Lipo Charging Fire

Jon - Sorry to read of your incident, lucky you were able to minimise the damage.
The video is scary but enlightening, following other forum discussion l decided to remove the seal
from my ammunition boxes & the video confirms this to be best practice.
However my main concern was containing the fire but the amount of smoke generated was staggering, presume this
smoke contains the horrible black bits coating your sheds contents.My lipos are in the shed stored in an ammo box & others in a firearms safe , so this needs rethinking to avoid the smoke damage.
The only safe option appears to be charging & storage in an outdoor facility.
Colin

JonTappin wrote: Standard balance charge at 1c using a Thunderpower charger, 610C. I didn't specifically check each cell voltage but the charger will not start if the individual cell voltages are too different, I know this as I have had this warning come up on some old packs previously, the charge wouldn't start until I had reduced the imbalance.

Thanks, Jon. I always get the charger started and then check the voltages to make sure they are all similar before I leave it. From your description, it looks like I'll need to make my practice safer so that if it goes up I'll still be OK.

The trouble is, how do you make it safe and reasonably convenient. Charging outside is not feasible in the UK climate. Inside means a shed or a workshop or your house...and it's clear to see that lipo bags, ammo boxes and other containers are not going to prevent significant damage. So how are we all going to make it safe(r)?

Yeah, I've just had to run outside and stop charging as it started raining, by the time I got it all in, the rain stopped, so I got it all set up again and then it started to spit with rain... I love the British summer weather it's so totally predictable.

Chris001 wrote: Yeah, I've just had to run outside and stop charging as it started raining, by the time I got it all in, the rain stopped, so I got it all set up again and then it started to spit with rain... I love the British summer weather it's so totally predictable.

Guys - What I'm considering is to make up long charging & balancing leads so that the charger stays in the shed
with the battery outside. The battery would have waterproof cover over it, large tin etc. & the only item
exposed to the weather are the low voltage cables.
My only concern is voltage loss in the cable - about 4 ft long - anyone know a source for suitable 4 & 5 core cable ( 3S & 4 S ) ?

Thanks
Colin

Hi Colin,

I think I'd be happier with the extension being between the power supply and the charger (assuming they are separate items), not the charger and the batteries... But I can't say why, just a gut feeling.

I've got no shed, so at some point I've got to develop some sort of shelter/strategy for the weather.

Do you think I can use this safety of charging as an excuse to get the Mrs to allow me to dig up the garden and install a bunker?