LiPo cell failure midflight destroys my F450. Some questions.

[Gary Seven]

If your solder joints fail, you're doing something wrong. My joints either rip the wire, or pull up the traces in a crash. Good rosin core solder, (Kester 63/37) and a good soldering iron is important. Pre fluxing is a waste. Just clean pads with alcohol and pre tin the pad and wire.

If your solder joints fail, you're doing something wrong. Sigh...no sh*t. I know I did something wrong. It's not my soldering station, for sure. I tend to solder at 380º C for larger AWG stuff and at around 320º for smaller stuff. Maybe I use too much heat?? I use a chisel point as well, except when doing fine, thru-hole stuff. Then I change the point to a "pencil tip."

I use Sn/Pb solder, usually with rosin core. I always use flux as well. I may have fudged it up by NOT cleaning the pads before tinning, but who knows. Clearly, I need better solder skills. Glad yours are so robust you can yank of the pad before the joint breaks.

p.s. Thanks for posting those pics.

 

[nealj4]

Hey rocket man,sorry to hear about your failure. It does make me feel a lot better about my decision to not solder my leads to the pdb. I put crimped ring connectors on all the wires and then soldered them, then made small little aluminum blocks , positive and negative, drilled and tapped holes in them ,then used machine screws to fasten the ring terminals with lockwashers and locktight. I do electronics for a living and soldering something that is subject to this much potential vibration plus flying it into the air with this kind of dollar value, made no sense to me. I know a solderjoint done right would hold but no one can guarantee the integrity of a solder joint, no body.
Just my two cents.

 

[Dewster]

I had a bad cell on a lipo that resulted in my craft falling out of the sky. I guess I should have noticed problems with the battery with the numerous errors received while charging. Props, and battery are two critical things that'll bring your craft quickly out of altitude.

Here's my sad video.