Coolhand5599

Last week I bought a new lipo 3s 5000 35c I went to charge it. I was going to take my kids to lake park and play the the buggy. When I hooked the battery up it said low voltage and would not charge. I figured this had to be a mistake so I unplugged the balancer. Big Mistake, about a half hour later I hear a pop, I looked back and saw fire. We lost a house to a fire in 2006 so I guess I may have freaked out a bit more. Now I have third degree burns on my right foot and I have three fingers that look like hot dogs that were left on the grill to long. Point of the story is don't force a charge. We were lucky I was by the battery and heard it, or we could have lost another house.

trax de max

You should of returned it, But if you do have to boost the voltage it only takes One or Two minutes to take the voltage up the the lower limit of the voltage the charger recognizes @3Volts per cell, then switch to lipo balance charge.

chuckk2

So, "Coolhand" became Cooked hand!
Anyway, I always check a new LIPO before I do anything with it. (Preferably before I leave the point of sale.)
If nothing else, with a DVM.
New Lipos "off the shelf" with low cells are invariably no good in the long run.

pilotpete2

I would not rule out a problem with the charger driving one cell over 4.2V. What charger were you using, and what charge rate was selected?
Pete