First off Ive used Lipos for a few years so not new to them. Ive had a orion Carbon 3200 swell up for over draw from a 7700 motor before and it went back down after awhile. Orion was great and exchanged it.

My son has a Platinum 4800 Orion lipo he has used about 2 years or so. Recently I noticed it has swelled up between 1/8-1/4" on 1 end only. Its the end opposite the connectors. Enough it popped the seam on the case and cracked the end of it. Soon as I noticed it I took it out of his buggy and took the wires out of it. Its sat for some time and never went back to normal. Not sure when it happened, he ran it a few weeks ago no issue before I noticed it.

Is there a way to tell if its safe to use still or should i just salt water it and pitch it? We have gotten our money out of it but hate to pitch it if I dont need to.

Not blaming orion...just put their name in case it would help someone tell me why it happened...nothing but good things for orion from me.

I had great success with Orion Lipos, if it wasnt for the price they would be one of my first choices.

I only run soft case packs now, so in comparison, if your hard case packs have swollen to the point it is expanding the case, I would suspect they are swollen much more than what I would call "minor swelling." I have one cheapo pack that grows a little in size every run for the last year. But, it always comes back to firm after resting, the cells balance perfectly, and the punch is still adequate. I think this is the exception to the rule though, I think that unless you are willing to have a potential problem, you should discontinue use of any pack that shows swelling.

As for why it happened, its very hard to say without knowing your habits regarding charging or using it. If you balance charge the pack frequently, dont over-discharge it, and store it at appropriate capacity levels, it may have just been its time.

its been sitting about a week since i noticed the swell and still is swelled up and hasnt went down any. Guess its probably toast

You might try charging it at a low charge rate and see it it comes down, otherwise if you continue to use it, watch it for signs its getting bigger. As soon as you see it increase in size, it's prob no longer safe to use it.