Wires on Fire!
01-06-2009, 08:52 AM
#2
Suspended
Sure sign one or the other is bad 
01-06-2009, 09:46 AM
#3
I charged both of my new reedy 5000mah 2 cell batteries at the same time on it using the tamiya plugs and it worked great. I put dean's on the batteries and on the "A" out put wires that use banana jacks to plug in to the charger. After I put the fire out and checked my heart, I put the battery on the "B" output and it checked out fine. I even ran it in my rc for about 10 min and let it cool, then charged it on output "B" and it worked fine. I called MRC and John told me that as long as channel "B" is working, I probably didn't hurt anything. I assume that I did something wrong when soldering up the dean's. At first I thought maybe I plugged the banana jacks in the wrong hole and reversed polarity, but the charger won't show any data if you do that. This was showing power in the battery just before the wire burned.
01-06-2009, 10:21 AM
#4
My guess is that some solder got onto both posts of the Deans connector. I've almost made this mistake myself when I've been in a hurry and soldering up deans.
For the fire to occur, basically a short occurred somewhere. Either in the charger, the connections, the wire (if it had an exposed area due to cut insulation), or the battery itself.
I'm not familiar with that charger, but I think you can rule out the battery since it's not a pile of ash. So my guess is either a connection, or the wire was damaged. (Also, I've seen weird things happen when charging on a metal table.)
Paul
For the fire to occur, basically a short occurred somewhere. Either in the charger, the connections, the wire (if it had an exposed area due to cut insulation), or the battery itself.
I'm not familiar with that charger, but I think you can rule out the battery since it's not a pile of ash. So my guess is either a connection, or the wire was damaged. (Also, I've seen weird things happen when charging on a metal table.)
Paul
01-06-2009, 10:50 AM
#5
Suspended
I charged both of my new reedy 5000mah 2 cell batteries at the same time on it using the tamiya plugs and it worked great. I put dean's on the batteries and on the "A" out put wires that use banana jacks to plug in to the charger. After I put the fire out and checked my heart, I put the battery on the "B" output and it checked out fine. I even ran it in my rc for about 10 min and let it cool, then charged it on output "B" and it worked fine. I called MRC and John told me that as long as channel "B" is working, I probably didn't hurt anything. I assume that I did something wrong when soldering up the dean's. At first I thought maybe I plugged the banana jacks in the wrong hole and reversed polarity, but the charger won't show any data if you do that. This was showing power in the battery just before the wire burned.
Sure sounds like you saved things in time, that's good, and a good lesson on why to be standing by when batteries are charging in stead of walking away.
Otherwise, since things check out (hopefully you didn't reverse a wire - neg. to pos.), it's possible you have some sort of short circuit in your charge loom somewhere.
Oftentimes, when soldering on deans, guys will try and strip and solder both pos. and neg. wires at the same time - and it's always advisable with LiPOs (since they're so succeptible to damage from shorts) to do them one at a time.
The other thing I'd check is to make sure the shrinkwrap (I hope you used it) didn't melt between the two poles on the deans or that the wires are pressed too closely together with a small bit of bare wire exposed.
On permanent things like charger connections where I change out a plug I always try and put a double layer of shrinkwrap over my solder joints just for safety sake.
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