Well it happend to me. Not sure what the hell. Not sure if i did anything wrong but ya. Anyways i had a 6 cell IB4600 that i was charging. it was its frist charge. I was charging it on my DuraTrax Ice charger @ .4 amps. i was doing a slow charge and it had been on the charger for awhile not sure on the hours but over 6. Anyways battery i just had checked the battery 2 min before it happend and it wasnt hot or anything. Readings that i can remember where 4200 Mah is what it had taken @ .4 amps. I was siting next to it when she blew and didnt make one sound letting me know something was up. Did i do something wrong or was this a bad battery?

Usually it requires heat to blow up a battery. If everything you did is according to normal battery care rituals, then I would have to say either shipping damage or MFG defect.

1. did you discharge and equalize the pack before charging
2. what was near, on in the vicinity of the pack before it blew
3. what was the charger settings at during the charge (amps, mv drop/cell, temp cut-off)

0.4 amps is very low rate to be charging batteries at, it serves no real purpose. You can accomplish almost the same at higher amp rates (4+), then trickle charging them to top off... I still see no need to trickle charge.

Welcome to the wonderful world of large capacity NiMH batteries.

battery was a sealed pack. with no power in it at all.

the pack was about 12 inches away from the charger and 24 inches away from the power supply. battery was sitting on top of the box it came in on my kitchen table (4K table destroyed) and i was next to it.

charger setting where set to .4amps for first charge 5mv cut off and im not using a temp prob but it was cool 2 min before she went.

i only slow charge it off the get go then i run 4-6amps normally. i dont trickle charge as i see no point as well

Sorry to hear about your table, that sucks. I’m not sure, but I don’t think you are supposed to trickle charge nimh packs at all. I don’t think the charge rate is enough to produce a detectable peak and it just keeps charging until…ya got nowhere to eat dinner.

At every indoor WDRA event I was at this winter at least one person had a pack that blew a cell out. Kinda scary if your the guy in the pits next to him/her...

ok so 2 more questions?

1 are you saying to just charge it at normal amps till its done or what. i figured you would slow charge it the first time.

2 is there any kind of warranty for this thing? i know its kind of out of there hands but i dont think i did anything wrong. I bought it from towerhobbies and i also contacted the company that made the pack to see if they will do anything for me.

Never trickle charge, always charge a normal amperage

Depends were you bought it from but most warranties wont allow you to give it back for a new as that was you fault as they on the box to never trickle charge, so it classifies as abuse

So, this was a stick pack (shotgun style, shrinked) that went boom. I don't trust these packs at all because there is no way to equalize the cells in the pack prior to charging. There is the chance that one cell had much more of a charge in it than the others and you didn't notice the temperature building in that particular cell.

When cells near the end of their charge, instead of storing electrons, they convert them into heat. A cell is a sealed device, and will build pressure when heated. This pressure vessel usually has vents that are supposed to release the pressure build-up before a detonation can occur. The newer cells have a lot less 'dead space' than the older cells, therefore less compressible gas area. This is one of the reasons the newer cells are more temper mental... I know nothing of the chemical reactions...

Battery matching companies sometimes have really great customer service and may help out in certain situations. I am also sorry to hear about your table.

When I get a new pack, first thing I do is discharge the pack and equalize to .9v. Then I charge at about 7.5 amps with a 3mv/cell delta. No mercy. Charge, run, repeat.

BTW, been doing this for the past 3 years without an incident. Two things keep my packs relatively safe.

1. equalizing, all the cells (in the pack) start at the same voltage and peak pretty much at the same time.

2. proper charge cut-off, I have an Ice with temp probe - temp set to 120f, and all chargers are set to 3mv/cell delta peak cut-off.

I actually haven't blown up a cell in over 15 years. We treated ni-cads even worse.

post pics of damage!

show us what happens!

That can't apply unless you have some sort of cobbled 6-probe temp checker.


I kept saying how we used to abuse NiCDs much worse, and that if you do things right you can't blow up a pack, that was UNTIL I exploded two last summer. One happened as I was standing next to it and it blew apart with such ferocity that it left me with a bruise on one of my buttcheeks that took two months to go away.

its not funny....but it is.....

you got shot in the a$$ like forrest gump!

million dollar wound?

i have had a cell vent, and i have had the almighty hottness come out of a battery i was trying to solder!

but never blow up!

it wasn't, but it was

yuppers, just like forest and about scared the crap out of me because I honestly thought I'd been shot

thought it might cost a million the first night after the wife saw what appeared on first glance to be a hicky, lucky for me it got worse overnight

well i just looked on the box and it says nothing about not trickle charging it. it says for more power charge at 6A. doesnt say anything else