Answered Li-Ion Batteries - Should we be WORRIED?

[SquireRides]

Looking over there, to the corner of my office, I have a pile of 3 huge li-ion batteries (all Bosch, two 400Wh, one 500Wh), and a 4A charger.

I plug one in at night and leave it to charge while I sleep. Maybe I forget to turn it off the next day... who knows.

Considering most couriers and postal services wont handle such large batteries, how worried should we be about the batteries in our homes?

The idea of one of those power packs going boom, and taking the other two with them, and then probably the rest of the room... yikes.

Anyone know the risks/stats?

 

[flash]

Real but tiny. Your phone, laptop, ipad, watch, etc all have lithium ion batteries and it's "possible" they could fail. Less likely than the polymer versions used in drones and RC cars though. Your charger will auto switch off at the end of the charge cycle so there's no issue there. Your battery also includes some circuitry to control how the cells are charged and to prevent overcharging.

If a battery is excessively hot, physically damaged, or misshapen then it's potentially dangerous. Never ever ever charge or even play with a lithium battery that looks swollen or deformed or one that's had a significant direct impact. You're asking for trouble. Keep them away from the heater. Stop charging if they become hotter than normal during charging.

I charge my bike batteries down stairs but I do have a bunch of drone and camera betteries in my bedroom including some BIG LiPo ones (the size of a house brick). No issues but I check them for physical deformity before and after charging.

the issue with transport companies is if the battery becomes damaged during transport. It's unlikely an undamaged battery will spontaneously combust. If you're worried you can buy LiPo bags which are kind of fire proof.

Gordon

 

[dirt huffer]

The only battery i'm really concerned about is a giant custom Li-ion battery a Chinese company built for me for my DIY 3000 watt hub motor bike. I store it in a large fireproof chest and either charge it in there or near a door where i can quickly scoop it up and throw it if i need to. The company has a pretty good track record but i'm still leery about it.

I'd probably worry even more if i had a Galaxy Note 7

 

[R120]

I use one of these, set to 8 hours, means it switches off if I forget

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I had a massive spark once. The Levo charger is magnetic to help it connect. A tiny removeable screw head was attracted to it and stuck on the end that I didn’t notice. As soon as I tried to connect the charger to the battery then:

? ? ️

It wasn’t too bad, a simple short of the battery terminals caused by the screw head caught on the magnetic charging end that caused the short. But after half hour or so over checking it over / making sure there was no risk all was good.

I’ve seen ‘thermal events’ happen on phone batteries before, they go on for ever. But this is almost always caused by some kind of intervention / damage.

 

[MattyB]

Real but tiny. Your phone, laptop, ipad, watch, etc all have lithium ion batteries and it's "possible" they could fail. Less likely than the polymer versions used in drones and RC cars though. Your charger will auto switch off at the end of the charge cycle so there's no issue there. Your battery also includes some circuitry to control how the cells are charged and to prevent overcharging.

If a battery is excessively hot, physically damaged, or misshapen then it's potentially dangerous. Never ever ever charge or even play with a lithium battery that looks swollen or deformed or one that's had a significant direct impact. You're asking for trouble. Keep them away from the heater. Stop charging if they become hotter than normal during charging.

I charge my bike batteries down stairs but I do have a bunch of drone and camera betteries in my bedroom including some BIG LiPo ones (the size of a house brick). No issues but I check them for physical deformity before and after charging.

the issue with transport companies is if the battery becomes damaged during transport. It's unlikely an undamaged battery will spontaneously combust. If you're worried you can buy LiPo bags which are kind of fire proof.

The above is a good post, but I don't agree that we can implicitly trust the charger at all times - I would never charge without being nearby, and would always do so in a room with a fire alarm just in case. If charging overnight you certainly are recommended to use a timer plug as per above, though tbh you are better planning to charge in the day whenever possible.