can lipo's burst

[SlowOne]

Originally Posted by DCM

In the end, even when one of the cells go up in the pit, they are still safer than an exploding NiMH cell.....

Don't agree. We had a couple of the IB NiMh cells go up, and all they did was spray debris about the place - one pop and that's it. Since there is no pressure to sustain the reaction, once the can's split that's it.

The recent episode at the 12th WC sprayed hot debris across four pit tables, narrowly missing human flesh, and setting off burns in pit towels. Once the reaction starts, it escalates, not decays like an NiMh. In the case of the WC, we were very lucky that the person whose owned the cell wasn't at his pit table...

Since hearing that someone lost a lot of property (thankfully not any human injury) through a LiPo fault in a starter box that was sat on it's own in storage, I too store mine in a LiPo sack!

Both situations are very nasty, but the LiPo issue is that it is a runaway reaction, whereas the NiMh is a decaying reaction.

Originally Posted by DCM

I do think that the LiPo cell is inherently safe, as long as it is used within it's safe parameters, where as a NiMH would just go...

I agree that the technology being used in LiPos is heaps better than the later IB cells, that clearly pushed that technology too far. The worst thing was that it was unpredictable, and even following guidelines people experienced catastrophic failures of their cells. In the early LiPo days it was the same with our high-discharge usage - puffing and failures.

As well as the BRCA guidelines, we should buy only from reputable companies that are in the RC game, and not from cheap sources overseas or here in UK. There is no evidence that charging above 1C makes any difference to performance, so why do it - follow advice.

I hope that the BRCA do agree to use of LiPo sacks, since it will allow us to avoid the 'ambulance chasers' should anything happen. This is now a foreseeable risk, and as any HS&E manager will tell you, if you fail to take action to reduce that risk, you will be liable for compensation. There may be many tales of why we shouldn't do this, but in the end the BRCA Exec is going to have to mandate it, or we are going to have to pay considerably more for our insurance premiums!

Use LiPo wisely, in accordance with advice, and sleep easy in your bed. HTH