Where do you keep yours?

[Andy C]

I have 2 ammo boxes with lipos safety stored in them, but am becoming more paranoid about where to put them when not being charged, discharged or used as they gt older and my collection grows. I dont have a garage, and cant keep them in the house so up to now have kept them in my shed. But, there is lots if stuff in there i would hate to loose in a fire, so looking for another alternative. Would it be feasible to get a cheap garden storage container and put them in there away from any other building?

[Don Fry]

Andy, they form part of commercial airliners, kept in boxes no better than than an ammo box. I think your shed is safe. But yes you can isolate them further. Check that they are good to be stored in low temperatures. The box might benefit from insulation, or kept in a cool box.

Edited By Don Fry on 18/10/2019 17:37:00

[Stuart Z]

Andy

Recent discussion covered some aspects of this.
Personally, I use a Battbox

S

[Andy C]

Posted by Stuart Z on 18/10/2019 17:55:10:

Andy

Recent discussion covered some aspects of this.
Personally, I use a Battbox

S

But where do you keep your batbox?

[conrad taggart]

I currently keep mine in 4 Bat Safe boxes **LINK** within Lipo sacks.

and for charging using the set-up shown in the picture. The only difference being i have a parallel fused charged board within the Bat- Safe boxes to keep leads to a minimum and so i can charge a number of batteries at the same time. The charger also has a temperature gauge sensor, which fits in the box and cuts the charger off should the temperature inside exceed 50 degrees (can be set to what ever you want on the charger).

However, given the number of batteries I have and how dangerous they can be - **LINK** - I am considering buying some ammo 50 cal ammo boxes, removing the seals and storing them outside in a steel type dustbin/ container where no harm can come to anything. This seems to be doable if the attached is valid **LINK**

I will simply bring them in to charge, let them warm up a bit beforehand then place them in the Bat-Safe boxes and charge as before.

Taggarc

Ps I know they provoked the batteries to ignite in the videos and left them fully charged, but the video does show very well how destructive they can potentially be

 

Edited By conrad taggart on 18/10/2019 18:14:09

[john davidson 1]

the most likely cause seems to be either mischarging at the wrong voltage or physical damage, not storage, I once charged a 2cell 1000mah as a 3cell which the charger did not pick up on, it was on a concrete slab on my bench in the garage and I returned to a burnt out battery and no other damage , still gave me a turn when I thought what could have happened to my garage and contents

[Stuart Z]

Posted by Andy C on 18/10/2019 18:08:58:

Posted by Stuart Z on 18/10/2019 17:55:10:

Andy

Recent discussion covered some aspects of this.
Personally, I use a Battbox

S

But where do you keep your batbox?

Andy,

Kept in the garage for last 2 years. It’s insulated so batteries don’t appear to come to harm. I’ve been very much less concerned knowing they are in the Bat-Safe. Batteries seem to be most at risk when charging so the fact that they are charged and stored in the same box keeps everything in one place and I have no concerns. I also use a parallel board for charging. Prior to buying the box I was always wondering what a risk the lipo’s were to my garage.

S

[Richard Acland]

I keep my Lipos in a metal container in my greenhose. I purchased a gizmo from Powebox that when connected to the Lipo discharges them to the storage voltage. Having said that there is enough combustable stuff in my garage to convert it to confetti.

[conrad taggart]

Have a look at the videos to see what the bigger batteries could do to a bat safe box. A bat safe box is only rated for 2 5000 mah 6s batteries - go over this, not hard, at your pearl - see from 3.13 mins 

Edited By conrad taggart on 18/10/2019 23:20:24

[Brian Stevenson 1]

You can overthink this stuff. I don't believe in buying overpriced 'specialist' boxes nor ammunition boxes. I like to keep things simple and (hopefully) low cost.

Also I was an 'early adopter' of lipos, buying some of the very first Thunder Power ones and have never had one catch fire, even 'puffed up' ones that I have left lying around for ages.

But I do store them safely

In 'Tupperware' type plastic boxes (plastic so there is no danger of shorting the batteries) in the garden. Under an upturned plastic bucket with a brick on top to stop it blowing away. and of course the boxes plus the bucket give two layers of waterproofing.

And of course I can still use the bucket for its original gardening purposes if it's not actually raining at the time, which is always as I don't garden in the rain. Sometimes I find a 'secondary' use for the brick too.

[Nigel R]

Metal cabinet on wall of breeze block shed.

Not 100% safe as there is other stuff out there that will burn. But far enough away from loved ones.

The biggest danger time is after physical damage.

Then during and after charging. Heat being the thing to watch here.

They can self immolate at any time due to internal damage, in theory, but the chances are quite remote.

[leccyflyer]

I have two Sentry fire safes with the rarely used older LiPo packs in there, at storage voltage and four genuine original Lipo sacks housing the packs which are in regular use in the charge state that they come back from the field - mostly at end of flight state but a few that are charged, which might not have been used. I only charge at the field so those packs are in a minority, but moght not be used for a couple of weeks if I don't go flying.

Importantly, for me, the Lipo sacks are the original Mark Wood produced items, not the cheap knock-offs, some of which have been shown to be flammable and as much use as a chocolate fireguard in protecting your property against fire. I know three modellers personally who have had fires, one of them catastrophic, the other two less so.

[Old Geezer]

A few days ago on a related thread I mentioned that my LiPos live outdoors, in a big weatherproofed hard foam box, courtesy of Donald Russell ( frozen meat etc ) - frost proofed with a seed tray heating element (12watt) but separated by about 1.5cm from the batteries by putting these on a roasting rack so there's no direct heater:element contact

I would be interested to hear from one or other of the unfortunate victims of a LiPo fire as to how they were treated by their insurer if they found it necessary to make a claim, and what steps their insurers expect/expected them to take to mitigate their losses.

[Brian Stevenson 1]

Posted by Old Geezer on 19/10/2019 15:14:03:

A few days ago on a related thread I mentioned that my LiPos live outdoors, in a big weatherproofed hard foam box, courtesy of Donald Russell ( frozen meat etc ) - frost proofed with a seed tray heating element (12watt) but separated by about 1.5cm from the batteries by putting these on a roasting rack so there's no direct heater:element contact......

Interesting about your heating element. I've had an unused one going spare for several years and have thought of doing this.

But I've stored lipos outside, summer and winter, for a long time with zero heating and some purchased at least ten years ago and only used on rare occasions are still fine. In fact two of them, (3S 4000  'Intellect' from Ripmax) are now in frequent service and still work 'as new' for both power and capacity

Edited By Brian Stevenson 1 on 20/10/2019 06:41:43

Edited By Brian Stevenson 1 on 20/10/2019 06:43:46