LIPO fire at the FE Nationals

[LarrysDrifter]

Im a pipefitter who builds gas stations.

[MarkF]

There is nothing that I know of that will extinguish a burning lipo. Water salt or other wise is not going to do anything while the lipo is burning. Salt water does help a damaged pack discharge all the way down to 0 over a 24 hour period. Sand does help keep the flames down a little but who has a bucket handy when it happens. Lipos burn extremely hot and fast. The best you can do is limit the damage the lipo makes after it has burned itself out. The dry powder extinguishers are the best for that. Ken ran his pack down to low and tryed to bring it back to life. He got called to go race and left the pack unatended. We all know this is a no no and that is what happened. His trailer was at the back of the pits and well enough away from any spectators. Nobody is commenting because it was a stupid mistake that everyone already knows not to do. Sorry there's not much more to tell.

Mark

[Stinger9D9]

Ken ran his pack down to low and tryed to bring it back to life. He got called to go race and left the pack unatended. We all know this is a no no and that is what happened. ...Sorry there's not much more to tell.

Mark

Well, that was a lot less interesting than the overvolting drama we dreamed up.

An honest mistake given the pace of such a big racing event. I'm sure he won't do that again. Hopefully no one else reading this thread will either.

[Ken Haines]

Lipos

Hey Guys,
Yes I am a little slow addressing this thread.
Understand that our drive home to Florida took 52 hours.
We left Sunday after the 2 Lap trials which put me home at
3 am Wednesday morning in Stuart.

Here is what happened, after running my big 24 pound T-mono in
heat 1 of the 4 minute offshore class, I discovered a low cell in one
of my 5500 mah - 6s packs. I was able to charge that single cell up to
the mean average of the rest of the cells. At that point I should have used
a balancer, but chose to place the pack on an unbalanced charge out of the
boat and on the bench. I did think the pack was recovering the last time I
had checked it, but made the mistake of walking away from it.
I was busy that morning running in all 5 offshore classes,
but should not have left it unattended and on the balancer.
We will never know if that weak cell heated up while charging or if for some reason
went to zero causing the other 5 cells to try to achieve the 25.2 volts between them.
Either situation could have caused this same problem. At this time all we know now
is that the pack heated up to a flash point then collaterally damaged two other
disconnected packs, 1 transmitter, a light cover, and the work bench itself.

These were the only items lost, and thanks to everyone's help I was back up and racing
the next morning, with minimal signs of damage to the trailer or the racing equipment.

Dave Newland did address the whole issue at a safety portion of the drivers meeting.
We both explained there what had happened, and he asked if we would not sensationalize
the whole mishap out of respect for me, the event, and our FE hobby itself. I firmly believe
Dave handled things correctly and thoroughly addressed this unfortunate mishap at the event.

Again I take full ownership of the problem and certainly will give more respect
to this powerful battery technology that I may have grown way too comfortable around.

Thanks again to all that helped save my equipment. You were all very good friends already,
but have now touched my heart with your help and support.
Thanks Again,
Ken