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Should I be worried?

D

DBHunter

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May 6, 2022
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Greetings,
Total novice here, but have been reading these forums for months. Planning to convert my 1976 Trillium Trailer's fridge to a DC compression unit and have assembled the required battery/solar parts. Today I received my order of 4 Eve LF280k's from Amy at Docan. All show a voltage of exactly 3.25 however, as pictured below, one is rather swollen and upon further inspection, there appears to be some leakage under the vent of that cell. No visual damage that I can see. For what it's worth, I didn't find anything when I scanned the QR code.

Should I be concerned or am I overly cautious?

Thanks!
Greg
 

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Well If you bought new cells, then they should not be swollen. Also if that vent is actually open/leaking under that seal, then yes you should be concerned. I would request a replacement of that cell.
 
I have swollen cells that work just fine from Sanben. I wasn't happy with them, but I wasn't going to throw them away or not use them either. They are sitting on and surrounded by ceramic fiber insulation and quarter inch cement board, with a CO2 fire extinguisher system and smoke alarms. Let her burn if she wants to.I've got a garden hose if the CO2 doesn't work. It's a 10 x 14 building 100 foot from the house, so no worries.

Is that mold from the hot humid weather or is that a blowout?
 
RV10flyer said:
I have swollen cells that work just fine from Sanben. I wasn't happy with them, but I wasn't going to throw them away or not use them either. They are sitting on and surrounded by ceramic fiber insulation and quarter inch cement board, with a CO2 fire extinguisher system and smoke alarms. Let her burn if she wants to.I've got a garden hose if the CO2 doesn't work. It's a 10 x 14 building 100 foot from the house, so no worries.

Is that mold from the hot humid weather or is that a blowout?
Click to expand...
Whatever it is appears to be under the seal so no, I don’t think it could be mold. The battery compartment will be under our bed, so…
 
DBHunter said:
Greetings,
Total novice here, but have been reading these forums for months. Planning to convert my 1976 Trillium Trailer's fridge to a DC compression unit and have assembled the required battery/solar parts. Today I received my order of 4 Eve LF280k's from Amy at Docan. All show a voltage of exactly 3.25 however, as pictured below, one is rather swollen and upon further inspection, there appears to be some leakage under the vent of that cell. No visual damage that I can see. For what it's worth, I didn't find anything when I scanned the QR code.

Should I be concerned or am I overly cautious?

Thanks!
Greg
Click to expand...

If those were my cells I would be concerned too. I can't tell from the pictures if it is just 1 cell or all 4 of them. I would send those pictures (and maybe a few more if more than 1 cell is involved) to Amy at Docan and see what see says. My understanding is Docan has good support. Let us know how it goes...
 
Maybe re-measurement of voltage/resistance/capacity is what you need to do now. As long as these parameters meet the standards, then the problem is not big. After all, from the picture, it does not seem to be a serious bulge. The problem can be solved by battery compression. It's the leak... Generally speaking, a leaked battery should not be used anymore, which may be dangerous, and it is also an important step to determine whether a leak has really occurred.
 
Ampster said:
I agree. I have had a leaked cell that was probably my fault for ignoring advice to keep cells verticle. It has perform since then with no issues.
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One thing I'm curious about... Does a battery that actually leaks have a unique weird smell??? Because it was mentioned before that coolant also smells.
 
joanna_lannie said:
One thing I'm curious about... Does a battery that actually leaks have a unique weird smell??? Because it was mentioned before that coolant also smells.
Click to expand...
I just went and had a good sniff... to my nose, there is no noticeable smell.

I have written and sent a bunch of pictures to Amy. I'll let you all know what she has to say. Many thanks everyone!
 
Ok, I wrote Amy and to her credit, I received a response within 15 minutes. Not sure what to think of what she said, but credit for promptness.

"Thanks for your email, the battery is brand new, we don't sell any used cells. I checked the picture that should be the air through into the vent, I think that cold weather caused this. You can dry it under sunshine. It will not influence the performance. Please do top balancing and compression, there are many factors that will influence the battery to be swollen: temperature, long time sea shipment from China to USA , etc."
 
I have no concerns about the "swollen" nature of the cell. The vent looks a little odd, but if there is no residue and no odor, I would put the cells through a top balance an recheck the vent. Be sure to put the cells in a compression fixture prior to top balancing.
 
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