Warning to anyone new to RC and Lipo batterys

[yxsjwsb]

I was pushing my Super Cub LP battery into the plane and it short circuited. Fireworks. I was able to get it out of the plane, but there was alot of melted foam. Lesson: Don't push on the LiPo's too hard. I guess I'll cut out the battery box on my next cub.

[Turner]

So what exactly shorted? There should not be any exposed metal which could short out.

[Moxus]

i use to "quick discharge" them before throwing them away, by hammering a nail through them.
i find that more comfortable than putting it on a load and slowly but surely discharge it, and knowing it "might" go poof on you.
by nailing it, you effectively short circuit the entire battery, even if there is a break in one of the leads. it gets hot, and can catch fire.
but after doing it, you know that there is no more energy stored in the battery, and it cant go bad on you. of course, nailing it should be done outdoors.
nailing it has no explosive hazard, because by doing so, you puncture all the cells and hence there cant build up any pressure in them either.
the battery will fume a bit, i dont recommend inhaling that fume.
or so i think. someone probably thinks this sounds dangerous. please dont tell me, 25% of deaths happend in your living room. i still dont want to know that the living room is dangerous.

[yxsjwsb]

I'm not 100% sure what shorted, I need to take the wrap off and see. I'll get some pics. From what I saw, when I was pushing the battery, the wrap that seems to bind the cells together just gave - and it was like I lit a fuse in between two cells. Instead of just going out, it cascaded into a sort of white cloud fireball. Not a violent explosion, more like a controlled explosion - like you might see with a big firecracker smokeball. It was weak enough that I was able to pull the battery back out before it melted the Cub in half.

The battery was room temp, first flight of the day. I had just topped it off with the charger, but no more than a couple of minutes. The problem is the Cub's battery box has no room width-wise, so you really have to force it in.

[Bill G]

Originally Posted by Foamiesrfun

Here are a few pictures
1.The first one is a house that the guy was charging in his house, had 30,000 worth of damage to his house.

....and after the guy realized how generous the insurance company was for smoke damage, he's setting off more.
Seriously, I actually have seen them quite generous in coverage of these things. We restored a house a few years ago, and the guy said it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Completely remodeled house, and a bunch of cash left over in his pocket.
This only applies if you have fire/homeowner's insurance though, which is a good thing if you charge lipos. Really a good thing if you irresponsibly charge lipos.

[dahutair]

Cant you just throw old LiPo's in a campfire?




Okay, I was kidding

All of this is very fascinating....

[stuart]

if your lipos are dead the chances it'll catch fire when the air hits the chemicals is slim....thats why its suggested to soak them in salt water till dead then throw away the proper way....don't know where to recycle batteries.

as for me.....i just took an old battery out to the driveway and slammed it with a garden steel rake....nothing happened....very dead.

other time i'v done this...the white smoke....then all flames till theres nothing left to sweep up.just alittle foil and wire.

so to all "please discharge all batts till 100%dead"or your local garbage collector might find the garbage burning in the back of his truck.......

[stuart]

one other suggestion is to check your homeowners insurance to make sure you have enough coverage to pay for the inflation of building materials..... a sheet of ply costs 3 times or more than what it did 15 years ago.

we don't always check on our possessions value from 15 years ago....gold alone is a great example ,that wedding band is worth more now than when we bought it 23years ago

[dahutair]

Originally Posted by stuart

if your lipos are dead the chances it'll catch fire when the air hits the chemicals is slim....thats why its suggested to soak them in salt water till dead then throw away the proper way....don't know where to recycle batteries.

as for me.....i just took an old battery out to the driveway and slammed it with a garden steel rake....nothing happened....very dead.

other time i'v done this...the white smoke....then all flames till theres nothing left to sweep up.just alittle foil and wire.

so to all "please discharge all batts till 100%dead"or your local garbage collector might find the garbage burning in the back of his truck.......

Axe blow to a burst LiPo and poof - flash!? Sorry, but that sounds pretty cool. I know I'm new at this

but you make some great points about homeowners insurance.

[stuart]

amazing thing is that our homeowners insurance cover damages done by us ,wether rc,golfing[beaning someone with your sliced ball..ouch!]

it protects you if your dog bites someone,and even sadder it'll protect you against law suit if your on the board of directors of a camp or church. a person can go after the church if he/she falls on the ice ,but also can sue each member on the board of directors as they are responsible for the corperation of the camp or chuch.we who are on the board at church were advised to carry $2,000,000. in personel liability...it dos'nt cost that much more to do.

just food for thought from this old carpenter,now retired[6 months away!]

NOW,BACK TO BATTERYS.............MY BAD. stu

[dahutair]

Originally Posted by stuart

amazing thing is that our homeowners insurance cover damages done by us ,wether rc,golfing[beaning someone with your sliced ball..ouch!]

it protects you if your dog bites someone,and even sadder it'll protect you against law suit if your on the board of directors of a camp or church. a person can go after the church if he/she falls on the ice ,but also can sue each member on the board of directors as they are responsible for the corperation of the camp or chuch.we who are on the board at church were advised to carry $2,000,000. in personel liability...it dos'nt cost that much more to do.

just food for thought from this old carpenter,now retired[6 months away!]

NOW,BACK TO SERVOS.............MY BAD. stu

Wanna really freak your insurance people out? Tell them you own firearms, and keep them in your home.

[AEAJR]

Originally Posted by EpoweredRc

First: thank you whoever made this a Sticky.

Second: Thank you AEAJR for your info, and well you can still buy some lipos w/o balancing and remember if someone got a hold of a old charger they might charge it w/o balancing. I have a triton and it charge w/o balancing, it does not offer it.

But yes most have it now a lot more then back when I wrote this, I still treat lipos as Bombs and handle with care, I do fly some now and have single cell batterys in my micro flyer they don't scare me like a big 3 or 4 or more cell one.

If your charger can handle Lipos but is not a balancing charger, like the early Tritons, then you can buy a separate lipo balancer. So there is not excuse for not balancing your lipos if they have a balance plug.

Actually here is a GREAT accesory for any electric pilot, but especially a lipo user:

EXTREME POWER ANALYZER – a multifunction tool for the electric pilot
I have not see any reports on this so it must be new. Looks like a real value.
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/extreme_power_analyzer_532720_prd1.htm?pSearchQuer yId=905236
The Power Analyzer has three functions:

• <LI style="LIST-STYLE-TYPE: none; MARGIN: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline">Watt Meter: Measures current (Amps), voltage (Volts), power (Watts) and charger (Amp-hours). <LI style="LIST-STYLE-TYPE: none; MARGIN: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline">Voltage Checker: Check the individual cell voltages of 1 to 6 cell lithium battery packs. Handles all types of lithium batteries (LiPo, LiIon, LiFe).
• Cell Balancer: Integrated balance circuit will balance your pack without connection to a charger. Battery pack will be equalized to the lowest cell voltage of the pack.

• I will balance your cells, check them to see that they are balanced and will allow you to check the amp draw of the motor/prop/battery combo you are using so you don't over work any of the components or overload the ESC.

[Groundloop]

Originally Posted by dahutair

Wanna really freak your insurance people out? Tell them you own firearms, and keep them in your home.

Why would telling your insurance co. about your fire arms be a big deal??? Millions of people own firearms, some have additional policies just for the guns, just like jewelry, (if over $3,000 in my policy). Firearms should be covered in the event of a loss.

BTW, I once sold P&C insurance.

[Huffy01]

What legal and responsinble firearms owner wouldn't keep there firearm's in there house.
I wonder if batteries that can explode almost unexplainably is it covered by basic home insurance.
With the major new aircraft laws and batteries (cartage) I wonder if it will change things.

[Groundloop]

Originally Posted by Huffy01

What legal and responsinble firearms owner wouldn't keep there firearm's in there house.
I wonder if batteries that can explode almost unexplainably is it covered by basic home insurance.
With the major new aircraft laws and batteries (cartage) I wonder if it will change things.

Sorry I strayed off the main idea of this thread, but, I think your HO insurance would cover if a LIPO exploded and caused a fire. Fire and explosion are both covered perils. About the only thing not covered is water damage below the ground surface (basement, etc.) Flood insurance is for that.

Anyway, I appreciate all the info re: LIPO's. I leave one in my HZ super cub all the time because of the difficulty in instalation. Time to rebuild the whole battery/receiver area.

[firemanbill]

Lipo's DO NOT explode...

A battery that has been damaged, abused, or misused in some way may swell, smoke, vent gasses, and burn...

But they will not explode!

[AEAJR]

You have to REALLY abuse a lipo to get it to burn or otherwise cause a problem.

Charge them properly, don't over discharge them and keep them in a safe place and you should have no problems.

[PBaiyre]

Hey how do i post forums guyz???

[Groundloop]

One way is to scroll down to and click on to "forum jump". Find, click on "forum tools". "Post a new thread" should appear.

[Flywhat2]

DAHUTAIR....I don't much like your avatar and no, insurance folks don't get excited by firearms in my home. and... the subject (I tho't) is Lipo batteries.

[Flywhat2]

Lots of good stuff here and many claims of lipo damage potential.
1. At least one person claims "LiPos DO NOT EXPLODE" For this I recommend you do a web search on "LiPo damage potential". At least one source claims "fragments of battery material were found 100 yards from the site". (maybe best not to take chances?)
2. Air safety folks have done some testing after one mishap. (see this):

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...8/ai_n6280925/

3. Lots of incidents but not much "how to". I charge 2 and 3 cell Lipos in my house (or garage) unattended this way:

a) With a "good" charger meant for Lipos.
b) Far (4-6 ft)from flammable materials.
c) On a non flammable surface, (concrete floor or large steel table saw table). OR
d) In a HEAVY ceramic pot.
If you do a search you can find lots of good advice, just use what we know and good judgement.
Happy Flying all

[PBaiyre]

Hey ground I can't find it and thnkz for giving a strait answer instead of some other crap...

[PBaiyre]

Waitz no I gots it, thnkz ground!

[AEAJR]

Originally Posted by jonnysmith006

I am pretty new and this Li-po's ahs really scared me .

Note that the thread was started 5 years ago. We have come a LONG way since then.

Many of the problems were caused by people who did not know what they were doing. Lithium packs were still pretty new for RC in those days.

Today, Litium Polymer and Lithium Ion battery packs are in your phone, your watch, your tools, your computer, your camera and children's toys. Rechargeable Litium batteries are everywhere.

Just like any other battery, they have to be handled properly or bad things can happen. The only battery fire I ever had was with a NiMh pack that shorted out.

Use a proper charger, read the directions, no problems.

Ignore best practices, treat things carelessly, have problems.

That goes for every aspect of this hobby, not just Lithium batteries.

[Flywhat2]

AEAJR-- Thx for the sage advice.. if newbies will now hear and observe. Much of life is like that, " ignore the rules at your peril".
I was raised on a farm where a LOT of things could hurt and/or kill you. Older more experienced folks laid down the rules and stressed that many times you don't get a second chance to be careless, so we kids listened carefully.
I hope all the newbies here pay attention so that no one gets hurt.
Thanks again, Fly