LiPo Battery Repair and Puncture Tests - Proceed with caution...

[GiantAntCowboy]

Hey all, I was originally going to post this in the technical/build section, but figured there may be general interest/curiosity in seeing the puncture tests and disassembled LiPos.

Disclaimer: Everything in this video is DANGEROUS, and the processes described require extreme CAUTION as well as a basic understanding of electronics, tools and soldering. I am not recommending others attempt this procedure, however since many hobbyists already do this type of repair and figured I would share my experience and tips.

FPV racing/freestyle drones are rough on batteries and most of us have at least a few damaged batteries... Instead of trashing the ones I had, each with only a single bad cell, I decided to salvage and rebuild. As part of this salvage process I decide to demonstrate what could happen if you were to accidentally puncture a LiPo with an X-acto knife... Anyway, enjoy!

If you have any questions I'm happy to discuss.
Cheers!

 

[wafflejock]

Not sure if it made a difference or how much of a difference but when cells are cold they have lower discharge rate and will in general react less. I was listening to something about cell recycling the other day and the technique they use is to get the cells very cold first before mashing in a grinder so they don't explode/catch fire while going through grinding. When kept cool enough the cells can be kept from catching fire long story short hence your 2V not going up as expected maybe.

 

[LoneRCRanger]

Sounds to me like the prudent thing to do is just buy a new battery. Do you also like playing with C-4 in a candle lit room?

 

[wafflejock]

just buy a new battery

^^ this is almost always my strategy as well when it comes to these small packs it isn't worth the time/effort/stress/potential damage to my stuff and me. If it is a minor issue like balance lead is slightly broken or scar in the discharge lead I will patch things and move on but if a cell is dead unfortunately to me that battery is dead 99/100. The couple exceptions I've made was for esk8 battery since the 10Ah 5S packs are fairly expensive and so to me were worth doing some surgery on at the time (relied on it to get around town to get groceries etc. so if I don't eat I die anyway )