DOH! Are my batteries okay?
 

I was building my 5s2p A123 pack tonight and just as I finished wiring and getting ready to insulate everything, I shorted the packs for a split second.

How do I know if I ruined my battery, or one of the packs in parallel? I put the whole thing on my voltmeter and it reads 16.5v. I don't have any way of running the pack right now, waiting for the MMM to come out for my E-aftershock. I don't have a charger yet for A123 either, as I'm just piecing this thing together.

Is there any other way of checking both packs that are in parallel without splitting them up and testing them individually? What exactly happens when batteries short?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

It's probably fine if the short was as quick as you say. When you get a charger for them, cycle them a couple times and then check the voltage on each cell.

a123s are robust. They will be fine if it was just a quick short.

Should be fine. When taking apart one of the Dewalt packs a while ago I accidentally shorted the whole 10s pack with my soldering iron. That pack still works just fine today.

I shorted one of my 10S pack as well, but it was with a pliers and the packs is ok, but the pliers went straight to the garbage.

Wow lutach, you have good aim with your involuntary arm spasms! :lol:

After that I gave A123 cells much more respect. One should be really careful when working with A123 cells :lol:.