abufletcher

I was in my workshop (aka the living room) and I kept noticing the smell of burnt rubber whenever I passed a certain spot. But I hadn't been working there and there were no power tools and everything was off. But I kept smelling this burnt rubber smell. Then on about the tenth time around I noticed the palstic wrap on my receiver battery pack (wrapped in foam) had melted open!!! That was it! Somehow the battery (the standard one that comes with the Airtronics radio) was hot -- REALLY HOT!!! And it was melting the sheath and starting to burn the foam around it. The plug end was also melted. Near as I can tell the plug end seems to have fallen across a pair of needle nose pliers and that seems to have completed the circuit!!!

Has anyone ever had something like this happen??? [:@]

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Shoot! I was putting the wing on my G-202 last year and the ail ext got into the wing bolt and I managed to melt every wire on every servo and into the RX before the lead melted off the battery. You can not imagine how long it takes to get 4 full length 1/4 - 20 bolts out of a wing with a power driver when there is that much smoke billowing out of the airplane. Had every smoke alarm in the house going and I had to open all the windows and run the fan to get the smoke out. It stunk for days. Ruined a bunch of servos, a battery and a brand new Rx just because I let the dumb extention get in the way.

I feel your pain!

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

You should see the electric cords on my soldering irons. A note to those who would hook up a field battery charger backwards. Only took about two minutes to smell the charger but by then it was too late.

2slow2matter

My Feedback: (1)

I believe that most modern field chargers have reverse polarity protection....

GRANT ED

A mate of mine has a box that he puts all his gear in for his buggies. One day after driving around he noticed smoke comming out his box. Upon inspection he found that a battery had shorted out on a screwdriver. Melted the covering off the battery and eventually got hot enough to unsolder one of the leads [X(]

bhole74

I was coveing a wing last week when I smelled something burning, then the covering started melting. Next thing I know, my ironing sock was smoking, then the head on my iron just went limp. Apparently, the thermostat in the iron shorted out. Good thing I had it in my hand, could have burnt the shop down if I had stopped to answer the phone or such.

abufletcher

So is there a lesson to be learned in all this? Other than be careful? The situation reminds me of an anecdote I read long ago in a German class about a military officer who was required to file a report after every accident as to what steps he had taken to prevent similar accidents in the future. Well after one of his men injured hiself by dropping a heavy hammer on his foot, the officer wrote: "Die Maenner sind belehrt worden keine schweren Haemmern auf die Fuessen fallen zu lassen." == "The men have been instructed not to allow any heavy hammers to fall on their feet."

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

On the pontoon boat, hit the starter to start my heli. The starter for what ever reason caused a short in the power panel. All of a sudden, smoke starts pouring out of the inside of the flight box. Couldn't get the side to open to disconnect the battery. Thought I was going to have to pitch the thing in the water. If finally melted the lead on the back of the panel enough to let go. Had to replace the panel, battery and all the wiring in the box. The power panel was about 15 years old and it was just time.