My hobbyking 4p Lifepo4 battery seems to have died while I was away ( reading ~3v) while it was sitting on my workbench not plugged in, just sitting.
Sadly I am now $100 out without a working battery. Is it work trying to get it revitalised?
My balanced charger won’t even recognise it is connected so would have to get someone to give it a go.
VK1FWBD
W
Hi Wade,
Connect the battery to a 12VDC power supply for say 30 seconds. That will put enough into the battery so the charger can now see there is a battery there. I have done this a few times across many types of batteries with the type of modern chargers that need to see a voltage before they will start their cycle. I am sure some will be aghast at such a suggestion however I didnt die, damage anything etc doing this.
The LiFe batteries are a single shot at going low voltage on a cell and are almost never recoverable in my experience. So not likely to recover the batttery but costs nothing to try.
Good luck.
Compton
Some chargers also have a start or reset button on them - sometimes that can help the charger see a battery.
73 Ed.
I just heard on the hamRadio 360 Podcast that West Mountain Radio do a computerised battery analyser that has a “bring back to life” function - something like that may be worth looking at if it’s not too expensive.
73 Ed.
iS THAT 3V across the board or per cell i assume its across the cells
Total voltage out the cables not per cell. I think she be dead
oh dear.
Not cheap battery’s either.
usually when back home from using mine and thankfully the radio drops out at 11v.
Put back on charge and set the charger to storage mode and prior to going out again fully charge it.
Good battery’s thou.
Karl
I tried it and now it’s being recognized by the charger. Here goes nothing
Wade, be careful and do not leave the battery unattended whilst charging it after a little jumpstart like that.
Matt
VK1MA
Copy. Standing next to it. It’s warm. So might stop it
Does you charger show the current and voltage? If it does you can get a ballpark idea if the values are sensible.
As Matt says, keep a close eye on the cell. If it charges up to a good voltage and the charger stops, then you should arrange to 3/4 discharge the cell at a “nice” rate. Not too much or too fast. Then see if it recharges. If it does then it’s probably OK but watch it when charging for a few more times.
If it doesn’t charge properly or fails to charge after discharging then it’s probably toast. Dispose of it correctly (on eBay of course!) and chalk it up to experience.
More of a worry than heat is if the packaging expands - that’s a definite stop!
73 Ed.
I stopped as it was getting warm. I set my charger on the lowest current 1A.
After a few mins the cells looked like this
I stopped it as I said because it’s 0100L - and I would rather my house not burn down tonight
Oh dear. 
Hmm, sounds like it’s Cactus I’m afraid!
Did you normally use this for the FT-817? If so buy a cheap 3 cell LIPO if you charger does LIPOs as well as LifePOs. (The 817 is fine on the lower voltage). I’ve been using internal 2.5aAh LIPOs in my 817 for several years. They last about a year to 18 months before they need replacing I’ve found and certainly nothing like $100 to buy. If you want more capacity an external 5Ah 3S LIPO is also quite cheap and those seem to last me 2 years, one I have is over 5 years old and still fine.
73 Ed.