LiPo Batteries / £540 for damages

[Shaun 'TheSheep' Atkinson]

According to Wikipedia, and numerous other speciality websites,

Overcharging a Li-poly battery IS the only cause, of an explosion or fire.

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by Shaun 'TheSheep' Atkinson

According to Wikipedia, and numerous other speciality websites,

Overcharging a Li-poly battery IS the only cause, of an explosion or fire.

dead short when fully charged or when punctured wil do it too

[Shaun 'TheSheep' Atkinson]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

dead short when fully charged or when punctured wil do it too

Yeah, obviously puncture will do it too forgot to mention that one Mark

I do like the other comment from earlier on in the thread though...

"Does this mean all race control, racers and any other laptops on site, need to be kept in a LiPo sack too"

Why didn't we have to charge the old batteries in a Bomb proof bag, because when they went pop, they really did go POP!! It was like fireing a shotgun, and one of those could have taken your head off!!

The most dangerous thing about LiPo is the fumes, My brother put a drive pin through his lipo while in his car...It didn't "Explode" and it didn't give off a ball of flames! ... It simply smoked alot. We could still get the battery out of the car quite easily with common sense and to a safer place of track where we could put sand on the battery and let it cool down.

[RogerM]

Originally Posted by Shaun 'TheSheep' Atkinson

"Does this mean all race control, racers and any other laptops on site, need to be kept in a LiPo sack too"

No because they have relatively low charge fed to them by the power supplies, are voltage managed every moment they are connected and although not impossible to dead short you'd have to be trying and if you managed it you get all you deserved IMHO.

Racers do abuse stuff, stupid charging to "make that run" when they should have just been more organised and put them on in time .... that sort of thing. You only have to look at some peoples wiring and a short is just waiting to happen with all the carbon and aluminium on the current cars.

I need to go back and re-read the original post but wasn't there some reference there to the standard of the wiring? May be wrong of course, sorry if I am.

It is a just matter of common sense and then risk management. There is a risk to everything, breathing is a risk if done incorrectly!

Having been associated with the model trade, and it's relatively low mark ups compared to most high street retailers, for a number of years now I am always dismayed when people try to justify buying stuff from abroad as the "UK is too expensive" then get upset when something happens and they have limited comeback via the UK / European importers.
This country, along with much of the EU, is an expensive place to live and play but that is because of all the costs involved in trading here (and some "interesting" taxation obviously.

Sorry if the above sounds a little ratty, it's not aimed at anybody directly just my observations and opinions. I'd personally rather go without or buy second hand than import something personally.

[SlowOne]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

well i would have said since the rule clearly states "lipo sack" then an an ammunition box is not a "lipo sack" itf it was it would not be called a ammunition box!!!

That may be the way you do it in your Section, Mark. My interest is in safety, and not the precision of the Rules - where safety is concerned, I want to be roughly right, and not precisely wrong.

It is impossible to prevent the LiPo burning, so the focus of the sack is on containing the shower of hot particles that spread over the adjacent area. None of the sacks claim to be fireproof as far as I am aware. What they do is restrict the spread of hot debris. As a steel box might do the same, I would give the driver the courtesy of looking at it, and making an assessment. Simples...

[mark christopher]

i dont have a section?

im just ponting out the brca wording says "lipo sack" not a suitable container!

[SlowOne]

Good for you, well done!

[Gazza]

Definition of a LiPo sack is . . . .

Tesco bag & with black felt pen write the words " LiPo sack on it ?"

Its in a LiPo sack



ammo box is a good idea far better IMHO

[dodgydiy]

unless the lipo is fully or overcharged i doubt puncturing it would set it on fire, have seen one from a plane virtually torn in half and all it did was smoke a bit. i have actually shot an old pack that had puffed up to see what the reaction would be, it just sat there looking sad and downhearted at being sent to its salt water grave. all this again comes down to the same old thing, abuse. if its treated sensibly it wont cause any problem. i still say that balance charging is far more important than it is given credit, each cell is individually limited and correctly charged, the only way you are going to kill the pack is either by charging at too high a rate, which should only damage the cells not fire them up as they are limited to the voltage by the balance circuitry which will stop the charge before things go too far, or death by failure of the charger. if you are balance charging any good charger will stop you charging if you set the voltage wrong as well, too high a voltage is your most likely way to ignite the pack, other than short circuit which to be honest is more likely to happen in storage or in the car.

i like the idea of the felt pen and writing lipo sack, stick some paper and bubble wrap on the outside of the box and you wouldnt know any difference....bar size of course lol

[TheReferee]

extract from the rules

25.6 LiPo/LiFe drive batteries must be charged in a ‘Lipo sack’ at all times.
LiPo sack is defined as a receptacle designed for the purpose of charging LiPo/LiFe batteries and of a suitable construction as to contain a LiPo/LiFe fire.

an "ammo box" is a receptacle which is capable of containing a lipo fire, therefore its allowed, you could argue that it wasn't designed for the purpose in the strictest definition of the rule. however it is assumed a certain degree of common sense is out there. clearly a tesco bag would struggle to comply with both the design and containment parts of the rule.

[Gazza]

OK then an asda one . . . . LOL only kidding

Yea I thought an old ammo box is ok if it holds Ammo and is safe so a lipo is bound to be ok