Scary Lipo Fire - Thought I might be moving into Lincs basement.
 

Had a pair of 3s lipos go up in huge flames while charging in the back room. I Put a pair of 3s 5000mah Turnigy charging as 6s 5000mah @ 5amp on the charger. I've been lazy and haven't fixed the balancing taps on either so it had been a while since they were balanced. I told myself the night before that I need to get the balancer working on those. I must not have listened cuz I still hooked them up to the charger without balancing them.

I was in the kitchen working on an RC when I heard this strange hissing coming for the back room. My first thought was one of my dogs had the runs and was trying to shit through the screen door. Telling myself not to puke when I see the mess. I walked to the door way and saw smoke shooting out of the lipos and then a flame shot out of the smoke. It must have been 40' high and just as wide! I nearly shit through the screen door myself when I saw it! I remember just repeating "Oh Shit!" over and over the hole time. It was on the workbench (pics below) when it started. I grabbed the red fire extinguisher which was right there at the door way to the back room. I reached for the pin to pull and there wasn't one. I pull the trigger and nothing. No even a dribble, drop, or puff out of it. The little red headed pecker wasn't eve shooting blanks. Oh, shit! Kept coming out of my mouth and I am thinking my house is going to burn to the ground! I'm going to be living in Lincs basement with the midgets, donkey, and Nitrostarter! The place was filling up with smoke fast. I got a good inhale of those fumes and that damn near knocked me on my ass. I tried not to inhale the smoke, but some habits are hard to break. I figured I at least needed to get it away from the wall and other batteries I had up there. I grab the closest thing (a towel) and threw it over the flames and knocked the home wreckers onto the floor for to try and buy a little more time to pack myself some clean underwear. The other cells were starting to join the party at this point. Flames were getting bigger and well what can I say "Oh, shit!" I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the WHITE First Alert fire extinguisher. I was glad to see there was a pin that was needed to be removed. Although every second it took me trying to get it out seemed like minutes. I got back in there to see another cell shoot it load allover the place. I covered it and the whole back room, kitchen, and about every other nook and cranny in this place with fire extinguisher dust. That crap is everywhere, and well the house doesn't smell like wet dogs anymore. I got the flames down and grabbed the towel and scooped them out into the yard. I wasn't sure if it was done unloading or just taking a breather. There weren’t any more big flames shooting out from under the towel. Just some smoke signals as the white towel started showing signs of the heat. Turning a nice dark brown like my underwear. They kept smolder for a long time until I got a chance to change them. Between the smoke and fire ext dust my eyes feel like crap. Itch and feels like a paste or mud in them. Well that was Monday morning when it happened. I didn't realize till late last tonight that one of the 4s 5000mah zippy was missing. I couldn't find it in any of the usual places so I went and checked the ship yard for any remains or ashes of the missing lipo. Sure enough it was out there and still is. Not a pile of ash though likes the other two. Still has some resemblance of a lipo but I think the outer cells on it are damaged. It was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A 4s Flight Power was sitting close to the flames. It lost if clear plastic. The day before I had just gathered up all my loose wires and connectors/adapter that I made or had for hooking what ever together. So I could go through and organize them. That pile was pretty messed up. A voltage meter from Harbor Freight got burned up on the outside but it still works. A couple small lipo RX pack got in the way along with a BEC and my custom make by Guy adapters were melted.

Needles to say I got too casual with the care of my lipos. DON'T let this happen to you guys. It could of just been a fluke, bad connection, or a pissed off ex-wife. Whatever it was it was a serious wake up call for me. I've put lipos on the charger and ran to the store before. With that intense of flames coming out of them. I am sure the place would have gone up in flames if I wouldn't have gotten it off the bench at the halftime break. Here are some pics and just to save you all some time. I know what I should have done so you can save the post telling me. "You should of........

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...poFire2001.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...poFire1002.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...0fire/MRC1.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...LipoFire10.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...LipoFire15.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...LipoFire17.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...LipoFire18.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...LipoFire16.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c.../LipoFire8.jpg

MY HERO and would also like to thank the sacrificial towel! It's nice to have a roof over my head.

ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT LIPO FIRES.

Wow, that's some luck you were there to stop it:whip: !!

Damn. That is a good reminder of what we acually potentially have and are playing with. Thank jebus things weren't worse.

It's really hard to follow your request here man. Really hard. I am so glad that you had that extinguisher handy and that no one was hurt. Thanks for sharing this story, I for one always need to be reminded of the dangers around me as I take chances way too often. Now go get a lipo sac....oops! Sorry, that one just slipped out.

All in all you were quite fortunate. Good lesson re-enforcement for us.

def a wake up call to me as well, as I have gotten pretty casual with mine. Sorry for your luck, and thanks for sharing.

I charge my li-pos on the concrete floor, but often walk away as it charges...now I will only charge them if I am in the room.

I am very glad that nothing more serious happened to you or your house

Better play the lotto. I always charge mine on a big slab of ceramic tile with a weber grill lid over them. should keep any flames contained.

OOOOH Shit!!!
I thought that was your stained underwear lying in the yard. Seriously tough, thank goodness you caught it in time and thanks for posting this to remind all the rest of us just what we are playing with!

Guy, grab a beer and scratch yourself for a bit....you deserve it...!
I didn't know whether to laugh my ass off while reading your story (I have actually seen a dog try to shit through a screen door!) or worry about your health, but the Lipo porn analogies were too much......I'm still chuckling!

Paranoid much?

Wow glad nothing got too far out of control!

Two words- balance charger. I know a lot of us like to moan about the cost, but compared to the money we throw away on fcking insurance, we should all own about 4 top dollar dual port chargers. I don't know how many other chargers have the cell count confirm feature, but the Hyperions all do I believe.

Cheap insurance!

Clay flower pots, ceramic containers are good, but what's bad is the smoke. If your back room got filled with the smoke, there will be a high chance of many metal things getting corroded. Forgot to ask, did you inhale the smoke?

Hurry up and clean the mess befor the wife gets home, why give her something to freak out about ?
Truely happy for you that caught it when you did ! !

seing that make me love even more my a123 cells..
it already happen to me once and i promise my self that it as the last time...

Yeah it could of been worse. I could still be getting drunk everyday before I go home to the ex. She could still be living with me. I would be forced to acknowledge her complain about the weather, her hair, the burnt spot in the floor, and how I almost burnt the place down. Instead of what a pleasent fall day we ar having, being glad she doesn't have a receeding hair line, being thrilled getting new linolium (sp) for the back room, and how I saved the house from burning down...

Got the ammo can for transporting and have the lipo sack in my shopping cart already. Just having a problem deciding on which lipos to buy.


I charge the lipos through the LBA6 balancers. If I would of taken the time and fixed the cracked tap on the lipos. I am sure the lba would of told me to step back and think about what I was about to do.

Glad you found the humor in the story Jeff. Nice to look at the lighter side of the situation while still understanding the gravity of how eventually every womens boobs end up around thier knee or how their knee eventually end up around their boobs.

I did inhale, but that was in college. Do I still have your vote Lutah? I was hard not to breath in any of the smoke. I did get one hit that stopped me in my tracks and told me this is what life on Mars would be like (very short). After that hit I grabbed a longer stick and stood farther back with my marshmellows.


Lucky indeed. Although I am a few points away from actually be called a prophit. I believe that some higher power is speaking though me..... Not all the time, just when it's convienent.

ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT LIPO FIRES.


My first LIPO sack.
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...r/DSCF2201.jpg

It can hurt a bit if inhaled, but it might kill you. Just keep an check for corrusion from any electronic device that was near the smoke.

40 feet huh... I have to hear some of your fishing stories...

Glad to hear you did ok. Sorry about your tighty-whities, bleach is your friend!

Now sell that crap mrc chargger, and get a hyperion with an integrated balancer. That will cure the issue of overcharging a single cell. These bad boys get hot and pissed when you push too many volts into them!

This is why I always suggest that people buy a charger with a built in balancer, as that balancer can interrupt the charge if any cell decides to go over voltage...

And for the record I do not have a basement (below sea level here) so I have no idea where NS and those rogue circus animals are living...

Question 1:
I know the fire-safe boxes will keep a fire out, however will it keep a fire in? Like if one explodes inside the box.

Question 2:
Can a lipo even explode when it's just sitting around, or does it have to be in the process or charging, balancing, or dis-charging (running).

Man, now I am paranoid. 2 years of running and never thought twice (always charged, balanced, and had my LVC's set properly) until I read your story and saw your pics... Scary.

1: They burst into flames, but there has to be a short of some sort.
2: They expand and burst due to the presure, but only if a short occurs inside of it.

I've had lipos read 0.00v and none puffed, I've had none short, but I've had MA almost burst.

From my experience with lipo:

Over discharge (low voltage) usually causes puffing. But the lipo has lost most of its juice so it does not really have the potential that a full pack has.

Over charging causes the battery to be too full, and it has alot of potential energy so you can draw your own conclusions!

Now running a battery past its capabilities while it is close to full may have similar effects to over charging. So trying to pull 100 amps out of a 50amp rated pack may cause a dynamoc reaction.

A good carger and properly picking your packs will put you in very good standing considering safety. Gee did not cross his Ts and dot his Is and it bit him in the ass... Good example!

I feel your pain. I too had become very "layed back" when caring for lipo's. So much so that I had been charging in my trucks. This was a Maxamps 6500 pack that had been in a hard head on crash with my 1.1 van tire. I had been having an mgm esc braking issue. After the crash, the truck sat on my bench for about 4 hours and no I didn't even check anything , I got ambitious after the 4 hour break, charged up the one pack (all seemed ok, I did balance charge with a 606i ) It took about 50 minutes and put 5000 mah into the pack.( I came back 90 minutes later , charger said complete and all seemed ok). So I put my charger on the other side, went upstairs and about 15 minutes later......BaBoom, Not just fire, a big bang . By the time I realized what had happened (and got back downstairs) all the big flames were done and I was left with a smoke filled basement, a bench on fire as well as a whole buch of other things. I too was very thankful Kiddie was there to "put out the basement". I know better but had just got to use to not having problems........Never again !!!!!
http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/100_5042.jpg

It would depend on the box. If you just have a lipo fire, then most likely they will contain the initial fire, and the lack of oxygen will keep the fire from buring long. If it explodes, then it all depends on the quality of the box. In an explosion, something has to give somewhere to let that pressure out.

I store/transport mine in an military ammo box that's lined with foam. A lipo just sitting is likely not going to start on fire, or explode, but I had a couple extra boxes and they make a handy way to transport them.

Gee, good well written story as usual.. You should write a book with all your description etc. really... Though bro the old I doubled this and didnt hook that up LOL ok you said you know...Hyperion FTW I get drunk go to the store for hours come back and the things singing its song but just keeping it balanced lol. $180 for a charger is way less than $500 for a new floor, extinguisher, tools and the same lame charger

Sobering story Gee. Pleased it wasn't worse for you & you'd have a career in writing that's for sure

Watched in disbelief as a friends ERBE went up in flames a couple of months ago also...not a charging issue though but still a good reminder

:whistle: I had a NiMh pop once while charging. I'm in the better safe than sorry club.

Thanks everyone. I know your all happy I'm not asking if your couch is free. JK I know it's sincere and I would feel the same for anyone of you.

You guys would laugh your ass off it you saw how jumpy I am now handling a lipo. I think the stress would kill me before I was able to retire if I was a suicide bomber. A flashlight the size for a keychain rolled of the shelf above the charger when I was hooking one up. Hit the work bench with a small tap... I am taking the screen door off for a while.

A NiMH blew when I was at the track once...made a grenade sound quiet. Needless to say the force was enough to launch half the pack (it was a middle cell that exploded), or 3 cells about 50ft across the room.

Hmm....might use a metal biscuit tin with a few holes in the lid to charge my battteries inside from now on, although my iCharger 208B looks pretty good at stopping you from doing things that will end in tears!

A few holes in the tin lid should allow any pressure to escape rather than cause it to blow in the event of a nasty situation.....

I myself use a GI Ammo box that I cut one wall out of and replaced w/1/4" plexiglass for a viewing window for packs as they charge. It's bomb proof for the most part, if anyone I interested I made it for under $15.00 and can post pics.

Just want to give credit where credit is due.
 

It's cool to get everyone paranioid again about lipo bombs. Is is a nice reminder for everyone that guns kill. I just wanted to tell anyone that missed the obvious. All oif this could of been avoided had I connected my batteries and charged them through the balancer like I do with all my other lipos. Lazy to not fix the taps or frustrated with them doesn't matter.


sidebar "Picture baseball coach Lou Pinella come out of the dug out to bitch to the ump... Thier faces about and inch from each other, close enough that both mens eyes are going cross eyed, Lou yeling at the top of his lungs. "Could those sob's come up with some g* damn different f*ing taps so we need some more g* dam adapters cluttering up the f*ing clubhouse. Every f*ing time we order a g*dam new lipo the PIA balance tap is different then the last f*ing lipo order from the same whore house!". ...then he start kicking dirt on the plate amd umpire. sidebar end

This was user error and not a freak accident or the lipos just exploding. I mentioned in the original post. I told myself I needed to get the balance taps fixed for a reason. One of the lipos felt a little larger but wasn't puffed. That's what made me thing of needing to balance them. This isn't an equipent issue either. The chargers worked great since I got it a couple years ago. Charges everything I can thow at it. It doesn't have a built in balancer but not many did back then that could charge up to 8s lipos, with an included ac power supply 10amp charge rate, more battery profiles that I have been able to use, and customer support that repsonds in the same hour you sent the email to them. Looking back it was a dumb question, but I needed to know. The LBA balancer works in three different mode which is convienet vs being included in the charger. Has stand alone, charger through charger or a high drain rate cable with the ability to network additional balancers. Has all the important safety featureso of the built in charger but this one you can take with you go on a milk run to the store. If more poeple would of research the battery chargers back then instead of just jumping on the band wagon and buying the chager with a cool name "ICE" , the stock I lost in MRC would be making somebody money right now.

Using the same example every woodshop teacher uses as he points his stub for and index finger at you and the one good eye peering right at you when it's not slowly wandering to the left. "Those G* damn, Jorgensen! Those safetly glasses aren't going to save your ass son when they are laying on the work bench and not on your head where they should be! No get with the program young man!?

or how about this one for the females.

I got a brand new red/ with black interior, 1976 Ford pinto, AT, PB, & PS, AF/FM Cass and have been driving it backwards (old school suicide bomber) for 250,000 miles all over the great USA. Never once did I check the oil or asked what the Checkered Engine light was all about. No wonder I am broken down now in the middle of the desert, heat stroke setting in, dehydrated, and losing my will to live. Only thing keeping me going is I keep hearing one of the buzzard ask it they really have to wait til I die?

ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT LIPO FIRES!

whats more safer than lipos are LiFePO4 or A123. they don't catch on fire. maxamps sells them.

Yes, buy MA stuff folks, they are GREAT.

:rofl::na::rofl::whistle:

As soon as I win the lottery...

As for the question, lipo works great if you know what you are doing. LiFe is a bit safter and resistant to fuzzups, and should have a longer lifespan. Down side is that it lacks some voltage, and not every charger (most of the new ones do) will charge it.

I still like lipo, but for 25 bucks each I cannot go wrong with a 4500 30c 2s pack that can handle 5c charge... And can aparently be charged with a auto battery charger!

Yeah! Pictures!
lol, what kind of glue did you use?

Lutach is there anything I can do or should do help prevent the corrosion. Is it the chemistry of the lipos that cause this or would any smoke damage do it? Thanks.

Not much you can do, but check things over to make sure nothing has started to corrode yet. I don't know how it works out, but it's crazy science fiction stuff. For example, I've thrown away 4 buckets due to the metal handle corrosion. I did a few experiments with 2 awful lipos and other were just old, but still packet some energy as I didn't discharge them. I put a good show for my little brothers though. The first bucket was a mystery, but after the second one I knew exactly what caused it. There might be stuff that stops metal from corrosion, I think I saw something in Home Depot.

Why did the battery catch on fire?

Am I the only one interested in "why" ?
Perhaps Gee knows already and mentioned a user error. I can see no errors unless the packs were not a same state of charge or severly out of balance.

Ok, now all you lipo gurus can explain to me how to properly dispose of a few cells. I had a 4s loose a cell. So I disassembled it and made a 2s out of two of the cells. now I want to get rid of the other two, remember one is bad. So what should I do with it?

Oh and yeah this is my centenial post!!!!! wooo hoooo