I have a lot of LiPos. Seems as though all of my 2s Venom batteries are puffing. For no reason.

My batteries:
4- Venom 2s 4000mah 20c (3 of them puffed)
1- Venom 2s 4200mah 25c saddle pack (one half puffed)
1- Venom 3s 5000mah 35c (slightly puffed)
1- Venom 4s 5000mah 35c
1- Orion 2s 5800mah 100c saddle
2- Trinity 2s 3400mah 80c shorty titanium
1- Trinity 2s 4500mah 50c titanium
1- Turnigy 2s 4850mah 50c Nanotech
1- Turnigy 2s 5000mah 20c
1- Racers Edge 2s 4500mah??

They are all used in 1/10 scale vehicles. 2wd buggies, trucks and touring cars and one 4x4 SCT with a castle 1415 set up in it (Only uses the 3s or the Orion and the 4s is for my RC8.2E). They are never charged without balance, I have the original red venom pro charger and a Hyperion EOS0720 net3 chargers. The batteries never get over 80 degrees (except the shorties) and I take very good care of my batteries. never had one cell go under 3.4 volts or over 4.2. I just can not explain why these packs are puffing. I am extremely disappointed with venom batteries. At this point I will never buy another Venom, but are they just junk? I will be emailing them to see what they do about them. I never registered them when I bought them but I do have receipts.

How old are they? The c-ratings that you listed are pretty low that's why I ask. I had 2 Venom 3800 35c packs and 2 Venom 5000 40c packs that I ran for 3 years with no puffing and replaced because they started going flat. Only stopped buying Venom because their prices were getting pretty high. I only balance charged them every couple months and never storage charged them. On the flip side, I had 2 SMC 7200 that I always balance and storage charged and they both puffed, bad.

They are all by far under a year old. And I noticed that too about the C ratings of the Venoms, but then again they are not being used in high amp draw uses. My 17.5 buggy probably gets the hardest use because I run a lot of drag brake on it, but I never ran the Venoms in that car. They were mostly in the SC10 and the T4 which are both 13.5. It's funny you mention SMC batteries because when discussing it with another guy he brought up the point that most SMC batteries we see are puffed too. Some people continue to use them, to me it's just not worth the risk. Maybe it's just the lower C Venoms are just lower quality than the others?

some puffing is considered normal.

bottom of page, http://www.smc-racing.net/index.php?...ormation_id=10

Maybe for SMC, maybe for you. Not for me. The most recent one is my Venom saddle pack, I wanted to try it in my Centro and noticed that the hard case was separated. If some swelling is considered normal then why are only the Venoms swelling and all the "better" batteries not swelling. Even though the Turnigy and cheapo one I got not swelling.

I know SMC states that some swelling is normal. Not for me. Besides "some swelling" can be interpreted different by different people. Funny you mention Turnigy. So far my Turnigy Nano Techs (6600 sticks, 5300 stick, 5100 saddle, and 4100 shorty) have been my most consistent brand as of the last couple of years, with zero puffing by the way. I'll continue to use/buy them and feel confident. Bought my first $35 Nano Tech saddle to have a cheap backup for my $120 Fantom (which has been a fantastic battery) just to run them both and couldn't tell a lick of difference. The only SMC I'd try at this point is their $30 shorty if I needed another one.

Well first and foremost, Venom stands behind their products 100%. They will do whatever it takes to make your problem right. As far as quality of packs, I still have one green 5000 20c pack that runs just as good as some of my newer 5600 60c packs. It also show are 2 milli ohms of resistance. That is very low, & allows for the most current to flow. Resistance testing is only a gauge for your own benefit. It's like old school NiMh matching. You can't go by others rating simply due to the fact that they use a different machine, and or ways.
I now have in my race bag some 4500 100c, 6000 100c, & 5800 100c. Every pack is treated the same. They are charged @ 10A, used for the race, cool off, put into storage mode @5A. This is sort of conditioning your batt5. I promise you will see positive results. BTW, I use my 4500 100c packs in my 1/8 E buggy and run for at least 11 minutes full boogy. They don't puff, swell, or anything. Maybe your demand is too high for the C ratings of the pack. If the demand is too high, it strains and over works the batteries, causing serious issues such as your experiencing.
What charger are you using, charge rate, store rate, & vehicle. Then what pack are you using per vehicle.
Let me know if I can help.

The 4000 20c has been used in 17.5 touring cars and 17.5 buggy. Sometimes in my 13.5 stadium truck. And occasional use in a couple of my other 2wd 10th scale RCs.

The saddle pack was used a couple times in my B44.1 (10.5 motor), but that was long ago, but mostly in my 17.5 B4.2/Centro C4.2.

The 5000 35c is used in my 4wd AE Prolite for outdoors, but has been sitting for the winter, was charged to storage voltage with my Venom Pro charger. All my batteries are charged at 5 or 5.8 amps depending on which charger I use, they are both listed in the OP. My hard case 4s venom has not given me any issues, it is used exclusively in my RC8.2e RTR.

Are they soft packs? And usually how long do you usually run a pack down? To LVC? 8 MIN race? Setup test during practice?

I almost exclusively use venom packs I have been phasing out my other brands and I have been quite happy with them. One is very very slightly puffed and all of them are treated the same I always balance charge them and storage em. I never run them longer than 8 minutes though, and I always charge at 6 amps. If your on the track for 15 min in 17.5 buggy you are stressing the battery. I'm not saying that's what's going on but just a thought.

Only the 3s is a soft pack, rest are all hard packs.

I usually run them for 5 minutes on race night then recharge, practice nights I will usually notice a drop in voltage so I stop before LVC, my LVC is set to 3.2 volts. When I do run to LVC I always charge to storage voltage.

So essentially you push the pack to almost dead @6.4 volts and run it for let's say for 1/2 hr. This is bad practice for any pack and would not last very long in quality either. Just because the lipo can provide run times anywhere from 10-45 minutes doesn't mean you should. 15 minutes should be the max. And then to boot they are recycled in the same evening, which increases risk even more.
So what I am saying is that with every one cycle my pack gets, your get from 2-4 per day. Limit the use to no more than 2x a day, with no more that 15 minutes of run time.

Venom are good but working at a hobbyshop too many are sent back

Defects within a 2 cell or greater lipo is usually from misproper use, or a customer that is just sold a battery and are not educated about LiPo's and how to properly use and maintain them. Using the right process, generates a strong, long life pack, that's issue free.
When I sell a pack through my shop, I educate the customer before they leave with the way to use their charger, use, and maintain the pack. Also if the vehicle is there, that the vehicle is properly setup for lipos.

You need to also look at he case material that the batteries are made from. Turnigy and Gens Ace tend to have a plastic case that is very thick and rigid. SMC packs use a plastic that is more soft and thinner, which is why you see them with a slight swell to them. I'm 100% sure if you opened the cases on the Turnigy or GA pack, youd see the same swelling going on in them.