Bad lipo??

[chopan84]

I was recently charging a soft case 2s lipo and it feels puffy...i compared it to another of the same kind and it looks bigger...but when u check the cells there both the same one isnt higher or lower than the other.
Is the lipo bad and should i dispose or can i still use it?

[TeamBosing]

I have some puffed up lipos that works well. Some lipos with cheap cells tend to puff more than the expensive ones.

[Exocaged]

I have a big 5200 3s2p battery that feels a bit puffy and I watch it cautiously but it runs and charges fine every time so far.

[TacoCrawler]

I had a 3s swell at the end of a completed charge...
and for no apparent reason.

about 15 seconds later... it vented, then burst into flames.

Luckily I took it outside and ripped it from the chassis
during the swell and before the burst occurred.
If I hadn't... the house and the chassis would've been ashes.

I wouldn't charge or use a swollen LiPo evar.

btw... mine was a Venom 3s LiPo...
Couldn't be warrantied... 'cause there was nothing left to warranty.

I suggest returning a swelled battery for a warranty exchange.
If the mfg'r offers that.

[crazy nick]

I'm with tacocrawler. Lipo fires sre NO joke. Especially in your house. I've ran puffed batteries but it's a chance you take. Once they go, they go. Sometimes just loose a cell snd there done. Other times it's in a huge flash burn. It could last a year or 5 minutes. I myself would use it , but charge outdoors and watching it. And I also wouldn't put it in my nice expensive rig (or only if had just one) , but I'd run itbin a beater.

[chopan84]

Thanks guys...i will take the proper precautions when using said battery

[phillyb]

I have a few that are slightly puffy, others that just got old/slightly puffy and I tossed them all. I got one of those tiny toy helicopters for xmas, broke the landing gear when it lost radio signal and I didn't notice a few screws were slightly longer and one pierced the lipo. Smoke and flames - entire basement flooded with smoke, ran outside with it - probably shouldn't have - could have been badly burnt. Was able to get it working again, what a mess. This was a tiny 240mah 1 cell. I feel that the puffy batteries are a blessing in disguise, you can feel it and toss them, hard case packs are sorta scary.

[TacoCrawler]

"puffy" makes me think of a marshmallow !?

In no way do I a relate that to a swelled LiPo battery.
I've had swelled LiPo's... but they were never soft or puffy


If one must insist on charging a swelled LiPo
I would recommend using a "burst bag"
and...
charging those LiPo's outdoors...
...(removed from the chassis)

^ Another option is putting them in a ammo box
during the charging process.

Hopefully if it were to burst...
it will do that during the charging process.

After a 3s vents/bursts, it then burns like a road flare
for a few minutes.

Can't really do much about that, after the fact...
'cept watch it burn.

Will suck if yer chassis is burning up with it

And the most important precaution...

!! Never charge any LiPo unsupervised !!

[6sharky9]

If a lipo starts swelling its going bad...bad charging habits?...Not enough battery for your electronics/motor?..no low voltage on your esc???
Running a lipo under voltage can and will cause it to go bad as well and swell.

Ive been using GensAce for a while now and never had a single battery swell

If you have 4000mah lipo then charge it at 4.0 amps...A 3600mah charge at 3.6 amps and so on...If you have a 6500 and your charger only charges at 5 amps then charge at 5 amps.

Don't use a battery then immediately take it out and re charge it...You may not can feel it but the battery may be hot inside and needs time to cool..At least 1 hour after use before re charging...So if you like back to back runs then get more batteries.

Always Balance charge the packs as well.

If its swollen you are at high risk of burning something down..you don't have to be charging it for it to all of a sudden have the chemical reaction it gets and catches on fire.
That can happen in the middle of the night while you and your family are sleeping...The swelling is evidence of that chemical reaction.

Just store it on anything that cant catch fire like a metal table or maybe consider a lipo safety bag to store it in...or better yet replace it if swollen.