Lipo Protection, please read.

[sugs]

Just found out that I killed one of my lipo cells by not protecting them well enough when mounting them in my Super RS4. Basically what appears to have happened is a small rock, and I mean very small like 1 mm, got between one of my batteries and the chassis and dented the cell well enough to cause a minor short in the one cell. I say minor short because it took a couple of days for the cell to loose most of its voltage(it now reads less than 1 volt).

Guys, please chime in here if you don't think this is what happened but I have no other explanation for what went wrong. I had 4 brand new packs that were purchased all at the same time and all read the same voltage every time I checked them. The last time I checked them was wednesday and they were OK and when I checked them today the one cell was bad while the other was OK.

I need to be a little smarter next time and put some kind of padding between the chassis and the Lipos, please let me know what you guys are doing.

[tcolesen]

It's possible that it is just a bad cell.

In my Rustler, I use industrial velcro on the chassis and the bottom of the Lipo pack, and 2 velcro straps around the pack to keep it in.

[sugs]

I've been using two velcro straps around the packs as well and they have been fine. I actually hit a reflector dot once at full speed which sent the car cartwheeling and the packs barely moved. I think the problem lies in the battery slots that are cut in the chassis for SC cells. Since it is an on-road car its easier for the chassis to bottom and then force a small rock through the slot and under the cell. I think I'll get some of that stick-on chassis protector stuff to keep that from happening again.

Would be nice to know if it was just a bad cell, but I'm not sure how you could tell. I got the packs from Jamie at Starluck so maybe I'll drop him an email to see what he thinks.

[Jev]

What a bummer :(

How about putting a thin sheet of lexan under the pack to stop stones entering the holes?

I am just looking into getting a couple of li-po packs to test run at my local track. Durablity is a major concer for racing. I hope a manufacturer starts making li-po's in rugged cases. Like maybe alluminium sleeving and rubber on the ends. At least then if a car got hit and the cells flew out of the car there wouldn't be any chance of it turning into a fireball :eek:

[bomb-proof]

doubt that was the problem. I ve seen 5 or 6 different cells with DENTS in them. Never saw one lose voltage.

[starluckrc]

Polyquest packs have the connector for checking individual cell voltages. If you lost a cell, the pack could be repairable.

[standard_63]

I use 1/4" latex foam on the bottom of the batteries in my Emaxx, seems to protect fairly well. I got it at tower.