. I know what killed my pack...It was that damn Radiocrack charger charging them at 8 amps. I only used it twice but I'm certain thats what put them in the electric chair.
 
That's a 4600mah pack fellas. Ideally 4.6A would be rule of thumb but 5A is not a problem for that pack. The thing simply overheated. I mean, isn't it kind of obvious... It's 100% enclosed. Yeah, I know it's got vents blah, blah, blah. I dun care... It's completely enclosed. It got hot, the heat couldn't dissipate and pfft.
 
Yea...mine vented...its guts out of the battery shell! LMAO.
 

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That's a 4600mah pack fellas. Ideally 4.6A would be rule of thumb but 5A is not a problem for that pack. The thing simply overheated. I mean, isn't it kind of obvious... It's 100% enclosed. Yeah, I know it's got vents blah, blah, blah. I dun care... It's completely enclosed. It got hot, the heat couldn't dissipate and pfft.

Or I had a bad cell... but in all reality it was probably a combination of the two. I was running the truck hard and it was toward the end of a run where I was just starting to see a performance drop. Like Lessen said... 5amps would be high for a 3600 pack, but I should have been just fine with the 4600. Just the breaks of the game.

Destructomaxx... looks like you had fire too. The damage on your truck didn't look that bad either. At least from what I can tell from your pictures. The pack on the other hand.... is like mine.. toast! So far all I can tell that I broke after cleaning the truck up yesterday was a broken battery door. I think I lucked out on this one.
 
Glad your ok and the damage is minimal, I am just glad it didn't happen while it was charging and you were near it. I had the same thing happen to me on my E Maxx last year and it is pretty much just a bad cell that has had enough, when mine blew it wasn't enclosed, just sitting there strapped into my aluminum chassis which would actully keep it cooler. then it just went off like a gun shot, here are a couple of pics of what mine looked like

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