Sunday 12 August 2012

LiPo Fire in the SV-10

Last friday night..no not that katy perry song..i had a session with ONg and his HB cyclone, plus a few other yokomo BD-5 and X Ray T3.. The Kawada was running well. Unforturnately Ong's LRP Pulsar charger gave way that night. So i had to charge my batteries at higher rate to charge them quicker and then i can charge Ongs Batteries. So i charge my 4000mah shorty packs at 8A instead of 4. What was supposed to be the second last pack became the last one. On the first lap, Ongs car didnt have traction and slid and his front end hit my car hard at the side..right at the battery. There wasnt any apparent damage and we continued for a few more laps. Suddenly at one corner there were sparks from under my car, and the car kind of skidded, like some screws came off the chassis. So i stopped the car, about a second or two later, to my horror, there was heavy smoke coming from within the body shell. I quickly ran down the drivers stand to my car. The initial thought that entered my mind was a toasted motor or ESC. I quickly removed the body and saw the cause, the lipo had puffed and the chemicals in it was ignited somehow, the fire was not very big but the smoke was unbeleivable. There was nothing much i could do, and Ong brought a screwdriver to me, i proceed to push the battery out of the car with the screwdriver and then Ong took the still burning battery and therw it out of the track. The smell was horrible. The next morning i did a post mortem on the car and removed all the electronics. The fan was a goner, but everything else worked. Luckily. Also the transponder wires burned off, but by adding new connectors, it now works again. i Also cleaned off the melted residue of the lipo from the chassis, but not all of it can come off.


Burn residue on the transponder and chassis.

The fan is melted.

I still dont what is the cause, but i beleive it was the combination of charging at 2C and the hard hit on the battery. I think it should not happen again..hopefully.