charging batteries

Thank you James for your input on this too. This has been a very informative thread for me.
 
These battery manufacturers need to be all sued if their products catch fire.

You'd have to start with gas stations, any electrical product manufacturers, cars etc - all these have had fires when faulty or operated incorrectly - in the UK a major cause of house fires is tumble dryers and refrigerator faults, but these are sold every day and every home uses them.

Car/Auto batteries have been causing garage fires/explosions for decades when charged incorrectly or with faulty chargers, lipo batteries are really the same, the only difference is the batteries are smaller so people don't appreciate the risk and are charged in peoples houses, so when it goes wrong it goes much more wrong.

Lipo batteries when used correctly and treated with respect are amazingly safe and powerful energy sources, before lipos we used Nicad/Nimh batteries for RC cars/planes - which could still catch fire or cause other accidents when charging or shorted out, but there energy density (power per weight) was much much lower, so the performance/flight times were awful - I had an early electric helicopter (Concept EP) which cost around $1200 and flew 2-3 gentle hovering minutes on a battery before it needed recharging - it was awful !

It would be impossible to build a viable flying camera quadcopter without lipo batteries - like everything there is a benefit and a risk, and its just a case of being aware of the risk, and managing it.

I think of it like shotgun cartridge/rounds, they also have a huge amount of energy in a small size/weight, but stored and used correctly they are perfectly safe, but if something goes wrong, that energy has to go somewhere so lipo batteries are the same. You wouldn't store shotgun cartridges on top of your grill in a paper bag - so similarly Lipo batteries just need to be handled/stored with care and respect - there are millions of people using lipo batteries every day across the world safely, its just something to be aware of.
 
I do know that when my laundry is in my dryer I will never leave it unattended.An ex-girlfriend's caught fire in her condo.She never cleaned the lint trap though which I do before every dry cycle.
 
It may not happen often but it only takes one time to lose everything.
I will continue to watch my lipo's when charging... you do what you want.

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Well, I'm sold. It may not happen very often but I'm not going to risk my house and Porsche and everything else over a battery charge. As boring as it might be I'll keep an eye on mine when charging from here on out. I don't consider the warnings of this post to be fear mongering - these videos should convince everyone to use caution when charging LiPo's.
I wonder how long it will be before insurance companies start denying claims for fires caused by LiPo's - there's enough evidence that they are dangerous if not respected.
 
Oh wow thanks for the info and tips. Just unplugged mine after 3 days on the charger.
 
Curious if you guys follow same procedures for iPhone/iPad/android/tablet as they all also have lipo batteries in them...
 

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