Oops... D: I might burn the house down

[TurboChargedHonda]

Errm... I was running my SCX10 ii this morning and left it on for 6 hours straight. When I first checked the battery voltage, there wasn't even enough power in the battery to power the voltage checker. I threw it on a NiMH charger to charge on 1 amp for 5 seconds multiple times, and holy moly!!!!! It's down to 2.4V per cell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a 2s, and it's a relatively new (probably not even 3 runs yet) Hoovo 5000mah hard case (cheap Amazon special). I'm charging it as a NiMH on 1 amp atm (and monitoring it in the process and starting and stopping every few seconds to check on the condition of the battery). My concern is how well does a hard case hide the puffing of the battery? And should I be concerned if it's not showing any signs of heating or puffing?
Also, the charger I'm using is a Traxxas EZ Peak, and the battery is now up to 2.6V per cell.

 

[TurboChargedHonda]

It's past 3V per cell, so it's now on balance charge. I will continue to monitor it.

 

[Chubaka]

Last uear I did the same for I think 16 to 24. I kept crawling inbetween work and just forgot.

Swelled and deceased 3s.

If it was me, just replace and be more careful. I had no more then 30 runs, and it was $110 if it makes you feel better. If it was soft, you can see it better.

 

[Xraycer]

Hoova lipos are fairly cheap, so play it safe and just get rid of it and get a new one.

 

[WickedFog]

It may be able to pull out of it, but since it was damaged, chances that it will have problems later have increased. I personslly would send it to LiPo heaven and drain it and toss it. I can't sleep at night with worrisome LiPos in my home, even in a metal tool box.

 

[TurboChargedHonda]

Last uear I did the same for I think 16 to 24. I kept crawling inbetween work and just forgot.

Swelled and deceased 3s.

If it was me, just replace and be more careful. I had no more then 30 runs, and it was $110 if it makes you feel better. If it was soft, you can see it better.

Hoova lipos are fairly cheap, so play it safe and just get rid of it and get a new one.

Probably will get rid of it by the end of this week, since 2.4V per cell probably damaged the cells (probably tomorrow or the day after tomorrow depending on my schedule). It's on storage charge right now and in a LiPo bag on a stone slab away from anything flammable. I might just make a trip to the LHS to dispose of it (and also have an excuse to get some more RC parts lol). From now on I'll definitely unplug my batteries when not using them. This is seriously too close for comfort. I was not home for like 2-3 hours while it was plugged in, and found out right after coming back home when I was going to drive it again.

Ok, well you guys probably get the point, so I'll stop ranting, but that was way too close. Hope you guys don't make the mistake like I did.

 

[Tunedfrog]

I've pretty much drilled it in my head to always take the batteries out and storage charge the Lipos.
If the lipo is bad, well a .220 Swift is involved...

 

[WickedFog]

Probably will get rid of it by the end of this week, since 2.4V per cell probably damaged the cells (probably tomorrow or the day after tomorrow depending on my schedule). It's on storage charge right now and in a LiPo bag on a stone slab away from anything flammable. I might just make a trip to the LHS to dispose of it (and also have an excuse to get some more RC parts lol). From now on I'll definitely unplug my batteries when not using them. This is seriously too close for comfort. I was not home for like 2-3 hours while it was plugged in, and found out right after coming back home when I was going to drive it again.

Ok, well you guys probably get the point, so I'll stop ranting, but that was way too close. Hope you guys don't make the mistake like I did.

I have left them plugged in before too. It happens. But I have always managed to get to them before they drained much past 3.4v. I hardly ever run a full pack. Heck, a lot of times I end up running them real close to storage mode. But I am one of those weirdos that likes tinkering more than running.

I've pretty much drilled it in my head to always take the batteries out and storage charge the Lipos.
If the lipo is bad, well a .220 Swift is involved...

Lol. At least it's demise can still provide one last bit of entertainment

 

[Chubaka]

For what its worth, I store my lipos outside. I keep them on aluminum sheet or pavers, and covered, and in a shady spot. Now I can focus on all the phones, computers, and gopro batteries going poof. I'm actually planning on a little building for them.

I got into the habbit of unplugging years ago, the first vxls with the lightning rod inttennas, they would power on randomly.

 

[WideOpen]

What the heck - you guys have me frek'n skeert to smithereens of LiPo's now!!!

 

[WickedFog]

What the heck - you guys have me frek'n skeert to smithereens of LiPo's now!!!

No, don't be scared of them. You just have to know how to charge and store them. Basically, the chargers have a storage mode. When you finish running the car you charge them in that mode, which charges them to 3.8v/cell. Then they are safe to put away for months and months. I generally try to run through my packs a couple times a year if I have any that have not been used.

And really, any LiPo that poses a potential problem will generally have warning signs like swelling, getting really hot during use or charging, etc.

 

[TurboChargedHonda]

What the heck - you guys have me frek'n skeert to smithereens of LiPo's now!!!

As long as you're responsible, take precautions, and take care of the LiPos, you should be fine.


... I just realized I left the controller on, and the TX batteries are flat too
what is up with me today

 

[tntpoof]

recycle the lipo. as for a hardcase hiding a swollen battery it will not..best to scrap lipo instead of taking the risk...once you over discharge a lipo its not long b4 its no good

 

[Greywolf74]

What the heck - you guys have me frek'n skeert to smithereens of LiPo's now!!!

This is why you need a LiPo charger that can also check the IR (internal resistance) of LiPo cells. This is how you know if you have a damaged lipo cell(s) and just how badly they are damaged. Thats why I'm always harping on this when people ask for LiPo charger suggestions. If you can monitor your batteries health then you are much less likely to have an incident.

That being said generally lipos are going to go supernova on you if they get damaged. The vast majority of the time the will just puff/swell and then its time to get rid of the LiPo or like in this case if you ever discharge a LiPo too deeply and you have no way to test IR then its best to be safe and dispose of it. Even if it doesn't puff but you know the battery was overly discharged then that lipo may continue to work for awhile but its going to have at least one cell in it that was damaged more than the others and it becomes a week point where failure will eventually get more and more likely to occur. Even LiPos that arent damaged will start to develop week cells eventually just from being cycled normally over the course of the LiPos life.

Bottom line is, you dont need to be scared of LiPos just get a charger that reads IR and practice a couple safety tip for charging/storing your lipos and you'll likely never experience a Lipo fire and even if you do if you're following your safety rules the fire will be contained and other than loosing the lipo everything else will be fine. I've only experienced one lipo fire and it was years and years ago when I didnt really know what I was doing and I was being unsafe with them. lucky the fire was contained and it didnt end up hurting to much of anything but that fire could have easily been avoided in the first place had I not been dumb about using a puffed lipo.

 

[WideOpen]

I have this

 

[WickedFog]

Is that a 20w charger?

I have this one. It packs a lot of power into a small package.

 

[Greywolf74]

I have this

That will do for now. Eventually you might want to look in to picking up something like THIS. Its 20% off through the 26th. Just FYI. The HOTA charger is supposed to be pretty good too from what I hear.

 

[WickedFog]

I had a 65w charger for a time and whenever I charged my 5000mAh 2s batteries it took hours. One battery would actually slarm out before fully charging due to the time limit cutoff it had.

 

[WideOpen]

oh the choices....