A LiPo Public Service Announcement...by Doby:
This is my LiPo storage Cabinet:
Attachment 136620
Its a Rittal Electrical Panel Enclosure. The company I worked for several years ago was going to throw it out (brand new) as the contract it was purchased for got cancelled. I felt sorry for it and gave it a new home.
It is made out of thick steel and weighs about 60 Lbs.
On any given day it houses approx. 70 LiPos of several brands, Turnigys, Zippys, Revolectrix
and Polyquests., and a handful of SLA batteries for my scale boats.
All LiPos stored at 50% or less capacity.
As of Saturday morning, it now stores approximately 60 LiPos.
Those of you with advanced math skills will realize that there is a 10 LiPo difference from the beginning of the story.
Here is where the Qty 10 LiPo's are:
Attachment 136626
Seems on Saturday morning, there was a rather peculiar odor coming from the workshop, upon further investigation (after opening the cabinet) one of my LiPos decided it had had enough of living and decided to commit suicide and take a few innocent by standers with it. (Perhaps the offending battery originated for a rather unstable part of the middle east...)
As the entire cabinet was clouded in smoke it was hard to see the extent of the damage other than a few glowing "coals" in one location.
After the smoke had cleared and the carcases were removed, the suicidal LiPo was tracked down to one of the 4S Revolectrix LiPos I purchased recently.
It had a wonky cell that would only charge to about 91% while the remaining charged to 99%. When stored at 50%, the one cell was about 10% lower as well.
After all of the "soot" and other crap was cleaned out, here is what the cabinet looks like now, clearly showing where the Chernobyl event began.:
Attachment 136627
After spending several hours and using several jugs of alcohol to clean the remaining batteries, life is back to normal. The cabinet, while a tad smelly and scarred is no worse for wear and the house is still standing.
People hear stories about things like this happening and hope it will never happen to them...well, I can assure you that it can....but if you are prepared, the damage will be minimal.
TAKE A QUICK MINUTE AND MAKE SURE YOUR LIPOS ARE STORED PROPERLY. IF THEY AREN'T...DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU.
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