# How many LiPo fires have you personally seen at tracks ?



## TeamGoodwrench

For those who run LiPo oval regularly at your tracks, how many LiPo fires have you seen to date ?


----------



## swtour

zero, zip, nada...

seen 4-5 SMOKED ESC's and a couple NiMh's go KaBOOM though


----------



## OvalTrucker

swtour said:


> zero, zip, nada...
> 
> seen 4-5 SMOKED ESC's and a couple NiMh's go KaBOOM though


Ditto here in Michigan


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

swtour said:


> zero, zip, nada...
> 
> seen 4-5 SMOKED ESC's and a couple NiMh's go KaBOOM though



We have a few that have pointed to this thread (trying to illustrate how incredibly dangerous Lipo is):

http://forums.all-battery.com/index.php?showtopic=1282


So there is a great fear that if I run my LiPo car at our track, there is a real risk of it burning down the entire building. 

Just trying to gather some hard data.


----------



## swtour

The guy who works the RC Counter at our LHS has started 2 foil packs for airplanes on fire on the bench at the hobbyshop. One of them was a damaged pack he was trying to revive and charged it too fast/high amp.

He didn't say what he did to cause the other one, but he did say it was USER ERROR and the use of a CRAPPY charger.


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

Some of the guys at our track are afraid of them because they have heard that if one catches fire they cannot be put out with a fire extinguisher, water, or anything.


----------



## swtour

Ever try to put a NiMh or other ELECTRICAL fire out?

...I've heard the Airplane guys say they have a bucket of SALT WATER at the places they fly...and if they catch fire they toss them in there, but they also said they've never used it at the field.

These guys did a pylon race on Thanksgiving day... EVERYONE there was flying with LIPOs... A few said they had ruined packs by over discharging them, forgetting to unplug them, causing them to discharge...on guy lost his plane in a tree, and didn't get it back for 3 days. (His battery was ZERO VOLTS - and they charged it for about 5 minutes to see if it would take any of the charge..it did, so they SLOW CHARGED IT and it came back just fine. They watched it very carefully while charging for excessive heat and/or swelling. This battery came back just fine - and this guy was using it at the T'Day event.)


----------



## RPM

I have been runnung Lipos for some time now and no fires. none!

I did have a IB cell Nimh batteries explode and catch on fire in my hobby room in the house. Not fun...

The boat, airplane, and helicopter guys have been running lipos for years now.
I never seen or heard about one catching on fire.

Whats the problem with running lipos in cars?

Is it that battery matching companies are misinformation the racers for more time? Who knows?

I do know that I'm having fun running lipos in my touring car!!
Bottom line, thats what its all about right? Having fun?


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

RPM said:


> I have been runnung Lipos for some time now and no fires. none!
> 
> I did have a IB cell Nimh batteries explode and catch on fire in my hobby room in the house. Not fun...
> 
> The boat, airplane, and helicopter guys have been running lipos for years now.
> I never seen or heard about one catching on fire.
> 
> Whats the problem with running lipos in cars?
> 
> Is it that battery matching companies are misinformation the racers for more time? Who knows?
> 
> I do know that I'm having fun running lipos in my touring car!!
> Bottom line, thats what its all about right? Having fun?



Yup - you got it. I've talked with a few different tracks now, and several guys who have been running LiPo in cars for a good period of time -- same reports. Zero fires. Good to hear.

I'm sure it CAN happen -- nothing is 100% guaranteed absolute. But it seems like there is also a LOT of misinformation being tossed around -- which is too bad.


----------



## gezer2u

TeamGoodwrench said:


> We have a few that have pointed to this thread (trying to illustrate how incredibly dangerous Lipo is):
> 
> http://forums.all-battery.com/index.php?showtopic=1282
> 
> 
> So there is a great fear that if I run my LiPo car at our track, there is a real risk of it burning down the entire building.
> 
> Just trying to gather some hard data.


Looking at the list you provided, maybe 85-90% were user error. Sure Lipo's can be dangerous. But, the risk is not any more then with NiMh or even Nicad. If you abuse a battery, it will be dangerous.
Also, sand will stop a lipo fire. I saw a video of a test where they used a concrete cinder block and a large Ziplock filled with sand. They placed the lipo in the block and sat the bag over the hole. When the lipo started to burn the sand immediately stopped the fire. 

I believe the Orion/ Peak packs are safe. Just make sure that you use a lipo only charger and you can cut the risk considerably. A good quality charger is the FMA. There are a few others, but, I can't think of them right now. 
Here is Kokams' safety test data.


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

Yes that's a very good idea -- using a LiPo - ONLY charger certainly eliminates LOTS of those cases where someone charged a LiPo pack using NiCD or NiMH charge modes. 
I've also heard very good things about the FMA units. 

The Kokam test data is also very interesting. Thanks for that link.


----------



## 420 Tech R/C

like geezer said that the link that was listed by GOODWRENCH had about 80-90 % user error being the true cause. Maybe some PEOPLE are dangerous when using things they dont understand or have the proper information on how to handle them. But back on subject, I personally have seen ZERO li-pos go up at either the track or airfeild. Have seen a couple Nimh's vent out here lately though.


----------



## jnor

None, and I have been running Lipo's. The thing is that you need to charge them at the recomended rate, not like you wou would other batteries.


----------



## jenzorace

3 1 caught a canopy on fire, 1 melted a polyester chair, the last one burned the hell out of a guys hand trying to get rid of it. If youve ever seen this its pretty impressive. Kind of like lighting a roman candle. They keep going and going and going.. Ive seen the same amount of nimh batteries they just go boom. Who said rc is safe???


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

jenzorace said:


> 3 1 caught a canopy on fire, 1 melted a polyester chair, the last one burned the hell out of a guys hand trying to get rid of it. If youve ever seen this its pretty impressive. Kind of like lighting a roman candle. They keep going and going and going.. Ive seen the same amount of nimh batteries they just go boom. Who said rc is safe???


I'd be interested to know the details on these:

-- What brand and type of LiPo pack ?
-- What charger was used ?
-- Was the CORRECT charge rate used (i.e. 1C ?)
-- Was the charger set the correct charge type ? (CC/CV)
-- Was the pack damaged or bulged in any way ?

Thanks -- it's good to get all of the data on these things.


----------



## nutz4rc

*Lipos*

We have several using them at our track including me. No issues so far. This season I have seen three NIMHs explode. 

It usually points to the user. One new guy asked what rate to charge his new Lipo at. I asked if he read the directions that came with it, the answer was "what directions". Strange since it was an Orion with the directions in paper in the box and on the battery as well.

Some people will always make mistakes and then be famous for it. 

Does anyone recall when the Reedy Quasar Pro first came out and NIMHs were being overcharged and detonating. I saw one blow in a guys face. We washed his eyes out with water and called 911. Some damage but it was not permanent. The Quasars were recalled and the program error was corrected at no charge (to avoid liability suits). 

Again, people and equipment can and will fail.


----------



## jenzorace

TeamGoodwrench said:


> I'd be interested to know the details on these:
> 
> -- What brand and type of LiPo pack ?
> -- What charger was used ?
> -- Was the CORRECT charge rate used (i.e. 1C ?)
> -- Was the charger set the correct charge type ? (CC/CV)
> -- Was the pack damaged or bulged in any way ?
> 
> Thanks -- it's good to get all of the data on these things.


I never investigated the scenes. I just seen the end results.


----------



## RACER185

We have been running Lipo since September at Hobbyplex in Omaha, NE and the SpeedZone in So. Sioux City, NE and have had no issues with Lipo. Everyone I know of is charging batteries properly. I for one monitor the charging process to insure that the Lipo battery does not get hot or overcharge. To date no problems and no issues. and I charge 4.9 amps which is recommended with a 4900 pak. Glad to be using Lipo


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

RACER185 said:


> We have been running Lipo since September at Hobbyplex in Omaha, NE and the SpeedZone in So. Sioux City, NE and have had no issues with Lipo. Everyone I know of is charging batteries properly. I for one monitor the charging process to insure that the Lipo battery does not get hot or overcharge. To date no problems and no issues. and I charge 4.9 amps which is recommended with a 4900 pak. Glad to be using Lipo


That is great to hear ! Which 4900 pack is that ?

I am going to try to get over and run LiPo at Hobbyplex this winter sometime -- I've heard it is an awesome track.

Thx !


----------



## RACER185

The 4900's we have been running at Hobbyplex are Trackpower. They are running 17.5 lipo and some of the guys are now switching from 13.5 battery to 21.5 lipo. Also you might want to try the Speedzone in South Sioux City, NE. We run 10.5 lipo there and they want to start a 21.5 lipo class also. Rob Murdock at Windtunnel racing also stocks lipo batteries at the SpeedZone. Hope to see you a one of those tracks


Jim Carson


----------



## swtour

5 minute racing on the VELODROME at roughly 52 mph with the 21.5 motor..batteries only took 1500 mAh to recharge. This class ran right at 2 full laps faster than the 27t STOCK record on the 820 ft. Velodrome.

Of course this was with the 3200 ORION LiPo.


----------



## BadSign

I saw a NiMh cell explode, the interior (positive side) of the cell blasted out 15ft and lodged into an insulated garge door. Probably would've gone right through a person.

The owner said it was a brand new sport pack, factory assembled, just came off the track hot and the cell kept getting hotter. He threw a towel over it when it sparked up, probably saving a lot of people some serious burns.


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

BadSign said:


> I saw a NiMh cell explode, the interior (positive side) of the cell blasted out 15ft and lodged into an insulated garge door. Probably would've gone right through a person.
> 
> The owner said it was a brand new sport pack, factory assembled, just came off the track hot and the cell kept getting hotter. He threw a towel over it when it sparked up, probably saving a lot of people some serious burns.


Wow -- was it an IB pack ?


----------



## rccarpy

BadSign said:


> I saw a NiMh cell explode, the interior (positive side) of the cell blasted out 15ft and lodged into an insulated garge door. Probably would've gone right through a person.
> 
> The owner said it was a brand new sport pack, factory assembled, just came off the track hot and the cell kept getting hotter. He threw a towel over it when it sparked up, probably saving a lot of people some serious burns.



Heres some pictures from the paved nationals. This pack blew into the side of the trailor.


----------



## DARKSCOPE001

holy crap! I think the end result of some of these ni-mh explosions are worse than li-poly. I for one just had my first ni-mh venting today. the cell had just come off the charger. and i was sitting there talking to a friend and i heard a sputtering sound. i didn't think anything of it at the time. then i looked over at my freshly charged pack (charged at 6amps on a novak meliniem) seeing smoke sputtering out then just start pouring out of the pack. i put on a pair of gloves really fast and threw it outside. then finaly I went out to check the damage and one of the cells had bowed out and the positive terminal was heavly scard and damaged. so keep tally boys. we will have a ni-mh vs li-po fire score keeping. my bet is that more ni-mh batterys go up.


----------



## jasburrito

Saw 1 blow in my garage when stuck with razor nife on mistake. The other night at my buddies he had three diff bad lipos that we decided to shoot with .22. 
2 did nothing 1 made a very nice fire, huge fun.
Looking forward to more explosions and fires in the future.
I love the way newbies mount lipos,,,,boom,fire.


----------



## rcsalvage

Been running lipo's for 2 years. Charging with a lipo compatible charger with a balancer at the recommended rates.....packs haven't even gotten warm :thumbsup: 

There was a lipo that fizzled last summer outdoors at a local track but I don't know the particulars of how old the battery was, etc.....


----------



## swtour

I had a 3200 LIPO pack get knocked out of the car Sunday (Wasn't in MY car) - it got hit and knocked pretty much all the way down the back straight...

The impact cracked the case on the end...

A little superglue gel on the inside of the case, and a new piece of servo tape to hold the case onto the battery...and an inspection of the cells - and back on the track for the next heat...


----------



## BadSign

TeamGoodwrench said:


> Wow -- was it an IB pack ?


Sure was. I had a micro 1200 cell puke its guts out last summer- also an IB.


----------



## CDW35

I have seen a few racers "puff" a couple Lipo packs and I have also seen one blow-up in a guys face..but it was his fault (pluged it in backwards...)


----------



## L4OvalRacer

Well maybe if you chaged the stupid batteries right we wouldent have these problems. 
99.9% of fire are done by a lack of sence or just not listening. If more people would stop trying to peak everything out to the max and try to run the battery that it was made to run. We wouldent have these problems.
Ant battery is dangerous no matter what it is even 1 AA battery can hurt you.
Take this into counsideration.

Taylor


----------



## irvan36mm

Also,inspect your packs after a wreck. If there's any damage to the case (on the 3200 Orion/Peak packs) or the shrink wrap,carefully check the cells to make sure there are no puncture marks. Do not use if you find any.

I had a Orion 3200 go poof on me once one day. After my 13.5 BL motor seized-up (endbell bearing),the battery smelled like it smoked. Checked the voltage of the pack and it read 0 volts. I opened up the case & found that there was a circuit board next to the terminals with 4 solder tabs-2 for each cell. One of the tabs was found to be unsoldered (I found the solder ball in the other half of the case). A drop of solder on the tab later,we checked the voltage & it read 8.4 volts. Good as new!


----------



## Re-rack-em

Got my first lipo pack Team Orion3200. Raced on Sunday then charged it back
up,,,,,,,, I was just wondering if there is a possiblity of it self dischargeing below 6volts while in my basement r/c workshop ? Should I be concernd about
it while not in use ????? I'm storeing it in a fire proof bag, for Lipo's
Thanks.... for any info.


----------



## swtour

As long as you UNPLUG it - you really shouldn't see any 'self discharge' with the lipo..


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

swtour said:


> As long as you UNPLUG it - you really shouldn't see any 'self discharge' with the lipo..


When I got my Orion 3200 I charged it up and then let it sit for 3 days -- it peaked at 8.40 volts. 3 days later I checked it and it was at 8.38 volts. So there really is almost no self discharge. I always store mine between race days with a 50% charge or so.


----------



## psycho02

Re-rack-em said:


> Got my first lipo pack Team Orion3200. Raced on Sunday then charged it back
> up,,,,,,,, I was just wondering if there is a possiblity of it self dischargeing below 6volts while in my basement r/c workshop ? Should I be concernd about
> it while not in use ????? I'm storeing it in a fire proof bag, for Lipo's
> Thanks.... for any info.


I noticed on the roar website today that you have to charge them in a bag of some kind. Where do you get these bags at?


----------



## swtour

..Try This

Lipo Sack Search


----------



## ToddFalkowski

We use the LiPo Sack at our track... www.liposack.com 

It's a nice sack...


----------



## Racin'Jason 8

HaHa, Todd...you said "nice sack". lol


----------



## gezer2u

Here's one.


----------



## thirdplace

Here is the Battery Bunker.
http://www.batterybunker.com/


----------



## ToddFalkowski

Racin'Jason 8 said:


> HaHa, Todd...you said "nice sack". lol


When we talked about them here at first, I felt like Beavis and Butthead... 

Huh huh... He said sack.... huh huh.... huh huh huh....


----------



## convikt

so if there is no fires (or explosions), why is a lipo sack required at some tracks? I refuse to buy one. If a track requires it, I simply wont race there. Seems wrong that a track tells you, that you have to buy something. 

NiMh need a sack or something, but not lipo. The most I have seen them do is expand (which is comical compared to sub c's sounding like a shotgun)


----------



## convikt

psycho02 said:


> I noticed on the roar website today that you have to charge them in a bag of some kind. Where do you get these bags at?



ROAR is off the hook. I will have to think twice before goin to a ROAR race again


----------



## swtour

> ROAR is off the hook. I will have to think twice before goin to a ROAR race again


Think of it as INSURANCE for Safety.

Your CAR has a SEAT BELT - why... a car sitting still isn't going to HURT YOU and hey - maybe you drive safe..so WHY do you need one? Then the GOV. says "You HAVE TO WEAR IT" ... hmmm why? 'cause people aren't smart enough to take their own SAFTEY into their OWN hands..and have to be TOLD what to do.

LIPO sacks are no different.

If you leave it up to the racers - they will blow their OWN Fingers off...or worse their NEIGHBORS...just to go .00001 seconds a lap faster. So, to help insure public safety - little things have to be done. Plus, it makes a good appearance to INSURANCE companies that people are being responsible..and may help keep the cost of Insurance Premiums low enough to be able to KEEP RACING.


----------



## Ralf

I agree SW..safety first. I have been charging mine inside a used Army surplus ammo can, that's what a lot of the fly boys have been doing for years. They had a lot more problems, they got into it sooner, and there crashes can be even harder than ours. If a track doesn't require some kind of enclosure I would wonder why?


----------



## briano_72

i got to see one 2 weeks ago at "the race station" in altoona pa. i have also been around 3 nimh's that blew up, so im kinda torn on the whole subject. lipos swell up like baloons, then 1-1/2 foot flames eventually come out of em. shame on your for not being there while its charging, or for overcharging em. if you put it in a sack, you will not see it do the balloon thing. i personnaly would rather have a small fire start next to me than have nimh guts blow into the side of my face.....or worse.


----------



## chadlow21

I saw one this summer for the first time at Allen's in Springfield, Illinois. It was about 15 feet away from me and I could feel the heat from the flame, it was like a propane torch, it scare the living daylights out of me. All I could do was stand there in shock, and everyone was yelling SAVE THE SPRINT CAR! Lucky for the owner he was not sitting in his chair when it happened because it would have disfigured him for sure. Everyone that was running that brand of lipos threw them away after it happened.


----------



## gezer2u

If you saw one go up, please post the brand and any charging info. . It would help us to make a decision what lipos are safer.


----------



## TeamGoodwrench

Please also post what charger was being used -- and the charge mode the charger was set to. 

99.9999% of these issues are related to user error or charging a damaged pack that shouldn't be charged to start with.

Thx!


----------



## BullFrog

Zero-


----------



## genx

TeamGoodwrench said:


> Please also post what charger was being used -- and the charge mode the charger was set to.
> 
> 99.9999% of these issues are related to user error or charging a damaged pack that shouldn't be charged to start with.
> 
> Thx!


And how about sum Photos of the explosive li-pos i have using li-po for a number of years and have only seen a few go bad and that was because I hooked them up backwards my bad it little smoke But no Fire or explosive .


----------



## swtour

Wow - I can't believe how by asking for SPECIFICS and PHOTOS this thread DIED!


----------



## RPM

swtour said:


> Wow - I can't believe how by asking for SPECIFICS and PHOTOS this thread DIED!


Because lipo batteries are safer to use then people believe...

If the manufactures of Nimh batteries think that lipos are so dangerous
then WHY are they all going to start selling lipos??:freak:


----------



## Fl Flash

I had a Lipo Failure, but I think it was due to smacking into the wall wide open!!! so in actuallity its more of a driver failure than Lipo failure. I actually thought that I had damaged my receiver because the car seemed to have really odd glitchs the rest of the night, but it did finish the night! 
The following morning I noticed the case ( its a Peak Carbon 3200 ) was split open at one end and the pack reads "battery error" on my Ice charger now. 
I bought another pack today so I,m good to go, not sure if I,m going to send my old one into Orion or open it up myself and poke around in there!!

Orion 3200 Carbon charged on Duratrax Ice charger at 3.2 amps and discharged to 6.0 at 10 amps before chargeing, normaly stored at 50% charge and Abused every raceDay for over 6 months.

No Smoke, No Flames, No Explosion my battery failure was actually rather Boring!


----------



## irvan36mm

Lee- Check PM
-George


----------



## Fl Flash

Thanks for the info George I opened it up this morning and thats what had happened. I,m going to go get a smaller tip for my soldering iron and solder it back up! See Ya next Saturday!


----------



## rcracer1120

TeamGoodwrench said:


> For those who run LiPo oval regularly at your tracks, how many LiPo fires have you seen to date ?


iv'e had 2 at my track.


----------



## swtour

> iv'e had 2 at my track.


Like was asked earlier.... GIVE Details.

What type of battery

What type of charger

...why (if anything) happened to cause it?


----------



## Johnny Wishbone

The biggest killer of a LiPO thread is when someone asks "what are the potential side effects of inhaling any of the smoke thats emitted during one of these non existant fires". I really don't care what form of power your using, I want to know if there are other side effects, be it from a LiPo or a NiMh period. People are already allergic to touching nickle, now the potential for smoke from a Lithium fire seems like a very dangerous thing as well, in the simplest terms, internal bleeding of the lungs, just doesn't sound so good either. I'm still waiting for a answer on this from a industry insider on another forum, and guess what, nothing, not one answer.

If you want some details, here is one, in May of 1977 I was charging a set of GE NiCds on my supplied charge cable from Associated off my car battery and although the pack didn't blow it sure melted a hole in the grill of my car, since then I have only personally seen 1 other pack of NiMhs vent, not blow, but vent, and thats seeing alot of charge technics and batterys come and go. Oh the cause, was stupidity on my part.

It would also be interesting to hear of any issues at the most recent Carpet Nats, since both forms of power where being used there.


----------



## Johnny Wishbone

So Mr SWT, I asked Rick Howart about the Nats, very straight forward with his answer, no LiPo issues, and 2 NiMh issues that he heard of, but did not witness. I think the ratio of the amount of LiPo to NiMh at this event pretty much proves that any issues with either technology is very stable now, in comparison to 6 months ago, so in my mind, let the competitors decide what they want to use. 

My only concern with either is that like any thing that could be hazardous, if there may be health concerns, they could at least put some form of warning sticker on the packs, no different than smokes. I only feel this is neccessary as I can only imagine how many cans of "motor swirl" and "Reedy in a can" I went thru, and as I get older, more and more lung issues become apparent. At least with a sticker the user can chose if thats a chance they wish to take or at least take the proper precautions. Yes, your first reaction to a fire is to put it out, some try blowing it out with their head stuck in the smoke, knowing that that could be very dangerous may change how they approach the issue.

I'm done beating this horse, and by no means this isn't meant as any kind of disrespect towards SWT or any others that may feels so, I just want everyone safe, period.


----------



## gezer2u

I don't think in this instance it a warning necessary. I would believe that all most everyone knows that inhaling smoke is bad for you. Just common sense.  

I do agree that racers or anyone, should try to limit their exposer to any chemicals.


----------



## swtour

Johnny WIshbone,

I'm kind of at a loss of understanding what you are talking about...(maybe I missed something someplace)

...In case you don't know - I'm 100% in support and favor of LIPO batteries, I love them myself...and want to see more people running them.

I am also in support of limiting the mfgs. of these batteries. Moreso than limiting the MFG's, is limiting the specs of the batteries being used, and keeping a tight control over that part.

We hear guys (some of whom want to see LIPOs fail) come on and say... "These blew up last week at my track", but they rarely give details of WHAT TYPE of battery blew up, caught fire, etc. Also, getting charging info, type of charger and other pertinent information is slow in coming... We just want to see details - if these fires are true. (Without information - it's hard to correct something that is being done incorrectly)


----------



## Johnny Wishbone

SWT, I don't think you missed anything, this is just a continuin of previous discussions from the other chat sites.

I agree with you data collection at this time is very relevent in getting a good control of the product, be that via manufacturer or the actual makeup of the battery.Digging around, the Li seems to be a constant, but with a wide open option of the Po, and no standards it will be very hard to get similar performance of batteries, even within themselves. Hear say has no valitity without specifics.


----------



## BudBartos

You will not hear anything from those selling them since thats what they want to do sell them and make $$$$$$ They must have big liability ins.


----------



## Johnny Wishbone

BudBartos said:


> You will not hear anything from those selling them since thats what they want to do sell them and make $$$$$$ They must have big liability ins.


BINGO,
Thats what I was getting at, but didn't want to say it. 

Bud are you still a scotch man? Nice to here from you.


----------



## Leonard

WOW for asking which battery is blowin up, I sure do see people talkin bout everything but. I run Lipos and would like to know which ones, not hear hey man don't stick your face in the smoke, it might be bad for you. What blew up, or smoked, or puffed?????????Hello, nother question, how were you chargin it?????????? Insinuations aint answering these. I haven't seen a problem with a lipo.


----------



## Ralf

I think they are much safer than the nims, that is why there are NO details,just "stories" IMO


----------



## Leonard

Ralf said:


> I think they are much safer than the nims, that is why there are NO details,just "stories" IMO


Good point Ralf, I would have thought with all the hobbytalk users, someone would have had some decent info but I guess not.


----------



## Leonard

I guess they are safer than people are letting on by the lack-o chatter in here


----------



## CLB

Had my lipo swell up like a ballon last night. Team orion 3600 in hard case. My mistake on battery going bad. Left the charger on nimh charge mode and not lipo mode. When I checked the battery charging the voltage on charger was 10.3 something volts. When I saw that and saw was in nimh mode I got battery out of house pretty quickly. My silly mistake ruined a good lipo battery. Never did start on fire though.. Still setting outside.


----------



## Leonard

Sorry you ruined your battery man. Those are hard to come by right now. Thanks for the info . But it was safe to say not the batteries fault though.


----------



## CLB

Yep not the batteries fault. Operator error 100%.


----------



## swtour

CLB,

What type of charger? (We need to see if we can find a way to eliminate chargers working w/ the wrong type of batteries.)


----------



## CLB

Charger is called multiplex on tower hobbies website. Use it on my airplane stuff. Charges nimh, nicd, lead battery's, lipo, lithum Ion. Great charger but only charge's to 5 amps. Just have to make sure and set the charger in the right mode. I do know that if you hook the leads up backwards it makes a beep noise and on the screen it say's reverse polarity and does not hurt anything, unlike some other chargers, just need to switch the leads around.
That would be good if some company came up with a charger that would detected what type of battery it was hooked up to.


----------



## wlpjr2

Zero in Indy
Seen one puffed up in the trash- probably user error.
Question? If lipo's have no memory issues, then why are people talking about discharging them? I have never discharged mine, pull them off the charger to run race before fully charged all the time and they perform great!


----------



## wlpjr2

Easy! Lipo only chargers! Get rid of the nimh batteries and chargers, they have been replaced by a more consistant, safer product. This forum proves that! How many racers out there are tired of being beat by the guy with the high dollar batteries that have the same manufacturer name, mah and look exactly like yours! Lipo's even the playing field and are cheaper in the long run i have found. Hopefully Peaking and discharging will be unknown words in our sport in five or so years!


----------



## 1997transam

I haven't been racing for three years and I just got back into it. Back when I was racing you had to have atleast ten packs. Some for practice and some for race day only. Now I only have two. I have an Orion 3600 and a Team Checkpoint 5400.

If I just stayed with running my buggy and truck I would be fine. But I want an E Maxx and would need one more of each. I'll use the 5400 for the E Maxx and the 3600 for the others. If you took the money I spent on the ten or NIMH you're looking at more money then the four lipos. Plus you don't have to worry bout the numbers. If I use my cousins' lipo packs they feel the same as mine. It seemed all my Nicd and Nimh and a feel for them. All of them were not equal. 

Another thing I like and I don't have to worry about any more is over charging or under charging. I have the Orion charger and if the battery is full it won't go over 8.4 volts. And have you ever been racing with 30 secs to go your car dies from your charger not charing all the way????? (we all have) That's no more of a worry as well. 

You still see some guys at the track running NIMH either for the weight or they are waiting for them to die. I'm happier that these batteries are out. Less hassle, less weight in your car and tool box, and it makes the playing field more level.


----------



## Da One

Seen one in Altoona in Jan. Big big flames.


----------

