wright3

Boy was I proud of my brand new set of 3S 2100 TP lipos. I was really anxious as I soldered up the positive wire to the Deans plug. I was so anxious to try it out that I didn't shove the heat shrink tubing in place and shrink it up before I went ahead and started to solder up the negative lead. You've already guessed! A big blob of solder from my negative side soldering job dripped down and shorted that battery out just as neat as you please. I managed to get the blob removed very quickly (just seconds) but it was too late to save one of the cells. I guess I'm real lucky to end up with a brand new 2S 2100 TP Lipo.

Moral of the story: Don't forget to heat shrink that joint immediately. A smoking lipo is not a pleasant sight.

How about you guys confessing stupid mistakes so the rest of us won't make 'em?

Hurry up now. I'm waiting!

Randy

crashingagain

Sounds like an expensive 2s. I put a sliver of liteply between my pins when soldering connectors, it works well.

Stupid mistakes, lets see,...how about when I was covering a foam wing on the floor with film and I accidentally stepped on the wing tip and broke it off...or the numerous times Ive picked up my plane while stepping on the antenna wire.

millet_flyer

My Feedback: (5)

I was doing my final assembly on my microjet last night, plugged in the battery and nothing was responding. Hooked up the esc receiver lead backwards in the Hitec Feather. Poof[:@]

Jason W M

My Feedback: (6)

Even though only 1 cell appears to be damaged, you can bet that the other 2 cells have been damaged too. Be VERY careful when using your new 2S pack - to be honest, youd be better off retiring it. If you call TP directly and let them know what happened, theyll have more info for you and offer you a discount on a new 3S pack:

(702) 228-8883

wright3

Thanks, I agree and decided to retire the poor thing. Expensive lessons are lessons learned well.

zagibond

I feel your pain. One flight on a 2 cell 1500 Kokam. Don't know how, but it landed on my driveway in the rain overnight. Dead as a dodo.

3dandpatternflyer

whackisinki, "yur life is not worth a $40 battery pack"

adaptabl

Kind of how I felt after forgetting to chance the transmitter progam number and taking off with elevator reversed. Bad news.

beldraak

I just decided to enlarge the ailerons on my 3dx, so I figured all I had to do was cut the wing where the new ailerons were going to be, cutting off part of the wing and the old ailerons, then using that as the pattern for the new ailerons... no problem. I made the cut and encountered some resistance towards the end of the wing, a little sawing motion and it cut right through..... the antenna that was looped around under the wing. Doh!!

lwatson

My Feedback: (2)

My dumb move was to leave my 3cell TP2100 pack pluged into a castle creations speed controller with the switch off for a month. Little did I know that off does not mean off. It slowly drained the life from it. I understand there is a chance I can bring it back to life, but very carefully. I just wanted to post this because I don't believe it is well known that the battery will drain with the switch off.

Larry

Maelstrom

My last set of mistakes occured simultaneously.
I took off in a hurry with my Tracer (pretty fast plane, difficult for me to control) in the late afternoon (you see, I HAD to fly the plane THAT day) with my sunglasses on, AND it was pretty windy. Before I knew it I couldn't determine the planes attitude and WAM ended up hitting a tree when I did the exact opposite maneuver of what I was supposed to do. The cost: Lets see; grounded for about 4 weeks while I find time to redo the front end of the plane, about $60.00 in engine parts including the crankshaft, new battery for the receiver, new fuel tank, new alluminum spinner, propeller, and so on. And let's not talk about the humilliation, the explaining at home, and all that jazz.
Lesson learned: you know, "take your time and do things right"
Luis