Went to the field Saturday morning as it was sunny and no wind. Nobody else there but had 3 good flights on my foamy SU 29 and went home around 11:00
Once home I decided to charge my batteries to a storage state until my next outing. The lipos are all 3S 2700 mah.
Charged in the middle of my garage on the concrete floor as I continually monitored their progress as I always do and the charging of all 3 was completed around 12:30 pm. No issues with the charging of the 3 batteries. All three batteries were in great shape and no heat could be felt. One was showing the slightest of puffing but I had been using it this way for a while now. The last time I did an internal resistance test all three showed resistance within acceptable specs.
Placed the batteries on my work bench and proceeded with my day. Went back to the garage around 4:00 PM and placed the batteries in my steel ammo can for storage. Didn’t close and latch the lid as I was going to use one Sunday to do some more control fine tuning on the foamy.
Closed the garage up around 7 and went in the house.
Around 11:30 I realized I had neglected to lock the garage man door so took a trip out to the garage to lock up. When I opened the door I was met with strong electrical smell and smoke. Turned the lights on and the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see to the back wall of the garage. Couldn’t make out any flames so I opened the garage door and made my way to the back of the garage holding my breath and turned on my 1500 cfm ventilation fan. After 10 or 15 minutes it was pretty much cleared so I went around trying to discover the source by looking for charring or continuing smoke from any electrical source. I didn’t look at the ammo can because the batteries were good prior and thought the real issue was only during charging, discharging or being damaged. Boy was that a misconception! Looked in the ammo can and discovered a charred pile of lipos including the three 3s 2700, a 3s 4000 and a few 2s 400 - 450 mah. Lifted the ammo can and it was still warm and had left a charred area on my wooden work table but didn’t see any charred area on the ceiling. Took the ammo box outside and filled it with water and left it in the middle of the driveway for the rest of the night. At this point the reality of what had happened hit me and how lucky I had been that it wasn’t far worse. After an hour or so I was satisfied that no further fire was going to happen but spent a sleepless night with many trips to the garage to check and make sure all was fine.
Next morning investigated the charred mess in the ammo can but really couldn’t deceiver which battery had started the event as the evidence was destroyed into a blob of lipo cells.
Can only imagine in horror what the outcome would have been if I hadn’t put the batteries in the ammo can. Only wish I had closed and latched the lid.
I have only a limited inventory of lipos, can’t imagine the consequences if I had the number of lipos I have seen some others own and have had at flying fields.

I think we have all heard or seen stories of lipo incidents but thought that the issue that led to the incident was owner neglect, inexperience or abuse. I’m here to tell you that I neither neglect or abuse my lipos and it happened to me, I just got very lucky and didn’t become a lipo fire statistic!

So please, please learn from my misfortune and realize that those lipo batteries can and sometimes do experience thermal runaway randomly. May not happen frequently but once is enough.

I am presently rethinking how I’’m going to store them in the future to insure a possible fire stays contained. Initially my reaction was to get rid of the remaining lipo batteries I have but if I want to maintain an electric plane or two, that isn’t an option. I for sure have removed lipo batteries from my fuel can pumps immediately and will be using other battery options.

Again, I got the sh*t scared out of me and luckily only smoke damage and the sh*t scared out of me.

Thanks Greg for passing this important message on. I have now just finished putting all my lipo’s in my ammo box with the lid closed. Usually I have them lying all over the place in my basement. Glad that you only lost a few batteries. Thanks again.

Thanks for the heads up Greg. Time for all of us to be more careful.

A random though, it "seems" to me that we heave heard of these types of incidents more frequently over the past little while.

With no intent to minimize anything, I'm wondering if maybe the quality control of the production of these batteries has maybe slackened off?

Just wondering...

Glad yu had miniimal damage.

The Garage is another place for we "Lithium Flyers" to think about having a smoke detector installed on the ceiling. Mine started "chirping" about every minute a few months back so had to replace the battery....great insurance..!

Bill

One important note about ammo cans. I use them as well, but I’ve removed the rubber seal, as I read somewhere that leaving it in could create a mini bomb. Here’s a link to a good read on ammo boxes.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2632488-LiPo-storage-in-ammo-cans

Not to further scare the s#it out of everyone, check this test out. A Lipo gone bad in a sealed ammo box. This is why I take the rubber seal out of the lid. That or drill a few holes in the can for gases to escape and prevent the bomb.

https://youtu.be/OuH017ic6uo

Sandy “ A random though, it "seems" to me that we heave heard of these types of incidents more frequently over the past little while”

Another good reason to be extra vigilant.

Bill “ The Garage is another place for we "Lithium Flyers" to think about having a smoke detector installed on the ceiling. Mine started "chirping" about every minute a few months back so had to replace the battery....great insurance..!”

I used to have a smoke detector in the garage a number of years ago but with welding, grinding and spraying paint it was going off and became annoying. It since has been removed. I am still doing those activities in the garage, even more so since retiring.

Whitey “ One important note about ammo cans. I use them as well, but I’ve removed the rubber seal, as I read somewhere that leaving it in could create a mini bomb. Here’s a link to a good read on ammo boxes.“

I just cut the gasket out on the sides but leave the ends there. It allows the can to close better and won’t rattle but will still allow pressure to be relieved.

Hey Greg. Thanks for the post. It’s making me rethink my storage arrangement  Fire aside, I have 10 5000/6s packs stored in one ammo can. That’s a lot of $$$$ should one go bad. I think I’m going to divide them into three cans.

Probably a really good idea Mike.

Greg,
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I know I have gotten complacent over the years, you have definitely refocused my attention.
Jim

Well my lipo battery was not in my ammo can but it is now. Also made some ventilation.  Now I am wondering if Life ( Lithium Iron Phosphate ) batteries are dangerous as well.

Thanks for sharing this Greg. I'm in the process of rearranging my battery storage to conform to suggestions posted here. As I have 14 lipos all nicely cuddled up next to each other....what a blaze that would make!!