what to do when a lipo is bloated???
 

hey guys, i have a 4s and a few 2s lipo sitting at full charge for over 2 months without realizing it. and its now bloated or swelling. what do i do now? can it still be fixed? should i discharge it and cycle it again?

i check the voltage, they all seemed fine resting at 4.00 or 3.98v

what should i do?

If i were you, dump it. Discharge it, throw it in a can of salt water for a day or two and discard of it. I wouldnt risk using it.

Getting another is the safest thing to do. Sitting at full charg for that long, the internal resistance has increased and it'll no longer be like it was before even if it doesn't continue to swell. Its damaged and the swelling is just part of that damage.

You can try to cycle it and see if it goes down, but watch it carefully and make sure its not increasing in size at any stage. It it does, immed stop and remove it to somewhere it can't do any damage if it vents.

I'd get another personally.

+1 on Dusters post. Stay safe and purchase another one.

whats the proper way to dispose of a lipo?

once lipo is discharged and left in salt water for few days you can throw it to regular trash unlike nimh or nicd batteries

a nailgun is my preferred method....

no chance of fire when there is nothing left to burn....

When you search the 'net, you find the salt water method but if you dig a little, you'll also find that it's no longer preferred way to get a lipo ready for disposal. Testing has revealed a prob with corrosion of the cell tabs or connections - salt water corrodes them quickly enough that the lipo is not fully discharged before the cell tab is corroded off. So if you're going to go with salt water, you need to puncture cell membranes to let the salt water contact the media.

What is now recommended is to take a single 1157 automobile tail light bulb and discharge the lipo for 24hrs. Do it outside as this will likely cause puffing if its not already puffed, After 24hrs, lipo is dead, harvest connectors, then connect the pos and neg and throw it away, or take it to a battery recycling center. Lipo in this condition is supposed to be landfill safe.

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