Close call while charging a LiPo

Swelling ruptured the battery casing
Published on June 21, 2022.

Today I had an eye-opening incident while charging a LiPo battery. It was an SLS Quantum 4S 1500mAh 65C from StefansLipoShop, but they no longer seem to sell this exact type.

As usual I charged it using my iSDT D2 smart charger. I heard a strange popping noise and was not sure at first what caused it. Then I saw this hanging from the charger.

Photo of 'exploded' battery

I immediately unplugged it and put it outside on the balcony. The cells were noticably hot to the touch. If I hadn't noticed anything I think the charger would have happily continued until a more catastrophic failure would have happened.

After building nicer storage boxes for my batteries I'm now thinking about only charging in a can as well!