I am starting to see some swelling on 2 of my batteries which are a few years old. Should I use them or just get rid on them?
Battery
- Thread starter Jeff Kerry
- Start date
How long should you drive on bald tires in winter during an ice storm? QED
Jeff, I wouldn't fly a single minute more with them. Get rid of them! I think two years is a short time.. do you always, as I do , store them at 15,2-15,3V, in room temp?
My four batteries are 3,5 years and not swollen yet.
What's your battery care regime? Not a great choice of new stock available, if you can find genuine or 3rd party, a lot of people have good results with the Ultrax battery.
Is the swelling affecting the case of the battery or just where the information plates are on the top and bottom?
Do the batteries still slide in and out of the aircraft without sticking?
Is their flight time considerably shorter than those not showing any swelling?
Do you use a third party charger so you can set them to storage charge level when not in use (as suggested in a previous post in this thread)?
Can you measure the IR of the cells and do you track it for your batteries?
Can you post photos of the offending batteries?
Do the batteries still slide in and out of the aircraft without sticking?
Is their flight time considerably shorter than those not showing any swelling?
Do you use a third party charger so you can set them to storage charge level when not in use (as suggested in a previous post in this thread)?
Can you measure the IR of the cells and do you track it for your batteries?
Can you post photos of the offending batteries?
I have two H original batteries and two Giffi 8050mA and non of them are swollen after 3,5years. I use a Dy3 charger.
PatR
Premium Pilot
A site search for “swollen batteries” will likely turn up 500 posts for this subject. Not much sense in starting that process all over again.
Not intention to hijack your thread, so any help the audience of this thread can provide on another Battery Issue at the Introductions page for "Drone still in the box" will be appreciated.
Haven't flown in a while. They do slide in and out without a problem. Will be trying them tomorrow. The swelling is in the middle where the labels are located. Will get a pic of them for people to see. And I store them in the carry bag in the closet.
Do the labels press down easily or are they solid?
If you don’t already use a charger that allows you to set them to storage voltage, you should strongly consider it.
The search function on the forum will bring up several posts on the subject.
If you don’t already use a charger that allows you to set them to storage voltage, you should strongly consider it.
The search function on the forum will bring up several posts on the subject.
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I have some batteries with the same “problem”
I still use theme and they work fine.
I check the internal resistance and they are in good shape, under 20 uhm.
some are even under 10 and are over 4 years old.
Before I get into my (similar) battery problem, let me first say that EVERYONE flying a TH should STOP using the Yuneec charger. I've spoken work their 'tech support' (as poor as it is), and, while they refuse to call it a "design flaw", they DO admit to knowing that the charger has "problems". Obviously, it can't discharge batteries to a safe 'storage' level, but it also had problems in actual charging.
One recent time, I was charging a battery, and the ST16. I unplugged both, for the previously-mentioned tech call, and, after the call, I placed the ST16 back in...and, instead of continuing to charge the ST16, it drained it...to the point of being 'dead'. Thankfully, plugging it into a microUSB plug I use for charging phones/tablets "revived" it. Additionally, in regards to charging batteries, I've (twice) had it flash the red LED, yet there was nothing won't with the batteries. The point is, get yourself a QUALITY charger for charging your TH batteries...preferably a dual, or quad battery charger...such as a Venom, Hitec, or iCharger. As for the ST16, charging using a standard phone/tablet microUSB charger is better...and faster.
As for my batteries, I have a similar problem. I've got 3 Yuneec batteries, plus 2 Ultra X batteries, with 1 Yuneec battery very slightly "puffy". The Ulta X batteries are fairly new, having only been used 2-3x, while the Yuneec batteries are approx 2yrs old It's fairly firm, and is not affecting the case...the "puffy" area is ONLY in the label 'windows'. Resistance on the Ultra X batteries is in the 2.3-2.8mΩ/cell range, while resistance on the other two times batteries is in the 2.1-3.0mΩ/cell range. As for the "puffy" battery, the cells read as follows: 5.0mΩ, 3.9mΩ, 4.1mΩ & 5.2mΩ. As far as I can tell, the "puffy" battery is still 'good'. Thoughts from anyone else?
One recent time, I was charging a battery, and the ST16. I unplugged both, for the previously-mentioned tech call, and, after the call, I placed the ST16 back in...and, instead of continuing to charge the ST16, it drained it...to the point of being 'dead'. Thankfully, plugging it into a microUSB plug I use for charging phones/tablets "revived" it. Additionally, in regards to charging batteries, I've (twice) had it flash the red LED, yet there was nothing won't with the batteries. The point is, get yourself a QUALITY charger for charging your TH batteries...preferably a dual, or quad battery charger...such as a Venom, Hitec, or iCharger. As for the ST16, charging using a standard phone/tablet microUSB charger is better...and faster.
As for my batteries, I have a similar problem. I've got 3 Yuneec batteries, plus 2 Ultra X batteries, with 1 Yuneec battery very slightly "puffy". The Ulta X batteries are fairly new, having only been used 2-3x, while the Yuneec batteries are approx 2yrs old It's fairly firm, and is not affecting the case...the "puffy" area is ONLY in the label 'windows'. Resistance on the Ultra X batteries is in the 2.3-2.8mΩ/cell range, while resistance on the other two times batteries is in the 2.1-3.0mΩ/cell range. As for the "puffy" battery, the cells read as follows: 5.0mΩ, 3.9mΩ, 4.1mΩ & 5.2mΩ. As far as I can tell, the "puffy" battery is still 'good'. Thoughts from anyone else?
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I don't think there's a direct connection to high IR equates to getting a puffy battery. It's doesn't help more heat may be generated because of the IR, I've still got 2016 batteries with higher than those readings with a good flight time
For now, I'll hold off using that battery for flight. I have 4 other batteries for flying, so I'll hold onto this one for testing, calibration, etc, unless absolutely necessary (ie. I drain the others, and still need to fly).
chuck them in a bucket of salt water for a week, this will render them completely inert, then dispose DO NOT USE THEM. they are dangerous to use AND handle in this condition
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
A puffy battery is a dangerous battery. You may still get reasonable flight times out of them but they can fail at any time. If that happens while it is in the air then the results are obvious. For those electing to just use a puffy battery for ground testing and setting up only...not intending to fly with it, then be aware that a puffy battery can fail catastrophically when on a charger , or even spontaneously while in storage, resulting in a fire.
I used to advocate using a puffy battery just for testing and set up on the ground but I don't now. Get rid of your puffy batteries and make the world a safer place.
I used to advocate using a puffy battery just for testing and set up on the ground but I don't now. Get rid of your puffy batteries and make the world a safer place.
Review: URUAV Lipo Killer | Put Charged Batteries in Storage - Oscar Liang
I built several LiPo dischargers in the past but all are designed to fully discharge batteries, and none have the ability to stop at a certain voltage. The URUAV LiPo Killer is a cheap and…
oscarliang.com
PatR
Premium Pilot
I use a version of the Lipo killer and it works very well. The review notes it discharges to 1 or 2 volts but I’ve found it consistently discharges to 0.75, or 3/4v for a full discharge. That’s plenty low enough to short the terminals without a fire or explosion risk.
The version shown in the link may better than the one I use if the balance tap can also be used to discharge, eliminating the need to adapt to the XT60 connector.
The version shown in the link may better than the one I use if the balance tap can also be used to discharge, eliminating the need to adapt to the XT60 connector.
