When I was a kid, my hobby was mostly electronics, (big surprise, right?) and I had a perpetually messy room (lab) that drove my Mother crazy. (Again, big surprise?) She constantly threatened to "go in there, clean it up and throw it all in the trash". One pre-teen day while I was at school, she finally made good on that promise and went in with a big black trash bag and started throwing "all that junk" into it. When I came home all the windows were open (unusual) and the whole area smelled really toxic. When I went in, it was even worse, and my room had about a 4 foot circle of burnt wet carpet and black melted junk all over it.
She had thrown away a small NiCad pack and it somehow shorted out in the trash bag before she could haul it out, and caught fire. She was able to put it out (luckily) with some water. I was grounded for a month. She never attempted to touch my mess ever again though. Lithium batteries are no joke. I personally have had more than one accident and many close calls despite being well aware of the danger and being very careful. Sometimes it's not even in your control (like a cell defect). If you often use low-cost products with built-in Lithium, get a fire-safe bag and charge in it, and for large things try and do it outside. I now have a covered carport-type area away from the house which I will use for any even slightly questionable battery activities. Also, have good quality smoke detectors, preferably ones with wifi connectivity so you get an alert if something happens, such as these: https://amzn.to/3Glx8Nb Yes, Expensive, but way less than a homeowner's insurance deductible. One of these really saved an already bad accident I had from a total disaster. On Tue, Nov 28, 2023 at 1:37 PM Mark E. Hanson via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > Hi Folks, > > > > I remember in 2013 I was designing a UPS for my employer and had a A123 > 26650 cell on my desk & walked away for a couple minutes to pee and when I > came back there was a crowd around as it apparently rolled into a spiral > notebook and set it on fire! > > > > Fairly embarrassed, but the other engineers were impressed by the amount of > current/destruction a single cell could do! > > > > > > Have a renewable energy day, > > > > Mark > > > > Mark E. Hanson > > 184 Vista Lane > > Fincastle, VA 24090 > > 540-473-1248 phone & FAX, 540-816-0812 cell > > REEVA: community service RE & EV project club > > Website: www.REEVAdiy.org (See Project Gallery) > > UL Certified PV Installer > > My RE&EV Circuits: www.EVDL.org/lib/mh > > REEVA Demo: <http://youtu.be/4kqWn2H-rA0> http://youtu.be/4kqWn2H-rA0 > > > < > https://www.weatherlink.com/embeddablePage/show/a88920376f864ecabaed843dd89 > 75b8d/signature > <https://www.weatherlink.com/embeddablePage/show/a88920376f864ecabaed843dd8975b8d/signature>> > Fincastle Solar Weather Station > > > > > > > > Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 21:15:13 -0800 > > From: Cor van de Water <cor.vandewa...@gmail.com > <mailto:cor.vandewa...@gmail.com> > > > To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List <ev@lists.evdl.org > <mailto:ev@lists.evdl.org> > > > Subject: Re: [EVDL] I destroyed an A123 26650 by shorting to the case. > > Message-ID: > > > <CALdL5i3dyE3nJBu==mxa7mthkcohc_q04fhwco-jy6m7ltv...@mail.gmail.com > <mailto:CALdL5i3dyE3nJBu==mxa7mthkcohc_q04fhwco-jy6m7ltv...@mail.gmail.com > > > > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > > > Lawrence, when I removed some of the cells from that pack that you picked > up, I cut the straps with heavy duty scissors. > > One time I accidentally shorted the cell I was removing while cutting and > the current was large enough to bite a chunk out of the scissor blades... > > These are *very* low resistance cells, so the short circuit current > consequently is very high, even at the low 3.5V of a single cell. > > Cor. > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20231128/5f857a93/attachment.htm > > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20231128/d3958161/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
