Drone Battery Causes House Fire

[dirkclod]

Saw this posted in PP and we all know it can happen. I’m the worlds worst
about leaving mine charging in my hobby room but am going to try and
rethink how/where I do mine.

Home a 'total loss' after battery explodes, causes fire

Home security footage doesn’t show the actual explosion, but it does show a flash of light, a spark and ultimately the ensuing fire.

www.wcnc.com

Just a reminder guys.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I’m the worlds worst
about leaving mine charging in my hobby room but am going to try and
rethink how/where I do mine.

I'm sure you're not alone there !!
Just a few days ago, I left 4 MP batteries and 2 Spark batteries to charge on the kitchen bench.
Must work out a better system.

The Phantom Pilots thread link . . .

Home a 'total loss' after battery explodes, causes fire

Home security footage doesn’t show the actual explosion, but it does show a flash of light, a spark and ultimately the ensuing fire.

www.wcnc.com

Edit- great advice below !!
“I would be very cautious leaving any battery that’s lithium charging,” Thompson said. “If you’re leaving it unattended or you’re asleep in the house, I would not do it.”

On some threads here on the various forums, I once noted someone make the same sort of comment, but it was they would never leave the ROOM while their batteries are charging.

 

[Thomas B]

Yep... I’m guilty. I have been charging in the spare BR. I’ll also have to do a rethink.

It gets real when you read an articlel like the one posted!

 

[AMann]

The worse part: “Thompson says his initial insurance claim was denied, but he hopes that the decision will be reversed.”

My charging station is on a metal cart, batteries stay there when not in use as well.

These are pretty good- put a fire resistant bottom on the charging shelf like a baking tray:

IRSHOME 3 Tier Metal Heavy Duty Utility Cart on Wheels, Storage Organization Rolling Cart for Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office, Nursery Room, Pantry. Black Amazon.com : IRSHOME 3 Tier Metal Heavy Duty Utility Cart on Wheels, Storage Organization Rolling Cart for Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office, Nursery Room, Pantry. Black : Office Products

 

[dronerdave]

It scares the heck out of me but I'm always close while charging. I do keep my MP batteries in a case along with all the accessories sitting in my equipment room. Probably not a good idea. My biggest fear is the numerous 3s, 4s and 6s batteries I use weekly. I also have one of those jump start batteries that has puffed. I keep them in LiPo bags in 50MM ammo cans. I do try to keep batteries at proper storage levels and w/i the temp specs suggested but...

 

[Thomas B]

The worse part: “Thompson says his initial insurance claim was denied, but he hopes that the decision will be reversed.”

My charging station is on a metal cart, batteries stay there when not in use as well.

These are pretty good- put a fire resistant bottom on the charging shelf like a baking tray:

IRSHOME 3 Tier Metal Heavy Duty Utility Cart on Wheels, Storage Organization Rolling Cart for Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office, Nursery Room, Pantry. Black Amazon.com : IRSHOME 3 Tier Metal Heavy Duty Utility Cart on Wheels, Storage Organization Rolling Cart for Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office, Nursery Room, Pantry. Black : Office Products

If they deny his claim that would really create a vacuum.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

These are pretty good- put a fire resistant bottom on the charging shelf like a baking tray:

IRSHOME 3 Tier Metal Heavy Duty Utility Cart on Wheels, Storage Organization Rolling Cart for Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office, Nursery Room, Pantry. Black Amazon.com : IRSHOME 3 Tier Metal Heavy Duty Utility Cart on Wheels, Storage Organization Rolling Cart for Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office, Nursery Room, Pantry. Black : Office Products

Good idea !
I actually use something similar in one of my vocations . . . we call them workshop service carts, and there are various levels of quality.
This is all HD metal and probably the best value I have seen (an Aussie biz too, for anyone down under).

Buy Maxim 3 Tier Blue Trolley Cart for Sale from Just Pro Tools Kincrome and Sidchrome Toolbox

Maxim Pro Series 3 Tier Blue Trolley steel construction, tough powder coat finish. 3 trays are 75mm deep can hold 150kg. Ideal for mechanics looking for the best quality at an affordable price. Easy to assemble.

www.justprotools.com.au

Crikey, $89 AUD and $19 AUD delivery in Oz, that's a bargain, last one I bought was $140 nd they are regularly a couple of hundred $ in auto stores.
I'm sure the US stores would have them and be less in relative cost.

 

[AMann]

Good idea !
I actually use something similar in one of my vocations . . . we call them workshop service carts, and there are various levels of quality.
This is all HD metal and probably the best value I have seen (an Aussie biz too, for anyone down under).

Buy Maxim 3 Tier Blue Trolley Cart for Sale from Just Pro Tools Kincrome and Sidchrome Toolbox

Maxim Pro Series 3 Tier Blue Trolley steel construction, tough powder coat finish. 3 trays are 75mm deep can hold 150kg. Ideal for mechanics looking for the best quality at an affordable price. Easy to assemble.

www.justprotools.com.au

View attachment 83272

Crikey, $89 AUD and $19 AUD delivery in Oz, that's a bargain, last one I bought was $140 nd they are regularly a couple of hundred $ in auto stores.
I'm sure the US stores would have them and be less in relative cost.

Nice! The one I posted is anout half that size so it fits next to my desk in my den. I can keep all my charging supplies and batteries for cameras, soldering station and all my other charging doodads on there too.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Cool, I suppose the space issue could be a problem in a home office, or the Amazon one looks much better in an office too.
I'd still have some concern about either cart size, you've no doubt seen other lipo threads on here with youtube links showing these go up.
Almost impossible to deal with while they flare out. Violently.

I just ordered 3 of the carts I posted, will give one to my son when he calls over (from interstate), use one for my drone charging and storage, and have a spare for work duty.
Even then, I will be cautious about leaving batteries charging, and separate batteries while storing on there (would hate to see a chain reaction event !).

I recall one of the recent threads (maybe a month or two back) it was brought to attention that Halon gas extinguishers were to be used on such fires.
I checked at the time and found this is what airlines carry, and they are more commonly known as BCF (bromochlorodifluoromethane) extinguishers, which are very common for auto use.

 

[zocalo]

On the plus side, most of the videos I've seen of Li-Ion and Li-Po batteries cooking off seem to be fairly localised events. Lots of smoke, sure, but the actual fire is mostly just the battery melting down where it sits - with explosions seemingly something of an exception. I guess as long as you can deprive it of any additional fuel through sufficient segregation and have it on a surface that can contain the heat and prevent thermal transfer, e.g. on a robust metal tray suspended above the ground (like the trolley above) or a concrete slab, any fire won't spread which is the main thing.

 

[Unknown Pilot]

Why would an insurance company reject the claim?

 

[colinfowler]

Why would an insurance company reject the claim?

a friend had his workshop burn down this year due to a battery fire. he lost every tool/drone/plane/transmitter he owned.
insurance did not pay out due to "unattended battery on charge"
40 members of our club donated tools, transmitter, drones and planes to him.
he now (and other members) uses a metal safe outside for charging.
i now only charge any lipo outside with the exception of 1s that are never unattended.

 

[dirkclod]

i now only charge any lipo outside with the exception of 1s that are never unattended.

Thats what I am thinking now as I have a picnic table pushed up against the wall outside my hobby room
and have a door right there.. Could rig a box or just add more roof to have a cover for rain .
Used to process my ram boards there when I messed making gold from that there.

On the plus side, most of the videos I've seen of Li-Ion and Li-Po batteries cooking off seem to be fairly localised events. Lots of smoke, sure, but the actual fire is mostly just the battery melting down where it sits - with explosions seemingly something of an exception. I guess as long as you can deprive it of any additional fuel through sufficient segregation and have it on a surface that can contain the heat and prevent thermal transfer, e.g. on a robust metal tray suspended above the ground (like the trolley above) or a concrete slab, any fire won't spread which is the main thing.

Well I posted this in the racing forum also as I am there also and one member posted this .

Not the same batteries we use but still Lipo's..

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yep, all the lipo fire vids I've seen on YouTube have been quite violent like that ^^^

Even the linked news article this post was about shows a few happening at 1:45 . . .

Lithium battery causes Matthews house fire

Home security footage doesn’t show the actual explosion, but it does show a flash of light, a spark and ultimately the ensuing fire.

www.wcnc.com

 

[dirkclod]

Yep, all the lipo fire vids I've seen on YouTube have been quite violent like that ^^^

Even the linked news article this post was about shows a few happening at 1:45 . . .

Lithium battery causes Matthews house fire

Home security footage doesn’t show the actual explosion, but it does show a flash of light, a spark and ultimately the ensuing fire.

www.wcnc.com

Yeah thats the link I started with. Hate it for the guy .

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yeah thats the link I started with. Hate it for the guy .

The fire in that video showing the lipo fire in the airplane cabin bag overhead compartment, that is a first of its kind I've seen.
The attendant throwing water over it (or trying to) is actually the second correct thing to do, to cool it down after halon / bcf extinguisher is firstly used to suppress flames.
If there are no flames it's water down to cool only.

Have found many news stories in past years of iPhone and tablet Li-ion batteries going up on planes, sometimes with horrific burns if in a pants / jacket pocket etc.
Those smaller batteries show how much risk there is.

Here's FAA report / data on lithium battery fires through security areas, and on planes in cabin and hold . . . 265 incidents that were reported, spotted one Lipo camera battery back in 2017, and one li-metal, all the rest (bar a few unknowns) were listed as Li-ion.

https://www.faa.gov/hazmat/resources/lithium_batteries/media/Battery_incident_chart.pdf

They note these were only the reported incidents, other problems may have happened in various places in an airport building or outside an airport, and not followed up.
Let's hope that continues (almost no lipo incidents) as I think Li-ion fires are bad enough even at their lower specs.

Wonder if there is a building risk factor with various factors like . . . many more drones coming onto the market daily . . . more people travelling with them . . . and batteries getting older / damaged and possibly more susceptible to failure.

Hope people take note of the cabin baggage rule, and also proper training is done for flight crew in dealing with these types of fires.

 

[jeplane]

The flight crews are trained to deal with Lipo fires. And they also should have a sort of pizza bag, with special gloves to put the “hot” item inside the containment bag.

 

[FASTFJR]

For years now I've been charging my drone batteries in a large fireproof battery. Even using that their are time I think I should just move the entire setup to my garage on one of my steel tables

 

[colinfowler]

Thats what I am thinking now as I have a picnic table pushed up against the wall outside my hobby room
and have a door right there.. Could rig a box or just add more roof to have a cover for rain .
Used to process my ram boards there when I messed making gold from that there.

Well I posted this in the racing forum also as I am there also and one member posted this .
View attachment 83284
Not the same batteries we use but still Lipo's..

i had a new 4cell lipo this year, puffed up on 1st charge. threw it outside and went up within 30 seconds

 

[THE CYBORG]

I notice that things like e-cig or drone battery fires get news coverage but laptop & phone fires don't.

If its a minority hobby that causes fire or injury the press jump on it but if its a main stream device, phone or laptop they know they don't get the same “they should be banned reaction” from the public.