Did I really just trash a brand new lipo?!?!

[spliffnwesson]

I think I ruined one of my brand new Elite 4800 2s packs... the one on the right.

Here's a video kinda showing the good/solid pack Vs the likely bad/puffy one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGh1GAyH7pw&eurl=http://rcfanatics.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1834&feature=player_embedded

I started to balance one the other night as I was trying to figure out my Hyperion LBA10 balancer and Super Brain 977. I had it balancing and discharging at 3amps. Not entirely sure why, but I stopped it after about 15 minutes. I figured it wouldn't need to be balanced right away, but I would do it on it's first charge. I meant to finish discharging the pack in one of my VXL rc's, but my Rustler was in a couple pieces and my Slash needed to shave the blocks a little or change the wheels. I didn't run off the pack or charge it and apparently it got damaged running in series on my new E-Maxx brushless setup's FIRST TEST RUN!

Is my brand new pack totally trashed? Is it salvageable?... will it start a fire if I try to reuse it?

 

[cpe mt]

If it's a 2s pack, you should probably be charging/discharging at 2A, not 3.

Regardless of that, I'd say you should discharge the pack and dispose of it. Not worth the risk of burning up your R/C, or worse, trying to reuse it.

 

[spliffnwesson]

I don't really remember if it was at 2 or 3 amps. Doesn't really matter since it puffed.

Sweet... $65 in the trash :bang

I guess it could be worse. I could have paid more for the pack, caught something on fire or blew it up.
Oh man, I'd be so mad if I ruined my whole truck... $300 for the truck + $460 for new motor, esc, 2x lipo packs and gearing.
Adapters/connectors are cheap so I didn't include those.

$65 is better than $760

Still, it's aggravating and disappointing.

 

[Mo']

Not exactly sure what you mean by discharging the lipo.. but if you were trying to discharge it like a NIMH/NICD pack then thats what killed it. Were you just running it down to the low voltage cutoff in the truck? Or running it dead?



Lipos are not to be fully discharged.. ever. If you discharge them below 3 volts per cell they are done and can likely "puff" like yours did. You also dont want to use the discharge feature on a charger with lipo's or any conventional discharging method.. The balancer does the work of equalizing out the cells on its own in balancing mode or evening them out while charging. If you were actually discharging them on the 977 that more than likely did it.



Its definitely dead though, now your gonna wanna fully drain it then soak it in salt water for a few days to neutralize it.

 

[Ball Racing]

If it's a 2s pack, you should probably be charging/discharging at 2A, not 3.

You can discharge as hard as any charger will allow.
The vehicle it's in pulls way more than three amps......
The only thing you hear is charge at 1 C so if it's a 4,800 pack charge at 4.8 amps.
I charge at 2 C, as I keep a close eye on temps, and charge in a li-po sack....

Is the 977 li-po ready or li-ion???
If that charger does not stop the voltage at 8.4volts and go into constant Voltage, constant current then that will kill the li-po fast.....
The balancer should auto cut off the discharge process if hooked up right.
But **** some blancers auto cut off at 2.7 volts per cell, I don't like to go that low.......
3 V minimum for me.
I had the older orion 4,800 mah li-po with kokam cells, and they said spefifcally DON"T use the MRC chargers........


Aldo you said you did not charge it, but discharged balanced it for 15 minutes at 3 amps? that pull alot of MAH out of the pack..

Also you mention it may have got ruined them maybe in the emaxx?

If one pack started with more current than the other, and they run together in the truck the weaker one will get pulled down further into the danger level of low voltage, and can kill the pack...

Do your speed controls have low voltage cut off???
Did you check the voltage of the packs before or after you episode?

 

[spliffnwesson]

The 977 Charges NiCd, NiMH, Lithium Polymer, Lithium Ion, Gel Cell and Lead Acid batteries... according to the info on Tower.

I'm pretty sure my balancer was set properly, I was going by the directions.
My balancer is a Hyperion LBA10, which as far as I know is really good.

I did not charge the pack that was discharged before I ran it in my E-Maxx in series with the other pack.
I meant to finish discharging it in one of my RC's that have a VXL system in it, which would have had the low-voltage detection turned on. I had just finished putting the Medusa motor and Monster Max ESC into my E-Maxx and wanted to test it. I admit, I got excited about seeing it go fast and didn't think about the one pack. I didn't find out until after I ran it, when I plugged it into my pc that there even was a low-voltage cutoff setting (which was off). I read the manual, which now that I think about it mentioned the cutoff but it didn't click until I saw the menu. I set the cutoff for 4s when I had it plugged into my pc.

I didn't check the voltages before cuz I was anxious and didn't think of it. I didn't check it after I ran it, I left it alone for a while to cool off. It wasn't hot, but it was warm and I didn't know if it was going to swell more or calm down. I haven't done anything with it since. I got busy with some other stuff.

I did run the truck the other day on two 6 cell pro-match side by side packs. I drove it for 5-10 minutes before I kinda hit a tree and popped a shock cap. I was running it with the body on this time and the packs were pretty warm and the motor was a bit hot. I have a clip-on Trinity heat sink, but I think I'm gonna have to add a fan and put some holes in the body to get some fresh air moving around.