Accidentally made a small puncture in my lipo battery. It's a little stinky, but has a charge if I plug it in. Can I still use it, or is it toast?
I've attached an image of the battery puncture.
I dunno, man...
Batteries can overheat and start a fire if "something goes wrong". It could be risky if you're not watching it... And, it could short-out internally when you're not even using it.
It's probably OK and you might be able to "glue up" the puncture and it might still work, but do you want to take a 1 out of 100 or 1 out of 1000 chance of burning your house down?
And, that battery looks pretty beat-up.
Dispose. Do not use any battery (LIPO or otherwise) with a puncture or leaking.
That battery is like 13 bucks from Adafruit. Get a new one! For fun, charge it up, twist the leads together, and toss it in a swimming pool.
Then run like hell! :o :o :o
ps, don't really do that
But make it someone else's pool so you don't have to drain yours to make it safe again! 
Weedpharma
weedpharma:
But make it someone else's pool so you don't have to drain yours to make it safe again!Weedpharma
Lithium hydroxide could be marketed as a calming skin peel?
The recommended method of disposal is to submerge it in a bucket of salt water, 1/2 cup salt per gallon, then leave it like that for a few days. If you throw it into the trash directly you risk it starting on fire -- which could be really bad if that trash can is inside your home or garage.
Chagrin:
The recommended method of disposal is to submerge it in a bucket of salt water, 1/2 cup salt per gallon, then leave it like that for a few days. If you throw it into the trash directly you risk it starting on fire -- which could be really bad if that trash can is inside your home or garage.
For a single or even a dozen small batteries I agree. The public hazard of a dissolved battery is less than the hazard of a possible fire. 'Flushing' a single battery has a similar effect on the ecosystem as using draino.
ps, if your Municipality or other organization where you live has a 'hazardous waste' program, that would be the ideal way to get rid of lithium batteries.
Theoretically, they should be recycled - lithium is getting expensive; there are limited natural resources.
Drop it off for free recycling at Home Depot or Lowes.
I had a LiPo battery set fire to a customer's house once. It is not worth the risk for a $20 battery.
If anything came out of the battery, that's the electrolyte, and the battery is fast on it's way to failure. I would not attempt to charge or discharge it, and I would store it in a place where nothing would be damaged if it burst into flame, and bring it to one of the battery recycling/dropoff things at your earliest convenience (and then the risk of it deciding to fail catastrophically is someone else's problem).
Can't wait until batteries like this replace the current generation of exploding LiPo's (video shows flexible lithium ceramic battery being hit with a hammer, cut with scissors, getting a nail driven through it, and being assaulted with a torch, while continuing to power an LED - and they are shipping, but expensive per mAh still)
DrAzzy:
Can't wait until batteries like this replace the current generation of exploding LiPo's (video shows flexible lithium ceramic battery being hit with a hammer, cut with scissors, getting a nail driven through it, and being assaulted with a torch, while continuing to power an LED - and they are shipping, but expensive per mAh still)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilGGKDh3_Fo
Awesome link!
The FLCB is very cool technology! They are kinda big though - a 1200 mAh battery is about 6 inches by 9 inches. I suppose you could fold it up though ...
Are these available to the hobbyist market anywhere?
Indeed, those batteries look awesome.
I'll be disposing the faulty battery asap
xxmamakinxx:
Accidentally made a small puncture in my lipo battery. It's a little stinky, but has a charge if I plug it in. Can I still use it, or is it toast?I've attached an image of the battery puncture.
Oxygen/moisture must be excluded from any lithium battery - you have a hole, you are not excluding oxygen or moisture,
you have an incendiary device now, place in salt water outside.
There's a guy who did a bulk byu selling them for $15 per 130mAh one on tindie. Very thin, they're talking about rolling them up into 18650s
xxmamakinxx:
Accidentally made a small puncture in my lipo battery. It's a little stinky, but has a charge if I plug it in. Can I still use it, or is it toast?I've attached an image of the battery puncture.
LiPo batteries are dangerous when in good condition. Take that thing outside, garden hose in hand and rap it with a hammer. When it catches fire, hose it down, then leave it to cool overnight, then throw it away.
ChrisTenone:
Lithium hydroxide could be marketed as a calming skin peel?
All of those women's beauty products that claim to "exfoliate" make me laugh. A propane torch exfoliates too. So does LiOH!