Hillhater said:
...There is no Lithium burning in our batteries. There is not even any metalic Lithium in our rechargeable lithium batteries we use in ebikes. There is no combustion of metals in our ebike battery fires. A loosely bonded metal oxide compound exceeds decomposition temperature, liberates oxygen and this oxygen reacts with the solvents and separator materials in an impressive rush of flame in extreme cases, or a smoldering partially oxidized white smoke in mild cases
So we are dealing with a "chemical" fire, then Luke ?
I still think Lowracers garbage can of water was very effective.
I hate to imagine what 3kWhr of lipo fire would look like with no suppression !
...and it would have needed a big pile of sand !
If you can cool it down (with water, sand, etc), it tends to slow the reaction. Most times water helps, I've had one time water reacted and caused some kind of bizarre exothermic event that just billowed tons of noxious oily solvent fumes, but fortunately showed no fire/flames etc, as my unprotected face was just an arm's length away. This was from a cell that had dead-shorted from fully charged to 0v and was extremely hot and badly puffed. Normally cells charged, slashed open, and tossed in water just evolve some tiny bubbles with a non-offensive odor that look similar to champagne.(May just be browns gas from the expected electrolysis effects and unrelated to any chemical reactions occurring)
I've also seen a shorted 18650 that got hot enough to melt it's shrinkwrap into shreds around the can just violently explode with shrapnel the instant the stream from the garden hose hit it, after I had waited about 10mins and given up on it doing anything cool. I'm guessing the case was under huge internal pressure stresses, and the local contraction of the metal at the point the water hit it was enough of a stress-riser to give it a point to rupture from it's internal pressure.
Again though, priority #1 should be making sure any humans in breathing range of a battery venting/burning etc get away and to safe fresh air. Hydrodgen flouride gas evolved once the thermal event start occuring. This is not a gas you want to be breathing, I think my lungs have been scared inside from the Hydro Flouric acid it produces instantly upon contact with any moist surface. Just a bit of the gas passing over your eyes is enough to need a new set of corneas if you're still into being able to see.
For myself, if I was working on my bike indoors, and for whatever reason the battery started to smoke/vent just a tiny bit, I would try to take a clean breath of air, hold my breath, squint my eyes and try to push the bike outside as fast as possible, I could see myself throwing it through a window if that was the fastest method. If it started to violently billow smoke, I would get the hell away from it, and scream for anyone else around to get outside to clean air.
In GM's battery lab, they had an A123 pack start to burn in a proper test chamber with proper rated fire suppression systems, by the time they decided to bail, 5 guys ended up in the hospital.
You guys know I'm not a safety ninny. However, while nearly painless at the time HF in your lungs and eyes is no joke.