CountryHick

iTrader: (26)

I'd like to collect data on elements, that cause one of these rare events.
If you've had a LiPo go up in flames please let us know

1. Battery: brand / mAh / C rating / Charge C rating
2. Charger: brand / model
3. Charge rate: Amps
4. Balance charge Yes / No
5. Other factors you think may of contributed.

thisguy2849

iTrader: (4)

There are so many factors that can lead to a lipo fire. I have seen old, new, soft pack, hard case packs all fail. During runs while charging and even just sitting on a bench. Most important thing is USE A LIPO BAG to prevent even more serious injuries.

Juan Aveytia

People lie a lot about things that happen to them. And how it happened. Simply because racers try to get every advantage they can. And don't care that they are breaking the rules in efforts to go faster. These racers/people put others in dangerous situations for nothing. Lipo's have been around for awhile now. And the moment people get comfortable with anything. They start to push the limits of it. And that's when fires happen in this case. If you follow the rules set for us. Fires will rarely ever happen. Batteries will swell. And when they do. Properly throw them away. (DON'T TRY TO CHARGE THEM AGAIN) Unfortunately you will have to buy a new one. It's a part of racing. And use a lipo sack. The old roar tester always used a lipo sack. He graduated from (MIT) and understood the dangers of these batteries better than most of us could ever comprehend. So, why do we think we know more than someone like him. (he helped write the rules for ROAR) And then blame everything, but ourselves why it caught fire?

AdrianM

iTrader: (4)

My local track does not tech. We use the honor system and that works for the most part. Last week I noticed a couple of guys charge with end voltage past 4.22v. Most were at 4.23 to 4.25 but one was as high as 4.30v. The logic is that after shut off the pack voltage will fall to the legal 4.22v.


I know guys would probably lie if asked about this but I would be curious what the cut off volts where for guys that had fires while charging.

Rick Hohwart

I think you have to go even one step further and be sure to place your bagged LiPo on a non-flammable surface.

I have tested various LiPo sack designs that are available and in every case, they contained the flame. But in every case the piece of cardboard that the LiPo sack was sitting on ignited due to the heat generated by the failure.

Robertcooper88

iTrader: (15)

Up till this weekend, I have never used a lipo sack when charging my betteries. Very ignorant and selfish thought process on my part. A fellow racer at the track this weekend was charging a 1S pack in his trailer with the pack in the car. While charging the pack in the car, the pack exploded and gave this gentleman severe burns to his face and head. Going forward, I will not be charging without a lipo sack. Very dangerous!! This was only a 1S pack, I couldn't imagine a 2S pack that close. It would have been alot worse

D.a.v.e

iTrader: (8)

I've seen a few go up. The one I had go up was a brand new 3 cell that I discharged to far and tried to bring back up. It seemed to take the charge & appeared stable. I watched it for a few hrs it looked good. I put it in the garage in a flower pot and it went up sometime during the night. Luckily I had isolated it.. scary none the less.

If I had the room I would like to have a kiln or firepit to store these things in when I'm not using them!

theblitzkidd

iTrader: (11)

I seen one go up....well cause I shot it i went to my rc shop 1 morning and I seen it was slightly puffyer than normal, thn by noon the hard case came apart, so I sat that 4cell on the fence post standing up long ways,, BANG!!! and it just went up in smoke

cgroves

2S saddle pack in my Losi 22 went off last year. Didn't realize battery was already charged and the auto-detect in the charger id'ed it as a 3S and I missed it (no confirm screen). Incinerated the front half of the buggy and did a job on the table and a bunch of the tools nearby.

CountryHick

iTrader: (26)

Guys, The whole idea of this thread was to try and correlate specifics from those who've had a fire.
As yet, all I see is vague descriptions of, "I saw this", "I saw that'.
Please list the equipment.
If you've been doing something wrong and your scared of repercussions, make a fake username.
I have a suspicion some chargers on the market, are causing lots of these fires.
If there's evidence a charger is suspect, it could be flagged and discouraged from use. Myself and my two boys race and after seeing a LiPo go up in flames (nobody injured) I feel the need to ask questions and I hope to get answers.

thisguy2849

iTrader: (4)

The guy robertcooper was talking was using a gfx which is no cheap charger

EAMotorsports

iTrader: (79)

No the GFX is no cheap charger by any means...BUT Every lipo fire I have seen first hand has been from using a GFX. Including some at the snowbirds. The problem with it is that it relies so much on those small voltage leads that it WILL NOT shut off if one of those leads has a small broken wire inside the insulation or if your using aligator clips still one comes off (or the small leads touch...this causes the GFX to dump full amperage into the battery).

To me the GFX is one of the best and worst chargers for lipo batteries. Best because when everything is working right there is nothing more accurate. But the worst that when its not working right there is no failsafe.

EA

SWTour

iTrader: (9)

Performance Charging/DisCharging Lipos, and NOT supervising them while charging have been the biggest causes I've seen of LIPO incidents.

Virtually every incident I've seen has been caused by USER ERROR in some matter or fashion.

Charging on Non-Lipo settings to get MORE juice was one of the biggest in the past, but I've also seen guys charge on the wrong setting simply by accident, by using the same charger to charge a non-lipo receiver pack, then charge a race pack w/o resetting the charger.

There's a huge trend now to charge RACE packs at a high amp rate of charge - I believe a lot of people will blame this - but as long as the charger is set proper for LIPO charging (Constant Current / Constant Voltage ) that should never be an issue, as long as the MAX/Cut-Off voltage hasn't been increased beyond a normal lipo Max Voltage rating per cell.

Do NOT leave a battery on the charger (plugged in) after you've charged it - IF for some reason your power supply gets turned off, the charger will drain the battery.

Always UNPLUG the battery in your car when not racing it -

Keep your batteries OUT of the sun, and out of HOT places (ie: if you store them in a METAL Can/Box like an ammo box, DO NOT let it sit in the sun...)

Always double check your charger settings (Both BEFORE you start charging, and WHILE it's charging) - Watch your voltage as the battery nears it's capacity, and make sure it's not reading more than about 4.22 Volts per cell. (NOTE: I've never seen a battery charged to 4.22 volts or lower per cell EVER have a problem while charging, unless something got shorted against the battery terminals.)

a LIPO bag scares me a bit, because when a battery is IN the BAG, you can't see it.

theblitzkidd

iTrader: (11)

Talk in of seeing others lipos go up in flames.....at the tracks I go to I see like100 dif ppl all using lipos, quite a few newbies as well, and I figured I would see at least 1 lipo go off in the past few years I have been messin with this stuff...but I haven't, so I don't think the whole "lipo explosion" deal is a very comon thing, imo

Xpress

iTrader: (3)

Does the GFX have a balance circuit?