Lithium-ion battery fires

Mark,
We ham radio ops may need a reminder about the potential volatility of Lithium-ion batteries:
theconversation.com/lithium-ion-battery-fires-are-a-growing-public-safety-concern-heres-how-to-reduce-the-risk-209359
Though I have an extinguisher in my shack, it won’t do any good if I’m not present to operate it when needed, and it could be unable to quench a Lithium-ion battery fire.
Andrew, W5AWS. -=-=-=-
Posted in Ham News.

2 Comments

  1. That’s a very informative and scary article. Another option is for batteries is Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4). I recently purchased a 100 AH LiFePO4 battery and battery box for portable or emergency operations. The battery also has a built in Battery Management System that makes it safer too.

    LiFePO4 batteries are often regarded as the safer of the two due to their chemistry, which is less prone to overheating or exploding.

  2. Ive got 4 solar panels and over 5 car batteries with a 100ah lifepo4 battery to charge my phones, run the in house 12v lights ,charge tablets and run 2 wspr xmitters and hf receiver for wspr . Great when you lose power and can still charge stuff and run a window fan so you can sleep. Still leery of the lifepo4. Over charge boom, under charge boom. They burn till there is nothing left. So i have a dedicated voltage reducer ( solar panels top 17-19v on a sunny day) and a charge controller. Would like to have a dedicated area outside of the house storage area for it and others I have or my add later as car batteries are pretty wasteful and dont last more than a few years. In a typical lithium fire you keep the area around it from burning till the battery finishes its demise. My Only concern is their use in below freezing conditions.

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