Lipo battery fire turned into Garage Explosion

[jaydekay]

Originally Posted by cmoney79

I did purchace and install the updated chip from astro flight I believe it was version 2 but that was years ago dont know if they came out with additional updates since then. So if you could please advice me of a safer set up it would be great

Here is my setup, which I trust and have had great luck with.

Power supply: P350
Charger: iCharger 208B

Both from www.progressiverc.com which I highly recommend (Dave, who runs progressiveRC is an HF member and an awesome guy to work with IMO).

Also as I'm sure you've learnt, the charging environment is extremely important. Keep it clean brother.

[Phreak Out]

The safer charging location may be one of these:

[backburner1955]

I use the same charger as jaydekay but I use the feathermerchantrc 47A powersupply. I also parallel charge like jay, 4 - 3S or 2 - 6S packs, never a problem.

[cmoney79]

Originally Posted by Phreak Out

The safer charging location may be one of these:

LOL I might have a hard time getting the wife to agree to put that in the back yard maybe if I left her paint it pink and put flowers on it lol.

[cmoney79]

Originally Posted by Jskrapper

Meth Lab.


J/K. No matter what caused it, we are all glad you, and everyone else is ok.

LOL thats what I want to tell the people that ask about it in the neighborhood and tell them not to worry I have learn for this explosion so it wont happen again. But my wife say this is not a good joke

[helicopter1]

I can understand the lipo battery exploding and throwing fumes but no way it will
blow out a garage door. I have also on purpose made a lipo catch fire and saw with
my eyes what it is capable of but definetly something else caused that door to explode.

[michael503]

Originally Posted by helicopter1

I can understand the lipo battery exploding and throwing fumes but no way it will
blow out a garage door. I have also on purpose made a lipo catch fire and saw with
my eyes what it is capable of but definetly something else caused that door to explode.

Look at the second set of photos. There is an charred rattle can with the end missing.

Most probable scenario is a charger fault, caused a good lipo to ignite, in a cluttered area with flammable materials. The paint can was in the fire, probably very close to the lipo. It ruptured and the resulting fuel/air explosion blew the doors off. Good thing there was a garage door to let the pressure out.

I am Very glad that you still have a home and no one was injured

[rondawwg]

I am sorry about your fire. Ive been into hobbys for 30+ years and have burned up some stuff also. Its a very debilitating feeling. And the smell acts as a constant reminder.Once you get it cleaned up the smell of the fresh paint will help your recovery.Additionally to all freaks::I seem to think whatever happened in most of these fires, didnt happen instantly. I might suggest rather than dealing w/ bags or boxes, maybe a cheap smoke detector installed directly above your charging station might just provide enough advanced warning to prevent a calamity..just sayin......

[SYMAWD]

Originally Posted by jaydekay

Haha, its ok dude. Whatever works.

"Lipo fire causes garage explosion" is probably more accurate is all I was saying. That also might help future visitors have a better understanding of what happened right off the bat. And if you really want to be informative, you might consider putting some details in the very first post explaining what happened so people aren't lead to believe you're implying a lipo caused all the damage but rather that it was a chain reaction. That would have eliminated 99% of the comments back and forth about if its true.

If you want to change it, go to Edit > Go Advanced - from there you can edit the title.

Take care

To edit a title you can also just double click right underneath it on the main page. It will then allow you to edit the title and then it auto saves when you click out of the box.

[cmoney79]

Originally Posted by helicopter1

I can understand the lipo battery exploding and throwing fumes but no way it will
blow out a garage door. I have also on purpose made a lipo catch fire and saw with
my eyes what it is capable of but definetly something else caused that door to explode.

That what I told the fire cheif but he insist it was the battery I going to buy a copy for the offical report to see if it differs from what he verbally told me. I was just watching on youtube of idoits throwing spray paint can in bon fire it blows up that for sure but I not with enough for to blow the door off. I am guessing it was a combo of thing making this happen as someone state earlier a flash fire

A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid (including dust), flammable or combustible liquid (such as an aerosol or fine mist), or a flammable gas. It is characterized by high temperature, short duration, and a rapidly moving flame front

[BakedMopar]

I used to read these threads all the time and question if it really cOuld happen. Then it happened to me. From my experience I in no way doubt what happened.

What's even weirder is yesterday at the flying field some friends was trying to convince me to go nitro. Then they asked if I ever had a lipo blow up and I told them about my experience and showed them all the pictures. They was pretty impressed by the damage and told my wife see that's why he needs a nitro. Lol

[nightflyr]

My first thought is....

The first basic rule I was taught concerning lipos and charging them.......
Never to leave a battery(s) on charge unattended

Much less charge near ANYTHING that is combustible

I have to admit the potential is present, but seeing a garage door blow off its tracks, an interior door with the handle area broken and the catch mechanism torn out would require quite a bit of force

Quite possible the Lipo started to burn and caused a secondary fire/explosion of some material on or near the bench.

But I seriously doubt all that damage was caused by a single lipo battery all on its own.

[FUNBOSS]

Originally Posted by cmoney79

That what I told the fire cheif but he insist it was the battery I going to buy a copy for the offical report to see if it differs from what he verbally told me. I was just watching on youtube of idoits throwing spray paint can in bon fire it blows up that for sure but I not with enough for to blow the door off. I am guessing it was a combo of thing making this happen as someone state earlier a flash fire

A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid (including dust), flammable or combustible liquid (such as an aerosol or fine mist), or a flammable gas. It is characterized by high temperature, short duration, and a rapidly moving flame front

You will not need to "buy" any official report. Let see the report!!? Take a photo of it and post it for us to read. Make it "official"

[Skiddz]

[quote=nightflyr;2801487]My first thought is....

The first basic rule I was taught concerning lipos and charging them.......
Never to leave a battery(s) on charge unattended

Much less charge near ANYTHING that is combustible

Both very good ideas. I *never* leave a charging pack out of my sight for more than 30-60 seconds (usually to refill a drink or to pee) and if it's going to be any longer, I stop the charge until I can return.

I have to admit the potential is present, but seeing a garage door blow off its tracks, an interior door with the handle area broken and the catch mechanism torn out would require quite a bit of force

Roll up garage doors are pretty thin gauge and it wouldn't take much to fold 'em up and pull the wheels out of the tracks. If that interior door wasn't solid core, it wouldn't take much to damage it. remember, an explosion accelerates a LOT of air VERY quickly and the subsequent pressure wave can be very powerful.

Quite possible the Lipo started to burn and caused a secondary fire/explosion of some material on or near the bench.

But I seriously doubt all that damage was caused by a single lipo battery all on its own.

I tend to agree with this. Some kind of flammable vaopr was in the garage and lipo/charger fire set it off or got it to smoldering. The sudden inrush of air as the door was opened probably gave that vapor enough oxygen to "go off". Boom!

[thatdude596]

Originally Posted by FUNBOSS

You will not need to "buy" any official report. Let see the report!!? Take a photo of it and post it for us to read. Make it "official"

Wow really dude?

[im4711]

Originally Posted by cmoney79

That what I told the fire cheif but he insist it was the battery I going to buy a copy for the offical report to see if it differs from what he verbally told me. I was just watching on youtube of idoits throwing spray paint can in bon fire it blows up that for sure but I not with enough for to blow the door off. I am guessing it was a combo of thing making this happen as someone state earlier a flash fire

A flash fire is a sudden, intense fire caused by ignition of a mixture of air and a dispersed flammable substance such as a solid (including dust), flammable or combustible liquid (such as an aerosol or fine mist), or a flammable gas. It is characterized by high temperature, short duration, and a rapidly moving flame front

I do not think you have to buy the report. They should hand it to you. I had a house fire starting in the garage last year January. I received the official report from the fire department about 1 week after the fire. So go to the fire marshal of your county or city and they should hand a copy of the report to you. That also would be needed for insurance claims.

Not sure why so many make such unreasonable comments on such issue. Extremely unfair and ignorant. Bad when something goes down. Last thing someone needs in such situation that others ignore such loss and name it fake. Well -> I hope that will never happen to any of the once making such comments.

[PTFlyer]

I call and early "april fools",,,,


If there was an explosion and fire ball he wouldn't be able to put that out with a pair of dirty boxers...

[RocketSled]

1) As stated above, never leave a battery on charge unattended.
2) There is simply no way the LiPo caused the damage seen in the pictures. The overpressure pressure required to blow the garage door off its tracks and split the interior door at the latch is probably on the order of 100s of PSI.

If an exploding LiPo did that kind of damage to the garage door, it would have blown the workbench to bits. Yet aside from some minor scorching, the workbench is pretty much undamaged. Heck, there are still tools hanging on the perfboard. That, by itself, almost certainly proves the explosion occurred somewhere *other* than the workbench.

Clearly, the LiPo caught fire and that ignited something else. The lack of additional scorching anywhere else says whatever it was, there wasn't a huge supply of it. Since this is a garage, I'd theorize that there were inflammable fumes, perhaps from a poorly sealed jug of gasoline (or a can of paint, one of which is visible below the workbench). Or assuming the object in the lefthand side of the garage picture is a water heater, maybe some natural gas leakage?

I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert, but the theory presented doesn't pass the "litmus test" of reasonableness. The correct title is indeed "LiPo catches fire, causes secondary explosion, damaging garage" and not "LiPo blows up my garage". An exploding LiPo would not have done this kind of "selective" damage, but a Natural Gas leak absolutely would have.

[Suburban92]

have you guys never seen BACKDRAFT??

[cmoney79]

Originally Posted by PTFlyer

I call and early "april fools",,,,


If there was an explosion and fire ball he wouldn't be able to put that out with a pair of dirty boxers...

ok smart arse The dirty boxers were placed there after the fact do you think I just thought wow an explosion I better take pics of it before I touch anything.