Unexpected Lipo Battery Fire When Resusitating From Low Voltage State

[AEHaas]

I had a brand new, unused 5000mA LiPo 6S 50C battery burn up. It was a new battery that I was going to put into service. It was in it's original package with no connector on the output leads. I was going to solder on EC5 connectors. I decided to check the voltage of the pack first. It was less than 1 volt.

I heard some people resuscitate batteries with low voltage by charging them at a low rate for a long time. So I set my charger at 100 mA and started charging while having the battery in a safe open place in the garage where I was working. I had the battery in a fire safe "LiPo charging bag."

After a few hours I heard some cracking noise from the battery. It looked fine and was not hot but I took it outside in the yard away from anything and watched it for a while. Nothing happened. I went back to my work in the garage. I came out 15 minutes or so later and there was the battery burned up to dust.

Just FYI

AEHaas

 

[BVH]

RCGroups "Batteries and Chargers" is a fantastic forum and sub forum to learn about all chemistries of batteries. I've been frequenting that sub forum for 13 years or more and learned most of what I know about batteries from there. One thing that is harped on frequently is that one Never tries to resuscitate a Lipo that is below about 3 Volts per cell - resting Voltage. "Rapid Venting With Flame" is usually the result of having tried to do so no matter how low the charge rate is. Glad you had no significant damage to your garage and house.

https://www.rcgroups.com/batteries-and-chargers-129/