Why has my lipo blown?????

[gav79tt]

Can anyone explain why my orca infinite 5000 50c has blown? It has been a great lipo and have had no problems with charging at all over the 5 months I have owned it.I always balance charge it at 5amps.the only thing that I can think of is that I haven't been racing for 3 weeks and the lipo has been left (what I remember fully charged)?
Any help would be much appreciated as you know lipos are not cheap.
Thanks

[styleone]

Originally Posted by gav79tt

Can anyone explain why my orca infinite 5000 50c has blown? It has been a great lipo and have had no problems with charging at all over the 5 months I have owned it.I always balance charge it at 5amps.the only thing that I can think of is that I haven't been racing for 3 weeks and the lipo has been left (what I remember fully charged)?
Any help would be much appreciated as you know lipos are not cheap.
Thanks

Phew, right Gav, there could be a couple of reasons mate. If a Lipo drops below its recommended minimum voltage per cell it can pop or 'break down'. Or if you have charged it at a amperage over its 'c' rating it can pop. If you have banged the case or cells and split the covering, mixing it with fresh air WILL make it pop. A shorted wire can pop your cells also. Storing the Lipo fully charged (although not recommended by the manufacturers) in my humble experience should not make the battery fragile...unless again it looses voltage until it drops below its recommended minimum voltage per cell (at full charge this would take a few months if the battery is already in good working order) My cells usually drop approx .1 of a volt per 7 days from fully charged if left alone.

Invest in a volt checker (plugs into balance leads) this will help you spot test the cell voltage at any point, even after it appears to have ceased working.

Hope this helps a little mate...when you finish using your batteries, check all connections before charging, ripped cable or nicked shrink tube can allow positive and negative tabs to short out...this equals popped battery 9 times out of 10

good luck mate

[bzb]

incorrect,


NEVER leave youre lipo batteries fully charged, thats why they get bigger/moushy

leave them at 3.6/3.7 volt per cell for storing

my lipo's never drop 0.1 volt in monts

[leeleefocus]

The new generation of lipo is far less tolerant of being left fully charged than the older gen lipo. A good rule with these new lipo's is 3 hours fully charged and then you need to think about using them or taking down to storage voltage. Wherever possible charge and use them immediately.

[RogerM]

Lee ... that is interesting, not heard that before! I normally charge my packs the night before a meeting as I struggle with the amount of charging I can do trackside (teeny tiny & old battery on the Mrs Polo I am currently using for transport).

Might have to look at getting another lesiure battery if this is indeed the case!

[stoff]

I've never had a problem leaving them fully charged overnight before a race meeting but always put them on a storage charge/discharge if they are being left for longer.

[NTS]

Originally Posted by stoff

I've never had a problem leaving them fully charged overnight before a race meeting but always put them on a storage charge/discharge if they are being left for longer.

I do exactly the same and have had no problems with my Demon 5000mAh 50C's used for nearly two years now.

[blue_pinky]

News to me...mine tend to get fully charged at the end of a club night, then left like that until the next week!

If it's storage state is so important why don't the battery manufacturers tell you this stuff when you buy them?

Personally, I'm getting more and more wary of listening to advice posted on forums about lipo's. Far too much here say, and too many chinese whispers for my liking.

I know everyone is trying to help, but there is too much conflicting advice, and not enough factual information provided by the manufacturers to back any of it up.

My advice would be to contact the manufacturers directly and ask them what they think caused it, and what you should do with them now.

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by blue_pinky

News to me...mine tend to get fully charged at the end of a club night, then left like that until the next week!

If it's storage state is so important why don't the battery manufacturers tell you this stuff when you buy them?

Personally, I'm getting more and more wary of listening to advice posted on forums about lipo's. Far too much here say, and too many chinese whispers for my liking.

I know everyone is trying to help, but there is too much conflicting advice, and not enough factual information provided by the manufacturers to back any of it up.

My advice would be to contact the manufacturers directly and ask them what they think caused it, and what you should do with them now.

lipo should never be stored long term at full charge, sure most manufatures say thet, mine definatly do

[leeleefocus]

What you call the manufacturer is actually just a middle man who buys cells from china or buys ready made packs and label them up. I can't say for all of them but probably all or most have got no clue how the cells even work. All lipo cells currently come from china because of the sittuation with Lithium mines although this is likely to change because new places to mine Lithium are currently being discovered in large enough quantitys to warrant mining it.

Some of the figures quoted on lipo's are exaggerated or blatant lie's and need to be taken with a pinch of salt unless they are tested to be true. Some do actually quote honest figures. The battery manufacturers give you the critical information you need like high and low voltages for the cells and maximum charge and discharge rates but everything else is not in there interest to disclose.

If you want to do your own research then have a look over at endless sphere. Don't go to battery university as it is full with outdated info although some is true there is plenty that doesn't relate to the latest gen Lipo.

Take my advice with a pinch of salt by all means but i have done alot of research and some basic testing of cells. For example checking of C rates and affects of storage at higher states of charge (SOC). My advice for not leaving the latest gen lipo's fully charged comes from another but it is sound advice.

Instead of leaving fully charged overnight a better solution is to set your charger to Li-ion and let it fully charge on this setting. The charge profile is similiar to the Li-po charge profile the only difference being the CV part of the profile begins and ends at 4.1v per cell. This will put your battery in approximitly a 90% SOC. Then fully charge on the day. This will be much kinder to your battery.

There a several ways to drastically increase the life of your lipo and all the info is on Endless Sphere.

[stoff]

Originally Posted by blue_pinky

If it's storage state is so important why don't the battery manufacturers tell you this stuff when you buy them?

Unfortunately I learnt through experience.

[peetbee]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

lipo should never be stored long term at full charge, sure most manufatures say thet, mine definatly do

Definition of long term would be nice! A week or a month?
mine tend to be left with whatever is left at the end of a run (poss 60%+) until the night before club when I balance charge it to full capacity
so stored for a week like that, but there are times when I leave them fully charged for a week, should I not complete the last run of the night.

[fidspeed]

hi just had a similiar issue my boy races a lrp 5900 lipo ran last week removed from car after race (so only about 2/3 charged came to charge this week 1 dead cell no puffing.cracks or visual signs of anything amiss (it could be a internal wiring fault possibly )all i know is it cried enough.

yet i have some lipos that i fly with that are probably 5 years old now dont ave a balance lead (not fitted from new from a time when balancing was un heard of ) and they still perform well some punch has gone admiddetly, and have used and abused them mercillessly (safely i may add)

i come to the conclusion you get good uns and bad uns balancing makes little difference if they are starting to go out of balance thats because they are giving up the will to live

just my personal viewpoint and experience no professional qualifications to back up my findings

dave

[budgio]

I left my Orion carbon 4500 saddles fully charged (by mistake) for approx 2/3 months and now they are both slightly swelling/puffing
Not sure whether to use them again or not...

[Timee80]

lipo voltages decrease when they get cold and increase when they become hotter. If they drop below 6v or rise above 8.4v they become unstable. That is why they say to store somewhere in between (you get a safe margin for differences in voltage). I read that somewhere ages ago anyway

[NTS]

Originally Posted by blue_pinky

If it's storage state is so important why don't the battery manufacturers tell you this stuff when you buy them?

On my charger I use "storage mode", clues in the name