Li-poly batteries - incendiary device look out!!
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:12 pm
OK the actual post is nothing like so inflammatory as the title...
I got my ebike project mobile today
The cheap 40A ESC turned out NOT to have undervoltage protection & I discharged a 3S lipoly to 6.5V.
Oops
The side was quite swollen so I cut off the terminals and was about to bin it when the thought struck me - let's see what a lithium fire is like.
Took it somewhere safe & attacked it (gently) with an axe. (I wanted to puncture it, but didn't want to be very near it when I did).
Was there a resulting fireball? Not before I came home several hours later.
next week I'll overcharge it with a car battery charger & see if I can ignite it that way...
I had read that a punctured li-poly would "fireball" within a few minutes.
This one was (over) flattened but there was no warming, smoke, smell or any other sign of doom.
Stand by for more updates later ;^)
Bob
I got my ebike project mobile today
The cheap 40A ESC turned out NOT to have undervoltage protection & I discharged a 3S lipoly to 6.5V.
Oops
The side was quite swollen so I cut off the terminals and was about to bin it when the thought struck me - let's see what a lithium fire is like.
Took it somewhere safe & attacked it (gently) with an axe. (I wanted to puncture it, but didn't want to be very near it when I did).
Was there a resulting fireball? Not before I came home several hours later.
next week I'll overcharge it with a car battery charger & see if I can ignite it that way...
I had read that a punctured li-poly would "fireball" within a few minutes.
This one was (over) flattened but there was no warming, smoke, smell or any other sign of doom.
Stand by for more updates later ;^)
Bob