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by 0_____0 1647 days ago
Speaking of shock-loads to Li-Ion batteries...

I was once responsible for figuring out how to track the flight path of an object being towed through the air on a rope. This ended up being a GPS transponder with a ISM band packet radio and a Li-ion pouch cell. Packaging this was difficult, as the device would occasionally be slammed into the ground at at least terminal velocity.

One of my first prototypes was essentially all of the above stuffed into a bit of ABS pipe, with some foam inside for cushioning. We flew the prototype once, slammed it into the ground, and it promptly stopped working. Upon cracking the enclosure open, I found that the battery lead wires had broken free from the PCB under the shock load. As I extracted the pouch itself, I found it had formed itself into an arc segment, with r=1.5", same as the ID of the ABS pipe.

1 comments

That sounds like a pretty lucky escape. A little bit less lucky and you'd have had nothing left but some black and unidentifiable bits.