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

[Gee]

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........



















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.

[Nard Cox]

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

[_paralyzed_]

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

[mistercrash]

Originally Posted by Gee

I know what I should have done so you can save the post telling me. "You should of........

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.

[rabosi]

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

[junkman]

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.

[magman]

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

[Rnemhrd]

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.

[georgec]

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!

[JThiessen]

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!

Originally Posted by Rnemhrd

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.

Paranoid much?

[redshift]

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!

[lutach]

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?

[Bondonutz]

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 ! !

[timaneli]

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...