LiPo battery fire hazzard...

[cfz2882]

A local house had it's kitchen damaged by a fire caused by battery in a "personal device"that flamed up under charge-likely this was a LiPo battery as those are known to burst,then flame up as the lithium is exposed to moisture in the air These batteries appear as a foil wrapped packet instead of a cylinder shape like Li-ion or other battery types.Dogs sometimes get a nasty suprise when they chew these batteries.I have a couple toy drones that use LiPo batts,and I always keep an eye on them while charging...Check youtube for failed/abused LiPo battery action

 

[tolivac]

Hoverboard batteries have been problems lately-the batteries have exploded or caught fire during charging.I have had no problems with the lithium battery powered appliances I have.I won't charge them when unattended.

 

[kb0nes]

I have a group of friends that all fly electric RC aircraft (Quad copters and fixed wing) and they all carry their batteries in flame proof sleeves. Some of their batteries are about 1/2 the size of a standard brick so there is a LOT of energy in those.

Lithium secondary batteries are generally pretty stable when not in use as long as they aren't damaged. Most fires seem to happen during charging or if the battery is shorted. Very important to charge devices where the cooling is not impeded. Try charging a cell phone under a pillow and see how hot it gets! The internal battery temp is quite a bit higher.

 

[tolivac]

The Kobalt 80V charger for my Kobalt leaf blower and grass trimmer have fans in it to cool the battery and charger while its charging.I have heard the same battery precautions for drones-same as for model aircraft.thats the advantages of the lithium battery family-lots of power in a small,light package.We we look around our places youy may have more lithium battery powere applainces than you realize-lets see-for me--two lithium powered lawn mowers-these have removable batteries,two laptop computers,a Norelco electric razor,Iphone7,2 Ipads.5 lithium battery powered portable lights.then the above Kobalt yard care appliances.I compared the Kobalt axial leaf blower to Kevins(The gardener I hire on occasions I don't want to do the job)Stihl gas backpack blower-the Kobalt one was very close in power!He even liked the Kobalt and wanted to use it for the rest of the yard jobs that day at my place.He liked how light and quiet it is.The Stihl makes quite a roar!

 

[kb0nes]

I think it is crazy that they make 80+ volt cordless tools, that is just way too many cells in series to destroy the pack when one fails. Stihl doesn't have any over 36v. Marketing by numbers in the big box stores is an evil thing.

 

[tolivac]

In those HV packs the cells are in series-parallel to get current and long run times.The 60 and 80V tools I have-have had no problems with them.some are a few years old-so far-so good.Beleive they use 18650 cells.DeWqalt has a line of tools that have 100V batteires-or they can be run from 120V AC power.That would be good for some construction sites where there is no power.That may be better than slepping and running a generator.