Charge Box

[Rob Thomson]

So...

Recently I have been hearing so many issues of people having fires caused by LIPO's going up in smoke!

So I decided to make a simple 'precaution' to help prevent my shed/flying area going up in smoke.

The idea here is quite simple.

I have taken a £10 metal tool box; & lined the base with a ceramic tile on which to charge the battery on. (the secondary reason is to ensure that the battery & terminals do not risk shorting on any metal!)

The box has then been 'split' with another two tiles bonded together - effectively placing the charger on one side, and the battery on the other.

So... the theory is...

Charge with the lid closed.

If the battery does go up in smoke; at least it will be contained for a little while - long enough for me to intervene!

Rob

[ShowMaster]

Good idea. All the serious fires that haven't been crash related are charging issues. So far of the 5 fires I know about in my club, all happened when charging and were the fault of wrong settings. Had the batteries been confined to an area that can't spread, their houses would still be there!
The last one several weeks ago got years of collected RC planes and equipment plus two vintage Corvettes and another classic car. He put a 3 cell pack on charge and left it alone while he checked his email and suddenly smelled smoke in his house coming from the attached garage. It was too late for a water hose to put out.



ShowMaster
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[SkyNorth]

I think having a Battery Charging Form, to fill out each time you charge is a good idea... I know it sounds anal but..
As Showmaster said most of these fires are caused by Wrong settings....

If the Form had you fill out the battery type , voltage and capacity , and then had a flow chart checklist , that you would follow for your
charger , i think at lot of these incidents could be prevented. Also a 5 min timer or such , could be set , and require you to come
around every 5 minutes to reset it....this way it cant slip your mind for to long...

You could keep each form as a charge log for the battery , and include the charge time , capacity , # of times charged.
This would allow you to see a battery is starting not to live up to expectations....

-Brent

[ShowMaster]

What could be a great charger idea is to have a tag you put on your battery lead you punch holes in for the battery type, charge voltage and current. This hard coded info tag would then be inserted into the charger and program it. Then after visual confirmation one would arm the charger.
What seems to be happening is too many battery configurations and chemistry are being used with most times a single port do anything charger these days. Add distractions, or too many birthdays and this gets compounded into a fire.
I'm starting to understand why higher end companies provide a dedicated, lower charge rate, charge through the balance plug only charger with their RTF planes.
To sum this up, any safety steps to prevent a lipo fire is worth the effort.
Keep the topic going with constructive ideas, it may save a house or auto.


ShowMaster
Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[kaos]

I have a blank label on all my lipo, each time I charge it, make a slash on it to keep track of how many times it is charged. like this ////
I am not sure charging a lipo and keep the lid closed is a good idea. when lipo is on fire, there is a lot of expansion of gas, if in a closed environment, I think you create your self an 'explosion' environment. Lipo by itself does not explode, just burns fast. Leave the top open may be a better idea, it just spit out nasty stuff out.
I am not sure put the charger in the box with lipo when charging is a good idea especially with a closed lid, I would use longer wires, keep the charger outside the box. I 'think' the charger will go out with lipo if something happens. and easier to set the charger too. The temperature is in the thousands of degree. An open top box is better for protection during charging.

I have a 50 cal ammo box from army surplus for 8.00 to carry around the lipos military spec, never will be damaged unless run over by an 18 wheeler.

[Rob Thomson]

Probably should have mentioned... I have a few holes on the one side of the box to allow for gas expansion


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jhsa]

I read about this somewhere.. take the lid and charger off, then place a plastic bag full of sand on top.. If the lipo burns, will destroy the bag and the sand will cover the lipo..
Now, I will have to do that myself

[kaos]

yep, I think that would be the better way.

[Rob Thomson]

So... I have made a minor update to my charge box!

Essentially having not considered a 'blow up' pressure release; I have done the following.

In the back of the box I have drilled a few 5mm holes (18 of them)

I then used some silver pipe installation tape (sticky aluminium foil) to cover over these holes.

The idea.. The case is sealed.. But in a blowout large enough to cause a pressure build up that can't get past the natural gaps in the lid ... The foil is thin enough to blow out!

Picture shows the results..

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jhsa]

be carefull that the box's lid doesn't cut through the wires isolation shorting them..

[Rob Thomson]

No chance of that. It has a gap of about 4mm

The actual cables can me moved around rather easily with the lid closed!

[jhsa]

ahh, ok. Could't see it on the picture.

[Rob Thomson]

Lol... Not suprising

[kaos]

ahh, ok. Could't see it ....

Lol... Not suprising

[jhsa]

It was sent from my Nokia N95 8Gb while on the toillet.. And also the "n" key is not working very well.. I do apologise but it wasn't easy for me to write at that precise moment..