Lithium cell exploded while charging

[modhead]

Just to let people know it can happen! The cell was not very old, or used many times. I would not recommend charging on a open work bench like I did, put them in a battery safe or some kind of container that is not flamable. Makes a nice loud pop like a shot gun,LOL, and yes I was using a Lith safe smart charger.



Looks worse than it is, but it still can hurt you if you are not careful

[RodsRUs]

MAN THATS A MESS! wow was it over charged or just a bad cell?

[modhead]

I think it was a bad cell, or a charger failure, the other cell seemed to be fine. It wasn't charging that long so I don't think it had time to overcharge, hard to tell when something like this happens.

[RodsRUs]

ya man thoes liths are sketchy sometimes. havent had any explode on me yet and i hope it dosent happen either.

[modhead]

I am building some lith packs with the safety chips on them, I not sure if that would have stop this but it is another safe guard to provent and explosion. I should have them out next month.

I will have some tests on them next week to see if the change performance at all and post the result for anyone who is interested.

[RodsRUs]

ya I dont think I have heard of safty chips.
Where can I find them??

[punishment]

happened to be many times, ive actually had one where the acid went onto my neck and landed me in the hospital.. it was posted on other forums.

now the thing is, the cells are not going to explode unless they are tampered with. Was it apart of a prokit where there was solder involved? also what soldering iron are you using? what kind of charger?

[modhead]

Sorry to hear that Punishment,

I am not sure the only reason they explode is being tampered with, there are many levels of failures. And sometime you just get a bad cell or charger, that is why I want to start adding the safety chips to them for one more level of protection.

Here is what I had:

The charger was a lith smart charger for 7.2 volts

Standard 25 watt pencil iron

Method of assemby:

Did not heat the cell up, the wire went through the tab hole and heat applied to the wire not the tab to keep heat to a minium.

Now what could have happened,maybe hard to tell,

I had a long run with that pack and may have overdischarged them ****aging the cell but, I did not check to see if they dropped below 3 volts, hind sight is 20/20.

I am sure it will not be the last to explode on me, lol

[NolanBrandon]

That is just amazing

[punishment]

hmm.... very weird. if you got them from b.s write them an email, telling them what happened and they will send you new cells.

[modhead]

Thanks punishment,

Good idea, now I have to figure out if that one came from there, they all look a like and I am not sure which ones came from where, but then I wonder if they would know either, lol

[TrickedoutH2]

Thats bad looking did it catch fire or just explode

[torredo]

im just wondering.....

if these batteries are that unstable, it makes you
wonder how they are allowed to be sold to the
public being a serious hazzard.

Things that make you go hmmmm?

[pinoyboy]

IF you don't mind me asking, what type of charger were you using?

[cc3dmax]

the batteries are made for camera's, not xmod's...... Camera's dont need to be charged for a long time.

[pinoyboy]

I just found this video. His battery must have done the same as this one, but on a smaller scale

http://helihobby.com/videos/LithiumBattery.wmv

[kigamkcalb17]

dude that video was crazy, makes ya kinda wonder cause i was wantin to get um for my suby an evo

[modhead]

Here is some more information for the ones looking for it:

The cells used pictured are sold for hobby and robotics.

VENT (RUPTURE)
The most possible danger would be the sudden rise of internal pressure witch causes the explosion or the cell. A Safety device is built inside the cell to prevent the cell from such an explosion, when the internal pressure of the call increased abnormally.

When the vent does not work properly you have an explosion.

This is why you have safety chips on battery packs, the turn the pack off if voltage goes out of a specified range or current draw.

Most xmods packs, like the one pictured in this thread, had no chips which leads to a high potentail of failure.

Lithium-ion are used in most cell phones, cordless tools, laptops, and so on, so they can be used very safely.

I am testing battery packs with chips to see which will work best for a high current drain of an xmods, current they shut the pack off while driving, (3amp rating) I am waiting for (5amp) to see if that fixes it.

If you have heard cell phone batteries blowing up in the news, it was usually linked to knock off batteries with no safety chips. Not to say this would eliminate all explosions but, reduce it dramatically.

Even ni-cad and akline batteries can explode if they can vent, I just wanted to show everyone not scare them. You can still have a really good time using them in xmods, but just like real racing pushing your machine to the edge it requires some caution and concern.

[punishment]

modhead, good luck convincing everybody now that they arent bad. took me forever, LOL

bunch of twats if u ask me.....BABY's!!!! (yes even YOU torredo)

[modhead]

LOL, yeah, its the price you have to pay to go fast.

It's just like real racing, you don't worry about your chevette blowing up, but when you have a top fuel dragster you know what to expect.

I personally think that is part of the fun!