Water in battery?!

[Saltystevo]

So i just went messing around in the yard and theres a small patch of snow left. Ran my two 3s batteries and they made it most of the way then dead stop. They were still on full power. I cleaned off some snow and turned it upside down , tapped everything out. Turned back on and worked fine for 30 seconds and off. So i figured something is wet somewhere. I noticed this in the batteries. Did i miss doing something when taking it out for snow ride? What do i do about my batteries?
I hope i didnt damage them. And hiw can i prevent this?
I see people going crazy in water and of course a tiny snow patch gets me.
Please help me out guys!

 

[olds97_lss]

Water shouldn't hurt too much. The cells themselves are sealed. Dirty water across the leads will discharge it beyond where you want to tio discharge.

 

[DoNoHarm]

Yeah, IMO I wouldn’t worry about it too much... but I’d let it dry. If water somehow got into the cells they’d go thermo-nuclear, but that’s impossible because even if oxygen goes into there it goes thermo-nuclear.

 

[Saltystevo]

So water is just in battery hard cover and not in cells?
So why the shut off?
I tested my 4s battery after to check and as was better but then my steering just stopped! ?
Throttle but no stervo movement.
I noticed after top and bottom screws on turning linkage on one post were loose so it had a slight wobble or sway when manually turning wheels back and forth.
Im going to start breaking it down after a bath. But any help for this kraton noob would be great!

 

[DoNoHarm]

So water is just in battery hard cover and not in cells?
So why the shut off?
I tested my 4s battery after to check and as was better but then my steering just stopped! ?
Throttle but no stervo movement.
I noticed after top and bottom screws on turning linkage on one post were loose so it had a slight wobble or sway when manually turning wheels back and forth.
Im going to start breaking it down after a bath. But any help for this kraton noob would be great!

Probably shut down from something else. Yeah the water isn’t in the cells just in the case itself. If your servo isn’t moving at all it might be dead.

 

[Saltystevo]

Probably shut down from something else. Yeah the water isn’t in the cells just in the case itself. If your servo isn’t moving at all it might be dead.

Hiw do i test that to find out?

 

[DoNoHarm]

Hiw do i test that to find out?

Plug the car in and turn the steering wheel. If the servo itself isn’t moving or making any noise then open the reciever box. If it’s plugged in then it’s dead. If it’s unplugged then that’s your problem

 

[slick2500]

Just because these vehicles are listed as waterproof does not mean that they actually are, at best they are splash proof. My stock receiver box leaked and killed my receiver. I didn't know it was leaking until it was too late. I have seen a few others who's escs died after running in water puddles.

 

[DoNoHarm]

Just because these vehicles are listed as waterproof does not mean that they actually are, at best they are splash proof. My stock receiver box leaked and killed my receiver. I didn't know it was leaking until it was too late. I have seen a few others who's escs died after running in water puddles.

Yeah I really don’t like the design of the arrma reciever boxes at all. Even if not leaking water has no problem going through the foam.

 

[slick2500]

Yeah I really don’t like the design of the arrma reciever boxes at all. Even if not leaking water has no problem going through the foam.

I use a Traxxas Stampede receiver box. It's just stuck on with Automotive 3M tape, like they use for the trim panels.

 

[DoNoHarm]

I was gonna say I’d traxxas swap it (because I like their design a ton better) but I figured I’d get backslash lol

 

[Mongoose]

Man, these things are hit or miss it seems. I’ve had a servo start smoking after running in grass with dew (could have just been coincidental through) but had my Granite (when brushed) submerged to the point that the receiver box filled with water that I found about 2 weeks later when I opened it up...the receiver still had water in it and it is still working today without issue. I don’t know why some things are fine and some aren’t....

 

[slick2500]

Man, these things are hit or miss it seems. I’ve had a servo start smoking after running in grass with dew (could have just been coincidental through) but had my Granite (when brushed) submerged to the point that the receiver box filled with water that I found about 2 weeks later when I opened it up...the receiver still had water in it and it is still working today without issue. I don’t know why some things are fine and some aren’t....

It has to do with mass production, and the manufacturing process you will never get 100% perfect products every single time.

 

[DoNoHarm]

+1, I actually have rusty reciever box mounting screws so clearly water got in but somehow the receiver is working fine.

 

[slick2500]

As an example I work at a furniture store, you can take 2 of the exact same dressers and set them side by side, each dresser will have a different hue to the stain, different grain patterns, variations in distress marks hell some of them you can't even swap around the drawers they won't even fit or match.

 

[slick2500]

+1, I actually have rusty reciever box mounting screws so clearly water got in but somehow the receiver is working fine.

The rust on the screws was the only reason I knew water had gotten in there.

 

[Mongoose]

Hey @Saltystevo do you have a way to check the voltage of each cell? If that checks out I would think the packs are fine and the issue could be somewhere else.

 

[olds97_lss]

Hey @Saltystevo do you have a way to check the voltage of each cell? If that checks out I would think the packs are fine and the issue could be somewhere else.

I keep a couple of these around for that:
https://www.amazon.com/Femitu-Battery-Tester-Voltage-Buzzer/dp/B005GJCJOA

Cheap way to check. Also, if your so inclined, you can leave it on your pack when bashing and it will beep loud when the voltage gets too low. If you can find somewhere dry for it and strap it down. I just keep one near my charger so I can quick check packs.

 

[Lazy Bushman]

I use a Traxxas Stampede receiver box. It's just stuck on with Automotive 3M tape, like they use for the trim panels.

I might need to think about that (ie using a diff receiver box. I managed to rip my piece of foam in half and lost half of it somehow....good idea

 

[TraverseCity420]

Just because these vehicles are listed as waterproof does not mean that they actually are, at best they are splash proof. My stock receiver box leaked and killed my receiver. I didn't know it was leaking until it was too late. I have seen a few others who's escs died after running in water puddles.

Same...… Just killed mine in the notorious the other day.. Prior to that I took that fiddlesticking thing thru INCHES deep water and never had a problem, I run it out of my driveway barely skipping thru a puddle and 2 seconds later its dead.

But the op sounds like he hit LVC and didn't expect that to happen.

Water In the batteries did not cause it, if water got into those cells you would have a FIRE not a stopped truck.

Water + lion + hydrogen = FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE!