Exploding Battery

[toryander]

Last week I had a near disaster (no exaggeration). I was charging a 3s battery while I was working in the same room. When I smelled the sickly sweet chemical smell I turned around to see my battery bloated and smoking. I got it unplugged and was rushing to the front door to throw it outside when it exploded. I was holding it by the cables so it didn't take off my hand. Somehow the exploding bits didn't hit me. I dropped it on the linoleum and we had a fire burning. My wife rushed in with the fire extinguisher and we got it out. A few minutes later we had full flames in some bags full of clothes five feet away by the wall. Bits of the battery had blown into it and smoldered. Fortunately, we got that out, too, but we had a house full of smoke. Now we have charred sections of linoleum that will need to be replaced. I learned the truth of all you hear about batteries and safety practices the hard way: 1. Don't leave charging batteries unattended. If I hadn't been in the room when the battery went south I'm certain we would have lost the house. 2. Double check your settings. I figured out that I had accidentally been charging a 3s on 4s settings--a mistake you don't want to make. 3. Charge your batteries using a fire/explosion proof bag. 4. Keep a working fire extinguisher nearby. I am now using a charging bag and storage bag. We have two new fire extinguishers and fire blankets on hand. I believed the safety warnings, but didn't act until I nearly lost my house. I've been humbled. Do any of you practice more safety than this due to your experience? If so what do you do?

 

[Mr NCT]

This is what I use:

BAT-SAFE | BAT SAFE

Looking for a simple and effective way to safely charge any battery containing lithium? Look no further than BAT-SAFE - the ultimate solution for anyone who values safety and peace of mind while charging their batteries (LIPO and LI-ION). If you're into drones, FPV or RC, or using lipo batteries...

www.bat-safe.com

I like the dedicated cable port.

 

[Bricks]

I am surprised your charger even attempted to charge with the wrong cell settings, mine tells me to get bent if wrong cell count is used.

 

[CRASH 22]

I like keeping my batteries in a metal ammo can, like you get at the Army surplus store

 

[CRASH 22]

This is what I use:

BAT-SAFE | BAT SAFE

Looking for a simple and effective way to safely charge any battery containing lithium? Look no further than BAT-SAFE - the ultimate solution for anyone who values safety and peace of mind while charging their batteries (LIPO and LI-ION). If you're into drones, FPV or RC, or using lipo batteries...

www.bat-safe.com

I like the dedicated cable port.

after watching the videos I decided to buy a Bat safe.... THANKS!! for the info.

 

[LitterBug]

Last week I had a near disaster (no exaggeration). I was charging a 3s battery while I was working in the same room. When I smelled the sickly sweet chemical smell I turned around to see my battery bloated and smoking. I got it unplugged and was rushing to the front door to throw it outside when it exploded. I was holding it by the cables so it didn't take off my hand. Somehow the exploding bits didn't hit me. I dropped it on the linoleum and we had a fire burning. My wife rushed in with the fire extinguisher and we got it out. A few minutes later we had full flames in some bags full of clothes five feet away by the wall. Bits of the battery had blown into it and smoldered. Fortunately, we got that out, too, but we had a house full of smoke. Now we have charred sections of linoleum that will need to be replaced. I learned the truth of all you hear about batteries and safety practices the hard way: 1. Don't leave charging batteries unattended. If I hadn't been in the room when the battery went south I'm certain we would have lost the house. 2. Double check your settings. I figured out that I had accidentally been charging a 3s on 4s settings--a mistake you don't want to make. 3. Charge your batteries using a fire/explosion proof bag. 4. Keep a working fire extinguisher nearby. I am now using a charging bag and storage bag. We have two new fire extinguishers and fire blankets on hand. I believed the safety warnings, but didn't act until I nearly lost my house. I've been humbled. Do any of you practice more safety than this due to your experience? If so what do you do?

What type of charger are you using that lets you select the wrong cell count? Most I am familiar with that is impossible.

 

[toryander]

It's a Hilldow B6 Balanced LiPo Charger purchased through Amazon. I just remember plugging in what I thought was a 4s battery and it asking me something about 3s? In my hurry I told it to just go ahead and charge at 4s (press of a button) and it did. Afterward I realized the exploding battery was 3s. I think it tried to say "Are you sure?" but it let me do it in the end. I won't be in a hurry anymore.

 

[telnar1236]

That it allowed you to override it suggests you might be using it in charge mode instead of balance charge mode - in charge mode most chargers need to guess the cell count from the voltage but in balance charge mode, it can count them directly on the balance lead.

Using balance charge mode is also overall safer because it prevents one cell from having too low a voltage and another cell from having too high a voltage which can lead to a fire even with the right cell count selected due to different internal resistances across the cells.

Looking at the amazon listing, you can set the mode to Lipo-Balance-Chg if it isn't set like that already. If it is already in balance charge mode and still let you charge the pack with the wrong cell count set, you might look at buying a new charger - it's physically impossible for the charger to try to balance the wrong cell count which suggests that function might not be working as intended if it didn't immediately error out.

My charger lives right next to the door to my patio in case I need to put a bad battery outside, but so far, whenever something has started to go wrong I've caught it in the battery is getting warm stage and been able to safely retire the battery, so fingers crossed.

 

[toryander]

That it allowed you to override it suggests you might be using it in charge mode instead of balance charge mode - in charge mode most chargers need to guess the cell count from the voltage but in balance charge mode, it can count them directly on the balance lead.

Using balance charge mode is also overall safer because it prevents one cell from having too low a voltage and another cell from having too high a voltage which can lead to a fire even with the right cell count selected due to different internal resistances across the cells.

Looking at the amazon listing, you can set the mode to Lipo-Balance-Chg if it isn't set like that already. If it is already in balance charge mode and still let you charge the pack with the wrong cell count set, you might look at buying a new charger - it's physically impossible for the charger to try to balance the wrong cell count which suggests that function might not be working as intended if it didn't immediately error out.

My charger lives right next to the door to my patio in case I need to put a bad battery outside, but so far, whenever something has started to go wrong I've caught it in the battery is getting warm stage and been able to safely retire the battery, so fingers crossed.

Thanks. I'll look into this.

 

[The Hangar]

I've had one lipo fire, scary stuff! I've been toying with designing a storage/charging station which will be built around a tool chest topper from Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/27-in-x-22-in-top-chest-series-3-slate-gray-70748.html
This is one of the only ones that I've found where all the drawers are deep enough to hold decent sized batteries. The top three smaller drawers will hold the smaller 1-3s lipos, and the drawers below will hold 3-6s packs. Somewhere on here I saw someone use small plastic bags filled with some sand as a built-in fire protection, so I'll be trying that out. With some 3D printed cable organizers and a power strip, the top will be perfect for several chargers. Lastly, a fire extinguisher mounted to the side incase things go south.

 

[MadMonkey]

I like keeping my batteries in a metal ammo can, like you get at the Army surplus store

Make sure if you lock it you have some vent holes in case one goes up, otherwise you're building a potential IED 😬

I use ammo cans occasionally, but I use some kind of liner for them. Bare metal + connectors worries me.

 

[Bricks]

I don`t think I want my storage and charging in the same container, since most fires are from charging but that is just me.

 

[The Hangar]

I don`t think I want my storage and charging in the same container, since most fires are from charging but that is just me.

Fair enough, I think using a batsafe while charging or something similar would keep the charging batteries far enough removed for me.