Lipo battery swell

[Jerry-rigged]

first - If you short the battery cable, the arc will be similar to a arc welder, BE CAREFUL! Wear PPE, gloves, long sleeves, face shield, etc...

Second - What do you call it when you strike a match? Or your car 'burns' gasoline to run the motor? It is a chemical reaction that releases energy. Smoke and heat. A venting lipo often has a gas jet several hundred degrees hot, and it will even give off light. It is not using oxygen, but it is 'burning'. And yes, anything around it will catch on fire too. The fire hazard is real.

Last -

Not sure if an ammo can would smother a lipo fire But It Is Air TIght.

As I said above, lithium fires are like magnisum fires - they don't rely on oxygen as the fuel, so you can't smother them. Also, if the ammo can is really sealed good, it will build pressure inside until it goes Bang. So you ammo can needs a vent. You can drill a few small holes, or, what I have done, I use removed 3 sides of the lid gasket. I just left the front of the gasket, so the does not ban closed, and the gasket acts like a spring for the latch to work against. The other three sides are gasket free, and will vent any pressure, if there is ever a lipo fire in the box.

 

[FreddyBrady]

Hmm things to take into consideration, I Have Welding Equipment to Protect Myself So Thats Not An Issue. I Honestly didnt Think The Ammo Can Would Totally Stop A Lipo Fire It Just Made Me Feel Better Knowing That I Atleast Put Some Effort Into Safety. I Have A Buddy That Makes Fire Suits, So Maybe Ill See If He Has Something I Can Line The Box With And Put Some Vent Holes In It. I Didnt do Research To See If lipo would burn with out oygen, so now im glad i didnt test the theory. lipo batteries are good at causing me anxiety about burning me to death while i sleep lol. ive literally gotten out of bed to move batteries to a safer location before i can fall asleep. anybody else have the same problem?

 

[Iamtheoutcast]

first - If you short the battery cable, the arc will be similar to a arc welder, BE CAREFUL! Wear PPE, gloves, long sleeves, face shield, etc...

Second - What do you call it when you strike a match? Or your car 'burns' gasoline to run the motor? It is a chemical reaction that releases energy. Smoke and heat. A venting lipo often has a gas jet several hundred degrees hot, and it will even give off light. It is not using oxygen, but it is 'burning'. And yes, anything around it will catch on fire too. The fire hazard is real.

Last -

As I said above, lithium fires are like magnisum fires - they don't rely on oxygen as the fuel, so you can't smother them. Also, if the ammo can is really sealed good, it will build pressure inside until it goes Bang. So you ammo can needs a vent. You can drill a few small holes, or, what I have done, I use removed 3 sides of the lid gasket. I just left the front of the gasket, so the does not ban closed, and the gasket acts like a spring for the latch to work against. The other three sides are gasket free, and will vent any pressure, if there is ever a lipo fire in the box.

I have a organic chemistry backgound and lithium is a alkali earth metal and is highly reactive it is reactive with oxygen which forms lithium oxide that does react with oxygen but only because lithium will actually pull water out of the air which causes a exothermic reaction and lithium in the presence of water = hell of a hot fire that burns so hot the flame is white. Not gonna bore you guys with all the chemistry behind why lithium reacts the way it does but just know it' extremely dangerous when not handled properly.

 

[FreddyBrady]

do you know what causes the swelling to occur?

 

[Iamtheoutcast]

Most of the time it's running a pack with a lower c rating then recommnded and the swelling is actually gas formed inside the pack due to over heating/to much draw

 

[nulli]

No asshole for venting.

 

[tubbs07]

hi ive just brought an outcast, and got the above batteries and charger,
put one battery on for first charge, used smart charge feature.
20mins later...

oh dear

 

[FreddyBrady]

what a bummer man. hate you didnt even get to use it at all before that happened. better it happened in the lipo bag than in the truck though. kinda makes you wonder if it was the charger or the battery at fault.

 

[Jerry-rigged]

what a bummer man. hate you didnt even get to use it at all before that happened. better it happened in the lipo bag than in the truck though. kinda makes you wonder if it was the charger or the battery at fault.

Yeah, that was my thought too. What charger? What is the "Smart Charge" supposed to do?

Edit - I see the pic of the charge, but don't recognize it. Make / Model / Link?

 

[tubbs07]

hi, I was using a new Radient Duplex 11 charger, the 'smart' charge is supposed to check the battery then set the parameters for you. ive tried to find information about this charger online, but cant find anything, not even on the manufactures website. a trip back to the shop will be interesting.

 

[Jerry-rigged]

Yeah, if you bought the charge and the battery from the same shop, it will be an interesting conversation. Good Luck!

 

[jrwalte]

I suspect it was the 'smart charge'. I'd never trust that. I don't see how a charger could determine the battery capacity and set an appropriate charge rate. You should always set cell count and charge rate manually to be safe.

Did you have the balance lead connected for the charger to track each cell voltage? Charging fires typically happen because a single cell was over charged. Any decent charger that tracks individual cells would cut off if a single cell went well above 4.2v or not allow a charge at all if it can't detect individual cells (IE, you forget to plug it the balance lead).