I’m assuming this battery is finished?

[triplebeastalpha]

I feel like an idiot, trying to repair a superficially damaged hardcase battery and managed to slice the outer casing to one of the cells. I think the initial damage was done from driving it at the beach, never doing that again for so many reasons, sand got inside the lipo hardcase and did a bit of damage but it still seemed to work fine, internal resistance was okay but the case had opened up slightly so I thought I’d clean it all out. Managed to slice through the foil outer casing to a cell whilst trying to get the adhesive off. There’s no damage to the actual cell but I’m discharging it as we speak, just wanted to confirm this is F’d.

Seems like the sand did some damage as is shown, especially in the second picture, so maybe I was doubly lucky, not slicing through deeper and not running this already damaged battery.

I genuinely don’t know if this foil layer is just there to protect the cell or is supposed to always be sealed. I’ve had puffed batteries before, it seems to be contained in the foil, outside the cell, so I assume without this foil layer the (I’m guessing toxic) gases will just escape?

 

[Radiocontrolsoul]

Tape it run it

 

[K-BASH]

You didn't get into it,the second you do up in flames it'll go...does it have a funny smell.if so it's done...if all 4 cells are equal your good..

 

[triplebeastalpha]

No smoke so don’t think I punctured the cell, just didn’t know if this outer foil layer needed to be intact. It dies smell if you get up right close to the hole, but just smells of chemicals, not like a burning lipo. I’ve just charged and storage discharged it and it does seem fine, internal resistance is normal

 

[K-BASH]

No smoke so don’t think I pictured the cell, just didn’t know if this outer foil layer needed to be intact. It dies smell if you get up right close to the hole, but just smells of chemicals, not like a burning lipo. I’ve just charged and storage discharged it and it does seem fine, internal resistance is normal

I'd tape it up an toss it back in Hardcastle then an run it.i poked hole in 1 trying to cut a zip tie an it went up immediately after penatrateing it

 

[triplebeastalpha]

Thanks, that’s good to know, I’ll see how it goes

 

[dure16]

went up immediately after penatrateing it

I think you have this backwards

 

[jkflow]

Careful, if you are below storage level you won't see smoke or smell anything. Once you charge it's a fireball. Can't tell from picture if it's all the way through but looks like it.
Cell is supposed to be airtight, oxygen will be the catalyst at certain charge levels. Any puncture is the end of that cell.

 

[WoodiE]

Careful, if you are below storage level you won't see smoke or smell anything. Once you charge it's a fireball. Can't tell from picture if it's all the way through but looks like it.
Cell is supposed to be airtight, oxygen will be the catalyst at certain charge levels. Any puncture is the end of that cell.

Yeah that last picture looks like it's all the way through to me as well.

If it were me @triplebeastalpha I'm disposing of the battery and buying a new one. My RC, garage, house and family ain't worth the risk.

 

[jkflow]

All the other reasons you've listed are my reasons for never using a hardcase lipo.

 

[Xjeepguy]

A battery isn’t worth that level of risk. I’d dispose of that one and order a new one.

 

[triplebeastalpha]

All the other reasons you've listed are my reasons for never using a hardcase lipo.

I am questioning whether they are actually best for bashing right now. I’m sure they are more durable in certain situations but as I’ve found out, if something does get inside, as it clearly can, it can do quite a lot of damage and you won’t know till it’s too late. I’ve had better durability from soft case lipos with duct tape on. I like the metal plates on gensacearespammers bashing batteries, maybe I’ll cut some thin steel sheets into strips and tape them to some soft cells

Careful, if you are below storage level you won't see smoke or smell anything. Once you charge it's a fireball. Can't tell from picture if it's all the way through but looks like it.
Cell is supposed to be airtight, oxygen will be the catalyst at certain charge levels. Any puncture is the end of that cell.

I did think this too which is why I charged and discharged it outside in my garden, just wanted to see what it would do. It was fine, charged fine, resistance is still the same, no heat or smells from the battery and all the cells were well balanced the whole way up and down. I taped it up and stuck it back together but knowing me I’ll probably end up draining it and taking it to the tip next time I go. My batteries are kept in multiple 50 cal ammo boxes in the shed about 10 metres from the house so it’s only a risk to some tools and bikes. But having said that I’m the paranoid type and it’ll keep me awake at night if I don’t get rid of it soon.

 

[SrC]

I feel like an idiot, trying to repair a superficially damaged hardcase battery and managed to slice the outer casing to one of the cells. I think the initial damage was done from driving it at the beach, never doing that again for so many reasons, sand got inside the lipo hardcase and did a bit of damage but it still seemed to work fine, internal resistance was okay but the case had opened up slightly so I thought I’d clean it all out. Managed to slice through the foil outer casing to a cell whilst trying to get the adhesive off. There’s no damage to the actual cell but I’m discharging it as we speak, just wanted to confirm this is F’d.

Seems like the sand did some damage as is shown, especially in the second picture, so maybe I was doubly lucky, not slicing through deeper and not running this already damaged battery.

I genuinely don’t know if this foil layer is just there to protect the cell or is supposed to always be sealed. I’ve had puffed batteries before, it seems to be contained in the foil, outside the cell, so I assume without this foil layer the (I’m guessing toxic) gases will just escape?

View attachment 303438

View attachment 303439

Junk.
Discharge it completely and recycle it. Keep it outside of your house, Perhaps in you Barbeque or other Safe Place, until you recycle it.
Move on. Does it have a Sweet smell to it?
Usually they Smell when the cells are breached. Been there.
Next new hard case you get, try to use some Gorilla Tape all around the Hardcase seams. I may even pour some liquid electrical Tap into the Wire Opening of the case to seal it off well.
But running in Sand I will never do. That was hard on the whole rig, Not just the lipo.
Gets $Costly$ if you want to have fun in the Sand. I don't do this at all. Find another place to bash.
Just because YT Influencers do it and looks like good fun on Video..... I won't.
Been RCing for 35+ years. Fine Sand is very bad for RC's. Much too abrasive and gets into Everything. Wears out all parts very fast. Motors as well.
I would rebuild it all, and stay away from sand at this point. You will be good.
Just me.

 

[jkflow]

Agreed, this silver lining is the only barrier that matters, any imperfection like yours will result in disaster and at the most inconvenient time (Murphy!).

I see no reason whatsoever to ever use hard case Lipos, I could not come up with any good reason to use one. There is a perception that they are tougher on impact, but honestly you simply can't see any damage to the actual cells. Some duct tape works better on soft cells imho.
I'm sure others disagree but whenever you have dirt or water in the mix hardcase is just bad.

 

[triplebeastalpha]

Junk.
Discharge it completely and recycle it. Keep it outside of your house, Perhaps in you Barbeque or other Safe Place, until you recycle it.
Move on. Does it have a Sweet smell to it?
Usually they Smell when the cells are breached. Been there.
Next new hard case you get, try to use some Gorilla Tape all around the Hardcase seams. I may even pour some liquid electrical Tap into the Wire Opening of the case to seal it off well.
But running in Sand I will never do. That was hard on the whole rig, Not just the lipo.
Gets $Costly$ if you want to have fun in the Sand. I don't do this at all. Find another place to bash.
Just because YT Influencers do it and looks like good fun on Video..... I won't.
Been RCing for 35+ years. Fine Sand is very bad for RC's. Much too abrasive and gets into Everything. Wears out all parts very fast. Motors as well.
I would rebuild it all, and stay away from sand at this point. You will be good.
Just me.

To be honest the sand bash was nearly two years ago, it took so long to clean the car, all the bearings, tyres (had to open up and re-glue them to remove sand from inside). I swore I’d never do it again after that, it’s really not worth the hassle. Only problem was that battery only fits in one car and that car has been out of action for a while, so it’s just not had much action since. I only noticed when doing the occasional battery health and storage checks.

There was no sweet smell to it though, although there was some smell of chemicals if you got up close.

Think I’m done with hardcase now, just gonna tape up soft cell batteries, maybe with metal plates under the tape for protection. I always thought there’d be some foam or something in there to protect the battery. But to my surprise it was just glued on the bottom with some sort of silicone adhesive. Seems like a terrible idea to me. More pressure in certain parts of the cell on a hard landing doesn’t seem like something that is good for the soft cells

 

[SrC]

Over time even soft packs will ingest dust and dirt. Just that Sand is very abrasive and over time can errode/wear down the cell wrapping. I feel that when I buy packs, soft packs are more common, or at least leaves you with more lipo choices. A ROAR approved Hard case Lipo pack is usually required for sanctioned track racing. You are smelling a breached lipo cell(s) there. I call it a sweet smell. Some say it smells like Almonds. There should be no smell at all.
That's a quick sign if you do smell something. I use adhesive foam padding in the lipo tray under the pack. Any type. Hard or soft. It helps some.
I find that eventually a pack will puff up when they go bad. And even a Hardcase will split open at the seem when they do puff. Cells puff from the high pressure within. A hardcase can't prevent it. And is meant to split open. It is a tell tale sign. Needs to happen so the user knows to Not use the lipo. Soft packs are easily and visibly seen Puffed when this happens.
Lipo packs, even if cared for, stored and recharged periodically to 3.8-3.85v per cell can puff up. Ambient Humidity and Heat along with Age makes this happen.
I find that most of my packs are best up till about 50 or so cycles, then they peter out. They will work just that they are not the best packs. IR's increase with just age, sitting around. We are supposed to get way more life out of our packs according to the Lipo Industry, just that we usually don't. Our lipos go through hell and back when you think about it. How we run our RC's etc.
Best to charge at a 1C rate or less. And if you religously and always used only a 1/2 C charge rate for instance, the lipo's longevity increases. Just takes longer to charge.

 

[triplebeastalpha]

Yeah for sure soft packs aren’t immune to sand or dirt getting inside, I’ve had to take wrapping off soft batteries before because they got full of dirt. It’s just there’s bigger holes for entry and more space inside a hardcase so I feel the risk is actually worse, but if you wrap any battery in tape it’ll help a lot, soft or hard. Like you say though, there’s just way more options out there for soft packs, I’m in the UK and we mostly have online retailers, not sure what it’s like in the US but here there are very few options available, and what is out there is usually cheap low output batteries that I end up killing in a matter of months with a Max6 esc. Battery size restrictions on my Typhon, Maxx & X-Maxx are a killer too, it only restricts options further. For high quality batteries you can only really get soft packs.

I probably will put some foam padding in more of my trays once I swap to soft packs. There just wasn’t much room for it before, besides in the X-Maxx, which is padded to high heaven and for good reason.

I have recently stopped fast charging to be honest too, I was going through packs too quickly and figured it was not good for the life of the battery. Most of the time I have time to charge slower, the day before a bash, so I do. Never more than 1C now, hopefully I get some more runs out of each pack before they die

Over time even soft packs will ingest dust and dirt. Just that Sand is very abrasive and over time can errode/wear down the cell wrapping. I feel that when I buy packs, soft packs are more common, or at least leaves you with more lipo choices. A ROAR approved Hard case Lipo pack is usually required for sanctioned track racing. You are smelling a breached lipo cell(s) there. I call it a sweet smell. Some say it smells like Almonds. There should be no smell at all.
That's a quick sign if you do smell something. I use adhesive foam padding in the lipo tray under the pack. Any type. Hard or soft. It helps some.
I find that eventually a pack will puff up when they go bad. And even a Hardcase will split open at the seem when they do puff. Cells puff from the high pressure within. A hardcase can't prevent it. And is meant to split open. It is a tell tale sign. Needs to happen so the user knows to Not use the lipo. Soft packs are easily and visibly seen Puffed when this happens.
Lipo packs, even if cared for, stored and recharged periodically to 3.8-3.85v per cell can puff up. Ambient Humidity and Heat along with Age makes this happen.
I find that most of my packs are best up till about 50 or so cycles, then they peter out. They will work just that they are not the best packs. IR's increase with just age, sitting around. We are supposed to get way more life out of our packs according to the Lipo Industry, just that we usually don't. Our lipos go through hell and back when you think about it. How we run our RC's etc.
Best to charge at a 1C rate or less. And if you religously and always used only a 1/2 C charge rate for instance, the lipo's longevity increases. Just takes longer to charge.

. Although like you say, we do give them hell, they with never last as long as an smartphone battery.

 

[SrC]

Fast Charging is NG. Balance charge at 1C rate or less ONLY. Always.
If you have the proper charger for your Lipo capacity and voltage, 30-60 minute charge times is normal.
I never FAST charge. Most of us will never do that. No one that I know.
Lipos cost too much to abuse them.
If I get 50 good cycles in the life out them, give or take, I am good.
Any more, I am lucky and probably on borrowed time.
The higher the discharge rate and the temps this creates, simply shortens its lifespan.