I was doing some modifications on my new foamy and unplugged my TP 2100 3s and placed it on the table next to where I was working. I moved my plane a bit to reach a servo and my Deans Ultra plug touched an allen wrench for about 4 seconds. Battery started to get hot and I knew what was comming...placed it out on the driveway to watch the show. About 3 mins later the smoke bomb exploded......a little fire and the sound of $74 flying on the breeze. A hard lesson to learn....keep your batteries safe till you're ready to plug em in

You should have the female side of the Deans ultra connected to the battery, precisely to prevent this kind of think happening. The male side goes to the ESC.

better luck next time.

Sorry to hear about your loss.
Question, though........how did the allen wrench touch both poles? I'm assuming the battery has the female half.

Thanks for sharing your bad experience. It helps the rest of us learn things a little less painfully -- female side of the Deans Ultra always stays with the battery pack.

Sounds like the male was on the battery. BAD idea..
..a

You are Correct....My Males are on the Battery side.....Thanks for the info, I'll change them ASAP

3-Hours later:
Ok I redid all of my Ultra Deans! Thanks guys, I'd have never thought to switch the ends (even as obvious as that is).

Hmm, the more I read about li-po's the more I dislike them. It seems that whatever you do wrong to them will cause them to blow up in your face.

Discharge them at too high a rate: "puff".
Charge them at slightly too high a voltage: "puff".
Discharge them too deep: "puff".
You just have a bad day and select to charge your li-po's: "puff".

And peoples advice is to charge them in a box filed with sand, never charge them unatended, and transport them in fire proof containers.

I'm amazed that it is at all legal to sell and use li-po's. They are dangerous. I know they give far more power and have less weight than conventional cells, but is it realy worth the risk of burning your house down just for that?

Gee lets ban LiPo batteries, yeah and after were done banning LiPos we can go celebrate with 300 fireworks sold out of a bus at the end of the road.
Give me a break Frank B.

Learn to take care of your LiPos and take the extra time to treat them right and all will be fine, even when something goes wrong.

some people obviously think it's worth all the trouble. but having said that, it is a free country, to each his own.

Frank,

Quite a few people feel as you do. On the other hand, I've seen others who felt as you do change their minds after studying awhile. Some of us adventurous souls grabbed them "first day out". A few have been careful observers and/or experimenters and contributed to our LiPo "database". A relatively very few have contributed by way of accident reports.

There is no risk of burning your house down IF you follow the proceedures in the third paragraph of your post.

Is it worth the BOTHER (not "risk", really)? That's up to individual fliers, of course.

- RD

Just because there are some safety procedure you can follow doesn't make them less safe to handle. If they were safe there would be no need for safety procedures at all.

Fireworks are safe until you put a match to them. Li-po's are not safe until you put them in a plane, why else do you need to transport them in a fire proof bag? You don't do that with fireworks.

If you follow the instructions, charge them the way you are supposed to, and are really carefull not to do anything wrong, why do you then need to charge them in a box filled with sand? (aren't they safe?).

What if it was any other piece of hardware, like a TV-set? Would you then accept that it could suddently explode right in the middle of you living room? Hey, that's no problem, just follow the safety procedures: Always place your TV in a box of sand, and have a fire extingusher placed next to it, and never leave it turned on unatended. When you go to sleep, put it in a fire proof cabinet.

I don't think I would buy such a TV-set, and I don't see the difference between that and the li-po's.

Frank,

Lipos are bad for you. Don't use them.

- RD

Originally posted by RD Blakeslee
Frank,

Lipos are bad for you. Don't use them.

- RD

Good advice

Originally posted by Frank B
Hmm, the more I read about li-po's the more I dislike them. It seems that whatever you do wrong to them will cause them to blow up in your face.

Discharge them at too high a rate: "puff".
Charge them at slightly too high a voltage: "puff".
Discharge them too deep: "puff".
You just have a bad day and select to charge your li-po's: "puff".

And peoples advice is to charge them in a box filed with sand, never charge them unatended, and transport them in fire proof containers.

I'm amazed that it is at all legal to sell and use li-po's. They are dangerous. I know they give far more power and have less weight than conventional cells, but is it realy worth the risk of burning your house down just for that?

Hyperbole. Life is dangerous. Resourceful people learn to cope. Intelligent risk-taking is rewarded. Carelessness is punished. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa.

As crazy as it sounds, I had the male plug on the battery side for an entire month of flying. I've flown my planes numerous times with no incidents...no problems charging them......Do you NiCad guys get 28 min flights? Now that I fixed my plug ends, I doubt I'll have any more trouble with my lipos......Some people are just afraid to try something new.