Had a lipo fire in the house. Sharing my experience for others to learn from

[RC-RAD]

First of all, my family is safe and thanks to my wife for noticing the sounds of popping in the garage which was the lipo cells bursting.

I was in the garage doing some maintenance on my K6S and charging lipos at the same time. I finished charging some 3s lipos then I plugged in two 6s lipos to begin charging. Both 6s batteries were at storage charge (3.8v).

25min had passed and I was still in the garage working on my rig. I checked the lipos to see where the voltages were. 1 lipo was around 4.13v for each cell (seemed normal to me) and the other lipo was around at 3.85v for each cell (this should have been the warning sign) I thought “huh, that’s charging slow” and continued the lipo to charge.

I went inside the house to talk to my wife. 15min had passed and she noticed popping coming from the garage. I ran over and saw a yellowish orange hue bleeding threw the cracks around the door. Once I opened the door, I saw a fire spewing out of the lipo bag. I took a fire extinguisher and put the fire out.

Damage is minimal and glad we caught it in time. Lipo bag did it’s job and minimized the flame. Had thoughts of “this hobby isn’t worth the risk of catching your house on fire” as per normal in a situation like this but it taught me to be more cautious and I should have checked the lipo that was taking a long time to charge.

Definitely investing in a bat safe and to be even more cautious when charging lipos.

Was it my fault for the fire, yes. I should have done something when I checked the lipos.

anyone know what could have made the lipo not charge? Bad connection? I was using a Venom pro duo and charging spektrum 6s lipos which were 1 year old.

 

[N.Mango]

Thank goodness you guys are ok. These lipo's are a mofo!!!

 

[Adiabatic]

Low voltage in the cell was probably from it bleeding current through an internal short, which caused it to heat up enough to initiate thermal runaway. Many things could have created the initial defect including a manufacturing issue that only became a major heat producing short once you put it on a charger and got current flowing through it, an impact from driving that damaged the electrodes and separator material in the cell, rough/mis-handling of the battery by your or another person, etc.. You're lucky it was in a garage and not a more fire susceptible room, you noticed quickly and had a fire extinguisher nearby. Incidents like this often end up much worse. Investing in a Bat-Safe is a good idea. I consider it a must-have item for electric R/C.

 

[🇺🇸 DΞזΞפּ 🇺🇸]

Damn man, glad ya'll Ok, screw that mine are in the Grill outside.

 

[N.Mango]

Damn man, glad ya'll Ok, screw that mine are in the Grill outside.

Cross the wires and throw on a steak!

 

[🇺🇸 DΞזΞפּ 🇺🇸]

Great Lipo Taste Steak

 

[N.Mango]

Great Lipo Taste Steak

Mmmm nothing like some metallic acidy taste!

 

[Adiabatic]

I hear that's what all the pro racers do. Adding a bit of lithium oxide, hydrofluoric acid and soot seasoning to your meal will improve your driving skills by 20% with each dose.

 

[RC-RAD]

Low voltage in the cell was probably from it bleeding current through an internal short, which caused it to heat up enough to initiate thermal runaway. Many things could have created the initial defect including a manufacturing issue that only became a major heat producing short once you put it on a charger and got current flowing through it, an impact from driving that damaged the electrodes and separator material in the cell, rough/mis-handling of the battery by your or another person, etc.. You're lucky it was in a garage and not a more fire susceptible room, you noticed quickly and had a fire extinguisher nearby. Incidents like this often end up much worse. Investing in a Bat-Safe is a good idea. I consider it a must-have item for electric R/C.

I know it’s tough to diagnose the problem. I didn’t notice any puffed up cells last time I used them. It’s a bit scary to think about the “what if sceneario” like what if my wife didn’t hear the popping sound. But I should have had a more robust charging area and not use lipo bags. Lesson learned and definitely will be creating a safer charging area

Damn man, glad ya'll Ok, screw that mine are in the Grill outside.

Seriously considering moving all my lipos and charging outside. Grill sounds like a safe place. But not sure how sanitary that is lol.

 

[Cal.t]

I keep mine in a .556 ammo box in the garage, but my garage gets very cold so I get paranoid leaving them in there. Wouldn’t want to leave them in the house.

 

[RC-RAD]

I keep mine in a .556 ammo box in the garage, but my garage gets very cold so I get paranoid leaving them in there. Wouldn’t want to leave them in the house.

I do the same. I store all my unused lipos in a ammo box and when I charge my lipos I put t On a lipo bag. Lipo bag definitely minimized the flame but now I would rather have a system that produces no fire and limits smoke such as the bay safe.

 

[N.Mango]

I know it’s tough to diagnose the problem. I didn’t notice any puffed up cells last time I used them. It’s a bit scary to think about the “what if sceneario” like what if my wife didn’t hear the popping sound. But I should have had a more robust charging area and not use lipo bags. Lesson learned and definitely will be creating a safer charging area

Seriously considering moving all my lipos and charging outside. Grill sounds like a safe place. But not sure how sanitary that is lol.

Any metal container OUTSIDE is better than nothing. (vented container)
In the end lesson learned and again glad it wasnt any worse and no one got hurt.

 

[trick]

Thank you for sharing that. It is a good reminder to us all about Lipi safety. We all need to be mindful of where we charge and what is stored nearby.

I’m a firefighter and have seen batteries in a garage fire. They burn very intensely! The smoke damage alone will make a mess of your home too. I bought the bat-safe boxes from A-main. They looked the most legit compared to those soft mystery bags on Amazon.

 

[Senton_Prime]

+1 on the batt safe!!

 

[grihn]

Glad everyone is safe and that it didn't turn out to be a big deal. Fortunately it was in the garage, so you don't have to live with the nasty smell in the house for a week. I hope anyone who might need to adjust their charging methods comes across your post and sees how easily things can happen. I see a lot of people who seem to be worried about a lipo fire while running their RC, but charging is by far the most likely opportunity for something to happen.

 

[Tex Koder]

Oh damn! That's scary.
Glad you and your family is okay.

Wife's spidey sense and your fast reaction definitely prevented a more serious outcome.

Thank you for sharing this. It's a solid PSA.
Hope everyone will take it to heart.

I'm going to change my charging location for sure now..
Currently charging lipos in an ammo can, but in the house upstairs. (The garage is un-insulated so it's like a meat locker with the weather we been having.)
Wished we have a sunroom out back.. that would be an ideal place.

I'm going to have to figure something out, ASAP.

 

[RamBam18]

Good safety reminder post !
I keep each battery in its own bag. I store them in steel ammos cans with the seals removed in my basement on the cement several feet away from anything flammable. I charge them in bags on the cement away from anything. So if something does go wrong it’s just a lot of bad smoke and not a house in ashes.

 

[pug]

A temperature sensor might be a good idea, you plug it in to your charger and set a temperature limit. If the sensor reads that it hit that limit, it cuts off all power going to the LiPo. This is what I’m talking about. Just make sure your charger has the temperature sensor port. But I’m glad everyone is fine.

 

[RC-RAD]

Thank you for sharing that. It is a good reminder to us all about Lipi safety. We all need to be mindful of where we charge and what is stored nearby.

I’m a firefighter and have seen batteries in a garage fire. They burn very intensely! The smoke damage alone will make a mess of your home too. I bought the bat-safe boxes from A-main. They looked the most legit compared to those soft mystery bags on Amazon.

I appreciate your insight. Definitely, going to get a bat safe and have a robust charging location like a mobile steel cabinet like this

A temperature sensor might be a good idea, you plug it in to your charger and set a temperature limit. If the sensor reads that it hit that limit, it cuts off all power going to the LiPo. This is what I’m talking about. Just make sure your charger has the temperature sensor port. But I’m glad everyone is fine.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I’ll be looking into this. When a lipo fire happens in your house it just makes you that much more cautious about lipo storage/charging.

May I ask what charger you use?

Oh damn! That's scary.
Glad you and your family is okay.

Wife's spidey sense and your fast reaction definitely prevented a more serious outcome.

Thank you for sharing this. It's a solid PSA.
Hope everyone will take it to heart.

I'm going to change my charging location for sure now..
Currently charging lipos in an ammo can, but in the house upstairs. (The garage is un-insulated so it's like a meat locker with the weather we been having.)
Wished we have a sunroom out back.. that would be an ideal place.

I'm going to have to figure something out, ASAP.

Yes. I highly encourage you to do whatever you can to have a safe lipo charging area. I always told myself I was going to have a safer charging area but skimped out on it and thought my current setup was okay which was a lipo bag on top of my work bench.

Now I’m going to get a small steel tool cabinet to keep all my lipos and charge them in there in a bat safe lipo box for add protection.

Glad everyone is safe and that it didn't turn out to be a big deal. Fortunately it was in the garage, so you don't have to live with the nasty smell in the house for a week. I hope anyone who might need to adjust their charging methods comes across your post and sees how easily things can happen. I see a lot of people who seem to be worried about a lipo fire while running their RC, but charging is by far the most likely opportunity for something to happen.

Totally agree with you. Learn from my experience. Just crazy to think if I had not checked my lipos and not notice that one lipo was not charging and the fire happened, I would not have know what caused it.

I’ve been in the hobby close to 3 years and have been more “careless” when I’ve charged lipos before. Definitely dodged a bullet and was a good reminder not to be careless when it comes to lipos.

 

[MambaSenton]

Sorry yo hear about the fire.. glad you n your family are safe though.


I have the same venom charger, have noticed last few times upon starting to charge batts that it produces an odd sound like something is jammed n it won’t charge (maybe the fans inside?) I have to unplug it (there is no power button??) 2-4x than it’ll finally start charging right.

Have you had this issue at all ?