Critical lipo mistake not to make
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Jamie Strong
Jul 23, 2026, 8:57:21 AM (5 days ago) Jul 23
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While flying with Mike Tuesday he had a lipo battery that was slightly swollen get so hot that it started melting the covering around the battery:(.
It’s good practice starting to check cells after 50-60 flights under a high idle up load,(20% throttle). You can do this with a simple and cheap cell checker attached to the lipo while running the motor.
This battery checked within .3 volts of the others with no load, but look what occurred after 45 seconds of 20% throttle applied (volts Does Not tell ya the AMPs in the pack), and can be very deceiving. This dropping (even if it’s slight)slowly puts a Tremendous load for the other cells trying to make up the voltage of the dropped cell(s). Then, as you can see in the video a second cell breaking down as well. Now another thing is the heat transfer of being all tightly wrapped with nowhere for the heat to go except to the other cells. Typically a don’t like to see a lipo heat range go higher than 15 degrees above the ambient air temperature, cooler the better.
Sometimes folks fail to realize that the cells are Tightly wrapped so puffing is not seen quickly.
Another means of seeing a failing cell is reading the IR of the cells during charging for those chargers than have that function. Checking for separation of the IR (internal resistance)between the cells is another method. While this method will give you a very good onsite of what’s happening, the load test has always been my method of choice.
Just thought I’d share this tid bit of info.
It’s good practice starting to check cells after 50-60 flights under a high idle up load,(20% throttle). You can do this with a simple and cheap cell checker attached to the lipo while running the motor.
This battery checked within .3 volts of the others with no load, but look what occurred after 45 seconds of 20% throttle applied (volts Does Not tell ya the AMPs in the pack), and can be very deceiving. This dropping (even if it’s slight)slowly puts a Tremendous load for the other cells trying to make up the voltage of the dropped cell(s). Then, as you can see in the video a second cell breaking down as well. Now another thing is the heat transfer of being all tightly wrapped with nowhere for the heat to go except to the other cells. Typically a don’t like to see a lipo heat range go higher than 15 degrees above the ambient air temperature, cooler the better.
Sometimes folks fail to realize that the cells are Tightly wrapped so puffing is not seen quickly.
Another means of seeing a failing cell is reading the IR of the cells during charging for those chargers than have that function. Checking for separation of the IR (internal resistance)between the cells is another method. While this method will give you a very good onsite of what’s happening, the load test has always been my method of choice.
Just thought I’d share this tid bit of info.
chue...@comcast.net
Jul 23, 2026, 9:58:37 AM (5 days ago) Jul 23
to SPAme...@googlegroups.com
Great advice, Jamie. Thank you...
“You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.” ― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest.
Phil Spelt, AMA 1294, Scientific Leader Member
SPA L-18, Board Member, NSRCA 2032, KCRC Emeritus
Knoxville, TN 37931 (865) 604-0541c
--You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Senior Pattern Association" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to SPAmembers+...@googlegroups.com.To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SPAmembers/A7EAA4A7-4B8D-435E-A567-60E81583A53D%40gmail.com.JamiePrattville, Alabama--You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Senior Pattern Association" group.To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to SPAmembers+...@googlegroups.com.To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SPAmembers/A7EAA4A7-4B8D-435E-A567-60E81583A53D%40gmail.com.
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