Lost everything

[cwill]

Had a fire in my garage this morning and everyone made it out safe. After all of it was over. And the damage was assessed , I lost all of my drones due to a charger that I was using to charge up a 60.00 drone. I lost a phantom 3 pro ,phantom 4 mavic pro spark yuneec typhoons two racing drones blade chroma and bebop 2 power all gone and a few toy drones

 

[Timinator]

Glad you made it out safe! Did the structure suffer much damage or was it confined to the contents in the garage?

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

Lipos are dangerous, need to be there when charging IMO. But, also, I charge mine on a ceramic plate 14" square and then inside a safety charging bag. The same for the charger, it is on ceramic, hopefully this will help to isolate any fire. I also keep my Lipos in an Ammo Can, when storing or transporting.
There is little one can do to eliminate the possibility of fire, so precaution is all you have.
Good luck, hope insurance covers your loses.

 

[alokbhargava]

Any mishap can happen any day, lets be careful while charging batteries.

 

[BigAl07]

So sorry to hear about your loss. Thank goodness it was only "stuff" which can be replaced.

LiPo have a LOT of stored energy that can go wrong in a hurry. Hopefully others will read this horrible story and learn from it.

Charging LiPo batteries can ignite in a HURRY and burn intensely.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Yip worst nightmare,always close now when charging,me had 11.1volt lipo swell up and catch fire,sad you lose,my first thought to mind is to give you one of mine so hopefully insurance covers contents,keep us updated,take care

 

[ROD PAINTER]

So sorry this happened to you. Hope you have insurance. Just have to start over again. Have a blessed day.

 

[N017RW]

Good Luck Bud!

Read something similar about 5 years ago on RCGroups. You sound more fortunate as there was extensive house damage in that case.

A house fire scares the hell out of me.

 

[RW8888]

My condolences, I lost my house in 1997. Most things can be replaced. Some can not. It’s a terrible experience, you have my sympathy.

 

[AndrewCCM]

Sorry this happened to you...Hopefully, it will serve as a reminder to new (or experienced) pilots to take their batteries seriously. I finally bought me a large lipo safety bag, but have only been using it for storage. This incident may have me adding another layer of protection.

Thank you for posting. I hope you get back on your feet soon.

 

[captainmilehigh]

Wow, I can’t imagine what you are going through right now. Sorry to hear of your losses, but you and the family are ok, and that’s the main concern here. Everything else is just ‘stuff’.

Hopefully your insurance coverage on contents will allow you to rebuild your fleet of aircraft and recover other losses. It is an unfortunate situation. Best of luck.......and our prayers.

 

[cwill]

thanks for all of your comments and if i am slow to respond it is because i am dealing with rebuilding my garage but i will keep you updated if my insurance company will reinburst me for my drone.

 

[Neon Euc]

Sorry to hear of your loss mate. Hope you get to rebuild your garage but glad everyone is OK. Before you take the drones out on the insurance, is there any report you can get of the charger starting it, then get the manufacture to pay for the loss due to a faulty and dangerous product ?/

 

[Indiana_pyro]

Dang man- as stated many times- I'm sorry for your loss and a little curious what kind of charger you were using. Maybe its a product we might need to post as possibly faulty.

 

[BillyBoot]

Out of all those drones which was your favorite?

 

[RobertJ]

I worked in Risk Management for many years and most fires were thanks to forklifts recharging, faulty charging stations and faulty phone chargers.

I hope your insurance policy covers you and I'm really sorry to read this.

I'm only a noobie and just stuffed 2 batteries I think. No more Ebay purchases for me....

 

[elsapo2001]

Lithium batteries are very dangerous. Look at the 787 battery fires. I never charge them unattended and i keep a smoke alarm next to batteries in storage.

Also be very careful with the fumes. Some chemistries will liberate Hydrogen Flouride gas during a fire which could cause longterm to deadly effects if you breath this gas.

 

[cwill]

Out of all those drones which was your favorite?

The mavic and phantom 4 and then typhoon

 

[robca]

Sorry to hear about your loss, must be terrible

And thanks for sharing here, since this is a good reminder of never charging unattended, due to the risk of fire. I know it must have been hard to share, but there's nothing like a first person account to drive home safe practices

 

[John Decker]

.. and i usually just put mine on charge and walk away!
I might rethink this habit!