Broken lipo case... need help
 

Its strange how it happened, I put the battery in my emaxx for its maiden voyage and saw that it had plenty of space to move around but I figured, Ill go easy with it. Anyways, my batterys little blue wire that is used to balance the packs is mounted in the middle of the pack. I had to mount the batter with the tab sticking out through the middle of the brace. I hit something with a little force and the battery moved forward, snapped the tab off and destroyed my lipo case.

Is the battery still good? I will post pictures later, soon as it gets off the charger. I am keeping a close eye on it... closer than usual :whistle:

it charges fine and if I tape the wire in place, it balances fine too. The guy at my LHS told me that if the battery krinkled that he would throw it away. It did krinkle a little at one end but not much.... meh.

lemme grab a picture.

http://s10.postimage.org/myf4a7b1l/my_lipo_002.jpg
http://s10.postimage.org/8ghx27jqh/my_lipo_003.jpg
http://s10.postimage.org/5nopi6je1/my_lipo_004.jpg
http://s10.postimage.org/mcuqru5d5/my_lipo_005.jpg
http://s10.postimage.org/6txaupx2h/my_lipo_006.jpg

Must be some brittle plastic or that thing slammed like a ton of bricks ?

Break away the plastic around the center plug and solder the broken balance wire directly to the nub sticking out.

I would say its a brittle case. Ill post another picture of how its mounted in the truck. The lipo couldnt have taken that hard of a hit.. the energy was focused to a small area where the bullet connector enters the case.

I am just a little worried of internal damage. It performed outstanding today though, ripped a new U-joint to pieces!

If you have a good hot iron this should be a very easy fix.

Also, If you get the broken plug out it doesn't need to be in while you run the truck, It's only for charging purposes.

I understand all that. I dont know how to solder wires but thats beside the point.

I am worried about internal cell damage and long term use. It runs/charges great but I might toss it anyway. Not worth having a cell burst in the middle of the night or while nobody is home. Maybe Im just paranoid? I've never seen a lipo fire in real life and I dont want too.

Honestly, It's 50/50 if it'll be OK in the long run. Puffiness will be the first sign of a problem. Buy a Lipo sack.

Lipos don't just randomly burst in the middle of the night when no one is home. That is unless you have monkey at home crossing wires and dead shorting it!

I agree with this. Prior damage is usually the first indication. And as for them to "suddently" catch fire, that means the lipo puffed so bad the cell ruptured or was punctured, and it was HOT internally. Usually if thats happening its because the lipo is in active use either charging, or discharging.

Still, if you are concerned and don't have a lipo bag put it in a metal bucket filled partially with sand and let it sit outside away from anything flammable.

No one has said this...but, if it were me..I'd get a new one. You have to ask is your RC car/truck worth it? Battery is $50-$100....RC car/truck $xxx.xx - $xxxx.xx.... Just my 02.


Good luck!
Derek

Really? What about the Chevy Volt that caught fire three weeks after the crash test?
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2011/11/...er-crash-test/

In both cases the salvage yards did not follow gm's safety procedures and pull the battery systems fuse to prevent a trickle drain on them. Aka they were being discharged actively by the onboard electronics after trauma.