Swelling on lrp shorty

[Andywoods]

Hi just wondering if this is a common problem with lrp shortys , mine are swollen After 2 months of use, i always balance charge . I will never buy lrp again after the problems ive had with them .

[dicky14]

Hi mate, i run LRP shortys as well, my 4400 has slight swelling and is soft, my 4500 is just starting, no issues with the batteries though.

[Andywoods]

Hi mate, i run LRP shortys as well, my 4400 has slight swelling and is soft, my 4500 is just starting, no issues with the batteries though.

I agree there is no issue with performance but its getting to the stage where i cant get them in the car , never again with lrp iam going back to using orion.

[Chris Larner]

I've found out that swelling is normally caused when the battery has been recharged when it's still warm/hot. This was the case with my Orion that swelled.
Have either of you charged a warm pack?

[Andywoods]

I've found out that swelling is normally caused when the battery has been recharged when it's still warm/hot. This was the case with my Orion that swelled.
Have either of you charged a warm pack?

No i never use them 2 runs in a row , my orion shorty is perfect anc is used exactly the same

[spindles69]

Exactly the same problem with my lrp shorties.I have four that have swelled.Only had them since the start of the regionals about three months now.Each one has only been charged a maximum of twenty times,each one balanced charged and storage charged in between race meetings.Only got them because we cannot run with the nano tech's at our regional series.But have had no problems with the nano tech's in the three years i have been using them,and they still have got loads of punch.

[Big paul]

+1 for the nano techs, and the money you pay for them it do's not mater if they go south
£22 as against (I don't know) £60 to £80 for a branded lipo.

[mattr]

Just for balance, my orions swelled like a bugger. Cracked the case.

[stumpiey]

had an orion shorty that after a few months would not balance, one cell would only go to 3.93v.

i have had LRP 4500 shorty packs since november last year and they have no swelling and are spot on.

after a meeting i take them down to 7.4 storage charge without fail and don't charge them til race day

[ianjoyner]

I've been running my LRP 4500 shorties getting on for a year without any issues, touch wood no sign of swelling. They've been run down to the cut off a couple of times too, so I wouldn't say they've had a really easy life.

Have you ever left them fully charged Andy?

[zoaman]

Ive bought 3 shorries and 4 sets of saddles.all swollen up after 3-4 weeks use.loads in our club have the same problem.all swollen and case cracks.not good.dont think any body I know will buy them again.and not cheap batteries either.spoke the shop.usual fob off.never again

[orinoco]

I have a set of saddles and a shorty, both swollen like overcooked sausages.........never buy LRP cells again.

[CHEVY]

I have had same problem with lrp 6900 1s 3.7v packs
One cracked case

[RudeTony]

Everyone thinks they should balance charge all the time - that is what causes the problems.
Balance when new and then just charge normally - balance again after 8-10 uses.
You won't get these issues.
6 years with Orion not a problem - now with LRP - no problem

Just trying to help you guys

[cmgreen]

Cheers, I always thought to Balance every time, so will change now ! :thumbsup:

[Gayo]

What's the theory behind this?:confused:

[dpackster1980]

What C rating are you lot charging at? I've never charged more than 1C and never had a pack swell.

[Mike2222]

I just check the voltage of each cell beforehand. If they are the same, I dont balance charge. If there is a difference, I do.

[stumpiey]

i balance charge before a meeting then charge normally at the event, as tony said there really isn't any need to balance charge everytime

[PaulRotheram]

If it happens on 1S packs, then the theory is flawed.

[adey]

I had an lrp shorty swell after 2 weeks. That had only been charged once and balanced once. Not impressed with it. I have bought lipos from demon power products and now buy the nano tech ones and I charge them twice a night at racing and have never once had an issue. They are very cheap too. I appreciate what rude tony is saying, but I don't see how it makes any difference. Balance charging on a two cell is matching the voltage for both cells up to their capacity so they both together produce the maximum voltage they can, but as long as they are not being overcharged I really can't see why balance charging each time is an issue. Rude tony probably knows something I don't. I know he is hugely experienced and knows what he is talking about.

[orinoco]

The balance charge theory is nonsense as I don't balance charge my cells every time, maybe once every 6 runs or so, not that I see how it can make any difference anyway. I treat all my cells the same way with no swelling to 4 sets of reedy saddles and 2 sets gens ace and 2 sets of hpi plazmas (My son and I both race 2 classes each meeting, hence the amount of cells......). Only the LRP's have swollen..........

[RudeTony]

Sorry to add another spanner to this discussion but chargers are obviously an important factor to what is going on.
Some chargers, cheaper ones mainly, are a factor.
This is why the BRCA check voltage at BRCA Sanctioned events and you can't go on track with more than 8.40.
Many of the cases are the chargers used.

In my experience, Orion are good as are the LRP. I believe Muchmore good too. Sorry don't about others.

[orinoco]

I use the same charger to charge all my cells............only the LRP's swell.

[Dr Fly]

Hang on, lets get some fact into this. statements like, "do not balance charge" can be misleading, and cause much more swelling if people dont get the context of it

Whilst there is not any real need to balance charge a pack every time, it takes several charge/discharge cycles for a pack to go out of balance. There is also no harm being done when you balance charge a battery. You have much higher chance of damaging a pack by non-balance charging an out of balance pack. Than balance charging every time.

Swelling is caused when you get oxidation of the internal Anode and Cathode of the battery. This can be caused by internal contamination (poor manufacturing) high current charge and discharge. Exceeding the voltage limits of the pack, and also by too much heat.

Exactly what causes your pack to degrade is entirely down to your own circumstances, every pack in this thread could have a different problem, or they all could be from the same batch, who knows. But once a cell starts to degrade, it will only get worse and worse, as the reduced performance will cause more oxidation.

Personally, I use LRP (2 years old), Reedy (1 year old), Losi (3 years old), Thunder-power (3 years old) and Nano-Tech (3 years old) packs. I dont take very good care of them. I balance charge everything at 6amps, which is the max of my charger. I throw them in a car run my five minute race, then throw them back in a box. on a race day i use 2 packs, one on charge, and one in the car. I never storage charge.

The only swelling in any packs is from one of the LRP ones, which i left fully charged by mistake for several weeks. The losi and thunderpower packs are now on there way out, in that the internal resistance is so high, that the voltage drops under acceleration that the car goes into limp mode. This means the pack has got to the end of its racing life, but still no swelling.

If i had issues with several cells all puffing up, i would start to check my charger cut off limits, i would also look at the way i use my cells compared to others. Belive it or not, we had a guy in the club Who's charger cut off voltage was so out of calibration, that it popped open a brand new pair of saddles.

Also check the temp that your batteries are coming off the track, are they hotter than others? All these things add up, and all cause swelling.

[Adam F]

I had three brand new lrp shorties, all of which swelled up in a fairly short timescale.

I then went back to orion (4500/100) and hey, no swelling after over a year, on the same charger.

Worth mentioning that some on here will always push their sponsors stuff, no matter the brand or their experience.

[Lee1972]

I had three brand new lrp shorties, all of which swelled up in a fairly short timescale.

I then went back to orion (4500/100) and hey, no swelling after over a year, on the same charger.

Worth mentioning that some on here will always push their sponsors stuff, no matter the brand or their experience.

Same here as I have a LRP shorty and both LRP and Nosram saddles as well as other brands: Thunder Power, Turnigy, Reedy and Orion and they're the only ones that show any sign of significant swelling with the exception of one of my Orion saddle packs but they've been well used and are probably on their way out.

[Piles]

Personally I'm very dissapointed with my LRP shortys and wont be buying any again. I bought some only 3 weeks ago and found their IR to be higher than 18 month old batteries I have. I bought the LRPs to replace these previous Lipos because I thought they were getting high.