So.... in a hurry to get things ready for racing this weekend, I managed to charge 2 lipos in NiMH mode on the charger. One puffed significantly while the other just slightly puffed. Thank god they didn't explode as I didn't really want to try out the charging bags they were in. What do I do with them now? I'd like to drop them off for recycling, but I need to discharge them first. I have read that I can drop them in a bucket of salt water for a couple of days, but that was for batteries that hadn't puffed. Is that the same procedure for puffed batteries? If so, how much salt is needed for say a 1 gallon plastic bucket.

Yup....I know...lesson learned the hard way. Boy I really want to kick myself in the head right now.

Yes you should put them I a salt water bath for up to a week. Just dump a bunch of salt in the water and stir it up. Not sure exacally how much but start with that.

The easiest thing to do is use a 1157 auto tail light bulb and discharge them til they're dead, do it outside in case they puff further and vent, which hopefully they won't though. I'd leave the bulb on overnite and make sure its plenty dead. When dead, harvest your connector and twist the neg and pos together. Its now landfill safe and ready for the trash. Recycle if you wish.

The salty water business is not much good with the alum tabs used in todays lipos, the tabs corrode and come off the cell before the cells are finished discharging. Short of cutting the cell membrane open and then soaking, which I wouldn't recommend, salty water has been replaced with manual discharge to zero.


I'm glad you caught it when you did.....bet you won't let it happen again though!

Never heard of this. I will try this next time I ever get a puffed lipo.

A little reading about lipo disposal -

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=752866