Proper LiPo Storage...Take It Seriously

[Doby]

A LiPo Public Service Announcement...by Doby:

This is my LiPo storage Cabinet:
lipo 001.jpg

Its a Rittal Electrical Panel Enclosure. The company I worked for several years ago was going to throw it out (brand new) as the contract it was purchased for got cancelled. I felt sorry for it and gave it a new home.

It is made out of thick steel and weighs about 60 Lbs.

On any given day it houses approx. 70 LiPos of several brands, Turnigys, Zippys, Revolectrix and Polyquests., and a handful of SLA batteries for my scale boats.

All LiPos stored at 50% or less capacity.

As of Saturday morning, it now stores approximately 60 LiPos.


Those of you with advanced math skills will realize that there is a 10 LiPo difference from the beginning of the story.

Here is where the Qty 10 LiPo's are:
lipo 002.jpg

Seems on Saturday morning, there was a rather peculiar odor coming from the workshop, upon further investigation (after opening the cabinet) one of my LiPos decided it had had enough of living and decided to commit suicide and take a few innocent by standers with it. (Perhaps the offending battery originated for a rather unstable part of the middle east...)

As the entire cabinet was clouded in smoke it was hard to see the extent of the damage other than a few glowing "coals" in one location.

After the smoke had cleared and the carcases were removed, the suicidal LiPo was tracked down to one of the 4S Revolectrix LiPos I purchased recently.

It had a wonky cell that would only charge to about 91% while the remaining charged to 99%. When stored at 50%, the one cell was about 10% lower as well.

After all of the "soot" and other crap was cleaned out, here is what the cabinet looks like now, clearly showing where the Chernobyl event began.:
lipo 004.jpg

After spending several hours and using several jugs of alcohol to clean the remaining batteries, life is back to normal. The cabinet, while a tad smelly and scarred is no worse for wear and the house is still standing.

People hear stories about things like this happening and hope it will never happen to them...well, I can assure you that it can....but if you are prepared, the damage will be minimal.

TAKE A QUICK MINUTE AND MAKE SURE YOUR LIPOS ARE STORED PROPERLY. IF THEY AREN'T...DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU.

[Fluid]

Thanks Doby, a great reminder for all of us.



.

[z400]

I kinda figured you had an incident by the way the title is..

You've got a good setup, clearly.



Lipo's are sketchy.

[Ken Haines]

Thanks John,
This made me think of what could happen in my recreation
room if one of them went off like a roman candle. The Tongue & groove ceiling
would light up pretty quickly. The horror of my family's safety not to mention a lost home.
Minutes ago ordered a metal shop cart that looks perfect to store my 3 million packs that I just do not
seem to be able to part with. Has a lock too, which will keep Fede from getting curious one day.
I really appreciate the tip as that fireball experience in 2012 is still fresh in my memory.

[T.S.Davis]

I need to get my act together too. I've been working of late to dispose of cells that I no longer trust.

Seriously thinking about getting one of these since I have sources and such.

Fire rated cabinets

[ray schrauwen]

Glad everything is OK so to speak.

I've got some old cells that need destruction too. I can disdchasrge them and drop them off at local recycling in Halton. We have a world class recycling and disposal system, might as well us it.

I always wondered how you stored your arsenal.

[ezhitz]

Glad everything work out ok because of your cabinet . I keep mine in the garage in a small fridge but your story reminds my I have some puffy lipos that nead a salt bath before I have the same story.

[kfxguy]

I just ordered a couple big lipo bags. The big cube shaped ones. Not the flat ones. That should gete by until I come up with something better. I don't have any wonky acting ones right now but better safe than sorry.

[Brewbud]

Maybe I need to rethink my storage. I have them in a small fridge that is built into the bar in my back yard. The bar is made out of thick concrete so it should be fine. But if the flames shot outward and upward my balcony could go up. I have a small metal NEMA box. Wonder if they would be better in the box and then inside the bigger garage fridge. I only have 10 or so batteries right now. Hmmm....

[RayR]

Ken,

Could you please share the specifics of the metal shop cart you ordered?

[longballlumber]

After the smoke had cleared and the carcases were removed, the suicidal LiPo was tracked down to one of the 4S Revolectrix LiPos I purchased recently.

It had a wonky cell that would only charge to about 91% while the remaining charged to 99%. When stored at 50%, the one cell was about 10% lower as well.

Is there a particular reason you kept this pack around in the first place? IMO the hidden gem in this story is to get rid of those suspect cells before an event takes place.

In most cases, the pack is telling you what is going on well before it goes from bad to worse.

With that being said, I need a better storage system as well.

Thanks,
Ball

[kfxguy]

Is there a particular reason you kept this pack around in the first place? IMO the hidden gem in this story is to get rid of those suspect cells before an event takes place.

In most cases, the pack is telling you what is going on well before it goes from bad to worse.

With that being said, I need a better storage system as well.

Thanks,
Ball

You definitely have a good point. I suspect he wanted to squeeze what he could out of it especially since he bought it less than a year ago. Throwing a fairly new new lipo out with little use to it always hurts our feelings. No matter what name brand, none are immune to failure. I guess lipo technology is still in its infancy and we should tread it as such. I'm sure better and safer technologies are on the horizon. I hope anyway. Lol

[Doby]

. I suspect he wanted to squeeze what he could out of it especially since he bought it less than a year ago.

Yup.

[Ken Haines]

Ken,

Could you please share the specifics of the metal shop cart you ordered?

Hi Ray,
Here is the link to the cart I purchased online. It is a bit pricey, but most of the hallway decent
metal shop carts are as I had researched them a year ago for the nuclear plant.
I wanted something also that I could roll around and also set up my charging station for the
night before our club races when I usually start the charging ritual. This is not as good as a NEMA
enclosure, but it would contain a fire and would keep my 13 year old step son away from fooling with them.
I fear he does not yet have the same respect for them that I only have after seeing them fire off.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_447172-48535-74105___?productId=50159233&pl=1&Ntt=steel+cabinet

To answer your question Mike Ball, I keep some of the packs because the other remaining cells are in great condition. This gives me the option to remove the bad cell making it a smaller pack or to replace the cell with
an identical replacement. Time consuming, but I do work on electronics as my profession at the Nuke Plant
so it seems logical not to trash them for example if I have punctured an outer cell. This all being said I do
have way too may non-competitive and oddball packs just laying around, I do need to move many of them.
to the local disposal center....good point.

[dmitry100]

Is it okay to drop off bad lipos that weren't properly discharged to battery recycling centers? I have some that I have no way of discharging which I need to get rid of.

They happen to be Traxxas junk lipos. Most of them were barely used, too. Someone should sue their asses for selling non-boat rated lipos with their boat(s).