Shocking

[Chequered Flag Racing]

New in August last year (18/08/11, still have receipt) and probably had no more than 10 charges on them. Have some Intelect saddles with similar usage of the same age but no signs of damage. Non of my 1s cells have done this.

Have read stories of manufacturers increasing capacity but to keep the case within the regs they have to thin the battery case, hence some of the puffing we might be seeing with our LiPo's.

Got them out with a view to using them in a GT12.

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/...view=slideshow

[Pacman]

Did you leave them fully charged when in storage? I read in one of the RC car mags this month that it can be dangerous leaving Lipo batteries fully charged. Apparently it's not such a high risk if you are using them regularly.

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Originally Posted by Pacman

Did you leave them fully charged when in storage?

Nope

[mattr]

I have two sets of these, one half of one set has done that, the other hasn't.

Still using both sets, think the main reason is my jumping "style" (get airborne, try and keep the car level as it slaps the chassis off the ground).

Its been in use for 6 odd months since it split, appeared to just be shoddy gluing round the edges of the case. (or shoddy gluing in comparison with what i was doing with the car!) Have taped it shut, and its stayed pretty much the same since.

[blue_pinky]

None of the hard cases, thick or thin would stop a lipo from swelling in any way...so I wouldn't worry about that! And in this case, I wonder if a thinner case would be more flexible and bend more, a thick one would be more likely to crack open like that as it can't give as much!

The case only really helps to prevent puncturing and make them look better.

Def not good though is it...feeling your pain for sure!

[Craig W]

Originally Posted by Chequered Flag Racing

New in August last year (18/08/11, still have receipt) and probably had no more than 10 charges on them. Have some Intelect saddles with similar usage of the same age but no signs of damage. Non of my 1s cells have done this.

Have read stories of manufacturers increasing capacity but to keep the case within the regs they have to thin the battery case, hence some of the puffing we might be seeing with our LiPo's.

Got them out with a view to using them in a GT12.

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/...view=slideshow

there was some fakes going around of those lipos

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Originally Posted by Craig W

there was some fakes going around of those lipos

Bought from a well known model UK model shop so would have thought they'd be from Orion

[SlowOne]

What voltage are they now? If below 3v that's your problem. If not, back to Orion IMHO.

[mark christopher]

odd they have both done it, what ever happened they appear to have been connected when they failed

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Originally Posted by SlowOne

What voltage are they now? If below 3v that's your problem. If not, back to Orion IMHO.

3.82v each when photos taken on Monday this week.

I could try Orion I suppose

Originally Posted by mark christopher

odd they have both done it, what ever happened they appear to have been connected when they failed

Always stored with link between cells.

[Darren Boyle]

Originally Posted by Chequered Flag Racing

I could try Orion I suppose

Glenn, not sure if their warranty would be 11 months though, most LIPO's are not covered that long, most are 3 months sadly, but worth a try, if you dont ask you dont get.

TBH, you see this on as many top name packs (I have seen in the shop puffed cells form almost EVERY brand now) as you do cheap ones, they all do it sadly......

Most common causes are stored too low or the opposite (fully charged) but there are exceptiosn, as appears to be the case with yours here.....

[zoaman]

Seen a couple lately that have shrunk inside the casing and become loose and floppy inside.???

[SlowOne]

And we were all told by the "must go LiPo" brigade that they were so much more reliable than NiMh cells... Ho hum...

[Darren Boyle]

Originally Posted by SlowOne

And we were all told by the "must go LiPo" brigade that they were so much more reliable than NiMh cells... Ho hum...

To be honest, they are! Incidents like this are very few and far between, we get FAR less LIPO issues returned to us now than we ever got with failed NIMH's.

[RogerM]

To put an alternative view out on this my Orion 90C saddles where from the first batch and I've run them solidly ever since, not been fussy how they have been stored (straight out of the car into the box unless it hit the cut-off voltage in which case they do get a little put in first) and mine are still perfect.

I think you might just have suffered poor luck on this occasion.

[SlowOne]

Originally Posted by Darren Boyle

To be honest, they are! Incidents like this are very few and far between, we get FAR less LIPO issues returned to us now than we ever got with failed NIMH's.

That's because it appears that they work fine when you buy them (NiMh often didn't work because they had gone flat, so went back when brand new) but after you start to use them these sort of things happen.

From the users perspective they are not more reliable. Almost everyone has LiPos that have swelled a bit, lots of people have had ones that swelled a lot. And what would they get from retailers if they returned every one of those? the same as a speedo - user error most likely to have caused the problem.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying go back to NiMh, but I am saying that these things are far less reliable from the users perspective than the people whipping us in to this technology had us believe - and they are a whole galaxy less reliable than the days of NiCads.

I am sure from a retailer's perspective they are great, but you need to get out to the Clubs and the Nationals in all electric classes and see just how unreliable they have become.

[MattW]

I don't think you'll get many people agreeing with that view. Gone are the days when I needed 10 packs to get me through a season, and needed to treat my batteries with kid gloves just to keep them alive, before worrying about performance.

I don't think LiPo is perfect, and for the 2s classes I'd rather we switched to LiFe, but that's for another debate.

[racingben]

Just do like me and buy 2nd hand slightly swollen lipos for no money on here - never had any performance issues with them.

My 2 losi short lipos cost £25, brushless motor and esc £100 2nd hand. No performance difference to people with £90 packs and brand new motors and esc's. love it! Back I the days of nicad / nimh + brushed I would be the slowest thing for 4 minutes doing this!