Lipo bag

[JohnB]

Hi guys, long time lurker, finally registered. Considering making the transition to LiPo. Still somewhat concerned with all the talk about fire risks. I guess my questions are, how safe are they really? Are charging bags needed? If so, any recommendations for manufacturers that make good charging bags ? Probably use 2s packs around 4000 mah.

Thanks! "thumbsup"

 

[AX10wannabe]

most of the time it was user error that made the fires.. if you overcharge, over discharge etc your gonna have problems... but they are safe, i dont use any bags for charging..sit them on top of the tv in my room and let them fully charge toss them in a ziplock bag marked "charged" so when im crawling i know what batts are charged and when they are dead i toss them in another ziplocl bag marked "dead".:mrgreen:

one thing to remember to avoid problems is if they puff out, dont use them, cut the leads off and toss em'. usually im at a friends house when crawling and he's got a jar of old lipo's so when one puffs out on me i cut the leads off and toss them in the jar with the rest.

 

[AdverseCity]

They aren't nearly as dangerous as people make them out to be, most cell phones have a 1 cell lipo inside. If you have a quality charger and balance charge them every time, never over discharge them (good ESCs have an adjustable cut-off setting) you'll be fine. It can't hurt to use a charging bag but no one I know uses them unless they're at the track and are forced to. Also, cheap batteries usually work fine but out of the very few lipos I've seen smoke (never seen one catch fire) they were all cheap china brands. Buy quality name brand batteries for a little extra ease of mind.

 

[Duuuuuuuude]

Also, cheap batteries usually work fine but out of the very few lipos I've seen smoke (never seen one catch fire) they were all cheap china brands. Buy quality name brand batteries for a little extra ease of mind.

ALL rc lipos are made in China. They may be assembled here or elsewhere, but the cells are all manufactured there.

 

[AdverseCity]

ALL rc lipos are made in China. They may be assembled here or elsewhere, but the cells are all manufactured there.

Yeah, but the quality of assembly is what I'm talking about. I'll trust Chris from cheapbatterypacks.com assembling my lipos before I trust a kid in china (Turnigy, Zippy). Usually both will be fine but I've seen more cheap Chinese packs fail before their time than other more expensive brands. I usually go for cheapbatterypacks.com, Hyperion or Thunder Power although the latter two are probably still assembled in China they seem to hold up better than the really cheap ones. I do have some Turnigy Packs with 100 cycles on them and still going strong but I also have had a cell die in some after 5 cycles, it's a roll of the dice. Hyperion and Thunder Power are the only batteries I can get locally so I drop the extra cash when I need a new sized pack right away. These have never failed me, just my experience so far.......

 

[AG74683]

I use em. Got 3 from Hobbypartz.com when I ordered my 3 Lipos. Better safe than sorry, and they are good for storage. I charge my batteries in them as well. Plus they are a good conversation piece if I leave the bags lying around lol, everyone wants to know whats in a CAUTION bag if its left out ;-)

 

[j-bird]

I've always used the blue lipo's from hobbypartz.com for a 2200 3s they are like 15bux and I've had the same 4 for almost 2 yrs and have put lots of cycles on em I do have a good charger that balances and charges at the same time. I always charge em in a fire proof bag as well because most of the time I'm not around to watch em I'd hate for a 15$ batt burn down my shop full of rc stuff when a 10$ bag could prevent that. I'd much rather be a little safe than to lose all my stuff. As for fires the odds are prob a million to one on a pack actually catching fire like was said before its the users fault 9 outta ten times so buy a decent charger and a lipo sack get a esc with a lipo saver and you will be fine.. The performance and run time you'll gain by switching to lipo is well worth the risk. When I first switched from nimh to lipo the difference was completely unbelievable but back then a good pack would cost ya 100$ give or take now they're very affordable so I say go for it and you'll be wow'd by the change... Goodluck and happy scaling


J-bird

 

[Draggermirage]

Think of it this way. Lipo bags are like seatbelts in a car.

You don't need them except that once. When you do need it though, you're happy you were using it.

I personally don't use a Lipo bag for charging due to the size of my charging stand and the size of my charger (x4 outputs, kinda hard to fit 4 bags in such a small area).

Marcus

 

[JohnB]

They aren't nearly as dangerous as people make them out to be, most cell phones have a 1 cell lipo inside. If you have a quality charger and balance charge them every time, never over discharge them (good ESCs have an adjustable cut-off setting) you'll be fine. It can't hurt to use a charging bag but no one I know uses them unless they're at the track and are forced to. Also, cheap batteries usually work fine but out of the very few lipos I've seen smoke (never seen one catch fire) they were all cheap china brands. Buy quality name brand batteries for a little extra ease of mind.

Any brands to stay away from? I read the definitive battery thread in the Electronics section, but I'd be glad to hear any other recommendations for good performing, reasonably priced lipos. I'd prefer brands available with TRX connectors -- I'm not big on re-soldering or adaptors.

 

[fred0000]

doesn't hurt to be a little cautious storing lipo's i've yet to come into any issues i've shorted lipos, i've drawn them down to 1.6v/cell and brought them back, all the shit they say never to do, and I still haven't had an issue.

here's my storage system, not all of my lipos go in sacks, but the sacks aswell as other misc lipos go in the tins.

at $1.85 a lipo bag, why not?

Any brands to stay away from? I read the definitive battery thread in the Electronics section, but I'd be glad to hear any other recommendations for good performing, reasonably priced lipos. I'd prefer brands available with TRX connectors -- I'm not big on re-soldering or adaptors.

in my expieriance... no. when I first got into lipo's i'd just go on ebay and order the cheapest lipo I could find in the specs I wanted, never had an issue (now performance wasn't as good, but they worked just fine and quality was more then acceptable)

my lipo collection mainly consists of hobbyking lipos, other lipos in my collection are gens-ace, peak-performance and a few various eBay lipos.

 

[Charlie-III]

My son & I use LiPO sacks.
He has had 1 or 2 fires, but I believe the packs were damaged and he didn't see it.

In the past I've had NiCD fires, it's just a lot of energy in a small place and it gets really hot really fast if they get shorted or damaged.:shock:

A LiPO sack is a cheap investment, charging on a concrete floor also helps.

I would not suggest charging on a wood table with paper & boxes laying around (or worse, paint or WD-40), just in case."thumbsup""thumbsup"

As to batteries, I pretty much stick to Elites from www.CheapBatteryPacks.com partly because you can pick your charging plug & pack connectors!"thumbsup""thumbsup" It also helps that CBP is a vendor here.8)

 

[new2it]

here's my storage system, not all of my lipos go in sacks, but the sacks aswell as other misc lipos go in the tins.

at $1.85 a lipo bag, why not?

Where do you get the lipo bags that cheap? Would love to pick some up at that price.

As to batteries, I pretty much stick to Elites from www.CheapBatteryPacks.com partly because you can pick your charging plug & pack connectors!"thumbsup""thumbsup" It also helps that CBP is a vendor here.8)

x2 on CheapBatteryPacks.com, great packs, great service

 

[BladeMech]

Cheapest I could find:

RC LiPo Battery Safe Guard bag Charging Sack save pack W18cm x L23cm | eBay

Don't buy into the hype, check the batteries before you charge them and be sure to have them secured in your rig correctly and you'll be fine. If you rush you will get bad results, just like most things in life.

 

[GWEEDZ]

I have them and use them all the time. Takes 10 seconds to throw a batt in a bag. I have various sizes. I also use a temp probe connected to my charger that will stop charging if it hits a set temp.
I carry the lipos around with me in a metal "cash box".
I store them in a small portable fireproof safe ($10 used) in an unused oven. The only time a batt is out of that safe is when it's charging. I never have batteries just lying around.
Having said all that, I agree with what everyone else says that they're safe if respected. I've never had a single issue with one. I also agree with the seatbelt analogy: with such little effort needed to make it so much safer, why not?

 

[Die-Laughing]

Yeah, My batteries are always in the same three places.. In my safe, in the sack or in the truck. I don't think ill have a problem because im careful but, just in case.
I dont want the house accidentally burning down.:roll:

 

[Sivob]

My friend just had a SMC lipo turn into a flare. He bought a truck with several packs used. It was the first time he charged it and doesn't recall if it was damaged. He had it in one of the Lipo Safe bags but still ended up with about $6k worth of fire and smoke damage in his house. The lipo bag appeared to slow the fire but anything close including the charger and a spektrum radio were trashed. He put the fire out with a fire extinguisher. Lessons learned, never leave them unattended and keep anything you don't want to burn away from them.

This is not a bash on SMC lipos, I have 2 of them and they are great, just make sure to check for damage before you charge and charge in a safe place.

 

[bendybus]

I run thunder power lipos. They have a nice hard case and they have the strongest
"c" imo. Running a hard case gives you a added wall of safty
I have had one fire on a high speed test run when i clipped a
Curb and broke the batt open. It looked like a real car fire. It was kinda
Cool. I say kinda because i lost a losi drift car to the fire.
To tag on what all theis guys are saying. Its mostly driver error
Or people trying to force charge a spent lipo with a nickle metal
Charger because they did not maintain ther cells properly. For crawlin
They are the bees knees!!!! Run all day on a full size 2 cell. That pulled
Me back into the sport

 

[Krawler23]

Is it possible to make a metal case for a soft lipo? Just curious.

 

[GWEEDZ]

Is it possible to make a metal case for a soft lipo? Just curious.

If you're talking about storing or transportation, just buy a case. Either a metal cash box $10 new on sale, or a fireproof Sentry safe, $10 used or $30 new.
If you're talking about a case to convert to a hard pack, I've never seen that and wouldn't bother. Just sell it and buy a hard pack.

 

[RuMBoZ]

I only have one lipo right now, but i will be getting some bag very soon. Becaues i have had some smoke come off it once when I was disconnecting it. Not sure if i should use it or not. I'm thinkg about getting new ones.

Chris.