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Careful with those lithium battery banks

RADIO51

RADIO51

Guest
Mar 10, 2024
10
9
13
NW Corner
The picture says it all, big BIG money up in smoke. It was a sweet looking suburban with big amps, alternators etc etc, you know the drill. Imo, Lithium batteries and all these cap banks are just too dangerous and completely unnecessary. My xs power agm bank does just fine at 5kw. Lithium batteries are just not worth the risk and price for the return. The cap bank guys make me laugh, funny stuff.
 

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I'm scared of even the little ones. I was just given a box of stuff from a relative and it contained some of those little matchbook sized plastic-wrapped lithium drone batteries. I put them in the steel shed. With how often the cat knocks stuff off my desk, all it would take is the dog to puncture one with a single bite and the whole house would be gone. I was just telling myself "at least AA's don't catch fire" about an hour ago.
 
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These small lithium car jumper starter boxes work but sounds like a bad deal to carry, especially in the heat.
 
I think those small rechargeable hand warmers are a bad idea too. My dad gave me one that can be set to 110-130°F and with it set to 110°F and set down for a minute on the table, within minutes it swelled up enough to hear the sound of crunching plastic when squeezed. If a smart phone on a car dashboard is a problem, maybe they shouldn't put the same type battery in a device meant to get hot.
 
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They're supposedly getting better with the technology, but at what cost.
A friend of ours son had his home burn to the ground when he left his laptop charging when the went out.
 
There aresooo many videos of these things sef combusting in peoples cars, pockets, in their face etc. pretty sketchy. They make great power but to me, as far as big battery banks etc the risk isnt worth it.
 
I have to wonder what they "MAY BE" doing wrong with them???

Those batteries are used "all over the place" in ham for backup systems AND for portable operations. In all the discussions, videos and talks that I have seen on portable ops with these batteries... I have not heard of one in THAT USE... catching fire. (PS.. I know that they DO...... just... I don't know anyone and have not heard of anyone in radio context.... that had one burn).

Shoot... up to a certain size... they are even allowed on airplanes!!!!!!!

It makes me think they are doing something they shouldn't be doing..
 
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A Friend of mine recently had a fire break out in his basement while a power pack / car starter type unit was left charging. He and his wife were home upstairs at the time and called the FD. Major damage to the house once fire was put out. They had to move out of the house while restoration is being done. The unit he was charging was a budget priced unit purchased from a similar outfit up here as harbour freight.
It does make one wonder why something like a rechargable razor or toothbrush is never an issue. I assume they use similar batteries as these ones we hear about causing fires. I guess the batteries sold in other type of devices coming straight from "overseas" factories are using crap materials and little to no quality control to make them even cheaper. Just thought i would share this fairly close to home experience with you guys. 73
 
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RADIO51 said:
Lol, im not surprised, putting out an electrical fire with water is not the most efficient or correct way to do it.
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Normally water on an electrical fire is a bad idea. Methods that keep oxygen out of the fire are ineffective because the battery generates it's own oxygen while burning. Instead, the water cools down the battery in an attempt to stop the thermal runaway process. In some places, they dunk the car in a tank of water for several days.
 
Shadetree Mechanic said:
Normally water on an electrical fire is a bad idea. Methods that keep oxygen out of the fire are ineffective because the battery generates it's own oxygen while burning. Instead, the water cools down the battery in an attempt to stop the thermal runaway process. In some places, they dunk the car in a tank of water for several days.
Click to expand...
Its no wonder that are cracking down with these type of batteries on planes hidden away in checked luggage. Yikes
 
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Just have to be more careful on how you use Lithium. Have a friend going on 8 years with his setup in car audio. No issues.

A few years ago someone else in the car audio community tried blaming a lithium battery company for the fire that erupted and burned his car down... I asked for him to post a picture of his wire installation, and wouldnt you know. a complete rats nest with several wires unfused. :)

As a general rule, you never leave batteries left on a charger. Once charged, just take them off the charger. Anything can fail at any time.

I had a scare in 2017 where were all sleeping, and my sister in law who was in the living room noticed something "glowing" on one of her vape setups... She immediately unplugged it and took it outside. Seconds later it gave a loud bang! That would of easily set the house on fire.

Stay safe.
 
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guitar_199 said:
It makes me think they are doing something they shouldn't be doing..
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Bingo. There was a rash of fires in Vancouver being caused by e-bike batteries catching fire. In about 98% of the cases, it was found that people were using the wrong charger for the batteries, or had modified the charger to "supercharge" it, or had added extra batteries to the bike, or..... you get the picture.

I'm aware of a couple house fires up here that were caused by devices left charging on pillows or beds. In these cases, ventilation being stifled by the pillow or blankets allowed the device to overheat and the battery to catch fire. Wouldn't have happened had they been charging on a table. So not really a battery issue per se.

I'm in no hurry at all to get one, but electric cars are getting very common in the more built up parts of BC, especially in Vancouver and Victoria, and I'm not aware of any local cases of them catching fire while charging, so I suspect it is less common than you might think.
I am aware of cases where accidents caused battery fires, but gas powered vehicles often catch fire in accidents too........
Of course, when an EV does burn it's really spectacular, and makes great footage for the TV news !
 

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