Lipo fire

Ok the sad loss of a friends model , a turbine too, Has left me wondering , so the worst is happening , acrid smoke is pouring from your lipo , which hopefully isn't in place in your pride and joy ,because we never charge a lipo in site do we !!!!

So can you stop the flames , what extinguisher should you use , do any work ???? Or is it as I fear self feeding and unstoppable


Any thoughts ?

Xxx Rachel

[steve_b]

Sad news

The problem with LiPo fires is that they can't be put out, from memory part of chemical reaction creates oxygen, so a LiPo fire will still burn underwater. The only thing you can hope to do is get the battery off the model, obviously not using your hands to remove it, unless you're wearing fireproof gloves.

[hedge]

If your referring to the thread on here about a bad day, it looks like a fire extinguisher had been used - could be wrong though. IMHO too many people on forums say how safe LiPos are and this leads relative new comers to the hobby to feel safe to do unsafe practices. Time and time again it is proved wrong by these sorts of fires.

The other thing that makes me sad is the statements "if you treat them right" or "you've got lipos in your phone" statements. The point is the environment of a heli even for tx batteries is nothing like treating them carefully or like having them in your phone.

We've spent £1000s on our heli gear spend another £10 and get an ammo box to store them in. As for fires like this be thankful it's not at your house while you are watching tv or asleep.

[LipolyGone]

Lipo fires are self fueling Rachael they create their own oxygen, all you can do is rip the lipo out & throw it as far away as possible because the fumes it is also pumping out whilst burning are toxic:

[Boggy]

lipo's have a knack of catching you out! I found out the hard way at charlton.
After playing silly buggers with a stone and a dead pack and giggling like a girl at all the smoke we made I pulled a burnt one apart. there was lots and lots of very thin burnt copper sheets. can anyone guess what happens when you pick them up and scrunch them into a ball in your hand?

yep! more fires and burnt hands

even when there dead there alive! devils magic! now wheres that nitro thread

[michael_fly_more]

A co2 could always help a bit or at least save the rest of the Heli
move also found some makes of li po catch fire and some just smoke
was this just luck? Or are some li po made in a diffent way just to smoke?

[dillwhacker]

I would think a CO2 extinguisher for several reasons...
No residue unlike dry powder.
Even though the Lipo fire is self sustaining, the CO2 will stop anything else from burning (although bits will still be heat damaged / melted).
The CO2 is very cold and might cool the Lipo and temper its chemical reactions.
Probably...

[jimmyhorns]

Even though lipo fires generate their own oxygen, if you take away any one of the three side of the combustion triangle:

Heat
Fuel
Oxidiser (oxygen)

The fire should go out.

Water in sufficient quantities would do this, CO2 might, if you can get enough of it on, as it is very cold when it leaves the extinguisher.

the problem with this, is that as soon as it warms up again, you are likely to have another fire on your hands.... it might buy you some time though.

[cjcj1949]

It isn't that good an idea to pick it up and move it outside. It is a chemical fire and it wasn't that long ago that someone ended up in hospital with very badly burnt hands. Depending on the size of the lipo and where it is you have to make a judgement. You could easily lose the use of your hands and your sight. Lipos expand when they are charged and some contain impurities as small shards of metal. Everything is fine until they move enough to cross a boundary between positive and negative. They are like fireworks as far as I can see but not as safe as gunpowder as it doesn't go off for no reason. Lipos do. The chargers could be improved as well. There really ought to be safety circuits to check that the charger is working correctly. It is not that difficult or expensive to design in a monitoring circuit that compares the volts from the battery with what is expected. This would allow some problems to be detected.

In a way lipos are link travelling in a car at speed. You think you are safe, but you are travelling at the same speed as the car. It's not until you find yourself braking and getting closer and closer to the car in front that you realise that you were'nt safe. We haven't evolved to handle modern low risk high mortality problems and we have to think things through and ignore our instincts.

Lipos do need to be treated carefully. We should all be using LiFe. I know I should.

[michael_fly_more]

Am still with co2 it's got to be better than nothing and would not want to put water all over electronics etc powder makes so much mess and its at least worth trying than just sit wwatching like above you mite at least stop the rest of Heli burning and put out what else has caught fire
just my thoughts plus it could just as easy be a esc fire

[Nige321]

Two points.
1) The LiPos in phones are temp monitored, so if it looks like the battery or the charge isn't right, the whole lot shuts down.
If you have a charger capable of temp monitoring, use the sensor!

2) It might surprise some here to know that in the last year or so, 2 cargo Boeing 747s have crashed due to suspected LiPo fires in the hold, one in Dubai, one in the far east.
As these weren't passenger flights, they have barely been reported.
Both were airborne when the crews reported fires in the cargo area.
Both crashed out of control while trying to descend.
Both were carrying LiPo batteries as cargo...

There are tight rules for packing and shipping LiPos - they will only get tighter...

[ChrisB]

It all reminds us of how dangerous lipos can be,I saw a 550 die and fall from the sky yesterday,the cause a faulty Optipower lipo that on testing had no power at the main leads but continuity from the ec5 to the base of the leads so no ec5 dry joint etc but an internal fault,luckily no shorting or fire but brings it all back home about them.

[Varelco]

Mobile phone batteries aren't lipo. They are li-ion which are more stable than lipo batteries.

Secondly lipo fires aren't always triggered by temperature. There have been incidents of lipos venting after being left alone at normal ambient temperatures.

[Gavalar]

Am still with co2 it's got to be better than nothing and would not want to put water all over electronics etc powder makes so much mess and its at least worth trying than just sit wwatching like above you mite at least stop the rest of Heli burning and put out what else has caught fire
just my thoughts plus it could just as easy be a esc fire

co2 is great indoors but not so outside. Too much oxygen about co2 just disappears into the athmosphere. Dry powder is what I would use as to protect the surrounding parts as well as trying to get the fire out. Yes messy but Dry powder can always be vacumed out or blown out with and air pump and maybe help save the expensive electronics. Foam would ruin everything as its not for electrical fires.
Just my thoughts.

[Nige321]

Mobile phone batteries aren't lipo. They are li-ion which are more stable than lipo batteries.

It might depend on the phone. Most smartphones now have Lithium-Ion Polymer cells, the polymer referring to the fact that there is no hard case, only a polymer laminate bag holding the cell. Lithium-ion cells have a metal case and are more benign.