Damaged Lipo Pack
 

My plane tip stalled today and hit nose first into the pavement. The fuse is destroyed but all other equipment seems okay except for the LiPo pack. One end of the pack is compacted so that it bulges out a little. Is there anyway to test if the battery is safe or do I just dispose of it?

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

Get a ceramic flower pot and place the battery in it. Then connect it to your battery cycler, to discharge it, then charge it. Do this outside, where the possible fireball won't light the house or garage on fire, and have a bucket of water handy in case it gets ugly. If it survives a full discharge then a recharge without puffing up. it's probably okay.
If you don't have the capability of cycling the battery, either find a friend who does, buy a cycler yourself, or dispose of that battery properly (in a bucket of salt water for 2 weeks) and go buy yourself another one. One house fire will cost you a LOT more than the price of a stupid battery.

btw, I hope it's not sitting somewhere out of your sight right now, where it could have already started the garage on fire!

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

Thanks... Its been a couple hours and its sitting on the concrete floor of my basement directly under a smoke detector. If the pack is bad. Where do I take to dispose of it?

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

I added the bucket of salt water part to the message above. I don't remember how much salt (1/4 cup per gallon of water?) but after the battery soaks in that for 2 weeks, it can safely be discarded with the regular trash. Once neutralized, the remainder is non-toxic and inert.

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

A couple of the guys at the field the other day were talking about their LiPo fires. Yeah, fires, plural.

The one thing that was common in those was how the LiPos went off like magnesium flares. It seems they spew flame. It appears they do it for a very short time, like seconds. But this isn't something you screw around with halfadz.

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

That also means your "flower pot" needs to have a fireproof lid on it.

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

The ceramic pot I bought at the hardware store has a ceramic base "saucer" that just happens to fit inside the pot, like a lid. It cost me $8 to buy it, it's 9" deep and 6" in diameter. I just added a handle to the new "lid", sliced a slot for the charger wires (with my Dremel and a diamond cutoff wheel), and Voila! Besides, it's a pretty turquoise blue! ;)

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

yeah, this is what Da is talking about http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0 just be careful with lipo's they have an extreme energy density and that is what makes them so dangerous if mishandeled. Don't try at home. If battery fails test then you will have a sweet pyro show... or you can eat $$$$$ and take it to a local radio shack... and let the experts deal with it.

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

That's a good example of why you never risk flying or keeping a LiPo pack that has sustained ANY form of damage what-so-ever.

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

In your basement? That's taking one hell of a chance. The best place to do any of this with a LiPo that is of unknown condition such as after a crash.. is outside where it cannot do any damage (as in burn your house down... and they will do just that if you are not careful). I even go to the extreme of charging my batteries, my good batteries, on my concrete back porch, away from my house. One of our club members had one go up in flames, and it was on his back porch and in a ceramic pot. It produced quite a demonstration of what these things can do when they go to 'critical mass'.

RE: Damaged Lipo Pack
 

Ok, here's the deal on this issue. Damaged Li-po batteries can be very VERY dangerous. It's my understanding that they should not be used if they have been involved in an accident. Because of the technical details involved with this discussion I think that the Beginner's forum is not the proper place for your questions to be answered properly. I would hate for you to get some bad advice and wind up burning your house down. Because of this I'm going to lock this thread and suggest that you re-ask your question in the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_84/tt.htm]RCU Batteries & Chargers Forum[/link] . This forum is hosted and moderated by Red Scholefield who is almost THE definitive source for battery information. He will get you set straight on what you should do in your situation.

Ken