Originally Posted by
First_Principal
I see the report states the battery is a "Deltran 330 Lithium-ion Phosphate battery", and goes on to note some issues with the battery that occurred since the operator ran it flat.
That's a report for an older incident; it does not apply to the recent one in Wagga. However, the report does raise an awful lot of questions - to begin with, the only "Deltran 330" battery I can find is lead-acid (the lithium ones are 300 or 360).
LiFePO4 batteries can handle a decent amount of abuse (I've completely flattened one in a radio control system, but it still works OK) and their failure modes tend to be benign (they just refuse to hold a charge). I've seen videos of people stabbing them with a screwdriver, with no catastrophic failure. LiPo or Li-Ion are definitely a different kettle of fish, because the failure mode is "catch on fire" - I would definitely be reluctant to fly with one of those in a location that I can't access during flight, especially when it's already seen significant abuse (Australian weather, charging from a possibly-overcharging alternator, and a complete discharge).