So what can be done about this

[Mattyd926]

Is this fixable ?

 

[SrC]

Yes and no. Depends how good you are with a soldering iron. And how comfortable you are with disassembling that hard case pack. Getting a new Balance lead is easy. Just doing it is delicate. Just make sure the pack is low but not dead first. That will minimize a fire risk .IMO. Some don't bother to repair it. You have to think about the broken wire within the case you cant see and where it is touching if it does short to another Hot lead. I wouldn't leave that lipo in the house right now.Be cautious. If it is an old pack that has provided much use, maybe you should toss it. Its hard to toss it because it is basically one wire that broke. But there may be risk. And you need a balance lead on any Lipo pack. Or charging will become a risk at some point. Just my 2 cents. Others will chime in.

 

[slick2500]

Yes and no. Depends how good you are with a soldering iron. And how comfortable you are with disassembling that hard case pack. Getting a new Balance lead is easy. Just doing it is delicate. Just make sure the pack is low but not dead first. That will minimize a fire risk .IMO. Some don't bother to repair it. You have to think about the broken wire within the case you cant see and where it is touching if it does short to another Hot lead. I wouldn't leave that lipo in the house right now.Be cautious. If it is an old pack that has provided much use, maybe you should toss it. Its hard to toss it because it is basically one wire that broke. But there may be risk. And you need a balance lead on any Lipo pack. Or charging will become a risk at some point. Just my 2 cents. Others will chime in.

This ☝

 

[suchtragedy]

I've cheated doing fixes like this before using a balance lead extension wire and cutting it off a few inches from the male side of the connector. Then I cut and solder 1 wire at a time from the balance lead on the battery to the corresponding wire on my cut extension then heat shrink each one individually and repeat until done. Once done wrap everything again either with heat shrink or electrical tape so I don't break my solder.

Definitely not the right way to fix it but I didn't feel comfortable opening up the lipo pack itself to do the repair. Also it's easy to mix up wires so gotta be 100% paying attention.

 

[CrashBoom]

You'd really have to open it up to see what's plausible.

 

[suchtragedy]

I just realized your lead wire broke in the lipo pack side, my bad. Guess you're gonna have to crack it open. Good luck dude!

 

[Hammer Down]

I’d sink that baby in a bucket of salt water.
R.I.P ? dynamite ?

 

[crimsonfancy]

Could you pull the hardcase off and fix it around a softcase just for extra protection? Gorilla tape, then you maybe save something from the investment... I can't solder so I'd let it go but salvage anything I can

 

[nino]

If you don't feel like fixing it, donate to someone who does... It would be a waste to throw it away. I know a couple of guys who made 2s packs from 3s packs with a dead cell... Personally, I wouldn't have the patience to fix it... fiddly job.

 

[Surchaufeur]

Personally i opened my lipos a lot of times im not afraid of them if you don't puncture them you are going to be fine
I made my 4s lipo into a 3s because one cell randomly died so far the cells who died on me were cells who were defective(physicly) out of the box

 

[SrC]

I’d sink that baby in a bucket of salt water.
R.I.P ? dynamite ?

That's a slow death. I would be more humane and just puncture it. A faster way. Fireworks are fun too.

 

[olds97_lss]

Personally i opened my lipos a lot of times im not afraid of them if you don't puncture them you are going to be fine
I made my 4s lipo into a 3s because one cell randomly died so far the cells who died on me were cells who were defective(physicly) out of the box

Yep. Getting the case open is the most annoying part. One nice thing about soft packs. I use a dremel with a cutting wheel. Sounds drastic, but with light pressure and patience, you make passes with low pressure and as soon as you see the silver of the pack, move a couple inches and do the same until you work your way around the entire pack. Usually, they are double stick taped to the case halves as well, so you have to fiddle/pry gently to get the clamshells off. Then a bit of polyimide tape pealing and your there.

I just cracked open 4 SMC 2S packs this weekend to make 2 more 3S packs to run in my smaller 3S trucks. Two of them are ones I bought and never ran in 2018. The other two I bought at the same time, but did use. As it was, they sat in a drawer all that time and I'd check them every few months and put them at storage if they dropped at all, which they never really did. I always used them in pairs, so the used ones were worn the same amount and the new ones... were new. I no longer run 2S in anything, so these are just sitting here.

The two bottom ones are the ones I built this weekend:

Out of the top ones from these:

This is the wiring inside, this was from the previous set I did:

You can get replacement balance leads pretty cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/HRB-Battery-Balance-Charger-Silicon/dp/B06XS5SMT4

I prefer the multi-colored ones, makes it less likely I screw up, but really, you just solder them from black to hot in order on each jumper between cells and your good. Then test it before taping it up and sealing the box back up. I made that mistake on oen this weekend... had one of the cells upside down so instead of adding 3.7V, it was -3.7V... took me a minute to figure that out.

One thing I will mention is that if you have to remove a cell, the solder they use in these seems to be really high silver content and takes a lot of heat to melt. I bought a 100W iron just to mess with these. My 60W wouldn't touch it.

I have a couple old 2S 9000mah packs and 2S 9500mah SMC packs I probably put 3 runs on laying here too with no use for them. The 9000's are likely on their last legs, but the 9500's are nearly new. If they would fit in my smaller trucks, I'd tear them down and make a 3S out of the pair as well.

Not that it matters, but since I start with 2x2S and end up with 3S and a spare single cell, I label the cell for the pack I made in case one drops a cell, then I have one that's somewhat close to the same "wear" as the one that died. I tape up the ends and keep them safe out of the way.