Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage

CaptFerd

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
The Danger of Parking Lithium powered Mowers, Bikes ect in the garage or house. Examples of other smaller devices as well and their dangerous surprises.

 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
Been saying this for as long as I have been here
Charge Li batteries on a metal or stone surface where there is ventilation and nothing near them to catch fire
If the battery overheats and that is 70C to 85C depending upon the chemistry or the very thin separator membranes rupture the battery will explode
Like a rocket engine the battery has both the fuel and the oxidizating agent in the one container so you can not stop the reaction in any way shape or form once it starts
The intense heat will cause what ever is near by ( starting with the plastic case ) to catch fire and from there it will spread .
All you can do is stand there hose in hand saturating everything else near by to prevent it catching fire & the fire spreading to engulf your garage / house / car etc .
The gasses generated are highly toxic as of course are the fumes & smoke from what ever else the battery sets alight .

As this week will have record temperatures well over 40C in much of the USA expect to see a lot of E vehicles catching fire
Out front on a 40+ day the bitumen road can get to 80C well above the self ignition temperature of cheap Li batteries .
 

CaptFerd

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
Been saying this for as long as I have been here
Charge Li batteries on a metal or stone surface where there is ventilation and nothing near them to catch fire
If the battery overheats and that is 70C to 85C depending upon the chemistry or the very thin separator membranes rupture the battery will explode
Like a rocket engine the battery has both the fuel and the oxidizating agent in the one container so you can not stop the reaction in any way shape or form once it starts
The intense heat will cause what ever is near by ( starting with the plastic case ) to catch fire and from there it will spread .
All you can do is stand there hose in hand saturating everything else near by to prevent it catching fire & the fire spreading to engulf your garage / house / car etc .
The gasses generated are highly toxic as of course are the fumes & smoke from what ever else the battery sets alight .

As this week will have record temperatures well over 40C in much of the USA expect to see a lot of E vehicles catching fire
Out front on a 40+ day the bitumen road can get to 80C well above the self ignition temperature of cheap Li batteries .
Very well said
 

GrumpyCat

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
The Danger of Parking Lithium powered Mowers, Bikes ect in the garage or house. Examples of other smaller devices as well and their dangerous surprises.

OMG! Gasoline never burns! No one has ever lost a garage, home, or business to a gasoline fire!

Or not.

Be sure to leave your cellphones outside on a non-flammable surface. And laptops. And everything.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
OMG! Gasoline never burns! No one has ever lost a garage, home, or business to a gasoline fire!

Or not.

Be sure to leave your cellphones outside on a non-flammable surface. And laptops. And everything.
Difference is I can grab the fire blanket off the wall or the fire extinguisher under the lathe & out it out
I can not do that with a burning battery
I can leave a can of fuel on the dash board in the sunlight, it may swell split the container & go everywhere but it will not burst into flames & burn the car out .
People do stupid things refuling and pay the price
Find any Li battery device with a spontaneous combustion warning.
Amazing that my blades have a cancer warning because they contain nickel but the Li devices carry no warning about charging failures other than "incorrect charging or using another charger may damage this device "
Not quite the same as "can burst into flames & burn your house down "
 

GrumpyCat

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
Difference is I can grab the fire blanket off the wall or the fire extinguisher under the lathe & out it out
I can not do that with a burning battery
I can leave a can of fuel on the dash board in the sunlight, it may swell split the container & go everywhere but it will not burst into flames & burn the car out .
People do stupid things refuling and pay the price
Find any Li battery device with a spontaneous combustion warning.
Amazing that my blades have a cancer warning because they contain nickel but the Li devices carry no warning about charging failures other than "incorrect charging or using another charger may damage this device "
Not quite the same as "can burst into flames & burn your house down "
So when is the last time any of that happened? Say cellphone on car dash bursting into flames? Or Garmin GPS for that matter (you know all Garmin GPSs the past 20 years have lithium batteries?) and we put our GPSs on the car dash and leave them there when parked.

On the other hand it is not too unusual to see a car beside the interstate, burned. Or a burned patch on the road.

In your defense there is a flood of junk Chinese e-bikes with poor construction, poor design, and poor battery management which are catching fire in operation and when being charged.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
I helped a truck driver put out a fire in his engine bay because I was riding my motorcycle so had a leather jacket, gloves & full face so I could get in and trip the cab latch then he could use his fire extinguisher
The fire was caused by a shop rag left in the engine bay
I have been using a Li powered phone for 15 years and it has been fine
A friend had his Samsung explode and burn out his van
He was out riding with me at the time & left the phone on the dash on the charger while we were away because it was flat
Lucky that the other 3 bikes were not in the back at the time
So no every one will not spontaneously combust but it is prudent to treat them as if they can
Every house does not burn down, get flooded or struck by lightening but we all have insurance just in case they do .

The brand new Dewalt ZTR was made in the USA and while it was outside normal operational use at the mower show being test run all day it still burst into flames .
Apparently MTD decided to delay the sale of them till they found out why

I can prevent a petrol fire by handleing it properly
I can not tell the internal integregty of a Li cell so they all get treated as if they can spontaneously combust .
I replace 20 or so perfectly good magneto coils a year because the electronic control chip has failed
electronics fail all the time but it is the consequences of them failing that is the problem
If mark had left his pone on the seat or centre console it probably would have been fine

How many people got cancer from a mower blade ?
yet they have warnings on them but Li powered devices do not have proper warnings or instructions

Tesla have been looking at a battery plant in Australia but they can not find any shipping company that will freight them for less than the cost of making them in the USA because of insurance .
In my workshop all of the bulk flamibles have to be stored in a fire proof cabinet or my insurance policy is void and this includes all of the spay cans other than those in use
 

Tiger Small Engine

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
So when is the last time any of that happened? Say cellphone on car dash bursting into flames? Or Garmin GPS for that matter (you know all Garmin GPSs the past 20 years have lithium batteries?) and we put our GPSs on the car dash and leave them there when parked.

On the other hand it is not too unusual to see a car beside the interstate, burned. Or a burned patch on the road.

In your defense there is a flood of junk Chinese e-bikes with poor construction, poor design, and poor battery management which are catching fire in operation and when being
I helped a truck driver put out a fire in his engine bay because I was riding my motorcycle so had a leather jacket, gloves & full face so I could get in and trip the cab latch then he could use his fire extinguisher
The fire was caused by a shop rag left in the engine bay
I have been using a Li powered phone for 15 years and it has been fine
A friend had his Samsung explode and burn out his van
He was out riding with me at the time & left the phone on the dash on the charger while we were away because it was flat
Lucky that the other 3 bikes were not in the back at the time
So no every one will not spontaneously combust but it is prudent to treat them as if they can
Every house does not burn down, get flooded or struck by lightening but we all have insurance just in case they do .

The brand new Dewalt ZTR was made in the USA and while it was outside normal operational use at the mower show being test run all day it still burst into flames .
Apparently MTD decided to delay the sale of them till they found out why

I can prevent a petrol fire by handleing it properly
I can not tell the internal integregty of a Li cell so they all get treated as if they can spontaneously combust .
I replace 20 or so perfectly good magneto coils a year because the electronic control chip has failed
electronics fail all the time but it is the consequences of them failing that is the problem
If mark had left his pone on the seat or centre console it probably would have been fine

How many people got cancer from a mower blade ?
yet they have warnings on them but Li powered devices do not have proper warnings or instructions

Tesla have been looking at a battery plant in Australia but they can not find any shipping company that will freight them for less than the cost of making them in the USA because of insurance .
In my workshop all of the bulk flamibles have to be stored in a fire proof cabinet or my insurance policy is void and this includes all of the spay cans other than those in use
We will be reading and hearing, and in some cases, experiencing battery power vs gas power for many years to come. I am already sick of it. The battery people come rushing to the defense of Lithium and the gas people stand by their preferred choice. Unless it is a cell phone or drill/impact battery, I got no love for batteries.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
Li is a wonderful source of power for small items like phones , cameras, laptops
It is marginal for things like scooters
It is a disaster for things like cars & trucks
And as for bolting one to the side of your house sucking up solar power a real fools errand.
E-things have a place , they are convienant , cheaper to make & require less maintenance .
However people should be made aware of the potential for disasters.
Then when our house burns out because you did not follow the rules it is your fault & your fault alone
Mercury cells are also dangerous, just in a different way .
 

CaptFerd

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  • / Parking Lithium powered Equipment in the house or garage
Most older people that dont worry about it are thinking that their ole gas powered mower will take them through the change for the rest of their lives so why bother. The others that except and defend it are justifying their mistakes. By acknowledging and being aware of the dangers, my grandchildren and great grandchildren will be watching their grandchildren's burnt homes on the evening news.
 
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