Lipos Will Burn on Charger

[dmad1]

Was charging one of my gensacearespammers 6000s and turned my back on it for about 10 minutes. Wife came home and when she opened the garage it was filled with smoke and flames shooting up from the work bench. Put it out the best I could but my extinguisher was outdated and and just sputtered. Ended up calling the fire dept. So lucky she came home when she did.

 

[FJC_GUY]

A buddy of mine that is a firefighter and rc guy recommends having whatever battery you are charging in a steel container that can be lidded quickly and keeping a heavy duty welding glove next to it.

He said the best thing you can do with a Lipo fire is get the battery out of the structure quickly then try to extinguish anything burning inside the structure, like a workbench.

I charge in an ammo can and can slam the lid and toss it outside quickly if needed. Lipo fires don't tend to go out easily. I also have 2 small extinguishers and a larger one where I charge. I'm a bit paranoid.

 

[Chubaka]

I charge mine in the yard. I something comes up and it goes off, its conttained. Glad you caught it in time.

 

[dmad1]

A buddy of mine that is a firefighter and rc guy recommends having whatever battery you are charging in a steel container that can be lidded quickly and keeping a heavy duty welding glove next to it.

He said the best thing you can do with a Lipo fire is get the battery out of the structure quickly then try to extinguish anything burning inside the structure, like a workbench.

I charge in an ammo can and can slam the lid and toss it outside quickly if needed. Lipo fires don't tend to go out easily. I also have 2 small extinguishers and a larger one where I charge. I'm a bit paranoid.

I keep them in an ammo can but until now have taken them out for charging. Will do as you from now on. Thanks for the feed back. dm

 

[Greywolf74]

I keep them in an ammo can but until now have taken them out for charging. Will do as you from now on. Thanks for the feed back. dm

I do the opposite. I store them in the open but I always charge them in an ammo can. Its highly unlikely that a lipo is ever going to go fail unless its in use. Glad it didnt catch anything else on fire!

 

[DavidB1126]

I charge my batteries next to my workbench but I usually charge batteries when working on the rcs. If I'm not working on the rcs I just sit at my workbench watching youtube and just keep an eye on the batteries. On how my charger is set up I can't use a lipo bag or ammo can. I would need to work out a external balance board to use my lipo bag while charging. Which I have 2 external balance boards but they don't work with my charger.
At my old LHS I had a timer for like 6 mins to check on the batteries while running on the track.

 

[FJC_GUY]

I do the opposite. I store them in the open but I always charge them in an ammo can. Its highly unlikely that a lipo is ever going to go fail unless its in use. Glad it didnt catch anything else on fire!

Yeah, I'm much less concerned about them when they are sitting in storage than when they are charging or discharging.

We also have a utility room 3/4 bath combo with a tile shower backed with cement board that we never use unless we have a guest so my lipos get stored and charged in there, in a can. I use one of the apps that turns an old cell phone into an IP camera aimed at it so I can check all the time if I'm not in the next room.

 

[WVNed]

and that is all fine
but my sons Kraton went up when he plugged the batteries into the esc and it failed. In my kitchen.

Always have a working extinguisher.

 

[ahr43]

Yikes, dmad1. Glad it was not any worse than it was. Close call.

Here is my LiPo charging station, front and back. Always charge and store charge in a LiPo sack. Extended storage is inside a locked down ammo can.
'AC'

 

[WoodiE]

Glad this wasn't as bad as it could have been @dmad1.

This reminds me, I need to get my new ammo can finished. I bought a larger ammo can that I'm going to line with cement board to act as dividers to store my LiPo's and then repurpose my existing smaller ammo can as a recharging station.

 

[Jimbobjr]

i made a charging box out of a 30$ fire safe. made a video of it...

 

[Tunedfrog]

I'm glad you got it outside and there was no house fire.

 

[dmad1]

Was very lucky the wife came home when she did. It burnt two of my work bench drawers and scorched the top and edges somewhat. Grabbed gloves, rags and anything I could find to dry to get the drawer out and into the driveway. It didn't want to go out and the fire dept. came in and grabbed them and took them out. Lesson learned on keeping a fully charged extinguisher. Mine just sputtered for a couple of seconds. I knew it was low but didn't replace it. Like Forest said "Stupid is as Stupid Does".

 

[WickedFog]

Was very lucky the wife came home when she did. It burnt two of my work bench drawers and scorched the top and edges somewhat. Grabbed gloves, rags and anything I could find to dry to get the drawer out and into the driveway. It didn't want to go out and the fire dept. came in and grabbed them and took them out. Lesson learned on keeping a fully charged extinguisher. Mine just sputtered for a couple of seconds. I knew it was low but didn't replace it. Like Forest said "Stupid is as Stupid Does".

You could throw the LiPo's in a pool, and they will sink to the bottom and melt through your pool liner. They create their own oxygen. So they would have just kept on burning had you even had a brand new extinguisher and emptied it on them. Now, that would be fine if the LiPo's were done venting, and you just needed to put the secondary fire out.

 

[Chipper]

Other then puffing how do you determine if a battery is getting bad? Thanks

 

[WickedFog]

Other then puffing how do you determine if a battery is getting bad? Thanks

If your charger reads IR's (internal resistance) then you just keep an eye on those every time you charge your batteries. If you start to see the IR's climb from charge to charge, you know you have a cell or cells going bad.

 

[Greywolf74]

Other then puffing how do you determine if a battery is getting bad? Thanks

By the IR (internal resistance) of the batteries cells. You should get a charger (or a stand alone IR meter) that measures IRs and keep a journal by your charging station that you log each batteries IRs when you cahrge them. Once a batteries IRs get over about 10 mOhm then it should probably be relegated to light duty use. Once they get over 20-25 mOhms then its time to retire them from use. The other thing to watch for is when one cell's IR becomes significantly higher than the other cells then you run the risk of having that cell fail which will at minimum could cause puffing and worst case it may catch fire.

 

[Jerold]

Was charging one of my gensacearespammers 6000s and turned my back on it for about 10 minutes. Wife came home and when she opened the garage it was filled with smoke and flames shooting up from the work bench. Put it out the best I could but my extinguisher was outdated and and just sputtered. Ended up calling the fire dept. So lucky she came home when she did.

View attachment 154525

View attachment 154526

Glad it turned out OK.

A buddy of mine that is a firefighter and rc guy recommends having whatever battery you are charging in a steel container that can be lidded quickly and keeping a heavy duty welding glove next to it.

He said the best thing you can do with a Lipo fire is get the battery out of the structure quickly then try to extinguish anything burning inside the structure, like a workbench.

I charge in an ammo can and can slam the lid and toss it outside quickly if needed. Lipo fires don't tend to go out easily. I also have 2 small extinguishers and a larger one where I charge. I'm a bit paranoid.

I only charge outside. They are stored inside an ammo can in the garage on the cement floor and I check them every month. But I'm not paranoid.

My plan was to look for an old BBQ or tool box to convert to a charging station, but everyone want's way too much money for them. The fire safe idea look interesting.

 

[tntpoof]

Invest in a smoke detector .one you have designated for charging use, no fire extinguisher will put out a lipo fire best to have a bucket of sand you can drop it in then get it outa the house. seen many lipo fires all sorts of issues . charging .running plugging in so on it happens, never leave a lipo or battery charge unattended. Below is my charging box. orange cloth is fireproof. small white cylinder is a mini fire smoke alarm.

 

[dmad1]

Glad it turned out OK.


I only charge outside. They are stored inside an ammo can in the garage on the cement floor and I check them every month. But I'm not paranoid.

My plan was to look for an old BBQ or tool box to convert to a charging station, but everyone want's way too much money for them. The fire safe idea look interesting.

I like the idea of using a BBQ grill for a charging station. Should contain a fire. Rather loose a charger, etc than the house. Not sure what temperatures they burn at but that should help. There is a video on Youtube of someone unwrapping a lipo and putting the metal wrap into a container of water and it goes up in smoke and then created a small explosion.