Lipo fireproof bag?

[mnm99]

How many of you guys use them? The more I learn the more I want to get one. I may charge these on my boat when I'm out in the water. Or buy another set and not take a chance out there. I saw a few bags on Amazon. What do you think of these?

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Firep...ag=googhydr-20

[adlert]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. Seems like a good one for me to start with. Though I'm absolutely new to FE boating, I have been into drones and electric planes for many years now.

I always thought I was a good, conscientious battery owner and handler. Always stored my batteries in bags, on metal racks, always properly maintained storage voltages, etc. I am now living in a rental home as my house is being repaired from a lipo battery fire that occurred about 5 months ago. The structure is mostly fine, but all of our contents have been lost due to extreme smoke damage. It's a complete rebuild (stripping everything down to the studs and joists). It all happened in about 20 minutes and was completely avoidable (as these things usually are).

I hadn't been flying for some time so I was going through my various batteries one afternoon checking and adjusting for proper storage voltages. Almost done with the last battery (within a tenth of a volt and just a few minutes until the charger would automatically shut off) I decided to take a quick bike ride. The battery had only been used a couple times, worked perfectly, was less than 6 months old, never crashed... I'd never had any issues with the Dynamite Prophet charger either.

I was back within 20 minutes from the ride. Evidently however, within that time frame something went wrong. The battery must have caught on fire and worse, exploded to some extent sending fire bits to other places within the shop. The bench under my charging area and battery never burned - I always kept the charger and charging batteries on two cookie sheets. I am quite certain that the charger malfunctioned, in an over charge sort of way (I'm absolutely certain I set it up correctly, I always triple check that).

Now we're talking charging (storing) here and not storage, but if you'll check out some YouTube videos you'll find that these things can - though it's fairly uncommon - just fail in catastrophic ways. You'll also see many tests of battery fires set within bags similar to what you've posted. Some of those tests come out fine, some do not at all.

I've been educated! I am no longer using the bags. It's more expensive, but I believe (from all the video's I've watched anyway) that the best solution for the average hobbyist is currently the "Bat Safe." Check it out. I now own 6 of them and will probably get a couple more. If a battery of mine is not actively powering a craft of some sort, it's in a Bat Safe. For storage, charging, transportation... These cases are very well designed and made. I believe if used within the capacities outlined by the company and verified in tests, they are the way to go. I firmly believe I'd still be in my house right now if I'd know of them before hand.

Please know that I am in no way affiliated with the folks making these storage/charging containers.

[adlert]

And yes, I take full responsibility for walking away from a Lipo battery still hooked to a charger. Trust me, I don't any lectures on that! Having lived in 5 different places in the last 5 months while dealing with work, the insurance company, all the emotional anguish of lost irreplaceable items, the work involved with inventorying your life's belongings in an attempt to get coverage for them... I've lectured myself thoroughly at this point.

[mnm99]

Wow. Thanks for that info. I could imagine what your going through. Sorry. I'm real nervous about keeping the batteries on my boat when I'm not there. It would also stink if I had to bring them down to the boat every day not even knowing if I'm going to use them that day. Who has ever had a problem with a battery exploding during storage. I would hate even to have smoke damage inside the boat. I could store them outside under the seat ( still under a canvas) I'm also worried about them bouncing around, but I'm sure I can secure them. I think I'll get a box. thanks

[adlert]

Thanks very much for your kind thoughts!! It certainly is a real thing. Somewhat rare, but still a very real (and avoidable) risk. These batteries are so fun because they contain, and can release sooo much energy so quickly! But being a stand alone energy packet - that is not being fused or regulated by a circuit breaker; not being contained in a hard shell like the bulk of the batteries we use elsewhere in our daily lives.... stuff can happen sometimes. As mentioned, in my case I believe the charger malfunctioned into an overcharging mode. This caused the electrically "unguarded" and over charged battery to burst into flames and throw those flames out of my charging setup. A simple short in the charger would likely have been picked up and protected by the house circuit breaker. But a malfunction such as this was not. The battery then was just hanging out there chalked full of more energy than it was able to contain and unregulated by any safety mechanisms like circuit breakers, a containment system of some sort, or an adult watching over the charging process.

Note that the Bat-Safe is not the only setup available to do this safely. Many other techniques (concrete block setups, charging outside, concrete blocks with sandbags above them, metal ammunition boxes...) have been used. IMHO the Bat-Safe is the best. It can be configured as a charging box. Separate ones can be your storage boxes. It has vent holes so pressure won't build up in the event of a fire, and it even has filters within those vent holes to help catch the crazy soot that does so much damage in a house. It's well made and easily portable.

After considerable thought and soul searching, I realized I'm not willing to let my failure to see this fire possibility and bad luck scare me away from this hobby. Absolutely it can all be good and completely safe!! I do however feel a need to share my experience since I believe this was entirely preventable and would hate to see it happen to others. Others that have been through what I'm going through tend to do the same. The spontaneous fires are very rare though they can happen (check out YouTube) it's more commonly a charging/discharging event. Obviously damaged batteries - or ones that are acting strangely in any way (puffing, individual cells not wanting to balance, or take/release energy relatively evenly, or suddenly getting hotter than normal when being charged should simply be properly discarded.

Sorry for being so long winded! I'll let it rest.