Originally Posted by jiml

I posted this in another thread.

There's an airplane show in Westchester County NY every year called the WRAM show. I attended the show this year. Tom Hunt, a long time flier and writer for Fly RC gave a quick seminar about LiPo cells myths and facts.

For the most part if treated properly LiPo cells are safe. Tom is a big proponent of electric flight and I've watched him fly a few times. By the way he uses 5s packs, thats 18 volts!

But what got me worried was what can happen to a Lipo pack if it is damaged. You may not even notice the pack is damaged, but if they are they can ignite, sometimes hours after the damage occurred! And if a LiPo pack ignites, LOOK OUT!!! It has a very hot fire which can shoot out a good diatance from the pack. Tom reported too many damaged houses and cars from fliers that just threw their plane into the car after a crash.

Now think about what kind of damage can happen to an RC car. How many times have you seen someone driving with their battery pack hanging out of the car?

Now for outdoor racing, I think LiPo is okay. But indoors? With a Paragon soaked carpet??? I don't know about that.