Battery explosion, house nearly burnt down

[Drbobk]

Hmmm, you ever tried flying an airplane through cloud by the seat of your pants? Myself, I'll trust the tech.

I think a generalization is a tricky thing.

Like the clever expression says, “All generalizations are false.”

 

[EpicFlight]

@Faster we've wandered pretty far from the original question regarding trusting the BMS in DJI Intelligent Batteries. The other points you make about analysis, deduction, and other traits of human intellect are correct, but tangential to the DJI battery issue.

My point was, and still is, that we trust without question technology all around us to do things we could do ourselves, like monitor current and voltage while charging a lipo battery. In fact, we trust the Intelligent batteries to do a lot more without double-checking on them.

The practice of medicine is, I hope, an obviously poor fit as a technological comparison to a battery BMS.

 

[old man mavic]

well i must say if i was just seeing this thread for the first time from say post #40 on then i would be wondering what it had to do with the OPs original post
still i guess it got us talking but its so far off track now

 

[SteveMouzon]

Are M3 batteries the same as M2 or different?

 

[Yaros]

Are M3 batteries the same as M2 or different?

They are also LiPo batteries.

 

[Barbara]

No, that's an error. He does not trust technology, he trusts him. The pilot will trust his experience/knowledge/ capacity and sense about what to do or not, If that includes technology, he'll do it. Why is he a pilot? Sit a 5 years old kid on the cockpit and that's it. Why not? If says red push red, if says blue push blue, wonderful!!

Hmm, I think in essence we may be saying the same thing, a difference in perspective perhaps.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

People shouldn’t be too concerned here that they start to worry excessively.
I’m convinced that the DJI batteries are probably the safest lipos you will ever find.
Just the casing they make makes it very unlikely to see issues with normal use and some decent battery care by the owner.
There are other manufacturers that make their lipos the same way, probably any of the better quality drones.
Of course when the battery itself is older, near its end of life and starts breaking down, then swelling and more than usual heat under charging and / or heavy use is going to become more evident, the first signs of nearing retirement.
I still haven’t had this in any of my 11 DJI lipos for my M1P and Spark.
Tests to damage and cause lipo fires you can find on YouTube are interesting, on a normal healthy battery, that shell has to be punctured and the cells penetrated to start such a fire.
So treat DJI batteries with some care, good maintenance, charge and monitor in a safe manner / method, they will look after you until their time is up.
Then they can be discarded in a safe way, thrown on life’s pile of lipos that have diligently served their pilot over their entire lives, some sort of modern day sacrifice.

 

[VenomXts]

People shouldn’t be too concerned here that they start to worry excessively.
I’m convinced that the DJI batteries are probably the safest lipos you will ever find.
Just the casing they make makes it very unlikely to see issues with normal use and some decent battery care by the owner.
There are other manufacturers that make their lipos the same way, probably any of the better quality drones.
Of course when the battery itself is older, near its end of life and starts breaking down, then swelling and more than usual heat under charging and / or heavy use is going to become more evident, the first signs of nearing retirement.
I still haven’t had this in any of my 11 DJI lipos for my M1P and Spark.
Tests to damage and cause lipo fires you can find on YouTube are interesting, on a normal healthy battery, that shell has to be punctured and the cells penetrated to start such a fire.
So treat DJI batteries with some care, good maintenance, charge and monitor in a safe manner / method, they will look after you until their time is up.
Then they can be discarded in a safe way, thrown on life’s pile of lipos that have diligently served their pilot over their entire lives, some sort of modern day sacrifice.

I treat DJI batts and FPV packs very differently.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I treat DJI batts and FPV packs very differently.

Goodness yes, those soft packs would need some careful handling for sure.

 

[Bobvt]

@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

I too have a bag that I fail to use, not any more, thanks for sharing, glad you're ok.

 

[KS-6]

Scary as hell but always a wake up call to action. I too wish the OP would post additional info about age, etc.

A few days ago, I did a health check on my 6 M2P batteries, they were fully charged up for a job. I put them in the bird and powered everything on to check the battery section in the app on the ground. For the most part they are evenly used at 40-45 charges per unit but one is at 36 and battery #1 is at 58 so I need to even them out a bit more.

All batteries show between 4.19V to 4.23V per cell and show 96-97% on the SC when powered on. There is no bulging at all and when not in use, are re-charged to 60% and then stored in my basement which is stable at 58-62F. Two were made in 11.2018, the rest 5,6 and 7.2019. Self discharge is set to 3 days.

I charge them attended on the concrete floor but now want to bring more safety considerations into play. What should I store them in when not in use and what should I cover them with when charging?

Also, is it ok for the battery health and longevity to pause the charge and then resume later if you need to take a bathroom or dinner break?

 

[Barbara]

I charge them attended on the concrete floor but now want to bring more safety considerations into play. What should I store them in when not in use and what should I cover them with when charging?

Also, is it ok for the battery health and longevity to pause the charge and then resume later if you need to take a bathroom or dinner break?

I store my batteries in individual battery bags, of appropriate size. These are then kept in a larger bag (sometimes), on a ceramic tile, away from combustibles. I never store a fully charged battery long term. I only charge them on the day of, or the day before use.

Keep in mind that most battery bags are not fire proof, only fire resistant.

 

[Al Di]

THANKS for the post. OMG I have been so casual with my batteries.

OBTW I have had some batteries that were at 30 to 40% charge were having a problem in the Charging station. I had to fully deplete the battery before it would take a successful charge.

 

[SpitFire]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[nick779]

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.

Not sure if I missed it somewhere, but were you using the OEM charger or an aftermarket one?

Reason I ask is because in my time with cameras, drones and other multi cell battery powered devices, many aftermarket chargers lack or outright lie about having balance charge capabilities.

 

[old man mavic]

@nick779 i think you will find that with regards to chargers for intelligent batteries that are used in DJI and many other drones ,that the chargers themselves do not do the cell balancing ,that is done by the BMS that is built into each individual battery ,this system is even filtering down to none proprietary batteries that are used in other parts of the RC hobby,that is why there is no need for a second set of balance leads depending on the number of cells between the charger and battery

 

[ajaxflysquare]

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.

Oh wow! Glad everyone was safe. Just curious. I assume the battery was stored at room temperature.

 

[bill1950]

I have been flying electric fixed wing and quads for quite awhile and in my flying circles I have only heard of one fire that almost burned a garage down. They were charging on a workbench his garage and he was complacent (his words) and after years of charging batteries With no mishaps. He put two 2s batteries on his charger, they were non puffed and flown carefully. One burst into flam and a neighbor banged on his door and told him that smoke was coming out of his garage. End result was a very Smokey garage and a large and deep charred spot on his work bench plus two destroyed batteries and his charger. He was very lucky.

I had been guilty of the same behavior and now charge on a kitchen sink piece of 2 inch thick piece of granite. I went to our local counter top granite dealer and asked to buy a sink cut out. I told them what I wanted to use it for and it was only 5 dollars. I put my batteries on it and have a cheap smoke detector over my bench. I put in the 9 volt batt when I am charging and remove after.
Sorry to hear of your experience it restores my awareness of my charging habits.

 

[Endeavor]

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.

Lithium ion battery's can and do burn. My house burned down 2 years ago from a failed lithium battery. The unit was not a drone battery rather a prototype motorcycle. I am redoing the build but using lipofe4 batteries as they do not burn. I know of another home nearby that burned due to a weed wip battery burn. Its about as common as gas fires in garages, rare but it happens

 

[Robert Prior]

I'm wondering if it would be worth getting a fire-resistant safe as a place to charge/store batteries? Not for the 'safe' aspect, but the fire resistance.