@Maviac You bring up a couple of interesting points. Let's take them one at a time and go from there:
This is all good advice from a “worst case scenario” and best practices standpoint,....
This is how I operate my sUAS processes. One reason why aviation has such a good safety record is because we are (or should be) always operating with the mindset of
"If THIS/THAT happened right now what is my course of action?"
You're definitely not the first person (And won't be the last) to say my processes are overkill. I agree that my methods seem extreme but it gives me and my family Peace of Mind and at the end of the day that means a lot.
but has there ever been a single case of a fire from a DJI battery?
Any fire at all YES!
Meaning a spontaneous fire absent prior damage to a cell?
I can not answer that 100% one way or the other. A cell could be damaged from the factory, from a mishap (dropping from your hands while carrying it), from mishandling, and of course from a crash.
Below is a video of a DJI Phantom battery (
from 2014) that was merely sitting on a work bench when it self ignited. Granted it was in a repair shop and it had been sent in, with the aircraft, post incident for repairs. It had made it through shipping etc to the shop with no issues and suddenly with seemingly no warning it started to ignite (not connected to a charger or anything just on the workbench).
This is why we are often asked to NOT SHIP LiPo batteries with the aircraft when we send them in for repairs. This is also the exact same technology of batteries that caused the massive Hover Board recall and the reason why so many batteries are banned from being in Cargo Compartments on airlines.
I don’t want my house to burn down, and I manage my batteries carefully, but I’ve never worried about leaving them in storage (at 40-60%) when I go out of town for a few weeks. Maybe I’m wrong but storing them in cinderblocks (which I have around my property) seems like overkill.
I have a vast inventory of LiPo batteries ranging from micro single cell units to massive 6S 6000mAh packs for our large aircraft and they are all treated with care and respect as if they are dangerous. I don't care if the odds are 1 in 20M I don't want that 1 to be in my house with my family.
Maybe I’m wrong but storing them in cinderblocks (which I have around my property) seems like overkill.
I work in the Building Supply Industry and these small cinder blocks were left over from a previous special order for a client. I got them for next to nothing or I may not have gone this exact same route. Use what you have at your disposal and for cheap.
I wouldn't say "You're Wrong" and I also wouldn't say that "Allen's way is the only right way".....
Allen's way is how
Allen chooses to handle them and nothing more. Read my posts and you're learn I operate with an extreme abundance of caution day in and day out simply because that's what works for me. I still have fun (
and a LOT of it) but I tend to error well on the side of caution and preparedness. I've been "Doing this" a long time and while I have had my share of "Oh Crap" moments I go out of my way to at least minimize them to the best of my ability.