OleC

Hi guys

There seems to be some misunderstanding about what has happened in Norway the last few days.

The blown up battery pack picured at redrc.net is mine.
One more pack exploded during the raceweekend, and we measured more than 130degrees C on one more pack(Integy I think).

On monday I sent a mail to the Norwegian federation expressing my concerns for the safety of the drivers.
At that very weekend I understand EFRA had a meeting where Team Orion and LRP had expressed concernes regarding the IB4200 cells.
This in total lead to the decision of stopping all races sanctioned by the national federation.

The Federation has NOT banned club level activity, but have advised the clubs to temporarily stop their activities until investigations have been conducted to improve the safety of the drivers.

It is my understanding that most clubs here will allow regular activity but without IB4200 cells, and of course beeing more focused on not overcharging any other batteries.

I normally charge my batteries at 5A with 3mV deltapeak, and 43 degrees C tempcut for safety. I use a Team Orion Advantage charger.
When my pack exploded I had borrowed a charger (same charger) since my charger was busy with disharging the pack I raced with last to see how much was left.

I later discovered that this charger was set at 6A charge with 6mV deltapeak, still 43 degrees C cutoff. So this was obviously neglect on my part, which I do not refuse.
Still, the guy that own this charger charges his batteries in this way so this could still be next to me in a race...
As a sidenote, I later found a tech note in my pitcase, from a different manufacturer saying that the recommended charger settings for IB4200 cells are 6A charge and 5mV deltapeak.

The other pack that blew up (LRP) was charged at 5,5A but I don't know the deltapeak setting.

I was listening to music while getting my car ready for the last final.
When I removed my headset I heard a fizzing noise and looked at my battery. Smoke was gushing out from one cell and I immediately shut the lid on the case with the charger. '
Then I realized that there were three more chargers, probably with batteries connected, in this case...
I opened the lid and pulled out the battery. Fortunately I was sitting at the rearmost row in the pit, with about 10m to the back wall.
I threw the battery along the floor over to the back wall. From then it was a matter of 3-5 seconds before the blast. And yes, this is a blast. Similar to a shotgun blast.

If that thing had blown up in my face I'm sure I would have been blind today. Fingers would have been lost if it had gone of when I held it.