PENGUINBLASTER!!!

The friggin' battery bars stuck out about a mile and it wouldn't fit in my B4, The dude at the raceway shop said to unsolder the battery bars, flatten them out with a hammer and solder them back on.

So I said ok, when I went I stuck the soldering iron to the bar it took about half an hour for the solder to melt, but it did, one bar down 5 more to go, on the second one I was sitting there with my iron on the bar and all the sudden it freaking exploded! I was like W-T-F!?

Can someone help me out? Do you think I can return it to the place and say that it just blew up in my face?

EDIT:

Ok, I see where it was my fault, I'm going to replace the cell. (and it's not going to explode this time)!

dirt101

the cell just couldnt take the heat. I heard that you shouldnt leave the soldering gun on more than 3 seconds.

I dont really think you can return it. but dont feel bad my pack rebuilding didnt go so well either but it was better than that. good way to avoid all of that is go lipo.

PENGUINBLASTER!!!

I held it on for three seconds, and I could stick my finger on the bar, it was hardly even warm after 3 seconds!

sloppyG

sounds like you need a better soldering iron

PENGUINBLASTER!!!

The one I used solders deans plugs no problem, never had a problem with it.

ASYSTEMERROR

that was a bad ideal. i have that same problem and i just let the battery stay cocked the packs are very good but the bars make them useless in anything but monster trucks. i have 2 of these left and i'm determined to use them .

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

I agree...........................

Did you buy the pack from the LHS?

brushlessboy16

when u bent down the tabs u probably shorted a cell.

sloppyG

I think you just did have a problem with it lol!

PENGUINBLASTER!!!

I hadn't bent down the tabs when it exploded, yes I bought it at my LHS and I was intending on putting it into my RC10B4.

And yeah, I guess the soldering iron is 50 years old! LOL

Takedown

My Feedback: (23)

Wow! Thats a bummer... Looks to me as if you shorted it.

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

Next time you should use a battery jig to hold the battery in while you are working on it.

PENGUINBLASTER!!!

Here's a pic of the soldering iron's tip, do you think it's the culprit?

Always Dreamin

man thats a bummer[:'(]

cheech4

i wouldnt call it duratrash, when its your error. sorry for your loss.

DaveG55

First, why would you not just have returned it in the first place when you found it would not fit?

Second, That soldering iron is nowhere near big enough to be soldering batteries.

That pack exploding is your own fault - what were you thinking leaving it on for 30 minutes????.

If your conscience will let you try to return it then, well forum rules prohibit me from saying what I think...

PENGUINBLASTER!!!

When you pay that much for a battery pack it should fit to begin with!

And I'm not convinced it was my error yet, I didn't even have the iron on that cell when it blew up, it was on the other side of the bar I was trying to detach the bar from the cell next to the exploding one.

EDIT

And it wasn't 30 minutes either, more like 30 seconds, but I expected it to start loosening in like 5 seconds!

cheech4

when i bought my SMC 6 cell SXS pack for my JRXS it was not a perfect fit either, i had to resolder and bang the bars in also.. not all batteries are made to be a perfect fit.

DaveG55

Well, That's my point exactly. If it did not fit why keep it. Take it back and get one that does fit. I sure would not start trying to "fix" it, especially with inadequate tools.
And you may not be convinced who's fault it was but I am. What you did is what anybody that knows how to solder batteries knows not to do. Guess why.

It was you that originally said half-an-hour, not me.

Access

Was the battery and the soldering iron grounded? If, say, the black/common wire on the battery was grounded, and the soldering iron is also grounded (though the wall ground), and you touch the soldering iron to another part of the battery (other than the black wire) then you just created a huge ground loop. Think safety first, don't do this! Many soldering irons are grounded intentionally so they will not blow out voltage-sensitive components. But you should never touch a grounded object to a +V source especially if that source is capable of providing huge amounts of current, it's unsafe and can be highly destructive as demonstrated.

Anyway it seems to fit what you are saying since you were able to do one battery bar without any kind of problems, but then when you moved onto the second it boomed. Since it was user error, I doubt you can get a refund.

Also the soldering iron isn't really the right tool to use for desoldering the bars, since they (and the batteries) are highly conductive of heat. This is why it took you forever to desolder the first tab, and you probably destroyed the cell that tab was on in the process.

Krazy Chicken

this might be alittle off topic, but are duratrax stick batterys any good?

PENGUINBLASTER!!!

I was being sarcastic about the half hour, who would actually hold a soldering iron to something for that long?

And the guy at the shop told me to just hold my soldering iron to the bars until the solder melts, than slide them off, hammer them flat and stick them back on. He didn't sound promising on letting me return it after opening it (which I sort of had to do to see that it didn't fit)...[:'(]

I'm just kind of discouraged by this but I'll except a loss, it's just since I'm 14 years old it's sort of hard for me to get $60.

But I'm not going to go ballistic on the hobby shop, I certainly won't be back there in a while, Not only did they over charge me by 20 dollars for it, they said "it retails for over $100 so we aren't going to give you a discount with your account". YEAH RIGHT, IT'S $40 AT TOWER! (I didn't know that when I bought it though).

I just chose the internet as a place to vent instead of going postal at the raceway.

Sorry if it ticked you off, but you must have too much spare time and energy to waste it on getting angry with someone you've never met and will never know.

Always Dreamin

no matter how old you get, it still hurts to throw $60 down the drain

Dale Gribble

My Feedback: (4)

I used to try and make stuff work and fit when it didn't and I made some dumb mistakes when I was younger. You should have absolutely taken the $60 pack back, no questions, zip, nada. You absorbed all responsibility as soon as that iron touched the pack. As you get older you will not waste your time buying something that doesn't fit and trying to make it work when you could much easier replace it with the right thing. I am sure you really wanted to run the pack instead of waiting.

The good news is you will get wiser and smarter as you get older.

hands without shadows

It was definitely your fault. When you use a low wattage iron or a small tip there isn't enough thermal mass to melt the solder so the iron starts to heat up everything instead. The cell you were soldering to didn't blow up because you weren't soldering by it's seal.