the expanding lipo! questions for the lipo gods

[BrianG]

So far the worst I got was small flames, a lotta smoke and a pile of ash. I've even TRIED to blow some up. Mostly, I just get an instant puff and a whole lotta smoke (enough to thickly cover a city block). Luckily I did this at night and near the 4th of July where it would be less noticeable. Anyway, this was done by driving a nail into the pack and moving it around so it shorts the internal conductors. Of course, if you do this kind of thing where there is "fuel" (flammable stuff like plastic and such in a vehicle), the whole thing will go up if you do something bad enough.