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

[RC-RAD]

Oh man. That's scary stuff. Do you recall what C rating you were charging at? Not trying to place blame at all, just curious.

I was charging at 5amps for both 6s 5000mah lipos 50c. But my charger never hits 5amps it really chargers around 3amps.

No worries. Definitely point out if I was doing anything wrong.

I bought 20 liters all together. 5 liter are about 15EUR. I only saw later you can get it in bigger units. It's like an insurance. Seems like a waste until you need it. Same with the lipo safe boxes. Kept adding over the years.

https://www.feuerwerkshop.de/extove...um-batterien-und-metallbraende-xxl::3673.html

https://www.stefansliposhop.de/sich...nulat-fuer-lithium-akkus-kissen-5l::2062.html

https://www.nexusmodels.co.uk/extov...extinguishing-granules-lithium-batteries.html



How did the lithum fire react to the fire extinguisher? Saw there are some made for lithum fires. Those prices are nuts. Expiry date 18 months.

The fire extinguisher worked on the lipo. It put out the flame but there was still smoke spewing out of the lipo.

 

[MambaSenton]

I bought 20 liters all together. 5 liter are about 15EUR. I only saw later you can get it in bigger units. It's like an insurance. Seems like a waste until you need it. Same with the lipo safe boxes. Kept adding over the years.

https://www.feuerwerkshop.de/extove...um-batterien-und-metallbraende-xxl::3673.html

https://www.stefansliposhop.de/sich...nulat-fuer-lithium-akkus-kissen-5l::2062.html

https://www.nexusmodels.co.uk/extov...extinguishing-granules-lithium-batteries.html



How did the lithum fire react to the fire extinguisher? Saw there are some made for lithum fires. Those prices are nuts. Expiry date 18 months.

Was looking into placing a order until the shipping was 3x the product

 

[RC-RAD]

Actually Lipos will make the meat sweet.

Lipo has a sweet smell when they leak. I always smell mine. I have received new out the box sweet smelling lipos. And One was a Ace of gens. I called them and they said to discard it and they sent a new one out right away.
Sweet smell of lipos is a bad sign. The cell must remain hermetically sealed. Or when Lithium reacts with air (oxygen) It becomes unstable and volitile.
That is why when a lipo is punctured whether intentionally or not, they fire up. One reason that causes fires.

Lipos fail at some point. Hopefully not in your home. I had a fire when bashing, a different story altogether.
But most fires I think happen during the charging process. I always stay with them in the room wherever I charge them. Bat-safed most of the time. I do get lazy. But have a fire extinguisher nearby, And a window right there to toss them out.
The only fault of the OP here is that he left the garage. The lipo going in flames was Not his fault. Hard to predict when a lipo will fail. And fast that it will without warning in many cases. But, I always use a Cell Checker on ALL my lipos Before charging them. The only way to know if it is safe to charge that one lipo. Sometimes I might balance them first before charging them. If they wont balance well, I know that lipo is dangerous to charge. Checking the IR's of all the cells matters also. Letting you know that the lipo is approaching its End Of Life.
I find that if I get aprox 50 cycles out of a lipo, pretty much they are done or almost petered out. And need to watch them more closely.

Edit:
I have seen many Smart lipo complaints of them failing. Sooner than later.
Smart Lipos are not any safer. I don't know why newbs think they are? Bad Marketting info. perhaps?

I totally agree with you that I should not have left the garage. Let’s just say lesson well learned….the hard way.

 

[RC-Dude]

I am pretty sure if you use sand it should do the trick. Would keep the oxygen away. Those granules are recycled glass and very light. Sand is heavier but normal white sand would do.

More important is to contain the flames. The lipo bags - look at some Youtube videos - they are just good enough when you go somewhere to bash.

I do not see so much danger during charging. You're keeping your eyes on them anyway because once you want to go drive they don't charge fast enough. The problem is spontaneous combustion. What we do to our lipos during bashing is certainly not tender loving care. You want to be safe when something ignites and you are not there.

 

[MambaSenton]

I am pretty sure if you use sand it should do the trick. Would keep the oxygen away. Those granules are recycled glass and very light. Sand is heavier but normal white sand would do.

More important is to contain the flames. The lipo bags - look at some Youtube videos - they are just good enough when you go somewhere to bash.

I do not see so much danger during charging. The problem is spontaneous combustion. What we do to our lipos during bashing is certainly not tender loving care. You want to be safe when something ignites and you are not there.

Was thinking this, will fill fire proof lipo bag with sand. Bury lipos with connectors facing up n out of sand

 

[RC-Dude]

I've had fires in aeroplanes more than once. Or seen spontaneous fire after using a lipo. In aeroplanes you actually treat the lipos nicely compared to bashing.

It's like an insurance you only pay once for. It's the cost of one rig but makes you sleep well. I took these boxes because of the filter on top. Ammunition boxes with sand is another option.

 

[Adiabatic]

The problem is spontaneous combustion. What we do to our lipos during bashing is certainly not tender loving care. You want to be safe when something ignites and you are not there.

This is what I worry about most too. I want to be able to go on vacation without the lingering concern that I might come back to the burned out husk of my place because something went wrong with my toy car stuff. Just seems like a ridiculous source of neurosis when battery safes are reasonably cheap.

 

[pug]

I mean, if you wanted to be even safer, run nitro! NiMH batteries are typically used in nitros. You can probably convert an Arrma to nitro like Arrma did with the Nitro Talion! But with nitro comes the extra cost and maintenance.

 

[SrC]

I was charging at 5amps for both 6s 5000mah lipos 50c. But my charger never hits 5amps it really chargers around 3amps.

No worries. Definitely point out if I was doing anything wrong.

The fire extinguisher worked on the lipo. It put out the flame but there was still smoke spewing out of the lipo.

Yeah if the charger won't put out a 1C rate for those lipos, (5 amps,) you would want another charger or separate PSU if charger is compatible with one. Rated higher.
Need a new one now anyway.
But this poses no correlation to the fire.

 

[Adiabatic]

I mean, if you wanted to be even safer, run nitro! NiMH batteries are typically used in nitros. You can probably convert an Arrma to nitro like Arrma did with the Nitro Talion! But with nitro comes the extra cost and maintenance.

That's one reason I stuck with nitro when brushless/LiPo electric was getting big and starting to beat nitro in raw performance. The batteries back then seemed about as safe as keeping a shoddily constructed homemade incendiary device in the shop. Things are better now that chargers do balancing and have more advanced safety features, but the risk of knocking a battery the wrong way during a run and having it go up later still exists and I'm not sure I would have gone to this side if I was unable to buy or build a solution like a Bat-Safe.

I really liked nitro though. Even if modern electrics beat them in speed, acceleration and run time, there's no experience in the hobby like getting a nitro engine tuned just right and ripping around the track or bash pit with the sound and smell. Unfortunately while I was away nitro bashing and even nitro racing seems to have largely died off. Very few models left, several of the big engine manufacturers closed up shop, fuel is now extremely expensive. My personal situation also no longer makes nitro wrenching and driving particularly appealing, so I guess I'm probably done with it.

 

[Jimbobjr]

The Bat box is nice once you get some nice long balance and charging leads. be sure to order them at the same time, at least a foot or so. for storage a fire safe works. they can be found locally for cheap on cl or thrift stores. new ones aren't that expensive either.

 

[arrmadillo]

Glad you caught it in time. Ive been charging lipos 17 years with no issues. It's stories like this that gets my attention. Usually charge inside the house, but garage floor or outside the back door sounds like the better option.

 

[TheBadazz]

I just went ahead and bought a Bat-Safe for my dual charger. I'll buy another for my single charger also..

 

[SrC]

That's one reason I stuck with nitro when brushless/LiPo electric was getting big and starting to beat nitro in raw performance. The batteries back then seemed about as safe as keeping a shoddily constructed homemade incendiary device in the shop. Things are better now that chargers do balancing and have more advanced safety features, but the risk of knocking a battery the wrong way during a run and having it go up later still exists and I'm not sure I would have gone to this side if I was unable to buy or build a solution like a Bat-Safe.

I really liked nitro though. Even if modern electrics beat them in speed, acceleration and run time, there's no experience in the hobby like getting a nitro engine tuned just right and ripping around the track or bash pit with the sound and smell. Unfortunately while I was away nitro bashing and even nitro racing seems to have largely died off. Very few models left, several of the big engine manufacturers closed up shop, fuel is now extremely expensive. My personal situation also no longer makes nitro wrenching and driving particularly appealing, so I guess I'm probably done with it.

I paid $70. gal 2 years ago. For only 20% nitro. Nitro drives more like real scale gas cars. Disc brakes etc.
BLX took over in RC.
Just like scale EV's are taking over, or at least that is the new push.

 

[RC-Dude]

The problem with nitro is noise over here. Otherwise I'd have it.

 

[Jimbobjr]

Lol, if you don’t have enough disappointment in your life get into nitro...

Hey @RC-RAD were they the smart batteries with the ability to self balance. Often wondered how safe those are in the long run. Glad you just had a mess to clean up and not calling the insurance company. Thanks for posting, looking into cleaning up my charging area...

 

[RC-RAD]

I definitely have a better piece of mind with my new charging location. Ordered a steel tool cabinet and bay-safe. Just waiting on my new charger and lipos.

Lol, if you don’t have enough disappointment in your life get into nitro...

Hey @RC-RAD were they the smart batteries with the ability to self balance. Often wondered how safe those are in the long run. Glad you just had a mess to clean up and not calling the insurance company. Thanks for posting, looking into cleaning up my charging area...

Yes. They were the smart self balancing lipos. I was happy with them for the time I had them and the self balancing was a nice feature because my charger could only discharge at 1amp which would take forever to discharge a fully charged pack.

 

[Tex Koder]

I bought 20 liters all together. 5 liter are about 15EUR. I only saw later you can get it in bigger units. It's like an insurance. Seems like a waste until you need it. Same with the lipo safe boxes. Kept adding over the years.

https://www.feuerwerkshop.de/extove...um-batterien-und-metallbraende-xxl::3673.html

https://www.stefansliposhop.de/sich...nulat-fuer-lithium-akkus-kissen-5l::2062.html

https://www.nexusmodels.co.uk/extov...extinguishing-granules-lithium-batteries.html



How did the lithum fire react to the fire extinguisher? Saw there are some made for lithum fires. Those prices are nuts. Expiry date 18 months.

Was looking into placing a order until the shipping was 3x the product

So I'm looking at those Extovers..

They remind me alot of ceramic bearings or glass BBs for Airsoft...
Actually look very similar.

Or,
come to think of it wouldn't a 10lb bag of fine pea gravel for $4.58 provide just about the same effect/protection?

 

[IrieMon69]

Thank you very much for posting this, and for everyone who replied with their input. I'm new to the hobby, and this is definitely eye-opening about my current charging methods. I have an ammo box and lipo-bag, but even those I wasn't using 100% properly, so I learned a lot from this post.

 

[Harry62]

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 tip. I didn't know there was such a thing, now that I know I ordered 3. I have a feeling this guys going to do some business over the next week or 2. I keep my LiPo's in Ammo Cans and discharge them when I remember key word remember I don't think about it just put things back where they belong in the Garage. My Garage is cold right now about 30 degrees so yeah gotta be much more mindful, thanks all for the heads-up.