Researched how to charge my first LiPo battery and now I'm scared!

[proffalken]

Hi all,

I've recently bought a 450 heli and Turnigy 2200mAh 3S1P 11.1v 20C 30C Brst Lipo Battery UK | eBay to go with it.

I also purchased iMAX B6 LCD Digital Lipo NiMH battery Balance Charger w/ 12V 5A Adapter UK plug | eBay to charge it.

I then read Lithium Polymer Etiquette: A Comprehensive Guide to Working with LiPo : Balance Charging Setup and I'm starting to think that I should have bought a charging bag as well.

I had intended to just charge the battery on the Dining room table, however it appears that this is a far from sensible idea even if I am in the room with the battery at all times as they are completely unpredictable and can explode at a moments notice.

My first thought is "if they were that dangerous then they would be sold as munitions not batteries", however I realise that this is quite flippant and comes from a complete lack of understanding on my part.

Can anyone point me toward a good "beginners guide" that provides advice on using/storing LiPos without the Daily Mail-style headlines?

Thanks,

Matt

[trexamanic]

do not store in the house.
aways use a charge bag
never leave a battery whilst charging discharging etc
find a safe metal container and line it with plaster board or something .
a lot use old ammo boxes.
i never leave them in the house.
lastly they are safe if you follow precauitions

[Grumpy]

To be honest if all you are charging is a 3s 2200mAh Lipo or two I'd not worry about it. Put it on a flame resistant surface and away from flamible objects, read and understand your charger's manual and IMHO you are good to go.
There is a very very low chance of any problems occuring. It's actually quite difficult to ignite a LiPo, i've knocked nails through them and chopped them with an axe and only got a bit of white smoke and a small flame like a match being struck. The videos you see online of them going off spectacularly are almost invariably caused by deliberate and extreme over charging. Providing you have a half decent charger and use it correctly that's not going to happen.

I'm sure others will accuse me of being a reckless lunatic.....

[Mark_T]

Providing you have a half decent charger and use it correctly that's not going to happen.

I'm sure others will accuse me of being a reckless lunatic.....

I'd add that you have a point, but only if the pack has been assembled correctly and is completely undamaged.

The first of those can never be assumed and the second becomes difficult to ensure once you start using it.

So in short you are right as long as you only buy from perfectionists and then don't use them

[Grumpy]

So in short you are right as long as you only buy from perfectionists and then don't use them

I must have got lucky then because I've been doing e-power for 5 years and have scores of lipos which must have been through thousands of charge cycles, and I've yet to have anything concerning happen during charging. The only LiPo's I've seen 'properly' catch fire is as an immediate and direct result of a crash.

The one exception to that would be a small 1s battery that I accidentally through stupidity connected by parallel harness to a 2s battery. It puffed up and released some white smoke, that was it... quite disappointing actually!

So based on my experience the biggest risk is from human error... just be careful and don't do anything daft and you will be fine, and even if you do do something stupid it's highly unlikely anything truly dramatic will happen. The one thing i would say is don't leave them charging unattended. To the best of my knowledge every LiPo fire that's been recorded has occurred when the user left the batteries charging unattended.

[barryorbik]

When charging/discharging to storage level, I put my 3S 2200 and smaller Li-po's inside the holes of a house brick which is standing on a ceramic floor tile in the garage well away from any flammable substances. Once they have been processed and during transport they go into Li-po bags which in turn are stored in an old metal barn style tool box. I have been in the hobby for four years now and have had only had two failures in that time - one when I connected my battery to friends model but he had reversed the connections on his ESC so it shorted out the battery and the second was when the battery box clip failed on my Cessna and the Li-po fell from about 30 feet onto the concrete runway. Worryingly it sat there for a good five minutes then as I approached it one cell suddenly puffed and burst into flames. For safety dispose of any puffed or damaged packs immediately and never leave them alone when charging or discharging, plus store them outside the house and in a safe brick built building inside Li-po bags and preferably in a hefty but not sealed metal container.
Treat them with respect and they are as safe as any other power source but get it wrong and they become miniature fire bombs.

[Grumpy]

Far less risk than a chip-pan IMHO... And the statistics very much support me on this comparison, given that i don't think there have been any fatalities or serious injuries in the UK (or anywhere?) due to LiPo fires. Chip-pan fires on the other hand are a routine event causing 12,000 fires, 4600 injuries and 50 deaths in the UK alone in some past single years.

Yet people get in a wad about liPos and dont give a second thought about chip-pans?... go figure.

Steve

[dillwhacker]

Totally agree with Grumpy on this one. Heat proof surface and don't leave the house while charging and you will be fine.

[Delarado]

Far less risk than a chip-pan IMHO... And the statistics very much support me on this comparison, given that i don't think there have been any fatalities or serious injuries in the UK (or anywhere?) due to LiPo fires. Chip-pan fires on the other hand are a routine event causing 12,000 fires, 4600 injuries and 50 deaths in the UK alone in some past single years.

Yet people get in a wad about liPos and dont give a second thought about chip-pans?... go figure.

Steve

How many people cook chips vs how many people charge lipos?

I'm sure its less than 1%.

I actually agree, lipos are pretty safe. But they can also spontaneously catch fire, just like a can of lighter fluid, a can of deodorant, or even a box of matches if left in the wrong places. By your logic, walking tightropes 1000 feet above ground is safer than catching the bus!

You dont have to pussy foot around them too much. Just be careful.

Never over discharge
Never over charge
Never charge at unapproved charge rates
ALWAYS keep them in a tough, fire proof container (as some say, ammunition boxes work well)
If you drop them, give them a thorough inspection for damage and keep them separate from all of your other lipos for quite a while; just to ensure its still ok. If there is any visible damage to the lipo (Cracked foil for example, or a flattened corner) throw it away.

Ive also heard of some people putting them in a fridge. This will "slow down" any potential fire (Lipos get more volatile the warmer they are)

I personally dont do this, but its another safety measure.

I dont think taking as many safety measures as possible with something that CAN Burn your house down in your sleep is a bad thing (Which has happened to some people, albeit not a lot)

Just follow the rules, dont abuse them, stop using and dispose of a lipo if it exhibits strange behaviour (One cell wont reach 4.2v, or wont hold a charge, or it puffs up significantly) and keep them in a fire proof container and youll be fine.

[Grumpy]

How many people cook chips vs how many people charge lipos?

I'm sure its less than 1%.
.

Hmmm, possibly drifting off topic actually I think more people will charge LiPos than cook chips in a chip pan. With the advent of oven/micro chips far from every house has a chip pan, and the fact that LiPos are used in a range of hand-held electronic devices means most households charge LiPos, albeit small ones?


But really i think we agree, LiPos are not some ticking time bomb. By following some simple common sense measures they are nothing to be scared of. There is an awful lot of ridiculous scare mungering when it comes to LiPos and it's bad for the hobby, it's probably already responsible for making shipping the things more difficult.

[proffalken]

Thanks all, I suspected as much.

I've got some old bathroom tiles that I can lay the battery on whilst charging and I'll invest in a LiPo Bag for transporting around safely.

I'll just check them before and after every flight/storage/journey/charge and dispose if I think they're a bit "odd" looking

Cheers,

Matt

[David Drew]

Don't be worried, just be careful.

[1chris]

Ah...... at last some sensible posts on the management of LiPo ownership rather than all the alarmist waffle we have seen in the past.....how refreshing!!!!

[helijohn]

Don't be worried, just be careful.

I go with this.

I think if you charge with balance charge and at 1C LiPos are pretty safe but I keep an eye on them while charging and try to have a rapid exit available.