hum. . .I dont see upgradeing to LiPo over my NiMH right now

my T-maxx BTW

[IMG]local://upfiles/7365/18D2582974DA4E5EA8A00D195BF1B24F.jpg[/IMG]

 

I wish i woulda just bought a nother nimh pack with a higher milliamp rating instead of that lipo but o well wut are u gonna do. ncie tmaxx btw.

 

Exactly the reason I am keeping all of my RC Plane "Stuff" on NiCad and NiMH. I looked at the LiPoly, and decided to wait for better battery technology to solve the FIRE problem. I don't use electric motors, I like the weight advantage of Glow Fuel, so I don't have the model run time issues of electrics. I do like the fact that there are now a lot of good small planes on the market, and they are easily converted to 1/4A and 1/2A glo fuel. I have a LOT of old *** equipment that I havent used for many years, and now I am putting it to use in the planes designed for electric, they fly a lot better with glow fuel because of the much lower total weight.

I guess we won't be going to LiPoly batteries to save weight on the front of our CTD trucks. LOL

Ralph

 

I've been flying with lipo's for about 3 years now.. i've never had an issue.. justnever.. EVER charge at greater than "1C" .. only use a lipo charger.. never use a pack that has been damaged.. never charge unattended unless you place the packs in a safe place.. .. chargers can malfunction.. nimh/nicd quick-chargers malfunction also causing fires.. i charge and store my packs in an old crock pot with 2 inches of sand in the bottom.. almost every fire is caused by charging at too high of a rate.. or charging a damaged pack.. i've seen videos of packs with nails driven through them still flying an airplane.. they aren't WMD's.. but they do have to be treated (and stored) with respect.. just like gasoline and chemicals

 

Funny you posted about the LIPOs.

Here a video, a CRAPPY video from my phone, of the house across the street from me that burned two weeks ago. The guy said he had just plugged in new LIPO batteries for some RC project of his. I was outside with my landlord when we heard an explosion and literally felt the shockwave of air go by our faces. This house roared!

And here are some other cool videos as well.

Peace my friends. Hope everyone is well.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...0467&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...99677648276593

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...53942606963401


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...39532122420818

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...91496914901348

Good luck with all our rides.

 

Halfdozen, i'm guessing you've just been lucky because I took the warnings seriously and followed all the instructions on how to care for this battery and I used the charger that was recommended by the manufacturer to charge said battery. I never fully dishcarged I always kept it in a nice place not too hot not too cold and I never left it on the charger for long periods of time. always took them off when the charger said they were done and then left em cool before puting them in the plane. I guess it's just my bad luck or the place that made this battery is a very cheapy place and that may be the reason I really don't know what to think.

Diesel that vids a grim reminder of what could have happend had I not followed common sense and stayed at home all the time while charging these batteries. I'd hate to say it but my house would be gone had i not been keeping track of it. it'd all be over then college, my home, basically everything i've worked so hard for would be poof

 

yeah.. i guess luck does play a part.. we have to trust that the manufacturers are going to assemble these packs so they won' easily get internal shorts.. i wonder about the cheap packs out of china...

they are basically the same batteries that cell phones use.. except we usemultiple cells wiredin series and without the hard plastic shell.. i'm thinking the weakness lies in the way the tabs are soldered together and how well those connections are insulated... i know there isn' a warning to supervise my cell phone while charging..

i use cell balancers and a charger that can't easily have it's rates changed.. theinstant one cell in the pack reaches it's maximum charge the cycle is stopped.. i've been thinking of changing to a charger with a heat probe that will cancel the charge if the pack increases in temp..

what happened to you is proof you can't be too safe with these batteries.. thanks for sharing your experience!

 

funny you bring up the cell phone because yea cell phones use these batteries too and I don't think i've ever heard of this happening with a cell phone. here's a link to the battery I don't even know how many cells it had it looked more like a big gel pack with a shrink wrap deal around it.
http://www.parkflyers.com/html/batteries.html the battery i had is the 1800 mah 7.4V and o it says it there it's a 2 cell battery.

that temp charger cut off is a good idea. I know with my Nimh I called the manufacturer because by the halfway point of it's 4 hr charge time that battery was hot as al hell and I didn't like it so I called them adn they said it's normal. funny that is the pack I was worried about going to ****.