Charging Lipo in kitchen?

[cloudswimmer]

Hey Guys,

It's getting unusually hot here in So.Cal, and my garage is turning into an oven. So I am considering alternative charging scenarios. Here is a picture of my kitchen (excuse the camera) I'm thinking put my lipo in my lipo sack, put in stainless steel kitchen sink, and put AC6 charger on the counter to the right where the plants are. If a fire did break out its a matter of turning the sink on, opening the corner windows, and grabbing my portable fan and blowing the smoke out the windows. Does this sound reasonable?

Chris

[lemonhead]

water will not put out a lipo fire. not really a good idea charging in the kitchen in case a fire did break out. lipos dont get hot when they charge , i would say stick to charging in the garage just to be safe.

[NorCal 2500HD]

Originally Posted by cloudswimmer

How many Megapixels is that thing?

[Gravebane525]

Originally Posted by lemonhead

lipos dont get hot when they charge.

just got a lipo and that part suprized the hell out of me. my old battery is so hot that sometimes its hard to hold when it just finishes charging. the lipo wasnt hot at all.

so if its not the battery overheating that makes lipo's start a fire what is it?

[Swass]

Is that a Hasselblad? Big pimpin' tripod, too.

No comment on the battery question.

[alexchen86]

Wow...either get a lipo storage/charging bag available at any LHS or off eBay for cheap and keep them in there. When I transport my lipos I make sure all of them are inside my lipo bag. We've had a member actually have a lipo explode inside his truck....luckily he was smart enough to keep his lipos in a lipo storage bag.

Since I have so many ranging from crawler to go-fast lipos i just use old army surplus ammo cans. Roughly $10-$12 and you can hold a ton in there. Plus they're meant for keeping any fires or explosions contained.

[Jus]

Originally Posted by Gravebane525

just got a lipo and that part suprized the hell out of me. my old battery is so hot that sometimes its hard to hold when it just finishes charging. the lipo wasnt hot at all.

so if its not the battery overheating that makes lipo's start a fire what is it?

From what I understand, they actually tend to drop in temperature when charging. Wrap your head around that one.

[Swass]

Plus they're meant for keeping any fires or explosions contained.

This is not accurate. Ammo cans are made of metal simply for durability. They are NOT designed to contain an explosion. I charge in an ammo can, but I do so only to give myself a little more time to react, and to give me something I can grab and get out of the house in a hurry. I keep an oven mit handy just in case I need to grab a hot handle on the ammo can. Most metals are "fire resistant," but an ammo can is not "fire proof" by any means. I cut a large ceramic floor tile to fit the bottom of the can for a little extra thermal protection. With this setup, I feel comfortable enough to leave the room to go to the bathroom or whatever, but I still won't leave a battery on the charger unattended for more than a few minutes, even with the ammo can.

[sidehiller]

I pulled this from another forum. Lipo Fire Incidents and How they Occur - WattFlyer RC Electric Flight Forums - Discuss radio control eflight

Disclaimer: It should be noted that Incidents reported as Undetermined and Unknown are due to the lack of forensic evidence being supplied. Spontaneous lithium incidents, while frequently claimed, have never been verified. All incidents associated with batteries have a cause. Moderator


This represents posts that I have seen where a LiPo pack has caught fire. They have been placed in several categories.

FIRE DURING CHARGING:
Operator Error-
9s pack catches fire while being charged at 10s setting. (9)
2s pack catches fire being charged as 3s (10)
2s pack catches fire when charged at 3s setting (13)
2s pack catches fire in plane while charging at 3s setting. (22)
3s pack charged at 4s voltage ignites (27)
2s pack catches fire charged at 3s (30)
2s pack ignites when charged at 10.2V (31)
Overcharged battery (34)
2s pack charged at 11.1V catches fire. (36)
2s pack charged at 3s setting (40)
2s pack charges at 11.1V burns – (44)
2s charged at 11.2V goes off in garage – (47)
2s charged at 3s voltage ignites in garage – (49)
2s charged at 3s ignites in workshop – (52)
Another count problem – Heli burns (57)
Cell count error caused fire – (61, 62)
Pack charged on NiCd setting - (66)
Run Down pack catches fire during charge – (71)
LiPo Burns during charge on 109 charger after mode mis-set (82)
Charging slightly swelled pack causes fire (86)
Li-Ion cells catch fire from charger setting error (8
Cell catches fire during attempt to repeak - (91)
Charging puffed cell causes it to ignite – (93)
Lipo burns during attempt to restore overdischarged cell with CC/CV PS (94)
Pack ignites during charging – smoke corrodes shed and contents (9
Possible damaged pack burns like rocket in can – (100)
Attempt to recharge dead lipo causes plane fire (103)
Charging probably fully charged 3s pack with Astro 109 result in pack ignition. (104)
2s charged as 3s ignites in safe (109)
Restart of charger resulted in wrong charge mode – (113)
Wrong charger settings burns 2 packs – (112)
LiPo burns in modelers hand after charging - (115)
Charging slightly puffed cell causes fire, plane burns (117)
Owner forgot to change charger setting from NiCd to Lipo during charging cycle (11

Undetermined Cause While Charging
Fire damages garage while charging pack. (7)
1500 3s pack catches fire during 1A , 11.1V initial charge. (1)
2 cell pack ignites while being charged with 2 cell charger. (11)
Car burns when pack being charged in car catches fire. (24)
2s2p pack catches fire in helicopter - possible that charger misread # of cells. (25)
2s pack ignites while on charger set for 2s. (2
$30,000 damage to house when pack ignites during charging. (no details) (43)
3s pack burns in garage - (35)
3s pack burns at correct settings- (41)
3s pack burns at correct charger settings - (46)
3s 8000mah pack catches fire after 15min - correct settings - (53)
Helicopter and pack burns after 15min charge - (54)
Automatic cell count charger - pack catches fire (55)
Automatic cell count charger - pack catches fire (56)
Lipo rockets across room (5
Automatic cell count charger - Lipos burn in garage (59)
Battery ignites in car seat during charging (63)
Damaged battery ignites during charge (67)
Pack balloons during charge, burns while under water (6
11s3p pack burns during charging at correct parameters (70)
Another charging fire - (72)
Helicopter burns when LiPo ignites during charge (73)
Undetermined cause to LiPo fire during charge - (74)
Chopper burns from charging LiPo fire (76)
House fire (81)
3s Pack Ignites burning front of car during charge at correct settings. (83)
Helicopter in garage burns while charging (106)
Well used Lipo ignites under correct charging parameters (107)
SUV Vehicle burns (114)

FIRE FROM PACK DAMAGE:
Cell poked with exacto knife catches fire- (2)
Dog bites pack, pack catches fire (4)
Lexus burns after pack from crashed plane put in car. (
Ballooned pack ignites when punctured. (20)
Repaired pack catches fire when connected to plane. (29)
Pack catches fire after plane crashes. (37)
Pack cut while shrink wrapping (39)
Pack punctured during crash burns. (64)
Plane crashes, pack removed and 10 minutes later burns (65)
Battery pack at 1V ignites while charging (71)
Puffed pack ignites during charging – (77)
Puffed Pack smokes when punctured (79)
Nicked pack catches fire (87)
Plane crashes, battery catches fire (89)
Damaged pack catches fire – (90)
Dog chews pack, chars pillow and smokes house - (95)
Battery compartment screw penetrates pack causing loss of plane (102)
Pack balloons dring mischarge, ignites when punchured (10
Pack ignites 20 min after Heli crash – (111)\
Nicked pack “explodes in modelers hand” (116)

BATTERY SHORTED FIRES:
Shorted pack catches fire (26)
Pack burns after shorting (15)
Possible Short (3
Shorted when moved on table – (42)
Pack Shorted putting connector on and burns – (45)
Shorted pack burns hole in BMW seat – (4
Crash causes 3s pack to short and burn – (50)
Pack ignites sometime after connector shorted for a short time (85)

CAUSE UNDETERMINED:
Multi cell pack catches fire in flight (5)
Possible over discharge (33)
Lipo pack catches fire in car (60)
2s pack starts house fire (84)
In flight F3A fire reported (92)
New pack partially burns sitting on desk (96)
Pack ignites with no known cause (97)
Pack ignites after soldering wires on (101)
Pack catches fire in pick up truck (105)OTHER
2s pack connected in series with 3s pack ignites in fireball (7
Lipo burns garage (99)
Packs used in parallel catch fire in flight (110)

[Maxx_Savage]

With the lipo in a charging bag in the sink you'll be safe.

Jaysus lads we're not talking about nukes here FFS.

[z50king]

I charge all my batteries inside. I am always in the same room with them.

Get a lipo sack if you are paranoid about it

[cloudswimmer]

Lol thought a might get a few comments on the camera since most everyone these days has gone digital. It's an 8x10 C1 view camera, German lenses, Ries tripod. Megapixel wise the only digital solution that will give you the same resolution as my drum scanned negs, single shot, is gonna cost around $25,000.00 these days

Ok ya I have always used a Lipo Safe brand charging bag since I got into the hobby, and have charged out in the garage. I saw a video of a lipo blowing up in one of these bags, and it totally contained the flames, just a ton of smoke billowing out. So I was thinking if the battery was in my stainless kitchen sink and that ever happens, the worse I'd have to deal with is smoke, but I'm thinking now Ill just move the whole charging rig a bit out on the drive way, then I can go back inside and soak up the AC. If it does catch on fire unattended that way no big deal. Is direct sun on the battery if its in a charging bag a bad idea?

[JRock]

Well I know my garage gets super hot in the summer time so I bring all my lipos in the house for the summer. What I do is charge them on a brick in front of my fireplace, No fire going of course, Also the whole fireplace is brick and I have a fan built in for the fireplace so if a lipo go's I kick it into fireplace and hit the vent lol I know a lot of peeps don't have a fireplace so just be careful charging in the house.

I think theres so many lipo fires caused by people who don't know what there doing, Have a charger that isn't up to par or not checking for dameged or pulled out wires touching something else.

I have never had a lipo burn on me and i'll say I had a close one when I was working on a rig and I skipped my drill off the part I was working on and drilled right through my 2 cell lipo and it made a little puff of smoke and that was it. I was lucky and I dispossed of the lipo properly

[JeffA]

Have any of you experienced a LiPo fire yet? I use them, but triple check my charger setting before starting the charge every time. I've heard so much paranoia about it, and how they can be dangerous, but aren't they all if mishandled? My buddy has been flying helis for years and charges his right out in the open, no sack, no fire proof box, just a charger and a battery. They let him do this at AMA sanctioned air fields, I guess it's okay to not have them protected.

[Charlie-III]

I, myself, have not had a LiPO fire.

My son has had 2, both in his room. At least 1 was during charge, I believe he had the charger set correctly.

Yes, we use LiPO bags.

[Johnnysplits]

Originally Posted by JeffA

charges his right out in the open, no sack, no fire proof box, just a charger and a battery. They let him do this at AMA sanctioned air fields, I guess it's okay to not have them protected.

I'm with you on that one! It also helps not to use a $40 charger either.