Uh Oh... Kaboom!

[CharliesTheMan]

This is why you should never leave your batteries unattended. I'm always VERY careful with my LiPo batteries. I always charge them in a LiPo sack to contain the blast and fire if the explode, always monitor them constantly, check temps, etc... Well this was caused by a NIMH battery. You can tell which cell went first just going by the burn mark analysis lol. Thank goodness I wasn't in the hobby room when it happened. There had just been two young children at the house, which is why I was charging the battery, and they could have been seriously injured. The Lord takes care of us, that's for sure. Just from the "BOOM" I heard from the other end of the house, it was a pretty good explosion. When I got in the room there were pieces of black plastic shrink wrap particles and soot filling the air, with a funny smell. I grapped all the battery pieces that I could find and took them outside. I started to clean up and heard a hissing... I had miss the bad cell, it had shot across the room apparently. There wasn't too much of a mess, mostly this black powder and soot covering everything on about 1/3 of the room. I have a full day ahead of me just taking all that stuff out and cleaning it, then cleaning the carpet and shelves, then putting it back. I might just have to take off work tomorrow, but I kinda want to be at the office in case the DX3R comes in the mail. I'll save my day off for when I have my radio and motor so I can go crawling.

This picture is after I vacuumed the area. There was about a 3 x 3 foot area that looked exactly the same, but all the rest of it vacuumed right up. I was looking at most of this and it looks stained rather than burned,so I really hope that it will shampoo out.

Now here's what caused the boom. I was using a cheapo $30 to $40 charger and I should have known better, and it was quite a few years old. I have used it quite a few times before and it worked fine. I had a LiPo charging on the hyperion (thank goodness the LiPo sack shielded it from the explosion) and I needed to charge the battery so the kids that were over here could run one of the Rustys. Unfortunately, this time when I used it, the peak detection never activated and shut the charger down. I had been checking on the battery, and I just planned my check in times wrong I guess. I checked on it twice, and it wasn't getting hot or anything. It was warm on the second time I checked, but didn't feel anywhere near as warm as it is when it would have gotten done charging. About 10 minutes later, KA-BOOOOOM was heard throughout the house. It sounded exactly like when it's storming and you here a transformer blow, only it sounded like the transformer was on a pole IN my hobby room.

 

[Webbage]

Must be the season for it Chaz, you're the second person on this forum this week to blow a NiMH pack apart Batteries are potentially very dodgy, you have to stop and think for a minute just *how* much energy is locked up in them, especially in high mAh packs. I know a Laptop LiPo battery was once quoted to me by a repair guy typically has more explosive energy potential than a standard issue US Army hand grenade, and they are typically 2-4000mAh, I dunno how true that is but it's certainly sobering.

The other thing you have to remember about NiMH is unlike LiPo's, which are (deliberately) not usually sealted in metal cans, NiMH cells are. The accumulated pressure required to overcome the seal on the cans is very high, thus the force of any explosion is sudden and very aggressive.

You're lucky, like you say it could have been a lot worse. That alone makes me want to chuck my HPI wall wart charger, I will as soon as I get my own Hyperion EOS.

 

[robmob]

Dang that sucks.

At least nobody was hurt and the house didn't catch fire.

If you can get it, pick up some stuff called Spot Shot. It comes in a blue aerosol can with an orange lid. The stuff works wonders on stains that I could not get out by any other means including professional cleaning.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I'll definitely get some, I know exactly what you're talking about. I opened up my bag of hardware that I bought at a home improvement store and it looked like there was a cigarette lighter out of a car in the bottom. Nope, it was one of the cells, across the room inside a bag, lol. Here's a pic.

 

[abadk9420]

Hey Charlie glad no one got hurt, well I guess you and I are 2 for 2 did you see the pics of my pack after it blew, mine blew while I was driving it.... sounded like a shot gun going off and it sure got every ones atention...

 

[Coach Z]

holy poo batman. Everybody worries about lipos but from the looks of things around here sub c's are the real danger! Glad everyone is safe.

 

[Rolex]

Something I never give much thought to. Set them on the bench, set the chargers and forget about them. I was about to start cycling and charging all my battery packs from the planes and boats just to keep them in shape, and after seeing this, I think I'll start putting them in the ammo box when I charge them.

 

[MrClean]

No kidding, I'm going to definitely keep an eye on my batteries from now on. I won't leave them charging overnight or if we're leaving the house but now I'm thinking I'll just take an extension cord and run the charger outside when I need to use it.

 

[RCnut]

remind me to stay away from Charlie's house !! with my luck ... i would have been in the room !!

 

[alpinehyperlite]

remind me to stay away from Charlie's house !! with my luck ... i would have been in the room !!

Either that or his damn attack horses. Man them big things freak me out.

 

[Webbage]

Can I just interject with the letters.... WTF ?

 

[CharliesTheMan]

He was freaking out. I was scared he was going to have felon flashbacks and start yelling "charlie in the trees" while shooting. Seeing that my name is Charlie as well, you can see why I was a bit worried lol. Really, I don't have any horses, he just talks about my sister that way. Nah, I'm J/K, I don't even have a sister. I did, but ever since we got married, I just call her my wife.

On a serious note, I can't stress to you how important it is to be careful with your batteries, especially if you have small children around. If you would have seen where some of the cells landed that I didn't find until hours later, you would reliaze that it took a huge explosion (well, huge considering it happened IN the house, and in my hobby room) to propel cells that heavy, that far across the room. It definitely could have put an eye out or maybe cracked a small skull. Like you guys, I'm always as careful as can be with my LiPo batteries and I only charge them in the LiPo sack. I only have one LiPo sack because I never thought of using one with nimh, but I have already ordered another one.

 

[Rolex]

Does your wife have a sister? Wait a minute, is that possible? Is she your sister in law, a cousin, or your aunt? If a married couple from the Ozarks moved to California and then got a divorce, would they still be considered legally cousins?

Speaking of being careful, I just want to stress that if you charge your batteries in an ammo box, make sure the box is empty.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Speaking of being careful, I just want to stress that if you charge your batteries in an ammo box, make sure the box is empty.

True words of wisdom there folks.

 

[Webbage]

"I'd like to introduce ya'll to maah momma and maah siister" *points to one woman*

I stopped at a gas station in Delaware once when I was traveling with my friend from the states, I swear I only kept a straight face because I thought the attendant had a 12-gauge under the counter

Rolex: you take all the fun out of pyrotechnics, man. Where's ya sense of adventure!

 

[godale03]

Damn Charlie... That is one of my fears... blowing a battery to bits in my house. I must admit... I am always in the house when charging anything, and I check on them often, but I must admit, I am not always in the room with them. I guess at least for now I have been lucky. I think now I will try to stay present in the room during the charges. Heck when I go to the track, I always top my batteries off before a race, although at much lower amps than if the packs were low. I almost always leave the pack charging while racing or marshalling... as does everyone else running electric. Should I not do this? Do all of you guys typically watch your batteries charge through the entire cycle, or do you guys hit start and then go do something else?

 

[Rolex]

If you need to do other things, I suggest a long cord so you can keep the battery in your front pants pocket while it's charging.

 

[robmob]

Damn Charlie... That is one of my fears... blowing a battery to bits in my house. I must admit... I am always in the house when charging anything, and I check on them often, but I must admit, I am not always in the room with them. I guess at least for now I have been lucky. I think now I will try to stay present in the room during the charges. Heck when I go to the track, I always top my batteries off before a race, although at much lower amps than if the packs were low. I almost always leave the pack charging while racing or marshalling... as does everyone else running electric. Should I not do this? Do all of you guys typically watch your batteries charge through the entire cycle, or do you guys hit start and then go do something else?

I hit start and go do something else even at the track.

I do check on them periodically and always charge them either on the workbench in my workshop or my pit table at the track.

When I see them getting close to capacity, I tend to stick around until the charger shuts off.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I would suggest to anyone that if you're not going to stay in the room with it, take the charger and plug it in the garage or somewhere like that. I'm always careful to check on my batteries, and I wouldn't have guessed this would happen in a million years. I checked on it and you could just tell it was just starting to get warm, so I went on about my business, and about 7 minutes later... BOOM!

It was a brand new battery and the charger appeared to be in good working order, the first four times that I used it, it was fine. BUT, the charger was at least 4 years old and I got it used, I should have used better judgement. Although it was quite embarrasing for me to admit that I did this, I posted it so that maybe you guys could learn from me learning the hard way. If I just would have had the charger out in the shed, this wouldn't have been a problem. If I would have had this charging with my box of LiPos (about 8 LiPo batteries) in the vicinity, this could have wery well caused an explosion and fire that burned my house beyond repair. We have natural gas for our stove and heater running under the house, so as you can tell, the possibilities could have been endless and devastating, I got on my knees and thanked the Lord for allowing it to happen like it did and not causing any harm to the house or anyone in it.

 

[abadk9420]

It was a brand new battery and the charger appeared to be in good working order, the first four times that I used it, it was fine.

I guess the fifth time was the charm for this one, So did you file the charger in the proper can, LOL!!! Like you said just glad no one got hurt in your case or mine, so did it blow the whole battery apart or just one of the cells blow up like my pack did, do you have any picks of the whole battery after it went booomb!