Battery explosion, house nearly burnt down

[XcYZ]

So I was putting my batteries on the charger this morning in prep of flying my Mavic 2 Pro this afternoon when one of the batteries suddenly shot out a stream of gas (?), instantly starting smoking then burst into flames. Thank God I was in the kitchen right next to the sink. If this had happened anywhere else in our home, it would have burned the place down. The flames were strong in the sink shooting up almost a foot. The smoke was so bad that I couldn’t see the other side of the kitchen. Now the other two batteries are on the concrete in the garage until I figure out how I’m going to dispose of them. I don’t want them in my vehicle and they are not ever coming back into our home.

I just wanted to share with everyone my near disaster.

 

[zeusfl]

WOW !!! That is a scary situation. I purchased charging bags and i fail to used it. I will start doing it again.

 

[old man mavic]

@XcYZ glad you are ok ,what happened to you ,is why myself and many others ,are always telling members ,to respect the potential that lipo batteries have for destruction ,and to never leave them unattended during charging ,which is the time when things are most likely to go wrong,often without any warning or signs of external damage or swelling ,what you witnessed was a chemical reaction fire ,which will only end when the reaction is finished
thanks for posting lets hope it acts as a reminder to others

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Scary stuff

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Was that battery puffy?

 

[slup]

As I always parallel charge all my batteries ... up to 4 at a time for the photo drones & up to 8 for my quads, LiPo bags aren't practical. I have instead everything on an old tin baking tray so if something happens all can be carried away quickly.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

You might be the first ‘first hand’ lipo fire forum member I’ve seen posting that they actually experienced a thermal runaway lipo fire like this.
Certainly there are many examples online on YouTube.
Watch the gas, it’s fluoride and very toxic.
Like slup, I charge mine in a large baking tray (ceramic), placed on a stone bench.
Still in the home kitchen, have considered placing the tray on the stove and have the range hood fan on low, but using a DJI multi charger it just takes too long leaving a fan going . . . probable the range fan would blow and burn the house down !

 

[ThatBeardedDroneGuy]

Wow. Glad it turned out ok.

What do you mean about disposing the other batteries? Are you not trusting them now?

 

[XcYZ]

Wow. Glad it turned out ok.

What do you mean about disposing the other batteries? Are you not trusting them now?

I absolutely do not trust the batteries for my Mavic 2 anymore. I’ll continue to fly my Mini 2, but after experiencing what I did, I’m done with the Mavic 2.

The battery didn’t just start on fire, it was shooting flames like a jet. Something like a firework is my best explanation. It even sounded like it wanted to launch - I was seriously expecting it to explode by how hard it was out gassing, the sound it was making, and how the flames were jetting out of it, and the sheer volume of smoke it put out.

When the flames slowed down and I could see through the smoke, I grabbed it and put it in and old frying pan and took it outside. I’m guessing that was 20 to 30 seconds after it started.

And FWIW, I’ve never crashed the Mavic, its never had any trauma, always kept indoors so the batteries have never been exposed to any extreme weather conditions, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary in any way.

 

[Hidden]

At least you did not try to put the fire out with water. What you saw is normal when a lithium shorts out, it melts a small hole, then the hole acts like a nozzle, and can look like a rocket motor.

 

[KLRSKIR]

I absolutely do not trust the batteries for my Mavic 2 anymore. I’ll continue to fly my Mini 2, but after experiencing what I did, I’m done with the Mavic 2.

The battery didn’t just start on fire, it was shooting flames like a jet. Something like a firework is my best explanation. It even sounded like it wanted to launch - I was seriously expecting it to explode by how hard it was out gassing, the sound it was making, and how the flames were jetting out of it, and the sheer volume of smoke it put out.

When the flames slowed down and I could see through the smoke, I grabbed it and put it in and old frying pan and took it outside. I’m guessing that was 20 to 30 seconds after it started.

And FWIW, I’ve never crashed the Mavic, its never had any trauma, always kept indoors so the batteries have never been exposed to any extreme weather conditions, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary in any way.

Glad all turned out well for you. I will say that ANY LiPo battery could end up just like this whether on a store shelf or in your kitchen. Even in "shipping/hibernation" mode. I hope you get over the hesitance of your other M2P batteries, as I'm sure they are fine if handled as you described.

Again, glad this turned out as well as it did. Enjoy your weekend!

 

[BbqJoe]

A number of questions come to mind......
The top ones being:
How old are these batteries?
And how many charge cycles did they have?
Did you number them and rotate/use them evenly?

 

[Waldo Pepper]

So I was putting my batteries on the charger this morning in prep of flying my Mavic 2 Pro this afternoon when one of the batteries suddenly shot out a stream of gas (?), instantly starting smoking then burst into flames. Thank God I was in the kitchen right next to the sink. If this had happened anywhere else in our home, it would have burned the place down. The flames were strong in the sink shooting up almost a foot. The smoke was so bad that I couldn’t see the other side of the kitchen. Now the other two batteries are on the concrete in the garage until I figure out how I’m going to dispose of them. I don’t want them in my vehicle and they are not ever coming back into our home.

I just wanted to share with everyone my near disaster.

Thank you for sharing, fortunately you caught as it could have been much worse.

A Club RC plane friend of mine, he was charging batteries in his garage and one battery caused a fire, over 1/3 of his home was destroyed.

Yes, You are very fortunate as it couldn’t been much worse.

Paul

 

[ThatBeardedDroneGuy]

I absolutely do not trust the batteries for my Mavic 2 anymore. I’ll continue to fly my Mini 2, but after experiencing what I did, I’m done with the Mavic 2.

The battery didn’t just start on fire, it was shooting flames like a jet. Something like a firework is my best explanation. It even sounded like it wanted to launch - I was seriously expecting it to explode by how hard it was out gassing, the sound it was making, and how the flames were jetting out of it, and the sheer volume of smoke it put out.

When the flames slowed down and I could see through the smoke, I grabbed it and put it in and old frying pan and took it outside. I’m guessing that was 20 to 30 seconds after it started.

And FWIW, I’ve never crashed the Mavic, its never had any trauma, always kept indoors so the batteries have never been exposed to any extreme weather conditions, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary in any way.

Yeah, I've seen the tests they've done on YouTube. It's pretty crazy that these things can do. Just look at the rash of fires with the hoverboards a few years ago.

I'm curious, too, about the age of the batteries? Were they from the same lot? I get the reluctance to use what you have remaining but as @KLRSKIR said, even your Mini 2 batteries could do the same thing. I'm hoping this is just an unfortunate incident which had a good (relatively speaking) outcome.

Hate for you to give up flying your M2. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yeah I wouldn’t avoid the remaining batteries unless they are swollen / swelling when charging, or getting unusually hot when flying or charging.
Charge in a safe place, or while you’re right there near them the whole time.
This is for any lipos or lithium batteries in general.
So many iPhones / iPads and Android have gone up over the years, including in airline flights.

 

[Jet skier]

So I was putting my batteries on the charger this morning in prep of flying my Mavic 2 Pro this afternoon when one of the batteries suddenly shot out a stream of gas (?), instantly starting smoking then burst into flames. Thank God I was in the kitchen right next to the sink. If this had happened anywhere else in our home, it would have burned the place down. The flames were strong in the sink shooting up almost a foot. The smoke was so bad that I couldn’t see the other side of the kitchen. Now the other two batteries are on the concrete in the garage until I figure out how I’m going to dispose of them. I don’t want them in my vehicle and they are not ever coming back into our home.

I just wanted to share with everyone my near disaster.

So sorry to hear about that experience could you tell us if the battery had been puffed up at all?

 

[JimSteadman]

So for those of us who live in Condos or Apartments, where we have no place to charge batteries except on the kitchen shelf or the counter in the bathroom or by the outlet near the floor in the office or bedroom, we would really like as much detail as to the age of the battery, the number of charging cycles, whether you ever noted heat, bulging, swelling and anything else you can think of to provide us with things to look for, be careful about, etc. This is scary stuff and while we know that ANYTHING can happen, we'd like some assurance that this is an anomaly.

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

As I always parallel charge all my batteries ... up to 4 at a time for the photo drones & up to 8 for my quads, LiPo bags aren't practical. I have instead everything on an old tin baking tray so if something happens all can be carried away quickly.

Keep a second tray handy to use as a cover.

 

[orionshooter]

So I was putting my batteries on the charger this morning in prep of flying my Mavic 2 Pro this afternoon when one of the batteries suddenly shot out a stream of gas (?), instantly starting smoking then burst into flames. Thank God I was in the kitchen right next to the sink. If this had happened anywhere else in our home, it would have burned the place down. The flames were strong in the sink shooting up almost a foot. The smoke was so bad that I couldn’t see the other side of the kitchen. Now the other two batteries are on the concrete in the garage until I figure out how I’m going to dispose of them. I don’t want them in my vehicle and they are not ever coming back into our home.

I just wanted to share with everyone my near disaster.

XcYZ thank you for sharing what should be a wake up call to those of us who are much too complacent about these potential tragedies.

 

[IronSky1]

I had this happen about 6 years ago on one of my first off brand drones. Scary I was able to toss out the door quickly . Ever since then and 40 drones later I try to take batteries out and keep in the "LiPro bags". Not sure they will work howevr, I hope I do not find out. I would not stop flying send it DJI repair service for check out.