It Can Happen...and It can Happen FAST

[garlandk]

Guys,

I know there has been plenty of threads of lipo fires, but this is just a reminder it can happen and it can happen very fast! I put two lipos on charge in my garage and went inside to grab something afterI notice everything was ok. When inside which was only for a few minutes I heard something pop. I quickly ran to my garage and saw a big flame shooting up to the ceiling....Luckily there was areas I could grab batteries and the charger without severely burning myself and I threw the stuff outside onto the pavement. Luckily it quickly went out.

This is just a reminder that it can happen and it can happen very fast! Luckily no damage was done to the property beside a burn mark on the table.



Few things that really help the situation:

A. There was nothing around the charger and batteries that could help the fire out.

B. The table it was on was thick wood so it would have taken a while to actually catch the wood on fire.

C. Was charging next to the garage door so it was very easy to just throw things outside onto the concrete.

D. If needed there was a hose right outside the garage to help put the fire out.

E. Didnt panic too much just quickly took care of the situation, before it got out of hand.



Things that I learn...

A. Just plain out NEVER leave batteries unattended at ANY time.... (Been good about doing this, but figure a couple of minutes wouldn't hurt....WRONG!)

B. Have a fire extinguisher in the same area as charging.

C. Charge batteries in even a safer place than what I had.

 

[ericb]

Glad everything is OK.

 

[bigblueswope]

garlandk;16534 wrote: Guys,



D. If needed there was a hose right outside the garage to help put the fire out.





Things that I learn...

A. Just plain out NEVER leave batteries unattended at ANY time.... (Been good about doing this, but figure a couple of minutes wouldn't hurt....WRONG!)

B. Have a fire extinguisher in the same area as charging.

C. Charge batteries in even a safer place than what I had.

Water won't put out a lipo fire. It may extinguish any secondary fires but the battery will burn to completion. RC Groups had a very long discussion on the subject with no definitive answer. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1126385 It looks like nobody has actually put one out.

 

[Bartman]

also, if you're charging in the garage and there's only one way into the garage when the car doors are closed, make sure you can open the big doors from the outside. if the garage were full of smoke you wouldn't be able to get in there to unlock and open the big doors to push everything outside.



glad you caught it in time and didn't have much damage.



bart

 

[Mikeq]

I always us a lipo bag or some kind of containment should a fire happen..

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

Must have been scary - glad it turns out no worse than it did.

 

[Mikeq]

Ohio AV8TOR;16588 wrote: Must have been scary - glad it turns out no worse than it did.

Yes...could have lost his house...I usually discard lipos that swell up. I use a Cellpro 10S charger and always charge for balance and never do more than 10 percent of the rating...they take longer to charge but to me it's safer...

 

[Mikeq]

Ohio AV8TOR;16588 wrote: Must have been scary - glad it turns out no worse than it did.

Yes...could have lost his house...I usually discard lipos that swell up. I use a Cellpro 10S charger and always charge for balance and never do more than 10 percent of the rating...they take longer to charge but to me it's safer...

 

[Olie]

A friend of mine lost his garage, car and most of his rc stuff in a lipo fire.



Now I charge on the concrete floor with 1/2 paving bricks between each pack when parallel charging.



That way if one pack combusts, it is very hard for the one next to it to become compromised.

 

[siko_flyer]

I charge mine in a frying pan with a glass lid.Wife wasn't too happy when I took over the pan.