Workshop fire caused by Lipos

[Simon.O.]

This is a fire that happened in our patch a few months back.
You can watch the whole thing or skip to Scene 2 wait for the Aussie advert to finish and go from there.

The investigation points to a lipo and charger setup. The investigator makes some interesting "discoveries"

As a result my wife has made me seriously upgrade my storage facility for my packs.

Enjoy !

http://tvnz.co.nz/fsi/fire-scene-investigation-s1-e2-video-3775736

[Diegoboy]

It says:
This video is only available in New Zealand due to international rights agreement

Sorry

[drwayne]

Ditto from Oz.

It says:
This video is only available in New Zealand due to international rights agreement

Sorry

[andym]

Looks like NewZealand's one and only secret service agent wanted something to do!! We were going to invade but why bother??

[drwayne]

A couple C+P from associated sites.
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TVNZ program FSI covered a fire that seriously damaged an automotive service garage.

Before leaving for the night the owner and a friend were flying model helicopters using Lipo batteries. One or more batteries was left on charge on a work bench overnight.

The investigation concluded that the Lipo battery was the cause of the fire. Having used and abused a lot of Lipo batteries I suspect there may be more to it. If treated correctly these batteries are very reliable. I’ve seriously damaged 3 or 4 and never had any smoke or fire; just a loss of rated capacity. I have had one battery swell up during charging but that was due to the charger being incorrectly set.

There a few points not covered in the tv program although they may have been considered during the investigation:

1. Was the power supply a suitable regulated DC power supply or was it a type of 12V car battery charger? If a car battery charger, it could have supplied a voltage or waveform that upset or damaged the smart charger that was connected to the Lipo battery.

2. Was the smart charger set correctly for the Lipo being charged? If not, the charge current could have been too much for the Lipo.

Otherwise, the outcome was reasonable. It was disappointing that the correct use of these batteries was not covered at the end of the program. I guess these programs are meant to be spectacular and exciting rather than helpful and informative.

Leaving the blame with the battery may well have been incorrect.

Lipo batteries do need to be treated correctly during use and charging. They should be stored and charged in a safe (fire proof) location. They should not be charged unattended.

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Tonight FSI covered a fire that almost gutted a commercial warehouse and several expensive cars inside... the cause was discovered to be a lipo battery from a helicopter left on to 'cycle' overnight. What followed was the investigators deliberatley abusing lipos (direct 12V connection to battery, dropping from heights) in order to determine what they were capable of. CCTV footage later proved the fact.

NEVER charge lithium batteries unattended.

ALWAYS charge on a fireproof surface away from flammable items.


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[Fluid]

From my experience you have to do more wrong than just over-charge or over-discharge modern LiPo packs to have a bad fire. At a regional race last month a club member was racing his T Mono with 10S2P packs when we noticed the boat smoking heavily as it approached shore. Removing the hatch revealed the packs were smoking, but no flames. We filled the hull with water to prevent melting anything and pulled the packs out AFTER they had stopped reacting and had cooled off. Water does not put out the "fire".

As it turned out nothing in the boat was damaged from the hot packs, although three of the four packs were split open. The third appeared okay, and it held 45% of its capacity. This was what would have been expected given the amp draw of the setup (ca. 140 amps) and the run time for the 6-lap heat. The packs were Turnigy 25C 5000 mAh packs and should have been able to handle the discharge (the ratings indicate 250 amps continuous). It seems clear that all the packs were not really 25C packs....

But back to the topic at hand - while the packs got very hot, no flames were seen. Had the NZ modelers charged their packs in a fire-safe environment there would have been no fire. Of course they violated the number one safety rule of charging LiPos....never charge LiPos unattended.