URGENT! Need to dispose of puffy battery

[Emery Hall]

I just now noticed my lipo puffed up a little bit. How can I dispose of it??? Can I use the discharge feature on my charger and then dunk it in a bucket of salt water? If not then how? Will this thing catch on fire overnight and dispose tomorrow? The lipo is a 2s Lectron pack and is 5200mah and 7.2v. Help please, I have never done this before and I’m worried.

I just now noticed my lipo puffed up a little bit. How can I dispose of it??? Can I use the discharge feature on my charger and then dunk it in a bucket of salt water? If not then how? Will this thing catch on fire overnight and dispose tomorrow? The lipo is a 2s Lectron pack and is 5200mah and 7.2v. Help please, I have never done this before and I’m worried.

Update. The battery does not appear puffy anymore. Does this mean it’s good or should I still dispose?

 

[pug]

Check the internal resistance, but I’m guessing that it’s still bad, if it puffed up before, it isn’t good for your application. Hook it up to a 12v incandescent or halogen car light bulb. Keep it in a fireproof box and monitor it.

 

[Emery Hall]

Check the internal resistance, but I’m guessing that it’s still bad, if it puffed up before, it isn’t good for your application. Hook it up to a 12v incandescent or halogen car light bulb. Keep it in a fireproof box and monitor it.

I don’t have any of those things atm

 

[pug]

I don’t have any of those things atm

Check the internal resistance of it on your charger.

 

[Emery Hall]

Check the internal resistance of it on your charger.

I have no idea how to do that…

 

[pug]

I have no idea how to do that…

What charger do you have?

 

[Emery Hall]

What charger do you have?

This one

 

[pug]

This one

Look in the manual for it, you should find it. Sometimes the manuals don’t show it like my Hitec RDX1 Pro manual.

 

[Emery Hall]

Look in the manual for it, you should find it. Sometimes the manuals don’t show it like my Hitec RDX1 Pro manual.

My charger appears to not be able to do that

 

[pug]

My charger appears to not be able to do that

It should, go to page 19 here. It’s the same charger, but rebranded.

 

[Emery Hall]

It should, go to page 19 here. It’s the same charger, but rebranded.

Thanks man. I will do this tomorrow and report back. What exactly will this tell me? The battery is currently in a fireproof box outside in the cold.

 

[pug]

Thanks man. I will do this tomorrow and report back. What exactly will this tell me? The battery is currently in a fireproof box outside in the cold.

It will tell you the internal resistance in milliohms, if the total IRs are 30+, I consider the LiPo to be worn out and bad.

 

[nino]

"Puffed out a little bit" is not the end of the world. I had batteries that were 30% thicker than when new

It probably is nearing the end of it lifetime, but sometimes they "deflate" after a few cycles.

Check the IR like pug said

 

[WickedFog]

I have had a few batteries puff here and there. It's nothing to get excited about. You are way more likely to have a battery vent while charging rather than just spontaneously vent on their own.

 

[tntpoof]

depending cell # you can use a brake light bulb to discharge a battery to zero then you can dispose of it. can be connect thru balance plug to do cell by cell...never good to have a puffy lipo lying around salt water don't discharge a lipo it will dissolve to tabs only

 

[Greywolf74]

If you need to dispose of it you can just cut the plug off the end and soak it in salt water for 2-3 weeks and it should be safe to dispose of after that. the IR of the cells tells you the general health of the cells.

 

[Xraycer]

If you need to dispose of it you can just cut the plug off the end and soak it in salt water for 2-3 weeks and it should be safe to dispose of after that. the IR of the cells tells you the general health of the cells.

Hmm I've never heard of this. I'm guessing it makes the battery inert, but would it still be considered hazardous waste?

I've taken a number of my +10yr lipos to a local Best Buy. There's some sort of electronic recycling program. One of which is batteries. The ones I've dropped off, I'd snipped off the wires and rubber taped the exposed wires.

 

[pug]

If you need to dispose of it you can just cut the plug off the end and soak it in salt water for 2-3 weeks and it should be safe to dispose of after that. the IR of the cells tells you the general health of the cells.

I heard that method doesn’t work and still leaves voltage and energy in the cells. That’s why we went to the lightbulb method.

 

[grihn]

If you discharge it on your charger, there shouldn't be a need to do anything more...you can just throw it in the trash. Personally, I wouldn't use a battery that's puffed or even had been puffed...new batteries aren't that expensive, and to me the possible risk of damage to my other components isn't worth trying to put off the inevitable purchase of a new battery.

That said...the "danger" that Lipos possess is vastly overstated by the Internet. Yes, they can catch fire. But, lipo fires almost always happen by misuse...overcharging a battery, charging or using a damaged battery, puncturing a battery, etc. And even then, they're actually fairly rare in normal circumstances...I've shot 3 lipos and none of them caught fire...they just "go off" (just a lot of smoke and stench), and that's how most Lipos will fail physically. And even if they do catch fire, it's pretty short lived, it just looks violent...it looks worse than it actually is. I keep a 2 gallon bucket of clay kitty litter next to my charging station just in case that I will dump on a battery if it ever did catch fire. None of this is to say that there is zero risk of a fire, but it's much more uncommon than some like to portray. As long as you aren't leaving a charging battery unattended and you aren't doing stupid/reckless stuff with them, don't stress about it.

 

[Greywolf74]

Hmm I've never heard of this. I'm guessing it makes the battery inert, but would it still be considered hazardous waste?

I've taken a number of my +10yr lipos to a local Best Buy. There's some sort of electronic recycling program. One of which is batteries. The ones I've dropped off, I'd snipped off the wires and rubber taped the exposed wires.

This used to be the main method used to discharge bad lipos back 10+ years ago. The salt water conducts just enough electricity to create a short in teh circuit but not so much that the battery will go in to thermal runaway. Its basically the same concept as putting a resistor between the two wires which is also exactly what restive battery discharged do. I've stopped using the method as it takes weeks for the battery voltage to drop low enough to be safe for disposal compared to just using a device to drain them. Obviously recycling is better for the environment but the salt water method does work for people that dont have anything else on hand.

If you discharge it on your charger, there shouldn't be a need to do anything more...you can just throw it in the trash.

A lipo charger can only discharge a lipo down to about 2.5v/c tops. At that voltage they are not safe to throw away, especially bigger cell count packs.