House Burned down from RC LiPo Fire

[LockH]

BTW... Recently an "expert" explained "Why lithium batteries keep catching fire", back in January (Writer was mislabelled as an "economist").:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/01/economist-explains-19

 

[dogman dan]

If I ever have my charging packs fireballing on me, I'll just unplug the charger.

The good advice comes later in that vid, from the RC guy. Get rid of the leakers!!

I wonder what was right next to the charger in that guys garage, Paint, Gas, or Reloading supplies?

Store em and charge em in a place where you would build a fire.

 

[liveforphysics]

BTW... Recently an "expert" explained "Why lithium batteries keep catching fire", back in January (Writer was mislabelled as an "economist").:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/01/economist-explains-19

Omg... Did that guy seriously just try to tell the world the fires are from seperator breakdown related shorts?

It's funny how there is no oversight needed in media. A journalist may write whatever fantasy BS they please, on any topic they like, having any actual experience, understanding, or correct information is not required at all.

 

[Geebee]

I store and charge my lipo's in my lounge room inside a charge bag inside a large cast iron wood heater.
I also recently decided to charge individual packs 1 at a time instead of paralelled.

 

[dnmun]

If I ever have my charging packs fireballing on me, I'll just unplug the charger.

on the BMS there is a thermal breaker set to about 85o C, so that when the mosfets overheat, it will turn off the circuit current and that will turn off the output mosfets.

if you had those thermal breakers taped onto the top of each pouch and then wired them up in series and insert the series into the wire running to the thermal breaker on the heat sink then when the pouch ignited, or even before it ignites, when it starts overheating, then the thermal breaker would open and it would terminate the charging when the output mosfets turn off because the charging mosfet has to charge through them to reach the battery. so it would stop the charging current too.

 

[Geebee]

Would it be worth taping a temperature alarm to the packs whilst charging set to alarm at say 40c?

 

[dnmun]

i was thinking you would turn off the BMS, not send an alarm. you have perfectly good and reliable electronics built into the BMS which will turn it off faster than you could reach it. the hassle would be in taping one of those little breakers to the top of each pack in the pile. they actually are cheap on ebay.i think i paid $6 for 10. i still have some 95o C breakers but that is too high imo.

 

[Geebee]

I charge single packs no BMS but use a balance charger and never leave the room whilst charging so an alarm would do the job, I have never noticed a temperature increase in the packs so an alarm/ cut off just above ambient would be the safest.

 

[dogman dan]

I guess you didn't get my joke, unplugging the charger after the room is engulfed in fire and about to backdraft seemed a bit too late to me.

Hell yeah, something that sensed the packs were getting hot, and cut the charger off before the pack ruptured and spewed flames could be real good.

If the fireman had said, be able to unplug the pack quickly before if flamed, it would have made more sense to me. I don't monitor temps, but I do watch for puffing.

I don't single pack charge, but the largest pack I charge is 14s 10 ah. Each section of my 25 ah pack stores in it's own metal box.

 

[friendly1uk]

If I ever have my charging packs fireballing on me, I'll just unplug the charger.

on the BMS there is a thermal breaker set to about 85o C, so that when the mosfets overheat, it will turn off the circuit current and that will turn off the output mosfets.

if you had those thermal breakers taped onto the top of each pouch and then wired them up in series and insert the series into the wire running to the thermal breaker on the heat sink then when the pouch ignited, or even before it ignites, when it starts overheating, then the thermal breaker would open and it would terminate the charging when the output mosfets turn off because the charging mosfet has to charge through them to reach the battery. so it would stop the charging current too.

The smart has a temperature sensing bead supplied, and a second is supported by the microprocessor. You can tell it any temperature you like, and choose to allow self-resetting or user input. You could daisy chain many beads if you wanted.
I have a bestek here, but it uses a self resetting bi-metal strip. Self resetting would not be advisable if you have thermal runaway concerns. Bit chunky for pack insertion too.
Pleanty of stand alone temperature alarms on ebay that could have latching outputs.

 

[irv]

Hi, I just had a lipo fire too, I thought I'd post somewhere here to share. Or actually it was more of a lot of smoke and a lot of heat but it's definitely hot enough to burn up and cause a fire under the right conditions.

I was charging a Zippy 3S 5AH lipo pack, the charger was set at 3.3A. It was only in charge mode (not balance-charge). It was balance charged last time though. It's an old pack, more than 2 years old.

It was charging while inside a lipo sack and a metal container while in the backyard patio. There was a lot of smoke that wouldn't stop spewing and the heat was already melting the lipo sack. I just buried the whole thing in sand, it's probably still hot and still smoking under there. I'm not sure what's the best way to deal with it, but I thought at least it wouldn't burn anything if it's in sand.

Based on this, I'm convinced RC lipo batteries are really best charged outdoors some distance from the house. Because even if there were no flames shooting out this time, the acrid smoke could still easily fill indoor space and the heat could easily go through the lipo sack and metal container and potentially on to combustible stuff if indoors.

 

[Meuh]

100°C probe security cut-off does nothing ... a lipo warm stay at 55°C (max) for a 20C discharge.

set the cut-off to 40°C during charge ... a lipo is cold when charge append and warm during "high" discharge (or at the end of capacity).

 

[Architectonic]

Homeowner, fire officials suspect lithium ion batteries caused Ewa Townhouse fire

Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/homeowner-fire-officials-suspect-lithium-ion-batteries-caused-ewa-townhouse-fire/24445618

“A good way to tell if your battery is damaged is to smell it, and if it smells like orange juice that it’s most likely leaking,” he said.

:lol:

 

[tomtom123]

Homeowner, fire officials suspect lithium ion batteries caused Ewa Townhouse fire

Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/homeowner-fire-officials-suspect-lithium-ion-batteries-caused-ewa-townhouse-fire/24445618

Just goes ta show ya. Always charge on somebuddy elses island. Nice vid opening shot:

man i would sue the hell out of that dude if he caused a lipo fire and burned down my place like that. I bet this dude is busy with his lawyers atm...

If you live in an apartment or have buildings near by, you must aware when charging at all times. You endanger not only yourself, but the lives of others. What he did was pretty selfish.