Battery swelling

[Covetingace]

I flew my typhoon H out on a hot day, about 81 degrees out, I only flew around for about 15 minutes, but when I took it out I noticed that the battery was slightly swollen on the label on the top and bottom but not on the plastic siding itself.

Should I be worried about that?

 

[Ty Pilot]

Yes. These batteries (LiPos) can get "puffed" for any number of reasons but for sure; once the are, their performance will degraded and they can become hazardous. They're more difficult to maintain than other types of batteries because they cannot be left in a state of charge for extended periods, they have cells that need to be kept in similar states and require certain levels of charge in order to be stored and much more. Is this you first drone?

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Is it still puffed after it cooled down, say after 30 minutes? Or alternately, did it stay warm after say an hour or more... indicating delayed cooling down?

 

[Covetingace]

Is it still puffed after it cooled down, say after 30 minutes? Or alternately, did it stay warm after say an hour or more... indicating delayed cooling down?

It didn't Stay Puffed after cool down, it look like it went back to normal

 

[Covetingace]

This is the part that I was talking about, it was a bulged out slightly, the Bulge was barely noticeable but still slightly pushed out more than usual, the plastic around the label was normal it wasn't bulged at all

This is after 15 minutes of flying on it 80° day

It went back to normal after a cool down but I just wanted to make sure that that was a normal behavior of the battery and not the battery potentially heating up and about to explode.

 

[PatR]

A good battery does not puff at all, cold or warm. If yours is puffing it’s nearing end of life. Time to buy a replacement.

 

[NorWiscPilot]

The challenge may be in determining if the battery cells are actually swelling or if the name plate likes to deform.

Knocking on wood, but in my experiences so far, there is give when pressing on the “swollen” name plate, indicating for those batteries in my fleet anyway, the cells themselves are not swollen, but rather the thin plastic insert has bowed.

I am definitely keeping an eye on them to make sure.

Jeff

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Slight swelling is pretty normal on any hard cased lipo's. Flying for 15 minutes in hot weather does not help. They all heat up to some extent and that heat needs to go someplace. The weakest part of the hard shell is that center spot you have circled. I have had this happen on Q500 batteries before and when they cool down they are just fine. This is why they tell you not to charge the battery right after use. It is still hot from the flight and needs to cool down.

 

[rdonson]

One thing to consider is not letting the batteries heat up in a car before flying. Keeping them at a reasonable temp before flight may help a lot.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

One thing to consider is not letting the batteries heat up in a car before flying. Keeping them at a reasonable temp before flight may help a lot.

Good idea....cooler with ice pack for summer and cooler with warm bean bags in the winter.

 

[Prosecutor]

Joining to the topic - it looks like it starts to swell? Better get a replacement and dispose it to be sure or too quick to judge given the photos.

It's about 10 months old and guess about 25-30 flights. Did not notice it looking like that before last flight, saw it looked suspicious when I was discharging it to storage level.

 

[Sureshot]

My wish is for Turnigy or someone to produce a graphene battery for the H.

 

[DaDog]

My battery was stuck to the point I had to remove the props, wrap paracord around the battery pull tab and put my feet on either side to hold it for removal. After installing that battery it launched and flew crazy ` with the deformed battery, it launched, shot to a heaight of 40' and would not decend it would respond on the X an Y axis but nothing on the Z