Battery Issues

Hi All,

I have a Savage Flux and normally use it with two 2S batteries. A while ago a got a good deal from a local hobby store on 3S batteries that are not in a hard case. I loved the performance and used them a few times on my quadcopter as well.

After they were not used for a couple of months, i checked the voltage and although the total voltage was ok, on checking the individual cells i found that one was 0.1v and the other two had over 5.5 volts each!

I would expect the battery to blow up if a cell voltage was over 4.2 volts but nothing has happened. I have kept the battery in a fireproof bag for safety and was going to open it up to check if there was some shorting somewhere. But dont know what to expect.

Has anyone experienced this before?

kittu wrote:

Hi All,

I have a Savage Flux and normally use it with two 2S batteries. A while ago a got a good deal from a local hobby store on 3S batteries that are not in a hard case. I loved the performance and used them a few times on my quadcopter as well.

After they were not used for a couple of months, i checked the voltage and although the total voltage was ok, on checking the individual cells i found that one was 0.1v and the other two had over 5.5 volts each!

I would expect the battery to blow up if a cell voltage was over 4.2 volts but nothing has happened. I have kept the battery in a fireproof bag for safety and was going to open it up to check if there was some shorting somewhere. But dont know what to expect.

Has anyone experienced this before?

IMO this can happen to anyone and to any type of battery. There are a couple of reasons I know that can cause such a situation to occur.
1. Battery failure - it just happens. It may be due to manufacturing defect or may also have something to do with the brand and the cost. I can't really say that more expensive batteries are better than the cheaper ones but there's always this thing they call "it comes with the name". I've been using cheaper batteries and so far very happy with it.
2. Non-use of battery balancers - balancers will help you charge and discharge batteries the most effective way. Knowing the fact that you are into electric cars, this shouldn't be a problem.
3. Draining the battery down to the bottom - careful with this one. It can damage a battery very easily. Some chargers won't even recharge the LiPo pack if it is way too low its allowable low voltage current. Once you recharge them, usually battery life is already in question.
4. Storing them without proper balance charging - an alarm signalling full charging may fool you. Make sure that you balance charge your packs to full capacity before storing them. That way, you are sure that your packs can stay charged for months.


Best thing to do, get yourself some reserved packs. I always stock up on almost all parts that I know breaks often, even batteries. I for one, don't allow anything that can stop me from enjoying this seemingly expensive, yet very enjoyable hobby.

Cheers.