Should i throw away this battery ?

[TWE75]

Hi guys , just now while trying to learn hovering , my heli suddenly lose altitude and landed on the floor ( its just hovering abt 5cm above the floor ) and then the batt low alarm sounded off . When i touch the battery , it feels pretty hot and kind of bloated also . Can i still use this battery or should i just throw it off ?

And also should i put the battery to charge mode or balance mode when i want to charge up my batt to fly ? Someone told me to use balance mode to charge then the batteries can last longer . But my batt are used on the heli so its pretty low already .

[dloh]

battery

Hi guys , just now while trying to learn hovering , my heli suddenly lose altitude and landed on the floor ( its just hovering abt 5cm above the floor ) and then the batt low alarm sounded off . When i touch the battery , it feels pretty hot and kind of bloated also . Can i still use this battery or should i just throw it off ?

And also should i put the battery to charge mode or balance mode when i want to charge up my batt to fly ? Someone told me to use balance mode to charge then the batteries can last longer . But my batt are used on the heli so its pretty low already .

Your battery is under stressed, thats why it is bloated, it will get bloated whenever too much current is drained from it, you dont have to throw it away, you can give it to me, I will recycle. Yes, pm me with location to pick up

[dloh]

Charging battery

Hi guys , just now while trying to learn hovering , my heli suddenly lose altitude and landed on the floor ( its just hovering abt 5cm above the floor ) and then the batt low alarm sounded off . When i touch the battery , it feels pretty hot and kind of bloated also . Can i still use this battery or should i just throw it off ?

And also should i put the battery to charge mode or balance mode when i want to charge up my batt to fly ? Someone told me to use balance mode to charge then the batteries can last longer . But my batt are used on the heli so its pretty low already .

BTW, I dont know what charge mode or balance mode, all I know is if you have a LiPo battery, you always use balance charger, you charge your battery no matter how little time you use it and you should junk that low battery indicator cuz its a piece of crap, the more important tool or gadget you should have gotten is the volt reader, some ppl said that never let your voltage drop below 3V, but I keep it at above 3.6V, normally 3.7V, that way your battery will have a longer life span and it wont get fat and bloated

[TWE75]

I have a multi meter but i find that i always stop playing my heli when the battery still has ard 11.3v . So i thought using the alarm can let me use the battery in ease without worrying my batt too low .

What do you mean by balance charger ? I charge my batteries using the charge function with the balance tabs connected , is that the right way ? And what do you mean by recycle ? Are you going to remove the faulty cell to recover and use the remaining good cells ? If that is so then i have 2 such batteries .

Are you saying that the battery low alarm can cause the battery to bloat due to it allow the batteries volt lvl to drop too low ?

[TWE75]

Anyone any advise . And is it safe to continue using this battery ?

[dloh]

Battery Alarm

I have a multi meter but i find that i always stop playing my heli when the battery still has ard 11.3v . So i thought using the alarm can let me use the battery in ease without worrying my batt too low .

What do you mean by balance charger ? I charge my batteries using the charge function with the balance tabs connected , is that the right way ? And what do you mean by recycle ? Are you going to remove the faulty cell to recover and use the remaining good cells ? If that is so then i have 2 such batteries .

Are you saying that the battery low alarm can cause the battery to bloat due to it allow the batteries volt lvl to drop too low ?

I already told u ur battery alarm is a piece of crap, by the time it goes off, ur batt voltage will be dangerously low, when you checked ur batt and found it to be 11.3v, shd have quit, normally 3D for the pro when flying Heli is under 5 mins, not only is it straining to the concentration, its also straining the batt, for ur practice, I wouldn't fly more than 12 mins, maybe 10 mins. As for charger, I totally have no idea what ur talking about, get a decent balance charger from any hobby shop that cost more than $40 (better one with digital screen and quick charge cost like $120 or more), everything is automatic, dont know what charge or other function, it charges cell by cell, end of story. At any rate, never charge a warm batt. thats just my opinion.

[chessgame]

Anyone any advise . And is it safe to continue using this battery ?

1. to continue use on bloated battery depends on you.
it not recommended because the battery cannot perform like new nor deliver the same current.
it is also not very safe but i have seen some people continue to use bloated batteries despite above

battery is hot when u brought it down because draw on battery was high. use higher c battery to get higher draw from equivalent battery capacity

2. use the balance function. a balanced charger is one that has the balance charge function...

3. alarm is good for initial exploring on how much u can max ur battery.
once u get a feel and this can be done via many way, set a timer. then dont use the alarm function to warn u anymore.

[TWE75]

Btw dloh , i really don't know what makes you think that i am using a cheapo charger but the fact is i am using the KDS POWER RC-6S , its not really cheap ( at least for me ) and its definitely above $40 . It does have a lcd screen , normal and quick charge . Anyway i really thanks both of you dloh and chessgame for your advices .

Also thanks for telling me not to rely on the battery low alarm too much . I didn't know it had this problem . Guess i will rely more on my timer setting since i now able to reduce the hovering area although still not too good but at least my heli won't drift too far away anymore .

[lancer161]

U can get this lipo alarm from rcehobby, it can set the voltage for the alarm to sound. I usually set to 3.6v. http://rcehobby.com/product_info.php...oducts_id=1947

[Niven]

Hi bro... you can still use your battery, but of course there will be risk associated to it...

personally i think it is still alright to use the battery,
but as what the other bros have mentioned... please use the timer on your transmitter instead of using the low voltage buzzer...

first set your timer to about 5 minutes... after the flight, your lipo should be around 3.75-3.8v... using the voltage tester...
it shld be more, since you are hovering, hence you can afford to go abit longer..

what i have been doing is that i stop my flights at about 3.8v, all my a year old lipo still hold charge very well...
lipos are very cheap, don't have to fly that extra minute that will result in your battery to degrade...
for example if u want to fly an extra minute out of 5 batteries you have, i rather you buy 1 more battery, like this all your batteries will be good after a long time, and you will not risk having your heli drop from the sky having your esc cut off due to low voltage....

hope this will clear your doubt..

regards,
Niven

[hallobaby]

all goes back to the bloated batteries lah!!!!!!!

No one going to tell you that they are fine......In fact, lipos are dangerous..

all lipos are different, such as brand, no of C and mah...
and charger is different also!!!

go to a FF and ask, or upload the photos of your batteries will be better

[TWE75]

Ok guys , i'll use my tx timer set to 6mins ... since i'm hovering only . Just had another practise session ... with 2 kids , their father and 2 policeman watching me at one point for a few mins :P .

[dloh]

Bloated Batt

Ok guys , i'll use my tx timer set to 6mins ... since i'm hovering only . Just had another practise session ... with 2 kids , their father and 2 policeman watching me at one point for a few mins :P .

If I am not wrong, u have a Phx 2k right? Just an example of how batt performace dropped once it got bloated, I was flying my Phx 2k just now...considering its kind of windy,...my entire flight time was about 13 mins on a 2200 mAh 35C 3S Lipo (motor is a Emax GT 2218/11 930 KV) and it has been bloated for some time, if I fly with a regular 2200 mAh 35C 3S Lipo, I can normally get about 25 mins...I am saying flying 25 mins b4 the voltage drops to 3.6V..etc, so in other words, once ur batt is bloated, the performance and reliablilty will be questionable, so use at ur own discretion

[TWE75]

Yup i have a phoenix2000 . anyway ... i do have a lipo batt that has one of the cell damaged , if you want to recycle that to 2 cell i don't mind giving it to you . But i have kept it for 2 months already ever since i found it unable to be charged . So i don't know how is it already .

[dloh]

Recycle Lipo

Yup i have a phoenix2000 . anyway ... i do have a lipo batt that has one of the cell damaged , if you want to recycle that to 2 cell i don't mind giving it to you . But i have kept it for 2 months already ever since i found it unable to be charged . So i don't know how is it already .

I was just kidding about recycling ur Lipo, its just too troublesome and unpredictable. Sometimes, we all look for the cheap bargain in life and miss the bigger picture,I noticed Lipo is getting cheaper compared to last year, if u have certain Lipo u deemed unsafe, u should get rid of it safely cuz they maybe a fire hazard, some ppl r talking about storing Lipo in Lipo bag when not using, consider this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX1MdkSU56M

something to keep in mind