Originally Posted by
ionagh
Lots of talk about the hard bits in these RC drones but no-one has mentioned that they are mostly powered by large packs of Lithium Polymer batteries. Yes I know they are fairly soft etc etc.
But they do not like impact or puncture damage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUFxlf4fXjo
And that is just a tiny one.
You have virtually identical cells in your phone, laptop, e-cig and some of your chordless power tools (although these are more likely to be lithium-phiosphate than the classical lithium-cobalt "lipo").
I've been using lithium polymer batteries for nearly a decade (I would guess I have about 70 lipo packs in my garage workshop right now, from the tiny 130mAh single cells up to some 5,000mAh 6-cell monsters), and videos like that are massively misleading. You really have to try very hard to get a lipo to do that kind of thing. I've actually tried it - I've deliberately overcharged them (charging by direct connection to 6v/cell), I've over-currentted them (charged at 10C and discharged at over 100C by directly shorting them). I've cut the envelopes, banged nails through them, overheated them, given them violent impacts with a brick wall (the most extreme being by way of my best Andy Murrey tennis serve impression from 10 feet).
I've certainly managed to damage these cells so they didn't work any more. Some got a bit hot, and some smouldered slightly. But none did these "greek fire" impressions you see on youtube. And I'm by no means alone.
There's usually a bunch of lithium-cobalt cells in the ELBs on aeroplanes, of course. So I'd stay well away from any aeroplanes if they are a concern to you...
PDR