LiPo Fire - short video crackling

[kdecesari]

It happened. And I got lucky.

We had a relatively new Spektrum battery. It was a 2G 3S soft pack that was received as a warranty replacement for a similar (hardpack) 5000Mah from HH.
It didn't fit in my rig, so I handed it off to a friend. His kid has a 4s kraton...it sort of fit. The battery - I'll assume it took a healthy beating. They couldn't get it to charge on their older spektrum charger, so we tried it on my S2200.

It looked OK at first. after 20+ min on the charger I noticed one cell spike to 4.2V. I was standing at the workbench where it was charging, so let it go.
A few minutes later...smoke. A short moment later...lots of smoke. The very next moment the battery and charger were tossed to the street.

The video below is the aftermath. My buddy doused the fire with a miller ultra. After the ridiculous amount of smoke stopped, it sat and crackled for another hour.

I am trying not to let the experience spook me too bad, but it was scary.
In the future, the charger is going to be moved to the a safer spot in the garage and batteries will sit in a sand box while charging. The situation went from normal to fire in a short moment.

 

[CertifiedMike]

It happened. And I got lucky.

We had a relatively new Spektrum battery. It was a 2G 3S soft pack that was received as a warranty replacement for a similar (hardpack) 5000Mah from HH.
It didn't fit in my rig, so I handed it off to a friend. His kid has a 4s kraton...it sort of fit. The battery - I'll assume it took a healthy beating. They couldn't get it to charge on their older spektrum charger, so we tried it on my S2200.

It looked OK at first. after 20+ min on the charger I noticed one cell spike to 4.2V. I was standing at the workbench where it was charging, so let it go.
A few minutes later...smoke. A short moment later...lots of smoke. The very next moment the battery and charger were tossed to the street.

The video below is the aftermath. My buddy doused the fire with a miller ultra. After the ridiculous amount of smoke stopped, it sat and crackled for another hour.

I am trying not to let the experience spook me too bad, but it was scary.
In the future, the charger is going to be moved to the a safer spot in the garage and batteries will sit in a sand box while charging. The situation went from normal to fire in a short moment.

Glad you are all ok! So happy to hear you were right there watching the batteries! This could have been much worse!

 

[paytonimusrex]

see this worries it’ll happen to me but I don’t have anywhere I can do this easily either since I live in an apartment building

 

[Speed Chaser]

see this worries it’ll happen to me but I don’t have anywhere I can do this easily either since I live in an apartment building

you have a window, don't you? out of sight out of mind

 

[paytonimusrex]

you have a window, don't you? out of sight out of mind

lmao yeah and my work table is next to said window

 

[kdecesari]

see this worries it’ll happen to me but I don’t have anywhere I can do this easily either since I live in an apartment building

Proceed with caution.

The hard stops I missed included:
Eyeball test: the soft pack was scraped up; not folded. The condition was only visibly marginal. It looked OK.
Charging: started with balanced cells. (Thumbs up?)
One spiked to 4.2 when the others lagged.
After quite a while (20+min) is when it went sideways.

My setup is changing and I welcome any feedback.

 

[Doom!]

This is why you never charge a battery unattended. Good that you were there to prevent something nastier than just losing a lipo. Speaking of nasty, lipo fires have some of the foulest smoke.

For apartment dwellers, maybe having a bucket of sand handy, that you can drop a battery in to transport it outside to safety if things go bad. The main thing is to keep your cool.

 

[paytonimusrex]

Proceed with caution.

The hard stops I missed included:
Eyeball test: the soft pack was scraped up; not folded. The condition was only visibly marginal. It looked OK.
Charging: started with balanced cells. (Thumbs up?)
One spiked to 4.2 when the others lagged.
After quite a while (20+min) is when it went sideways.

My setup is changing and I welcome any feedback.

I usually check the condition at least of my batteries to make sure they aren’t puffed up in anyway and both are currently sitting in storage charge at 3.8

This is why you never charge a battery unattended. Good that you were there to prevent something nastier than just losing a lipo. Speaking of nasty, lipo fires have some of the foulest smoke.

For apartment dwellers, maybe having a bucket of sand handy, that you can drop a battery in to transport it outside to safety if things go bad. The main thing is to keep your cool.

I don’t keep mine unattended I keep an eye on them usually, I think I might just do the good old toss out the window in case of emergency since the window is close lol

 

[RustyUs]

Proceed with caution.

The hard stops I missed included:
Eyeball test: the soft pack was scraped up; not folded. The condition was only visibly marginal. It looked OK.
Charging: started with balanced cells. (Thumbs up?)
One spiked to 4.2 when the others lagged.
After quite a while (20+min) is when it went sideways.

My setup is changing and I welcome any feedback.

Ever since the whole LiPo battery became a thing in the hobby, I've always tried to be cautious... overly cautious when I first got my LiPo packs and chargers. And ever since I started doing 2C charge rates, I always put my chargers/batteries outside on driveway. Other than new packs, and depending on how far the other cells are lagging behind, is when I start keeping an eye on packs and their IR of cells.

Do you remember how far off the other cells were "lagging behind"?

 

[Suburban_Hooligan]

need to invest in something like this https://www.amainhobbies.com/batsafe-lipo-charging-case-baf-bat-safe/p698675

 

[paytonimusrex]

or just get an ammo can

 

[Speed Chaser]

All i am saying is the window technique once saved me from burning a boat down

 

[CertifiedMike]

you have a window, don't you? out of sight out of mind

Just toss it out on to the lawn and carry on baking cookies and watching Netflix like you never here of radio control. When the landlord comes knocking complain about all the rukus!
They'll never know!

All i am saying is the window technique once saved me from burning a boat down

And everyone said a screen window on a sub was a bad idea... well look at you now!!!
You were charging a lipo on a boat???
Offshore r/c?

 

[Speed Chaser]

And everyone said a screen window on a sub was a bad idea... well look at you now!!!
You were charging a lipo on a boat???
Offshore r/c?

Fishing quadcopter battery.

 

[HPIguy]

see this worries it’ll happen to me but I don’t have anywhere I can do this easily either since I live in an apartment building

Battery inside lipo bag, put that inside a glass or metal pan, then put that up on a trivet so it can't scorch anything if it all goes south.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Battery inside lipo bag, put that inside a glass or metal pan, then put that up on a trivet so it can't scorch anything if it all goes south.

Still make sure you have actually practiced using the route that you'll need to use in case of emergency.
During the fire is NO time to find out there's a flaw in your plan to safety.
If you take some time to learn your equipment and surroundings, then prepare, you've got not much to be worried about.
Being cautious is being smart.
Being scared is being under prepared imo. No reason to be scared of a small fire imo.

 

[paytonimusrex]

my plan is to open the window and yeet it outside at this point

 

[Suburban_Hooligan]

my plan is to run more nitro

 

[Speed Chaser]

my plan is to open the window and yeet it outside at this point