Exploding batteries?

[VTT]

I've never seen this before until today and I never want to see it again.

I have a 7.4v Li-po battery from Hobby Action. I noticed that it was swelling as it charged so I instantly unplugged it from the smart charger. Once unplugged, it was still a puffy battery and it could be pushed down a lot. I figured that maybe the plastic was trapping hot and expanded air, so I very ignorantly poked it with a push pin. I figured it wasn't a good idea, but I did it anyways. When i poked the battery, the tiny hole started to glow red.

I figured it would die down and would be safe to move in a couple minutes. In the meantime, I looked over and noticed I was losing in a wager match cod black ops game. As I sat down to try and make a comeback the battery started shooting out sparks. Out of fear of the house burning down I quickly grabbed the battery and tried to bring it outside. Just as I approached the door, the battery started to shoot out more intense sparks. I dropped it very quickly and it literally exploded on the ground.

Basically the moral of the story is to never poke a battery with a push pin... and just in case you were wondering... I lost that wager match.

Has anyone else had something similar happen? And does anyone know why this happened? It was a pretty new battery and I am wondering if maybe I got a lemon.

[hdrox88]

What type of charger did you have it plugged into? Is the smart charger you are referring to the typical purple brick that just says smart charger on it?

[CBDennis]

Does your Lipo charger have a balancer?

Guild to Lipo Batteries
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187

What can happen if you don’t charge or maintain your battery properly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ0SNESIkWk

[VTT]

I have the classic purple brick with settings 1.0v and 2.0v. I was told by a friend that 2.0v is faster to charge so I just used that. But I was just told 2.0v may be too high voltage for the battery. I was also told it could have been a lemon. Which one do you guys think it was?

[hdrox88]

That is not even the right charger to be using unfortunately. Ni-cd and Ni-mh cells are much different from li-po and need a different type of charger as there is different voltage levels per cell and all that good stuff. I would say that using the incorrect charger is the culprit. By the way, those 1.0 and 2.0 settings are the amp level of the charge, not the voltage.

[-MAD- SARGE]

I have the classic purple brick with settings 1.0v and 2.0v. I was told by a friend that 2.0v is faster to charge so I just used that. But I was just told 2.0v may be too high voltage for the battery. I was also told it could have been a lemon. Which one do you guys think it was?

The first question to ask is "is the charger designed to charge Lipo Batteries?"   Cause it sounds like the answer is no.

[airsoftguy]

This is my lipo charger/balancer I had been using for a few months that works fine

[Toast]

Is this the first time you've charged it?
Hobby Action sells the Fusion-packs, which I've never had an issue with.
Post up a PICTURE of your charger. That would be the easiest way for us to deduct the issue.

[hdrox88]

I am almost willing to bet this is the charger he is talking about.

http://sicksport.com/images/univeral_sm ... irsoft.jpg

[XavierMace]

There's no nicer way to put this.  You are an idiot.  You are lucky you didn't injure yourself or burn the house down.

1.  From the sound of it you didn't use a LiPo charger, so we aren't off to a good start right off the bat
2.  You noticed something wrong so rather than research what might cause it you decide to poke a hole in the battery (WTF?)
3.  You notice rather than fixing the issue it made things worse.  Rather than do something about it, you decide to just ignore it
4.  When it starts sparking more violently you decide to just carry it out side apparently in your bare hands rather than in a container or gloves

That's some fine work there.  I would suggest sticking with batteries a little less likely to burn your house down when you don't RTFM.

[VTT]

Yeah, that link with the blue charger is basically the one I have. So now I have the answer to my question, thanks .

And to XavierMace: Yeah I know that everything I did was stupid which is why I used the word ignorant. And I would have used a container or gloves if I had them handy lol. But unfortunately I don't walk around with gloves on and a container in my hand xD. And I am willing to risk hand injury for my house haha. Thanks for going out of your way to make me look like an ass though...

Anyways like I said, lesson learned

[XavierMace]

Thanks for going out of your way to make me look like an ass though...

Anyways like I said, lesson learned

I'm sorry if you feel that was overly harsh but I'm not sure the lesson was learned and you might not get so lucky next time.  The only lesson it appears you have learned is not to poke batteries with metal objects.  While that's certainly a good lesson to learn, there's several other lessons you should have learned in that process.  Even without poking the battery with a pin, you still had a problem.

Your primary problem was doing zero research or RTFM.  At no point in this entire process did you make any attempt to find the proper way to do things.  Even once you started having problems you kept making things up as you went along.  That fact that you found the idea of having gloves or a container handy so absurd just proves this.  There's a reason shops like ASGI insist on selling theirs with a LiPo sack.  I would suspect this wasn't just a one time occurrence.  

While I'm sure your parents appreciated your efforts to spare your floor from burns, I don't think they would have been too happy about taking you down to the hospital for burns on your hands either.  If the only lesson you learned was not to poke holes in batteries, then you are just going to start another fire next time you try to charge a LiPo.

But at least you were in the room when it happened, I'll give you that one.

[VTT]

lol yes, I have also learned my lesson not to charge the battery with the wrong type of charger. And to do my research . I just said not to poke the battery because I tried giving the end of my lil' story bit more of a comic effect. And I will indeed use some gloves next time . But you are for sure right about doing the research first. Had I done some research maybe I would have known the battery would blow up xD. I just ignorantly figured it was an air bubble of some sort.

I also just want to clarify real quickly that I usually don't li-po batteries, obviously. But the particular gun I have requires a very small battery and Gearbox did not have a normal battery that would fit. And I had a game that day, so I just bought a small li-po.

So thank you for the advice XavierMace, as I realize you are only trying to drop some knowledge. And I would not recommend anyone to do what I did in the situation . On a less serious note, seeing a battery explode was slightly entertaining if you take away all the dangerous factors haha.

[Zuul99]

The communists make that one and are out to destroy all airsoft battires because they conflict with Marxist ideology

[kman94]

And xavier needs to get off his damn high horse and stop acting like he's some sort of immortal god.