Loose balance lead... Time to trash my lipo?

[Taffey]

To start off, my setup:

-Thunder Power Prolite 2100mah 3S lipos
-MRC Super Brain 989 charger
-Thunder Power TP-205V balancer

I typically charge my batteries on the 989 while also plugged in to the TP balancer. I have several Prolites, but only one of them is giving me a problem. I discovered tonight that this particular pack (2 months old, 9 total charge cycles) has a loose wire (white) on the balance lead, causing it to show only 2 LEDs on the balancer instead of the usual 3. Tonight, when I plugged the battery into the charger and started the charge cycle (2.1A), my balancer started beeping (single, repeated tones) and then smoking (!) ever so slightly. At the same time, my charger false peaked and ended the charge cycle. This all happened in about 10 seconds.

I quickly unplugged everything and tried the setup on my other Prolites with no problems. I went back to my bad lipo and got the same results as before: a beeping/smoking balancer and a false peak on the charger. Strangely, my balancer appears to be undamaged from this ordeal. After closely examining the battery pack in question, I discovered that I was able to pull the white wire out by the root quite easily. There's a small patch of copper-looking foil on the end of the wire. That can't be good.

I think I know the answer to this question already, but is this battery trashed? I can only assume that something is or was shorting across the balance lead wires somewhere. At best, the pack may work but I will never be able to balance it. At worst, it will short out and cause a fire, burning down my house and killing me in my sleep. If I do need to dispose of it, what is the best way? I estimate that it has about 400mah total remaining charge.

Thanks in advance for your help. :wink:

[Hughes500Bob]

Call them at 702 228 8883 as this should be considered a manufacturers defect and be covered under warranty as it is less than 1 year old. I'd bet they replace it or give you a discount on purchasing a replacement.

[Taffey]

Thanks for the info - I'll give that a try. :D

[cmauze]

Taffey...

I just had the same thing happen (minus the smoking part) on one of my 6 month old 2100 Prolites and TP-205. I've been debating tearing the pack apart and trying to re-solder the balancer lead to the cell - but have decided I'd rather not risk destroying an entire pack. I've settled with just charging the pack in question really slowly and hoping it'll stay healthy.

I'd be interested in hearing what your experience with TP customer support turns out be.

Cheers,

-Charlie

[creightoncarr]

I've re-soldered balance leads on several packs. It's really not intimidating in the least if you are comfortable soldering. However, I've never had a balancer start smoking on me. Personally, I'd be more concerning if the pack had started smoking. Should all be moot, however, b/c as said by Huges500Bob, TP should replace for you. CC

[mgg1]

I have 6 Thunder Power Prolite 2100mah 3S lipos that are around 6 months old and have around 65 hours of flight time divided between them.
On 3 of them the white balance leads have pulled out while attaching the balancer to them.
I have always been careful when handling the small wires and do not feel as though they should have pulled out so easily. None of the wires had a blob of solder showing and the wires were frizzy on the ends like not enough solder was not applied during assembly.
I sent 2 back to the factory to be repaired under warranty over a month ago and have not gotten them back yet. Sent a couple of emails asking when the batteries were going to be repaired and sent back and got a reply last week that said,
Sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused we have been overwhelmed with the amount of batteries we received this month and we should get to it sometime this week.

[jrohland]

I've had this happen on 3 of those same packs. I just cut away enough of the gold colored tape and soldered the leads back on.

It is clear TP should lengthen that wire and wrap part of it under tape to strengthen the connection. What happens is it moves around while in flight and when connected/disconnected causing the wire to break at the solder joint, or, break off part of the cell tab.

Anyway, I'm think they will repair/replace them but, you will be without the pack for a while. It is pretty easy to fix, if you are confident in your soldering. However, that repair will likely void the warranty.

jrohland