Lipo-fire

[doo540]

As you can see we had a small accident Saturday night. I run 6.5mm connectors on the end of these lipo packs. I have the male/female ends wired so that I cant reverse the polarity of them when I hook them in series to my MMM. Well my 8 year old son realized that you COULD hook the lipos to each other. I was sitting right next to him sorting parts when I heard that all fimilar
"snap" sound you get when 22.2 volts come together. Of course we were in the finished basement of our house and all I could think of was get them out of the house before they explode. I couldn't unplug them or rip the wires out(those babies are really soldered in them packs). As the packs heated up and started to smoke and swell I made it up the stairs and realized there was no way I would make it outside in time. So I tossed them into out whirlpool/spa thing in the bathroom and turned on the water. I couldn't remember how to put out a lipo fire, nor did I have time to search this forum. By the time they hit the tub the smoke was so thick I couldn't reach the window on the side of the tub. so I blindly turned the water on and left the room, made the kids go to the neighbors and hang out. My bathroom and bedroom filled with smoke so I open all the windows I could get to and placed fans near them to help remove the smoke. It was the thickness gray smoke I have ever seen. Very stinky too. After about 20 minutes of smoke it all stopped. The connectors unsoldered themselves from the ends of the wires and stopped the short. House is still stinky, tub has a burn mark in the bottom of it and I managed to burn my arm too at some point during the fun. The lipos my kids use all have the traxxas ends so we hadn't covered the never plug red into black talk. We have now, along with basic fire safety, respect electricty and a bunch of other stuff.
As you can see in the pics the one pack took a big hit, the other pack had a cell split open. I have no idea if there was flames or not the smoke was to thick to see anything really going on.

[skellyo]

Sounds like a good lesson was learned. Don't leave lipos alone with kids, period. This is also why I run Deans on all my Lipos...you can't short them unless you're just absolutely trying to.

[Jeremy1976]

Wow that is some scary stuff man. Glad no one got hurt!

you can safely put out a lipo with sand

[Metallover]

That sucks. Those were really nice lipos too!

I hope you don't mind me sharing I found your story very funny and laughed my way though it.

ROFL WAFFLE!

[hootie7159]

damn!...that sucks....at least no one got hurt...

[BrianG]

I bet your kid got a good scare! Glad nobody was hurt, but it's too bad about the tub, not to mention the lipo. What did the missus say about all this? Time for a set of truly polarized and protected connectors, eh?

[MTBikerTim]

Originally Posted by BrianG

I bet your kid got a good scare! Glad nobody was hurt, but it's too bad about the tub, not to mention the lipo. What did the missus say about all this? Time for a set of truly polarized and protected connectors, eh?

Yeah if you want big plugs polarised plugs the losi EC5 connectors would be the way to go. They can just be a pain in the to disconnect.

[What's_nitro?]

Originally Posted by Metallover

I hope you don't mind me sharing I found your story very funny and laughed my way though it.

I admit it. I was laughing as I pictured the whole sequence of events as I read his post.

I am glad no one was hurt (badly). Had there been mention of serious injury, my elation would have immediately become concern. On the subject of concern; I hope you can get the smell of LiPo toast out of your house. I am familiar with that smell and I don't care for it at all.

[doo540]

Sand, darn if only I could have made it outside, i basiclly live on top of a sand hill. My youngest boy couldn't wait to tell his mom (my wife) when she got home, because for the first time he wasn't in trouble. haha At first my wife had the scared look on her face and was then ok once she knew no one was hurt. She did say that if she came home and the house was burnt down because of rc-toys we would be getting a divorce.
Yes lipo toast stinks, the house is almost back to normal as far as the smell goes.
Do you think FlightPower will warrenty those packs? JK

[PedeBasher]

Heh. GLad no one was hurt though. Id reccomend keeping a Rolgers (or any other metal can) filled with sand in your basement. Thats what I do. Or slat water will kill a lipo safely.

[suicideneil]

Q. why are there 3 wires coming out of each lipo?..

You know, Im a great believer in educating children about dangers around the home from an early age to avoid accidents (water and electricity, sticking forks into electrical sockets, shorting batteries... ). Slap your kid round the head from me will ya, silly noob...

[pedeboi364]

glad ur all ok, lol, send in ur kid 4 a new pack...

[shizzon]

Ive heard that water + lipo = bad, especially since the pack was flaming (lithium is highly reactive to water).

[kulangflow]

Originally Posted by suicideneil

Q. why are there 3 wires coming out of each lipo?..

the long red wire connects the most positive tab to the + battery lead since the + and - tabs are on opposite ends of the cell with those packs if I remember correctly.