Suprawill1

Hi All,
I was looking at a portable metal safe box to store/carry my lipos. It had better dimensions for what I needed and looked better than an ammo box .
My question is, in the event one of the lipos inadvertently ignited, would it behoove me to have an air hole for the gases to escape so the case wouldn't blow or should I leave it airtight in hopes that the lack of oxygen would smother the ignition?
Thanks for your thoughts.

Will

firemanbill

A lipo fire is a chemical reaction. they will react and go up wherever. Drilling holes won't make much difference. But the odds of that happening are very small as long as you are not storing damaged or otherwise compromised batteries.

quorneng

The energy released is a runaway chemical reaction that causes gases to expand but the fire is caused by the hydrocarbon electrolyte being vaporized by the heat and being ignited by a spark. A hole will stop the container possibly exploding but would concentrate the hot inflammable gas into a jet. Neither ideal.
As firemanbill suggests much better to avoid the problem as much as possible by careful monitoring & treatment.

Suprawill1

Thanks for the response.
I do take care in handling, charging and discharging lipos. I'm mainly speaking of a just in case situation. If something were to happen when they are contained, I want the best possible scenario. The metal box would mainly protect the surrounding area from catching fire whether it be in transport or storage. I guess having a hole would as you pointed out, cause a jet condition which would not be safe at all. I just didn't also want to risk explosion by not having some kind of release.

solentlife

I read so often about ammo boxes ... safes ... storage containers and TBH - in my honest opinion ............ best is to have the lipo's unrestrained and able to be thrown out window to safe area ...
Flower pots or similar ceramic open top containers in my mind are far better as they will contain the fire horizontally without concentrating into a jet as vented metal box would. Second - metal box will heat up and exterior will be a problem for any surrounding ... whereas ceramics are less likely to reach such temperature.... and could realistically be handled without burining you.

That's my thoughts anyway.

Suprawill1

Good thought. I could look for some ideal ceramic vessel. I'd feel funny coming to the flying field with a flower pot though. lol
Joking aside, I'm sure there's something ceramic out there that would suit.

solentlife

Personally ? I use the Picnic Cool bags ... they have foil lining which surprisingly is resistant to fire ... giving me time to throw whole thing out of car or whatever.

I have a collection of bags :

Two large picnic cool bags that can take full size LiPo sacks ...
One square LiPo bag that can take a few for a quickie sortie
One small Picnic Cool bag that is same size as the LiPo one.
Hobby KIng LiPo warm sack that I use in winter ....

The combo of LiPo sacks and Picnic bags makes for convenient and easy to carry solution. having 4 LiPo sacks - means I have marked each one specifically for LiPo sizes ..



My post about ceramics was more for the charging station than travel ...

solentlife

The other factor of course is sheer number of LiPo's we end up with.

Metal safes etc. are fine when we just have a few .... but if anything like me - I have so many - that in fact I cannot actually say exactly how many. I know that the LiPo sacks I have cannot accommodate all !!

It then comes down to identifying a spot where to charge / store that can allow safest situation.

Suprawill1

Thanks for your thoughts and pics!
I do have one lipo bag that I had used for charging. Most of the time the charging lipo is put on a baking pan and placed out in the open. Those on standby are sometimes put in a toaster oven. For traveling, the metal safe box is used, not only for carrying convenience but for safety.
(I was ribbing you about the flower pots)

solentlife