LiPo charging box with automatic extinguisher

[Ben74]

here's a charging box my buddy and i designed. it's just a couple of cinder blocks with the middle walls busted out. the top one is wrapped in saran wrap and filled with sand. if a fire starts, the plastic will melt and dump sand on the batteries. it's very cheap and easy to make.

[Dokey]

Good simple idea but. . . . . . have you tested it yet ?? :bomb:

:D

[WillJames]

have you tested it yet ??


Hopefully not. :)

Simple is good. That is the safest setup I have seen. Very good thinking guys. Piece of mind is a good thing.

[fitenfyr]

Great idea...
Not very portable though. :D

[Ben74]

nope, haven't tested it yet. i do have one large damaged LiPo pack that i can sacrifice for testing. however, it's not possible to force my 109s to overcharge the pack. not sure if overdischarging would cause a fire. i might have to borrow a different charger for the test.

it's not portable, but it's not meant to be. this is for charging at home, when you're not able to stand next to it the entire time. at the field, i charge on the pavement, away from cars and people.

[valerko]

Here's idea for portable on and storage.
Get yourself big AMO BOX.

[Greg McNair]

Ben, just wanted to say thanks for this idea. I knew I had seen it early in the summer, but for the life of me I couldn't recall where...until I stumbled on this thread tonight. Here's my adaptation of your idea:

www.gmcnair.com/chargestation.htm

[Ben74]

cool, greg! glad to see someone's getting some use out of the idea. mine remains untested, fortunately. however, be advised that i have heard of one incident where pouring sand on top of a burning lipo pack did not extinguish the fire. however, the pack was already in full swing, and it probably wasn't buried very deeply. even if the sand does not completely extinguish the fire, it think it ought to do a decent job of containing it.

[WillJames]

Thank you guys for sharing this method of safe and responsible charging. We really appreciate seeing and learning from the experience of others.

[Greg McNair]

Mine also remains untested, thank God. And I do hope it remains that way. I still don't leave a charging battery unattended, so this should at least give me some time to unplug the power supply, and clear things out of the way should the worst happen.

I discovered that powdered graphite is the "extinguishing" material of choice for LiPo and LiIon batteries. Ansul makes a product specifically for these with graphite as the main ingredient, but it's $130 for a 5 gallon bucket. If I can find someone to chip in with me, I'd be glad to divvy it up 5 ways. Otherwise, what in the heck would I do with 4 gallons of graphite, besides make a freaking mess?! One thing for sure, every lock in my house would be slippery smooth! Using graphite would reduce the weight of this setup by at least half, which would be a nice thing.

[Dan Lewis]

...and thanks also for such great pictures and explanations of how to implement the idea. I would be impressed to see this endorsed by a battery manufacturer who might have the resources for some high quality testing scenarios.

[terb0]

another idea that is cheap sorta is to go to walmat and buy one of those $30 fire proof safes that they sell for home use. place batteries inside during charging and use as case for charger when not charging batteries. Tom

[dabba]

Am I being Nieve here but this looks like serious overkill.
Having Spent Over $200 on a charger I dont want to have to build a concrete charging facility as well, is this really needed?

[Efliernz]

A club mate uses a Pyrex dish with a 5lb plastic bag of sand sitting on the top. Light enough for the top of the workbench. So simple but reliable. Another club mate also commented on the "do not charge your battery in your Trex" trick, after he lost his battery/heli/half a work bench last weekend....