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Battery Safety?

Shelby Griggs

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Just bought a Bat Safe XL to charge my EVO II Enterprise batteries. The XL is required to contain any fire with all four batteries on the hub, the smaller sizes of the Bat Safes do NOT have a high enough rating.

I have tons of other lithium chemistry batteries (some of those unsure of the exact type), but this might be the only lipo ones and while I haven't worried about my other lithium chemistry batteries for equipment causing an issue, I thought better safe than sorry with the EVO batteries.

Do you use any sort of charging bag or safe box when charging your UAV batteries?
 
Just bought a Bat Safe XL to charge my EVO II Enterprise batteries. The XL is required to contain any fire with all four batteries on the hub, the smaller sizes of the Bat Safes do NOT have a high enough rating.

I have tons of other lithium chemistry batteries (some of those unsure of the exact type), but this might be the only lipo ones and while I haven't worried about my other lithium chemistry batteries for equipment causing an issue, I thought better safe than sorry with the EVO batteries.

Do you use any sort of charging bag or safe box when charging your UAV batteries?

Seems like overkill to me, but whatever it takes to make you feel safe is all that really matters. Personally, I just always use an OEM charger, check for any signs of swelling, and stop using a particular battery at the first sign of problems, I also always try to store them with no more than 20% charge remaining.

So far I've worked with some form of LiPo batteries for over 15yrs without issues. I have had plenty of battery problems over the years mainly swelling, failure to hold a charge, or failing to fully charge in everything from laptops to speedlights to drone batteries. I simply stop using them, dispose of them, and replace them with another OEM battery. Never had any fire issues.

I think actual fire issues usually come from cheap knockoff batteries, people buying aftermarket chargers, dropping the batteries onto hard surfaces, or ignoring the warning signs such as battery warnings on screen, or swelling.
 
You are probably correct. I was told today the Corps Of Engineers Portland District had a fire that destroyed two buildings from a lipo fire, surprised I didn't hear about it living in Oregon. Here is a link to the story the day of the fire, I am told it was found to be caused by lipo charging. I guess for $100 or so I would think it worth the price of the Bat Safe.

 
You are probably correct. I was told today the Corps Of Engineers Portland District had a fire that destroyed two buildings from a lipo fire, surprised I didn't hear about it living in Oregon. Here is a link to the story the day of the fire, I am told it was found to be caused by lipo charging. I guess for $100 or so I would think it worth the price of the Bat Safe.


That is the tip of the iceburg, after looking at this chart you may never fly on an airplane again. Each time I fly I just have to hope no one stored high capacity LiPo's in their checked luggage. It is not something the screeners will catch if someone chooses to check their luggage with one or more in it. At least with home fire prevention you are in control and have made decisions on your personal risk level; when flying on a plane your life is in the hands of every other passenger on that plane.
 
The it won't happen to me attitude is prevalent. Airlines have had rules about this for quite a while in the cargo hold, yet ignored. There are enough events that I think my battery charging box isn't an unreasonable purchase. Each EVO II battery is under the FAA limit for carry on, so if you fly with these batteries carry them onboard. All airlines now have thermal containment bags that they can put items in if there is an issue in the passenger cabin, but of course not the cargo hold. These bags may not fully contain the smoke and flames, but the idea is long enough to hopefully get down to the ground before a catastrophic event.
 
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The it won't happen to me attitude is prevalent. Airlines have had rules about this for quite a while in the cargo hold, yet ignored. There are enough events that I think my battery charging box isn't an unreasonable purchase. Each EVO II battery is under the FAA limit for carry on, so if you fly with these batteries carry them onboard. All airlines now have thermal containment bags that they can put items in if there is an issue in the passenger cabin, but of course not the cargo hold. These bags may not fully contain the smoke and flames, but the idea is long enough to hopefully get down to the ground before a catastrophic event.

I agree, I did a lot of research on the LiPo bags when I first started flying drones due to the higher capacity LiPos that were required and a few incidents that made the news, but testing revealed that the bags were pretty much worthless so I didn't have many options except to just handle the batteries as safely as possible.

The Bat Safe XL doesn't have good reviews either, so to me it doesn't look like a very good solution, I would also want to see test results from an accredited testing agency or a 3rd party testing facility with standardized fire rating results before I would consider it a viable option. I will be interested to see how yours turns out, the reviews mainly complained about problems getting the wiring inside the box, and the cheapness of the materials. Another concern for me would be heat buildup while charging; an enclosed box while charging could cause the very thing it is supposed to prevent.

I considered many options when I was first setting up my drone kit, I even considered getting a dorm fridge and storing them/charging them in my storage shed and keeping them in the dorm fridge, but after 10yrs with no problems I have come to accept the risk. A gun safe might be another alternative at least for storage, while charging I still think open air is best.

With that being said, if a reputable vendor starts making a fire safety charging/storage enclosure with ventilation then I would be inclined to buy it.
 
While the Bat Safe isn't 100% effective, it does seem to be best out there IF you don't exceed rating. Thus why I bought a XL version to hold the four EVO II batteries. It would be good if some 3rd party lab tested them, but there are quite a few videos on You Tube testing bags and boxes and I have yet to see anything commercially available that appears to work better than the Bat Safe. The bags mostly are useless.

Here is a video where the smaller size is tested and no issues, then failure when they exceeded rating.

 
At home or office and possibly unattended, I charge my packs on either a concrete floor, or a 1 1/2" thick piece of marble (countertop sink cut-out) on the bench. If it the car, they are where I can see them. Lipos don't just explode all of a sudden.

They will usually develop "signs" as @herein2021 mentions. One correction. For Lipo health, they are best stored at 50% charge. If you are going to ship them or travel on an airplanes with them, that's where 20% is better.
 
At home or office and possibly unattended, I charge my packs on either a concrete floor, or a 1 1/2" thick piece of marble (countertop sink cut-out) on the bench. If it the car, they are where I can see them. Lipos don't just explode all of a sudden.

They will usually develop "signs" as @herein2021 mentions. One correction. For Lipo health, they are best stored at 50% charge. If you are going to ship them or travel on an airplanes with them, that's where 20% is better.

I agree, for battery longevity 50% is better, for safety I stick to 20% and accept the shorter battery life. On airplanes definitely 20% or below.

While the Bat Safe isn't 100% effective, it does seem to be best out there IF you don't exceed rating. Thus why I bought a XL version to hold the four EVO II batteries. It would be good if some 3rd party lab tested them, but there are quite a few videos on You Tube testing bags and boxes and I have yet to see anything commercially available that appears to work better than the Bat Safe. The bags mostly are useless.

Here is a video where the smaller size is tested and no issues, then failure when they exceeded rating.


Now that is an impressive video, I might actually look into getting one of these, maybe just 4 of the smaller boxes though and only use them for storage not charging.
 
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Agree with storage at lower state of charge. My current mode is when I get to one or two bars on the battery to leave them like that for storage and only charge just before a mission again. I suppose this is storing at around 25%.
 

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