Should I trust this puffed battery anymore?

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parcou

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Arrma RC's
  1. BigRock
  2. Felony
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  4. Granite
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  6. Kraton EXB
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I had a rare warm day got the Infraction v1 out for 2x runs which was refreshing to say the least.

First set of batteries from China Hobby soft pack no issues. Second set my SMC 8000mah pack hard pack which I have had the longest but used in the Infraction only. When I hit LVC on the last run I opened the Infraction to find that one puffed as you can see by the pic. The label is holding it together. After reading the story about the battery fire from another member, I was afraid to drive it home with me or leave it there but I put it in the lipo pack alone and left the others out the bag...and kept it on the passenger floor where I could see it.

Really disappointed for the price I paid for this SMC and this is NOT a basher RC. Of course by the time I got it home, it is not swollen anymore...but the question is...can I trust it?

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Discharge it and dispose of it. I have seen a lot of SMC LiPos do this for some reason, that's why I went to CNHL.
 
Can you trust it? Nope.
Can you still use it? Yes, but if so I would charge it with extra caution and with a lower charging rate.
I had exactly the same with my oldest lipo (puffed lipo that opened the hardcase, but after cooling the hardcase could close again). I discharged the lipo and recharged it with a very slow charge rate. Balancing took very long. Did one final run and after hitting lvc, I turned off/on esc to keep on running till next lvc. After a couple of times all juice was out; lipo checker shoed 0%. Cut the cables and…
drag race no GIF by Robert E Blackmon
 
Pretty much the same scenario with my smc except a soft pack. Only used in my infraction, always balance charged. Definitely toss it, not worth the risk.
I recently purchased a cnhl as well
 
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touched them together?
NO😳. I cut off the cables at the point where they come out of the lipo. This way they can’t touch one another and you have spare cable with connector.
EDIT: I also recycled the hardcase. Tape on one side and it’s now a case for my el cheapo screwdriver set😉.

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agree discharge and dispose
thats one of the reasons I like the zeee batteries I don't race just bash maybe some speed runs with my buddies for bragging rights but if I lose one or damage one I'm in it fairly cheap
My CNHL 3s is cheaper than a Zeee 3s of similar capacity...
 
Drop it in a bucket of salt water. It will discharge and destroy itself as the leads will corrode to uselessness.

Back when I had a Traxxas and they had a battery warranty that's what they had me do before shipping the bad battery back to them.
 
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