E-bike4life
100 W
nechaus said:
lol nice. Sounds like I may have to finally see what lipo fire is about
I kinda want to see what happens when you overdischarge it and then try to charge it lol
Disposing of LiPo
- Thread starter StudEbiker
- Start date
lol nice. Sounds like I may have to finally see what lipo fire is about
I kinda want to see what happens when you overdischarge it and then try to charge it lol
nechaus
100 kW
you can look it up on youtube...
but best fun to do it yourself
but best fun to do it yourself
E-bike4life
100 W
I would have to agree. I have seen the videos and know that you should not try to charge an overdischarged lipo, but I just have to see it.
Personally I prefer the repurposing methods of disposal, especially those that let me experiment upon stuff other people no longer want. :lol: So if anyone does have LiPo/etc. they're looking to recycle, I'd be interested in anything potentially useful, if cost is really really low. 
Realistically that FAQ you quote above is probably safe enough, but much less fun than taking the pack apart and using the still-good cells, PCB, leads, and whatnot from it for other things.
Realistically that FAQ you quote above is probably safe enough, but much less fun than taking the pack apart and using the still-good cells, PCB, leads, and whatnot from it for other things.
amberwolf said:
I agree. That's how i got my 5Ah magic shine batteries. Just used a 3 cell pack from a 5S pack with 1 dud in it to operate a 12V air pump as well in an emergency.
If you have bad cells, likely someone on here can use a replacement anyhow.
boppinbob
1 kW
When a lipo brick is no longer going to be used on your bike. How does one dispose of it?
Lebowski
10 MW
you're in Texas, right ? You shoot it with a rifle and watch the fire ball 
jonescg
100 MW
^^ I'm with the big Lebowski. Pop a cap in it's ass
dogman dan
1 PW
Pretty safe to dumpster it, once it's at 0v. No super toxic or easily recycled metals in it.
Watching them discharge to zero v is kinda fun and educational, but do it outside.
Watching them discharge to zero v is kinda fun and educational, but do it outside.
liveforphysics
100 TW
I shot about 20 rounds in a pack at 3.5v/cell and it only smoked...
Make sure you first overcharge it to 4.4v in a safe-to-fireball place before shooting it.
Make sure you first overcharge it to 4.4v in a safe-to-fireball place before shooting it.
I would first ask "why is it being discarded?". If it's because it has a bad cell or two, but still has good cells, and hasn't been severely overdischarged or -charged, then either Cor or I could use the pack to rebuild into useful packs. Cor has a post in Items Wanted for them.
FFR Trikes
100 mW
Batteries Plus accepts them for free. Looks like there's six locations in Houston: http://www.batteriesplus.com/store_locator/state/TX.aspx
-Tommy
-Tommy
If you are not into the pyro stuff... RC guys drop the packs in salted water in a plastic bucket outside for a few days.. then throw in the regular trash...
but yeah, if it's not puffed and shippable, with good usable cells, some guys here would salvage them !!..
but yeah, if it's not puffed and shippable, with good usable cells, some guys here would salvage them !!..
Jay64
100 kW
Looking for some recommendations on how to dispose of Turnigy Zippy Lipo cells. I know I could just pull a LFP and blow them up, but I really want to try to take them to a place that can recycle them if possible.
There's a few threads on it...but what exactly is wrong with them? If they are still any good (or if they are packs that have just some bad cells), I betcha there are people in your area that could rebuild them and use them up for the rest of their lifespan (as I presume you wouldn't want to ship them).
jonescg
100 MW
If you want to take them somewhere where they will actually be used for what's inside them, a scrap metal place would be ideal. The lithium content is so small it's hardly worth it, but the aluminium and copper is worth recycling. In fact I wonder if we could do some experiments ourselves on this... Dissolve them in sulphuric acid to remove the aluminium and then try to separate the copper?
dnmun
1 PW
i burn them up in my woodstove when i get the box hot enuff. there is nothing worth recycling. burning gets the organic solvents back to CO2.
Jay64
100 kW
AW, they went down to 0v. I don't even want to try to revive them. Even if they did come back, I would never trust them to use them in anything. The lithium content is small per cell, but what if there are a lot of cells? 200 cells.
liveforphysics
100 TW
Jay64 said:
The lithium itself is super cheap and an effectively unlimited and always going to be cheap-ish resource. There will never be a "peak lithium" type event.
However, the cobalt in them is $$$ and in RC LiPo there is quite a bit of it in there. In a big pack with 200cells, I bet there is like $50-100 of cobalt in there if I had to take a wild guess. I personally wouldn't be able to extract any if it for less money/effort than the $50-100 is worth though.
Icewrench
10 kW
At my shop the driver for Interstae Battreries says they will accept any battery for recycling.
SamTexas
1 MW
In Houston half of the recycling centers take batteries including laptop batteries (LiCo).
Chalo
100 TW
liveforphysics said:
I beg to differ. Lithium is around in low concentrations all over the place, but only available in commercially exploitable concentrations in a few places-- mostly salt basins in Bolivia. Worldwide known commercially viable reserves are estimated at 13 million tons according to USGS. That's about four pounds a head, counting only the heads we already have.
And all those folks in the Third World? They've got cell phones now, with tablet computers on the way. For instance, ten percent of Tanzanians have electricity at home, but two-thirds have cell phones.
When lazy car-driving turds start using electric cars in real numbers, it will not be long at all before we wish we hadn't thrown so many lithium batteries away.
Jay64
100 kW
I edited the first post to clarify that these are Turnigy Zippy cells.
I'm not looking to make money by recycling these (would be nice to get a little back I guess if it is possible) I mainly just don't want it going to waste if it can be recycled and used again for something. I could do some experiments on a couple of the packs to see what they can possibly do after being drained down this far, for future references, but with this many cells, I don't want to just destroy them just for shitsNgrins.
So I guess with that in mind, if any wants to also suggest a possible test, let me know soon.
I'm not looking to make money by recycling these (would be nice to get a little back I guess if it is possible) I mainly just don't want it going to waste if it can be recycled and used again for something. I could do some experiments on a couple of the packs to see what they can possibly do after being drained down this far, for future references, but with this many cells, I don't want to just destroy them just for shitsNgrins.
So I guess with that in mind, if any wants to also suggest a possible test, let me know soon.
they contain nothing toxic, unlike nicads... i've done the RC forum suggestion of putting them in a salty water bucket for a few days, then just throw them in the trash ( electrical taped the terminals just in case )..
for large quantities, bottle recycling places take batteries, they pay per Lb for sla but they will take any other cell types to disposal.. wrap the terminals.. and drop them off at a bottle plant imo.
for large quantities, bottle recycling places take batteries, they pay per Lb for sla but they will take any other cell types to disposal.. wrap the terminals.. and drop them off at a bottle plant imo.
Jay64
100 kW
I wasn't necessarily concerned with toxic contamination, I just would really like to see as much of the material be reused as possible.
