Miscellaneous StuffRemains of Gene's pit box after a lithium
ion battery ignited during charging. Gene Pape photos. Fourth of July fireworksBy Gene
Pape The Eugene Prop Spinners club flying
sessions are on Thursdays. The first July session fell on
the Fourth. It turned out that fate had decided for me to
have my fireworks first thing in the morning.
After removing the Rocket from the nose of the model I went off to the farthest end of the house to locate the SuperTigre C35 I had recently traded Dave La Fever for. I was still scrounging when my wife, Carole, hollered, “Is there supposed to be smoke in the garage?” The pit box before the fire.
I ran to the garage to find not only my pit box but also the wastebasket on the other side of the aisle both fully engulfed in flame. Fortunately, there was a fully charged water hose on a hose reel just outside the back door to the garage. I grabbed the hose and quickly doused the flames. There was no real damage to the bench or the house. The pit box and everything in it were destroyed as was the wastebasket. And there was now water and black residue everywhere. While all of this had been made much worse by leaving the battery pack in the pit box to charge it, it would have still been a disaster had the battery pack been charged by itself as at least one of the cells had literally exploded and there was no sign of the other cell. I have been using rechargeable LiPo and LiIon cells for many years with no problems and had become rather cavalier about the process. Please take the advice of myself and many others. Take charging these batteries seriously. Be sure to take every possible precaution as a mundane process can turn into a major disaster in a heartbeat. If you don't have it already, you can purchase an inexpensive battery tester that will quickly show you if the battery you are about to charge is suspect and possibly dangerous. At right is one example from Tower Hobbies that costs $25. Here are some of the signs that a lithium battery may be failing and/or hazardous:
Safe charging: The battery and charger should be on a fireproof surface and if possible covered by something that won't burn. You can buy an inexpensive charging bag from Tower. Or you can go to your local garden store and buy a very large clay flower pot and a clay flower pot base, and put your charger inside the base with the pot as a lid. Happy flying — without unintended fireworks! Remains moved outside show the extent of
the damage. Back to Miscellaneous Stuff main pageBack to Regular ColumnsBack to Combat sectionFlying Lines home pageThis page
was updated July 12, 2024
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