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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Bob,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The pack wasn't "hot" when I picked it up, but it
must have gotten hot to make it swell like that. The middle cell was
swollen more than the others, so that must have been the bad one. I'll be
picking up new packs today along with a balancer, this pack was an older TP 2100
3S 1P, no balancing connectors.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=bob@toprudder.com href="mailto:bob@toprudder.com">Bob Richards</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org
href="mailto:nsrca-discussion@lists.nsrca.org">NSRCA Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 17, 2006 8:19
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Charging
Li-Po's</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ken,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Glad you dodged the bullet!!!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>BTW, could you tell if the pack was hot? Just curious.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have the same charger, and have been pleased with it. I purchased two
temp sensors for it, just as an added safety measure. It will shut off if the
temp gets too high. I also charge in an ammo box. I have a TP balancer that I
use to check/balance my TP packs. For my non-TP packs, I use a voltmeter to
check the cell balance before I start charging, and afterwards as well. I plan
to get a Blinky balancer, and am looking for a plug/adapter for the TP
balancer so I can use it with non-TP packs.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I suspect you may have had one cell in the pack that was lower than the
rest, causing at least one cell to overcharge.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I read somewhere that if the open-circuit voltage is below a certain
value (3.3v? -- can't remember off the top of my head) then you should start
out with a low charge rate.<BR><BR><B><I>Ken Thompson
<mrandmrst@comcast.net></I></B> wrote:</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We've all heard the stories, here's mine that I
posted on the Flying Giants,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV id=post_message_54127>Ok folks,<BR><BR>This is the deal...<BR><BR>I am
finishing an Extreme Flight 300-E. I want to run 2100mAh 3-cell Li-Po's, so
I grab the 2 I already have and check them out. One has almost no charge at
all, I kind of knew that already, I had trouble with this pack last year.
The second one showed about 9 volts and change. I hooked it up to my
Accu-Cycle Elite and went to do a discharge so I could check full capacity
on the charge cycle.<BR><BR>The charger told me the pack was discharged
already, so I set it up for a charge and let it run for 20 min. or so, just
to make sure it was working ok, everything looked good so I let it charge
and went inside. Now keep in mind this battery is sitting on a wooden bench
next to my Pattern plane and my new Extra.<BR><BR>I went out in the garage
this morning and heard the charger doing 3 fast beeps, pause, 3 fast beeps.
I said,"Oh, shoot!" and went to the bench, the pack was 2.5 times it's
normal size!!! I didn't think to look at the charger to see what the screen
said, I just shut it off, unplugged the pack and ran it outside and threw it
on the lawn. I went back to the pack in about 5 min. and cut the Deans
connector off, can't waste one of those, and the pack will sit out in the
rain all day.<BR><BR>Now before all of the comments come like,"You should
know better than to charge Li-Po's without them being in a can!!!!" I know,
I know...<BR>I've been using Li-Po's since the first Kokam packs came out,
never had a problem charging them, never even got warm. This is the first
time I've used this charger on them, so I think I must have done something
wrong.<BR><BR>Now I need to make a trip to the LHS and spend a couple of
hundred bucks on new 2100 mAh packs, this time with balancers.<BR><BR>I
dodged a big one this time!! I never even checked to make sure the house
insurance was paid...by the grace of God, it's only the pack that was
destroyed.<BR><BR>This could have been a very bad day, folks, PLEASE take
this as an additional warning when you charge your Li packs.<BR><BR>Flame
suit on, go ahead...I've got it coming.<BR><BR>It sure helps a ton to go to
church and say my prayers!</DIV><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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