im an idiot!

[rcsammy]

well i was just soldering a deans plug onto my lipo after soldering the first plug abit i noticed it had melted slightly and it was hard to slot the male plug in so i decided to solder another plug on
this time i plugged in the male plug that is on my charge lead so the connectors could not move inside the plastic when it got hot(my iron is a bit overkill for plugs...100watt) i was very careful not to have both wires bare at the same time, one always had hearshrink on
i soldered the plug on and it was fine but when i losened the plugs from the vice(use it to gold the plugs still while soldering) the two bannana connectors on the end of the charge lead attached to the battery touched and short circuited the battery for literaly a millisecond

the lipo seems ok, no puffing or anything like that
so the question is, is it still ok to use???

i cant beleive i didnt notice the bannana plugs on the end... they are ruined now realy
where the bannana plugs touched they are black and rough and part of the posotive connector has actualy been blown off!!! shows how much power these batterys have
well im feeling like a complete idiot at the moment, thanks for any replies :)

i think the pack should be fine

i have done the same thing and it had not effected performance

[Arct1k]

Confession - toasted a couple of charger bannana clips doing the same

[rcsammy]

hehe glad to hear im not the only one

iv got it in a lipo sack just incase, cant use it until my MM comes back anyway

Did the same thing with the 2s 2500 flightpowers I have for my crawler(the charger banana plugs touched). They are fine; I didn't even balance them for 4 months(could not get the balance leads). I have the leads now, and they are in perfect balance!

Bye

[MTBikerTim]

I did much worse then that last night. I ordered a 3s lipo and a vxl rustler for a friend and last night we got it and soldered all the deans plugs to it. Soldering the deans plug to the esc was a bit of a challenge as the esc was in the car still but we did it. Everything was OK until we went to program the esc and I plugged the battery into it. Buzz, burning smell, crap. I unplugged the battery as quickly as I could but the damage had been done. While burning my fingers trying to solder the 12gauge esc wire to the deans plug I got mixed up and soldered it the wrong way. The VXL esc is toast and i'm pretty sure the battery is too (melted battery shrink wrap). Looking at the form it looks like the repair cost for the esc will be $45 plus international shipping. The battery was a protek and I am hoping that amain will be nice to me and cover it under their crash protection guarantee and I can get another for half price. It will still be an expensive mistake though, one I won't make again.

[BrianG]

That's why I look twice, solder once, and look again. I don't need a venting lipo in my face.

When I solder Deans, I know that the + connection is a PITA on the female connector. Serves as a memory aid. I know, some people just solder on the outside of the terminal, but it doesn't look as good.

[magman]

I have soldiered the wrong ends on before when I was in a hurry, but, I ALWAYS check before I wrap them just in case. Luckily for me I noticed my mistake. Now I only solider when there is no one around and I have plenty of time to be thorough.

[MTBikerTim]

Originally Posted by BrianG

That's why I look twice, solder once, and look again. I don't need a venting lipo in my face.

When I solder Deans, I know that the + connection is a PITA on the female connector. Serves as a memory aid. I know, some people just solder on the outside of the terminal, but it doesn't look as good.

I think I made the mistake when I was burning my fingers trying to get the deans plug soldered to the esc. I think I started off trying to solder the correct wire then swapped after letting go of the wire due to the strong burning sensation in my fingers. I should have checked and I remember thinking I need to check that wiring while I was working on other things but in the end I forgot but the lesson has been learnt. Check and check again.

[rcsammy]

Originally Posted by BrianG

When I solder Deans, I know that the + connection is a PITA on the female connector. Serves as a memory aid. I know, some people just solder on the outside of the terminal, but it doesn't look as good.

i had to solder onto the outside of it as the wire on the battery was too thick and would touch both connectors

Originally Posted by BrianG

That's why I look twice, solder once, and look again. I don't need a venting lipo in my face.

When I solder Deans, I know that the + connection is a PITA on the female connector. Serves as a memory aid. I know, some people just solder on the outside of the terminal, but it doesn't look as good.

there is a similar saying in construction "measure twice, cut once"

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by rcsammy

i had to solder onto the outside of it as the wire on the battery was too thick and would touch both connectors

Too thick? I put 10GA wires on the inside connection before with ~2mm to spare in between. It helps to flatten the end of the wire a bit.

azjc: Yes, I found that the hard way. I get tired of cutting something, it being too short, cutting it yet again, and it STILL being too short!