Save Your Dead Lipo Battery: Rescuing From Low Voltage Cell Connect Error

[@JayDanielz]

Dude, you cannot imagine how thankful I am for you showing us. I’m familiar with Li-Po batteries in motorcycles (Triumph and Aprilia) and know how to use the factory charger to wake them up, but couldn’t figure out how to do it with a standard RC charger. My battery is only 4 months old, but dropped to 0.0 (you know why…it was mentioned that some of us idiots leave the car on after playing…lol) and I just recovered it 2 mins ago with your trick. Thanks, man! You are a lifesaver! And…a saver of $100 each time I do something stupid…hahahahaa

[@DIRTYPRODiGY]

Man, I can't stress enough what these videos do for the community. Thank you so much! This is a really clutch and informative!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Glad to hear it!

[@brianmorrison2846]

Thanks for the video I just pulled a lipo from the recycle bin and recovered it

[@RCReviewChannel]

Perfect!!! Just observe that lipo over the next 2 cycles and make sure it stays balanced. Save money and landfills!

[@TrokaRC]

This has saved me few times thanks. Also store batteries inside a metal box with a vent hole.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Absolutely!!!!

[@BigHoTzMuZik]

I have $100 batteries and my youngest never unplugs the batteries from the esc. Thank you so much for saving me hundreds; I was about to purchase more batteries. 😮‍💨

[@johnwellons9239]

Worked like a charm. Thanks!

[@thezackarius9094]

Just bought a furitek fury wagon on sale and left it on by accident. Couldn't get my small battery charger to charge it as nihm but I did have another big 2s lipo for my 10th scale trucks that had been giving me the balance port error. This saved that battery for me lol.

[@rcaustralia1101]

Thankyou! Even us oldies can still learn some cool techniques to save us money from buying again!

[@RCReviewChannel]

You're very welcome!

[@rcaustralia1101]

@@RCReviewChannel i just recovered a 3s battery and its charging! For safety i charged it in 30 second intervals checking for heat or anything out of the ordinary at 0.1 Amps but i raised it to 0.2 Amps to get it over 9v. Once again thankyou👍💯

[@Luke-en2tk]

I don't use the 1c rule when using Ni-Mh to recover a Lipo, I sometimes set it as low as 0.1. Good idea with the cell checker I will definitely use that next time when recovering a low pack

[@RCReviewChannel]

I've tried the 1C rule and the .1amp as well, many times. Both have worked well for me but the 1c is fast and the revival is done in 30 seconds while the person is fully present in the process. Yeah, looking at the cell voltages during the 'jump start' is a game-changer.

[@Luke-en2tk]

@@RCReviewChannel I have always done it low just as a precaution

[@MichaelMcClung-et8nk]

Thank u soooo much! I have a spectrum charger w/ specktrum batteries & this worked flawless as long as you change connectors so balance or smart wire isn't read by charger!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Great to hear! So Sprektrum does work!!!!

[@but531]

130 euros 2 Gens Ace batteries went to the bin, paid with 6 monthly payments. This hobby slowly started to disappoint me, it's not easy for many people to buy lipo batteries like they cost 5 and 10 dollars. One battery is one year and the second battery is 2 years with not much playing.

[@DrewDoesRcEveryDay]

Hey Rc review was on the step of charging on Nihm and it says unstable voltage, what should I try? I’ve had this smart 6s lipo for only about 5 weeks now and only getting 2.9v when I try to charge the Normal way, what should I do?

[@Casitascrawlers]

Thank you this is good info you definitely never want to charge lipo’s when you can’t keep an eye on them for sure. And lipo charge bags also are cheap & good insurance. You bring up a good subject when you said get rid of bad batteries I’m getting a little bit of a collection how do you get rid of them properly I’ve never had any batteries that went bad because of low voltage but I have a few that puffed up & what really makes me mad is I have 3 or 4 bad expensive 6s batteries that have damaged charging wires from crashing & the battery coming out.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Yeah, that's my next video. How to dispose of lipos properly. Also, how to avoid lipos from getting puffy.

[@insomnia7337]

Thanks Francis! I have 2 batts I'm going to try this on

[@RCReviewChannel]

Good luck. Great you didn't throw them away yet.

[@SteffenHarter]

Thanks a lot!

[@RCReviewChannel]

You're welcome!

[@RCReviewChannel]

Support RC Review buy buying through these links: Gens Ace charger options at Amain - alnk.to/5FaBcP1 Charger options at Amain - alnk.to/28RrAwD Lipo batteries at Amain - alnk.to/dexbnWw

[@brandon25184]

Hi, i bought a set of HRB 3s batterys and one came not balanced, I tried balance charging it didn't fix it, the lower cell is at 3.84 other 2 cells are at 4.200 I tried contacting the dealer no reply, is there a way to fix this? i only have a skyrc s65 charger not an expensive one

[@nic.25]

I used to do something similar with a few NIMH AA batteries that show dead on charger, brings it back to life.

[@RCReviewChannel]

Battery CPR!

[@janjansen-q3p]

Bought a new 4s lipo and the charger says low voltage. If i follow your steps its says voltage to high... What should i do. I hope to hear from you soon Gr from Holland

[@christianrambissoon1141]

I learned this from your old videos and it has saved me a few times well....ultimately had to discard the lipo in question after a few months, one cell just wouldn't hold charge any more. Cool update though. What mode is the second charger in?

[@RCReviewChannel]

That's the idea. Gotta know when to save them and know when to give up and dispose. If it won't stay balanced during charging or during use, dispose. The second charger is in lipo mode but it doesn't really matter. It's just taking a peek into the balance plug and that always works. Charging is not performed with the second charger.

[@DoRC]

When cells drop below a certain voltage copper from fhe anode dissolves and redeposits at random places in the cell. These random deposits are undetectable and can cause internal shorting and catastrophic failure at any time in the future with no warning. Forcing overdischarged lipos to charge is creating a fire hazard.

[@RCReviewChannel]

What voltage have you observed this to be? I have revived many lipos and they are performing well and staying absolutely balanced. Phantom shorting is not a thing. Problems are caused by dead cells during charging when not balanced charging

[@DoRC]

@@RCReviewChannel It's not my observation. It's the result of experimentation by multiple different studies that I have read. Those experiments are generally done at negative state of charges so below 3 volts or so. Depending on the study it can occur around two volts or maybe a little bit lower and is worse the deeper the discharge and the longer it's been discharged. And yeah whereas you can usually get away with reviving undervolted lipos You're still creating a significantly increased likelihood of catastrophic failure in the future. Personally I'm just not sure I would want to recommend that to tens of thousands of people. You get thousands of people reviving batteries based on your recommendations maybe one of them burns their house down. Not something I'd want to be associated with but that's just me.

[@havingfunwithtaegan6624]

I'll have to try it. A low voltage meter is recommended. Forgetting to unplug a lipo will kill a battery.

[@just.jose.youtube]

Besides all that's been said, one of LiPos (and any type of battery, I believe) biggest enemies is heat. The more you expose a battery to high temperatures, the worse. One can't control the temperature they're exposed to while being used, obviously but, other than that, we must keep them cool. Inside a car on a sunny day, for example, that's the best way to cut some cycles of it's lifespan. :p

[@tj_garage]

Will this work on soecktrum smart battery’s?

[@RCReviewChannel]

We don't know. Theoretically, it should work if you have another charger with a compatible connector. It is hard to have visibility into the individual cells while jump-starting though. Once you plug in the normal Spektrum charger, it should tell you cell health. Traxxas batteries, it is even more risky. Since Traxxas charges don't display the voltage of each cell, it's a guessing game whether the cells are still ok.

[@RCReviewChannel]

@michaelMcClung-et8nk in the comments below says Spektrum works fine.

[@jondoe6618]

I did this to a 6s drone battery I flew too long 6 volts lol. It did come back to life!

[@RCReviewChannel]

So glad to hear. Based on the comments in our older videos on this subject, we've saved hundreds and hundred of batteries.

[@siarc]

Extremely dangerous to recharge a LiPo that was discharged below 2,5V as it could be permanently damaged and have an internal short circuit. The result can be 🔥🌋

[@RCReviewChannel]

In my experience, as long as the battery charges up balanced, and stays balanced with no puffiness and warming more than normal, it is safe. If any of the cells are damaged, it will NOT stay balanced. Modern lipo batteries are very resilient and most of my new chargers will charge lipo batteries even with cells under 2.0v

[@HardcoreRC]

@@RCReviewChannel So are you prepared to take the consequences of your advice ? will you pay to have their house replaced ? are you prepared to accept a manslaughter charge if someone dies due to house fire ? All chargers will refuse to charge a lipo thats below 3v, there is a very good reason for that.

[@brucebaker0316]

Has anybody ever brought back a battery that has dropped to zero in all the cells.. buy charging it on NIMH.? Thanks 🤟 I'm guess not 😂

[@jasonflores706]

Ok how do you do the Traxxas lipos this way?

[@RCReviewChannel]

Unfortunately, not really an option. One can't really see the voltage of individual cells in the battery so it's not save. The other side of it is one would have to use a different charger and use aligator clips to access the positive and negative terminals (to charge as nimh). Not safe.