3 years charging these lipo battries and no problem. 8-16-2013 my luck ran out.
I was charging a 3 cell 2200 mah lipo while I worked at the computer.
It caught FIRE near me. Got it out the door just in time.
It burns HOT and long.
I was charging a 3 cell 2200 mah lipo while I worked at the computer.
It caught FIRE near me. Got it out the door just in time.
It burns HOT and long.
Could have burned the place down to the ground.
Be CAREFUL.....PLEASE !
Be CAREFUL.....PLEASE !
Earl
It Caught FIRE near me. Got it out the door just in time. It burns HOT and long.
Be CAREFULL.....
Be CAREFULL.....
Comments
How many cycles you get thru that lipo?
Well gee, no offense intended but this looks like a "perfect storm" sort of thing and inevitable trouble. Sounds like these batteries have been abused for a long time, and both they and the charger are cheap quality to begin with. I've never had a problem in seven years with Lipos big and small. I always balance (every single cycle), never discharge more than 80%, never charge at over 1C, and use a high quality charger that provides full info on each cell. Even with all of that some Lipos develop a bit of puffiness, but I don't worry about it. I use mainly the better grades of cheaper Lipos, currently the "nano tech" Turnigys from Hobby King, as opposed to the very cheapest ones with which I've had rather early loss of performance.
I will try to give the facts of the lipo's (2) burns.
Brand:both Zippy from Hobby King
3 cell both 11.1 volt
8000mah on #2
2200mah on #1
hardly ever ballanced
Both batteries were swollen
Both charged at 2 or 3 amps (probably not wise)
Charger: From Hobby Kink 3 years ago. Thunder AC6 (has worked well for 3 years)
Batteries were 2 years old
many many many charge/discharge cycles
both batteries have been to 100,000 feet on a balloon flight
I think that is most of the history of the batteries.
Earl
Whatever happened with Earl, can happen to anyone, it happened to me also, four years back. Similar incident happened, entire house could have been burnt.
I am not bashing anyone's product but saying out of my experience that most of the lipos I purchased from Hobby King have swelled even at 2c discharge. I am really surprised and worried as well that even the Polyquest Lipo, purchased from Hobby King, got little bit swelled even at less than 8c discharging.
Some times due to such quality of lipos, I become so much worried that I wish if I could really find some brand may be very expensive but must meet atleast 80% of the stated specs on discharging and must not swell if always taken care that any cell is not allowed to go down by 3v during discharging.
Can someone help in finding that brand ? :(
This could be useful information but without details is just a general warning. A bit like saying "I threw a match in petrol and it went boom", be careful.
I'd be keen to know: What was the battery type, size, C-rating. What charger. Had the battery been damaged. How many cycles has it had. Has it had a hard life (discharge-charge rates). Was it being balance charged. What was the charge current. Did it burn early in the charge or later. etc....
It is good advice to store and charge in a safe place. I'd recommend, always balance charge, at 1C maximum and don't over-discharge. Make sure your charger never applies more than 4.2V per cell ever.
Of my 2200 batteries I have a couple that are a bit puffy that have been in use for over 18 months in that state. The amount of puff varies with charge state. They are always balance charged at 1C or less (often 0.5C) and used in low drain flight; about 18A peak drain on 2200 20C or higher rated Turnigy 3-cell. They still deliver good capacity. I've worn out (capacity failed) quite a few of these over the years. The only one that ever smoked was badly crunched in a crash and smoked for 5 minutes while in the wreckage.
Paul
Crud. Shows what I know. I had meant Energizer e^2 123 batteries. If I recall, they either have a lithium alloy or pure lithium inside. I also thought that LiPoly was "poly" because of the polymer electrolyte between the metal electrodes.
Oh, my experience: As a deliberate test I once hammered a nail through a 3S 2650 mAh pack. There were room-filling quantities of smoke and some sparks within 5 seconds. This was done outdoors in a non-flammable area with everything on the end of long poles.
No. There is never any pure lithium in lipos. That's why they are lithium *ion*.
Wait, wait... two batteries blew up on you today? Was the second one already ballooning as caused by your charger, or was it triggered entirely by you punching a hole in the packaging? Because depending on how things went, you might want to look real hard at your charger.
It's worth noting that breaching a lipo, especially a hot one, is going to be like dropping metallic sodium into water. Any oxygen on the pure lithium in those packs will cause a rapid reduction reaction. Best case, you ruin the battery by causing the contacts to corrode to nothing. (Peel open an Energizer A123 battery and watch the metallic lithium oxidize in front of your eyes.) Worst case, you have another fireball. Also, since the gas that fills your battery is Hydrogen, I'll let you figure out why a hot pack overloading and bursting will make a nice boom. :)
Moral of the story: Lipoly's are like guns. They're always going to be dangerous, but they're especially dangerous if you don't understand how and why they work.
Yea, I went 3 years and no problems. Then today ,not one, but two batteries smoked, caught fire and exploded. (the explosion wasn't too violent tho). From now on if a battery is swelled up I am going to discard it. A fire at the house or worse, in the apartment building would NOT be good. I think even though I lost 2 batteries today, I consider myself VERY lucky. I am going out an buying a couple of lottery tickets !
Earl
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