Shorted lipo by mistake - Still ok to use?

ESK8 Electronics
1

Hello everybody.

I’ve been lurking here for a quite some time now, just watching, reading, learning and being amazed by all the talented people here.

I finished my own longboard just a couple of days ago, setup is: Havana Gemini (started as a budget project…), Caliber trucks, 6374 170kv Emax GT5345, 32/15 gearing, Alien mount, Kegel 83mm, 2x Turnigy 5000mah 6s and an Esk8.de VESC and powerswitch. It’s crazy fun!

Anyways, just like an hour ago I accidently shorted my lipos by having them connected in series, and for some reason I tried to connect the balance leads in parallel. To no surprise I had lots of sparks coming from the balance connector of the lipo I tried to connect to last. I just touched them, and threw the cable away as soon as they touched as I got scared, so it didn’t last long but enough to make both the connector in the battery and the lead unusable.

I was so scared since I’ve seen what Lipos are capable of if handled incorrectly, so I just sat there for 5 mins, watching. Nothing happened though. Didn’t get how, puffy or anything, and so I connect it to my charger. The voltage was fine (was just charged before the mistake were made), but as the balance connector was fried I couldn’t check the cells. So I soldered on a new connector, plugged it in and everything seems just fine. Have more or less the exact same reading for every cell as the other lipo.

So, my question is, is it still safe to use? Or should I throw it away? Maybe even both of them? I’ll make sure to keep an eye on them from now on ofc.

2

shorting them might have melted the cables. You’ll have to cut them open and re-solder some new cables. While doing this you can check each cell’s voltage level independently, to make sure none of the cells are dead. In case of a dead cell, remove it from the pack making your setup 5S or 4S or … .

hope this helped

3

Thanks for your reply!

Do you think I have to do it even if I can read all the cells now that I’ve soldered a new connector?

If my lipos could just hang in there for just one or two months more I’d be so happy. I’m plannign on building a 18650/26650 pack during the winter, don’t want to have that same fear of a burning lipo if I ever do anything this stupid again :sweat_smile:

4

No, if you get a valid voltage level from each cell, then ofc it’s not necessary to remove one.

1 Like
5

Great, thank you!

Looks like I’ll be going for a ride later on today after all :slight_smile:

6

haha, great. Have fun!