Fire while charging lipo battery

[Tmcfarland]

Today was a scary day which could have been so much worse. I have a small barn I build in and have been charging batteries in. Today a battery caught fire while charging and almost burned it all down. I have used this charger probably 10 times without issues. You set the cell count and voltage and then it performs a check and you push start. Luckily I am in the habit of checking about every 15 minutes but got complacent. In the past it has always shut off when done charging.
Went out to check and saw smoke pouring out the door. Opened the door to find my building table fully engulfed. Luckily with a hose nearby I was able to put it out. Lost a lot of tools and a plane under construction. The battery was the two cell one that Aloft sells in the Silly stick package. The charger was off Amazon. I have only myself to blame. I even had one of those fire envelops for charging but got complacent and did not use it. Seeking recommendations for a quality safe charger. Btw my wife keeps her Christmas stuff in this barn. Had it gone up it would be the end of my rc hobby. Be careful !!

 

[HENNY]

Today was a scary day which could have been so much worse. I have a small barn I build in and have been charging batteries in. Today a battery caught fire while charging and almost burned it all down. I have used this charger probably 10 times without issues. You set the cell count and voltage and then it performs a check and you push start. Luckily I am in the habit of checking about every 15 minutes but got complacent. In the past it has always shut off when done charging.
Went out to check and saw smoke pouring out the door. Opened the door to find my building table fully engulfed. Luckily with a hose nearby I was able to put it out. Lost a lot of tools and a plane under construction. The battery was the two cell one that Aloft sells in the Silly stick package. The charger was off Amazon. I have only myself to blame. I even had one of those fire envelops for charging but got complacent and did not use it. Seeking recommendations for a quality safe charger. Btw my wife keeps her Christmas stuff in this barn. Had it gone up it would be the end of my rc hobby. Be careful !!

This is what can happen with the lipos we use for RC flying. Best to have the battery in a fire proof container for storage andcharging.

 

[Yotaman1985]

So sorry this happened but glad you caught it when you did. I use a Hota D6 pro charger and have had good luck with it for years now. Charge anything from 1s-6s lipo, life, etc.

 

[Raymond Gaskins]

Glad you caught it in time. I charge my lipos in a Pyrex bowl in a fire resistant and vented booth and have had one lipo burn while charging. I use an Icharger and have had excellent results.
Raymond

 

[Chris]

REALLY happy that you caught it when you did!
I have a Hitec X4 Pro and I love it. Been using it for about 4 years and never had a problem with it. Unfortunately I am one of those guys that charges my batteries on the garage floor. I just make sure there is nothing combustible within 4 feet of so...

 

[Shoelace]

What a bummer. I'm a lieutenant with the SFFD and the amount of battery fires we go to is astounding. The popularity of e-bikes, e-scooters, and whatever else has provided me with quite a bit of work. I've even been on a fatality fire because of them.

Two things that I do when I'm charging: I have a few cheap fire proof bags that I put my batteries in when I'm charging them up. It means that I always have to remove my batteries from my planes when charging, but the velcro bag should save me from damage if it ignites. The second thing that I do is that I never leave my place when charging batteries. Even with my safe charger and all of my precautions, I don't mess around with it with everything that I've seen over the last few years. I'll stay somewhat near my batteries when I'm juicing them up.

Side note, maybe something to pass along to friends. When charging up batteries, don't put them near an exit. The fatality I had was when someone was charging an e-bike by their door in a multi-story apartment, they were charging it overnight while they were sleeping. Well, it ignited and they had no way to exit their building as the exit was fully engulfed. I would NEVER charge any kind of large battery without serious supervision. That's your safety lesson for the day.

As far as recommendations for safe chargers go, I bought this one off of Amazon and it works great.

 

[thenated0g]

I keep my charging stuff on metal bread reacks. The "floor" of my charging shelf is concrete backer board (bathroom shower concrete board) and i put another sheet on the shelf above.

When i am charging batteries i keep them in a metal toolbox and make sure nothing is in direct contact with that metal so nothing else heats up if there is a fire. I also have a fire alarm directly above my charging tool box, like less than foot above.

 

[Tmcfarland]

What a bummer. I'm a lieutenant with the SFFD and the amount of battery fires we go to is astounding. The popularity of e-bikes, e-scooters, and whatever else has provided me with quite a bit of work. I've even been on a fatality fire because of them.

Two things that I do when I'm charging: I have a few cheap fire proof bags that I put my batteries in when I'm charging them up. It means that I always have to remove my batteries from my planes when charging, but the velcro bag should save me from damage if it ignites. The second thing that I do is that I never leave my place when charging batteries. Even with my safe charger and all of my precautions, I don't mess around with it with everything that I've seen over the last few years. I'll stay somewhat near my batteries when I'm juicing them up.

Side note, maybe something to pass along to friends. When charging up batteries, don't put them near an exit. The fatality I had was when someone was charging an e-bike by their door in a multi-story apartment, they were charging it overnight while they were sleeping. Well, it ignited and they had no way to exit their building as the exit was fully engulfed. I would NEVER charge any kind of large battery without serious supervision. That's your safety lesson for the day.

As far as recommendations for safe chargers go, I bought this one off of Amazon and it works great.

Thank you for your response. I have ordered a new charger a fireproof bag and a steel amo case as suggested on another forum. I pan to charge on a concrete pad I have nearby. I think my complacency came from treating them like a phone battery. Now I am worried about my electric lawn mower that I charge in the garage. Thanks again. And hoping SF can be turned around. I bet you have seen it all.

 

[thenated0g]

I seem to remember somebody mentioning to remove the rubber liner on the ammo can lid so it doesn't pressurize and explode. Not sure if that is an actual thing that has happened before but i removed all mine just in case. they just pull out.

 

[Yotaman1985]

I seem to remember somebody mentioning to remove the rubber liner on the ammo can lid so it doesn't pressurize and explode. Not sure if that is an actual thing that has happened before but i removed all mine just in case. they just pull out.

I was going to comment this as well. They are designed to be air tight usually and if you have a fire in one with the gasket installed they can build pressure.

 

[JustinMader]

I was going to comment this as well. They are designed to be air tight usually and if you have a fire in one with the gasket installed they can build pressure.

I keep an eye out for metal tool boxes at Goodwill for this reason. I've had a friend lose a car due to lipo fire, as well as one who had a lipo catch fire on his lap while he was plugging in a quad (I was witness to that one). Fireproof bags are a must, as well as fire extinguishers wherever I store batteries.

 

[Wayne]

We have seen several fires reported on various forums over the years.

A couple of years ago one of our customers had a large fire even though he caught it pretty quick he had a lot of damage. Basically lost everything in his shop. During the clean up he put all batteries he found into some buckets with salt water and let them sit for days. As I recall he had a lot of large batteries. Anyhow sometime later he assumed the batteries wrre now safe and he pulled them out and put them into trash bags only to have them ignite again! Be careful. The salt water method has many flaws.

I recall hearing about New York's issues with bike fires in tall residential buildings. Seems to be a growing problem. Some towns in China have outlawed electric scooters due to the many fires they suffered.

My favorite charger for a very long time has been an i-Charger. It is not the easiest to use, it is not the best looking, but it has one thing that I wish more would offer, it has a temperature probe you can put under the battery while charging. If it gets too warm, it turns off the charge. Is it a cure all? Probably not, but I do think it is a good idea.

Generally I do trust the Toolkit RC, Hitec and ISDT chargers a lot. We have sold all of those brands in the past and not had any scary stories about them. I do not like CHEAP chargers. I occasionally use them around the house, but my trust level is very low. For example we have a cheap vacuum, and my rule is that it is never left plugged in if people are not around. Zero trust of that unit. The same goes for RC chargers. I recall when I bought the i-Charger is cost a lot more than the China specials, but the manufacturer made a big deal about using only grade A components. You simply are not going to get good components or quality control with a $15 charger.

 

[Alan W]

Get yourself a used BBQ on garbage day (or from the recycling center ) Pressure wash the crap out of it and convert it to LIPO Charging and Storage container.

.. It will contain whatever possible fire you may have. Still gonna stink bad but won't burn your <whatever> down.

PS - 20/20 hindsight will not tell you if it was the charger or the battery or the connectors or .. it could have been any of these.

 

[samlevy0515]

Wow, that’s terrifying—so glad you caught it in time and no one was hurt! Battery fires are no joke, and it’s scary how fast they can escalate even with precautions.