Excellent video Jb,
That is enough to put a lot of people off using Lipo batteries.
Having said that if proper care is taken you will not have the disastrous consequences that you have seen in the video.
Even more reason to use the words " Stay Safe"
Martin555.
A good vid on using ammo boxes and Lipo sacks. They are mainly using large batteries for these tests and the one with the ammo box with lid ajar (assuming it's a demo of what can happen with a tin full of stored batteries as I mentioned previously ) is easily a house gone situation!
JB
A good vid on using ammo boxes and Lipo sacks. They are mainly using large batteries for these tests and the one with the ammo box with lid ajar (assuming it's a demo of what can happen with a tin full of stored batteries as I mentioned previously ) is easily a house gone situation!
Really great information guys. Thanks. I am going to deal with the seals now on the one I have here right now. The other two will be done the minute I get to go back to Hungary.👍👍👍👍
First one done.😴
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Really great information guys. Thanks. I am going to deal with the seals now on the one I have here right now. The other two will be done the minute I get to go back to Hungary.👍👍👍👍
First one done.😴
I cannot promise to finish one project before starting another. I know, I tried.
Re - Hopefully you will never have to use it in anger although better safe than sorry.
Correct Martin, as I mentioned, I've never trusted LiPo sacks as I have never seen a 100% successful suppression example. Fine for outside but not for inside (my opinion) unless you are doing it in your fireplace😁. I always balance charge my batteries at 1.5A ,-takes ages but they never move in temperature. There is also a temp sensor you can use on many chargers, and with mine, if I'm charging a bigger battery, I set it low to 30deg C and it will cut the charger off immediately and start beeping if it ever gets to that. I don't think many people bother to use this feature, even if the charger is capable, but it's a good extra pre-emptive safety measure. It can actually stop a potential problem.
You really don't want a battery going off in your house no matter how it's contained, as the smoke would make your house almost unlivable for months. I've let lots of them burn in the back yard (giving them a good 'forking') and boy do they smell bad and put out some serious smoke! (even a small 2s)
JB
Re - Hopefully you will never have to use it in anger although better safe than sorry.
Correct Martin, as I mentioned, I've never trusted LiPo sacks as I have never seen a 100% successful suppression example. Fine for outside but not for inside (my opinion) unless you are doing it in your fireplace😁. I always balance charge my batteries at 1.5A ,-takes ages but they never move in temperature. There is also a temp sensor you can use on many chargers, and with mine, if I'm charging a bigger battery, I set it low to 30deg C and it will cut the charger off immediately and start beeping if it ever gets to that. I don't think many people bother to use this feature, even if the charger is capable, but it's a good extra pre-emptive safety measure. It can actually stop a potential problem.
You really don't want a battery going off in your house no matter how it's contained, as the smoke would make your house almost unlivable for months. I've let lots of them burn in the back yard (giving them a good 'forking') and boy do they smell bad and put out some serious smoke! (even a small 2s)
JB
Re I use an old steel ammunition box. Just trimmed the rubber lid seal
Hi Rowan -Re the tool box vid below, It's a good idea to remove the seal to stop pressurisation, as the guy says, ÿou don't want to build a pipe bomb!😮 That's why I bored a hole in mine (has no seal but just to be sure)
JB
Re I use an old steel ammunition box. Just trimmed the rubber lid seal
Hi Rowan -Re the tool box vid below, It's a good idea to remove the seal to stop pressurisation, as the guy says, ÿou don't want to build a pipe bomb!😮 That's why I bored a hole in mine (has no seal but just to be sure)
JB
Hi MB, I actually have an ammo box (ex my fathers from his Air Force days in the 40s) but I'm using it for tools at the moment, hence the new box ($15) We were having a discussion about steel boxes at an RC plane club, and a guy said, "I keep all my LiPos in an ammo box for safety". He opened it up and inside was a literal Bomb of LiPos all stacked in there. 6s, 5s, 4s ,-the whole range and full to the top. Everyone said (almost as one) "what if one goes off in there"!!! Holy cr-p!!
Your Idea's a much better one but I think more than one is still risky as the bags obviously aren't foolproof. It would be interesting to test that out with some old lipos to see if nearby LiPos were affected at all. You do need adequate vent holes with a flame suppressor or else you are risking blowing the box up if it's clamped shut. Here's a vid of a tool box test with sand bags, -worked pretty well!. Unfortunately there's no getting away from the smoke!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0kzuEpyNyQ
Also one with an ammo tin which also worked well ( I saw a test on another vid, and the guy said to leave the seal out of the box for venting (the guy in this vid mentions they have done this also)
JB
Hi MB, I actually have an ammo box (ex my fathers from his Air Force days in the 40s) but I'm using it for tools at the moment, hence the new box ($15) We were having a discussion about steel boxes at an RC plane club, and a guy said, "I keep all my LiPos in an ammo box for safety". He opened it up and inside was a literal Bomb of LiPos all stacked in there. 6s, 5s, 4s ,-the whole range and full to the top. Everyone said (almost as one) "what if one goes off in there"!!! Holy cr-p!!
Your Idea's a much better one but I think more than one is still risky as the bags obviously aren't foolproof. It would be interesting to test that out with some old lipos to see if nearby LiPos were affected at all. You do need adequate vent holes with a flame suppressor or else you are risking blowing the box up if it's clamped shut. Here's a vid of a tool box test with sand bags, -worked pretty well!. Unfortunately there's no getting away from the smoke!
Also one with an ammo tin which also worked well ( I saw a test on another vid, and the guy said to leave the seal out of the box for venting (the guy in this vid mentions they have done this also)
JB
I think that any precautions are a good idea. I have several LiPo batteries and also keep them at storage charge in a few ammunition boxes. Good quality solid boxes can be bought for around £10 on ebay. I keep each battery in a fire proof bag and then in the box. Belt and braces.😊
I think that any precautions are a good idea. I have several LiPo batteries and also keep them at storage charge in a few ammunition boxes. Good quality solid boxes can be bought for around £10 on ebay. I keep each battery in a fire proof bag and then in the box. Belt and braces.😊
I cannot promise to finish one project before starting another. I know, I tried.
I use an old steel ammunition box. Just trimmed the rubber lid seal so could get the leads in and then clamp the it down with the lock.
These boxes are quite inexpensive and very robust.
Seems to work OK, but have never experienced any LI-PO malfunction in the several years have used them
I use an old steel ammunition box. Just trimmed the rubber lid seal so could get the leads in and then clamp the it down with the lock.
These boxes are quite inexpensive and very robust.
Seems to work OK, but have never experienced any LI-PO malfunction in the several years have used them
I like it Jb,
Hopefully you will never have to use it in anger although better safe than sorry.
I would imagine the guys that are new to this hobby are beginning to wonder what they have let themselves in for after seeing this LOL!!
Martin555.
After watching a vid on YouTube recently about the effectiveness of LiPo sacks I thought I would try for something better. The guys tested about 12 commonly available sacks and most failed miserably, with flames shooting out, sacks disintergrating etc (even some fancy zip up satchel types). They weren't even using large batteries, just 3 and 4 cell mainly (certainly not 6-10 cells) and these things were failing. A number of people on YT have demonstrated home made containers made with fire bricks, tool boxes etc, so I thought I'd have a crack at making one.
I thought that stopping the flame escaping was the No 1 priority as well as keeping my chargers well away from any heat. I started working with a cheap metal tool box which I lined with 2 layers of Gib Board/Rock Wall (not sure what it's called in UK) on the sides and ends, and one on the bottom with another piece in the center for the battery to sit on. I wanted some copper gauze to make the flame arrestors but not having any I looked for something else. I found to my surprise that f/glass cloth works very well and I could hold a lighter on it for 30 seconds with no effect. The flame does not penetrate the cloth which dissipates it quite well
I know LiPos can burn at up to 500deg C, so ideally a metal gauze would be better (next improvement when I can find some) but this will be better than nothing for now. I have a Gib Board lid which fits inside the box, with a wire handle at one end, The lid has an exhaust hole in one end which corresponds with one in the box lid. This hole has a f/glass cover and the box lid has 2 (one piece either side)
The underside of the interior lid, interior sides, ends and bottom of the box, have f/glass cloth attached with non flammable bathroom sealer and all joins in the Gib board are sealed with this as well. The interior lid also has a 'skirt' around the top edge to hopefully stop any flame which might find its'way past it. The theory is that the flame will try and escape through the 'exhaust' and be dissipated by the glass cloth. I'm pretty confident this box will stop any possible disasters from happening. I've never had a problem in about 11 yrs using LiPos, but you never know, (especially with some of the crappy batteries from HK lately, - I've had some puff on the first use when nowhere near their capacity! Don't think I'll buy any more from them, too many duds)
The battery and balance extension leads go through a grommet in the end of the box (only have 3 and 4s balance leads at the moment,- need 2 and 5s.) Once I have a full set of leads, I'll silicone the grommet up so nothing can get out. Everything in the box is sacrificial in the event of a fire of course. I still have an early 'Explo-Safe' (Canada) 5gal fuel can I bought about 37yrs ago at a boat show, and it is filled with an aluminium honeycomb foil which dissipates any heat immediately. You can hold a lit match over the filler with it full of gas and nothing happens. It also has a stainless mesh on the filler as a flame arrestor. This is sort of where I got the idea from.
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After watching a vid on YouTube recently about the effectiveness of LiPo sacks I thought I would try for something better. The guys tested about 12 commonly available sacks and most failed miserably, with flames shooting out, sacks disintergrating etc (even some fancy zip up satchel types). They weren't even using large batteries, just 3 and 4 cell mainly (certainly not 6-10 cells) and these things were failing. A number of people on YT have demonstrated home made containers made with fire bricks, tool boxes etc, so I thought I'd have a crack at making one.
I thought that stopping the flame escaping was the No 1 priority as well as keeping my chargers well away from any heat. I started working with a cheap metal tool box which I lined with 2 layers of Gib Board/Rock Wall (not sure what it's called in UK) on the sides and ends, and one on the bottom with another piece in the center for the battery to sit on. I wanted some copper gauze to make the flame arrestors but not having any I looked for something else. I found to my surprise that f/glass cloth works very well and I could hold a lighter on it for 30 seconds with no effect. The flame does not penetrate the cloth which dissipates it quite well
I know LiPos can burn at up to 500deg C, so ideally a metal gauze would be better (next improvement when I can find some) but this will be better than nothing for now. I have a Gib Board lid which fits inside the box, with a wire handle at one end, The lid has an exhaust hole in one end which corresponds with one in the box lid. This hole has a f/glass cover and the box lid has 2 (one piece either side)
The underside of the interior lid, interior sides, ends and bottom of the box, have f/glass cloth attached with non flammable bathroom sealer and all joins in the Gib board are sealed with this as well. The interior lid also has a 'skirt' around the top edge to hopefully stop any flame which might find its'way past it. The theory is that the flame will try and escape through the 'exhaust' and be dissipated by the glass cloth. I'm pretty confident this box will stop any possible disasters from happening. I've never had a problem in about 11 yrs using LiPos, but you never know, (especially with some of the crappy batteries from HK lately, - I've had some puff on the first use when nowhere near their capacity! Don't think I'll buy any more from them, too many duds)
The battery and balance extension leads go through a grommet in the end of the box (only have 3 and 4s balance leads at the moment,- need 2 and 5s.) Once I have a full set of leads, I'll silicone the grommet up so nothing can get out. Everything in the box is sacrificial in the event of a fire of course. I still have an early 'Explo-Safe' (Canada) 5gal fuel can I bought about 37yrs ago at a boat show, and it is filled with an aluminium honeycomb foil which dissipates any heat immediately. You can hold a lit match over the filler with it full of gas and nothing happens. It also has a stainless mesh on the filler as a flame arrestor. This is sort of where I got the idea from.
