[NSRCA-discussion] Lipo Sacks

Mike Hester kerlock at comcast.net
Thu Apr 10 08:56:48 AKDT 2008 

My 2 cents....not an arguement by any means, just another angle.

The problem with lipos is exactly what you mentioned. With a twist.

They simply introduced them to market without enough research and development for our specific application. you mention proper equipment, but back then there really wasn't any proper equipment. And until you see the results of what those things CAN do, a normal average guy can easily get lazy and careless. Well guess what happened?

Back then there was no real balancing. no good chargers capable of properly keeping the packs happy without a LOT of user experience and research on his own.

I'm talking about the first year or so that Li-ions and lipos were really brought to our market. This is the time where most of the horror stories are based. I was semi-involved in one, but I can tell you with a fair bit of certainty that it was not user error. it was simply in my opinion, and in a lot of others, a bad design coupled with possibly shoddy manufacturing.

However...nowadays? Pffffft. take a few simple precautions, know what you're doing, the info is out there and the equipment to support it. just like spinning props, gasoline, nicads, you name it. Safety technology like FAA regs (which I'm sure you know all too well LOL) are written in blood. Yep there have been fires, lots. But in general nowadays if you hear about something like that, it was probably user error. In the beginning, it was a whole different kettle of fish. 

heck I have lithiums in everything I own except my starter for my YS. And that will probably change this year! They are as safe as anything else now because we now have the proper equipment and safety precautions to make it that way. if they had waited one more year, this might be a non issue.

-Mike
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: chris moon 
  To: chad at f3acanada.org ; nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org 
  Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:54 AM
  Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Lipo Sacks


  Walter, 
  I'm with Chad on this.  
  The key is to have good equipment that will monitor the batteries and automatically shut down if there is a problem.  Too many sensational stories on the internet about some battery fire etc have a lot of unknowns in their stories.  Have you ever seen one where they said "it was my fault,  I did XYZ that I should not have done"?  No, everyone says, wow it just blew up - then the marketing guys come out with a safety product to fix a problem that probably never would exist with good equipment and charging techniques.  Why don't we have bunkers and sacks for cans of gasoline?  Is there not a chance that it could explode too?  We know that if we goof around carelessly with gasoline, it will go boom - so we are careful.  Same with lipos.
  I could be wrong here, but I too have hundreds of charges on big lipos and have never had any issue. The key is just be careful and check your charge settings and use good equipment with safety cut offs.  Can it hurt to use these bunkers and sacks, of course not.  They give you another layer of protection but I really don't think they are that necessary.
  Sorry, but I really think the hype is over done with lipos.

  Chris

  PS - no more coffee for me today - I better go fly and relax some


  Chad Northeast wrote: 
    Walter

    The only safe way to charge lipos is to ensure you have a safe charger that monitors cell voltages like the TP 1010, or the Schulze's.  Or use a balancer like the Flightpower etc that tie into the charge line.  This way if anything goes screwy with the charge they shut it down, lipos don't light on fire for no reason, its usually because you overcharged them and they got hot and burst.  Or you are charging a damaged pack, and usually common sense will tell you that is not a good idea.

    ALWAYS babysit the charge, forget bunkers, sacks etc. if you monitor the charge there is no need for these because you will always be aware of the state of the packs as they are charging.  In my opinion using sacks etc. is a band aid for unsafe charging practices.  I am sure someone will flame me for this but I have been charging these big packs for 4 years, I must have 1000's of charges behind me and "touch wood" I have never had a single issue, but I watch my chargers.  In the early days before we had all this fancy monitoring stuff I had to pull packs off chargers because things were going bad.

    Chad

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Walter Nasse <wwnasse at figment.ca>
    Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008 9:09 pm
    Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Lipo Sacks
    To: NSRCA Mailing List <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>

    > BlankDoes anyone use the Lipo Sack for charging and transporting 
    > batterypacks?
    > 
    > What other alternatives are there?  Ammo Boxes? Flour Tins?
    > 
    > Thanks,
    > 
    > Walter
    > 
    > No virus found in this outgoing message.
    > Checked by AVG.
    > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.10/1367 - Release 
    > Date: 4/9/2008
    > 7:10 AM
    > 
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