Friday, March 23, 2012

*** E-Flite LiPo Battery SAFETY WARNING *** DO NOT USE!

THIS IS A Z8RC SAFETY WARNING

I've lost count of how many LiPo batteries I've purchased.  Actually, I lost count a long time ago.  I've owned all popular brands and lots of not so popular brands.  Even no-brand.  I've had weak batteries.  I've watched countless batteries give up the ghost.  Some even died in batches.  A few were DOA.

But I've only had six spontaneous catastrophic failures that I remember, mostly because I remember the airplanes: five broken leads, four of those from metal fatigue at the wire-battery junction in flight (all crashes), one de-soldering under load (crash), and one intense LiPo fire upon plugging the battery into the airplane (heroic save).  All five were from a single manufacturer: E-Flite.

My weakest batteries run the brand gamut, but most of my E-Flite batteries quickly find that cesspool.

With my latest catastrophic E-Flite failure, I have no choice but to find E-Flite batteries UNSAFE.  These batteries are a fire hazard and the manufacturer is criminally negligent.  Do not use E-Flite LiPo batteries under any circumstance.