Do we dare trust our lithium battery powered tools???

[WENGINE]

I’ve been using them for a long time without any problems and I don’t know anyone that’s had an issue but you can’t ignore the fact that the potential is there. So what’s the solution? A container with separate compartments to keep them when not in use

 

[Carmine]

Kind of late to the party on this one, but a very good topic nonetheless. I really don't know how safe these batteries are. I see on the news that these battery powered bikes in NYC, go up in flames, quite often. People store them inside and the next thing they know, their apt. is on fire. It's really scary. I have DeWalt battery powered tools and when I recharge the battery, the charger is always on the cement floor or steel table, away from flammable items and pray for the best. I try to monitor this closely, Carmine.

 

[WENGINE]

Has anyone determined when the hazard is most likely to occur? While charging,storing,using? i would think charging but I don’t recall anyone say for sure

 

[Carmine]

Good question. I don't know for sure, but tend to agree, it might be during charging. From what I see on tv, they park these electric bikes inside their home overnight and sometime thereafter, the battery explodes or whatever it does, and a fire starts. They have to recharge them sometime and overnight makes sense. Maybe the same thing applies to recharging our power tool batteries. I'll try to pay closer attention when I see this issue on the news again, Carmine.

 

[bobs409]

I think it can happen anytime but most I would say ; overcharging, damage to the battery, battery getting wet (like submerged) I recently saw a video of a 3 week old EV car that burned up for no reason while the guy was out driving it! Everything shut off and he had to kick the door glass out to escape! (said the windows and doors would not operate) Electric doors???

I recall a video of an electric bike the guy was driving down the road and it started to smoke and ended up being burned to the ground!

Not sure how bad tool batteries are but I have seen video's of cell phones going up, laptops and even those E-cigarettes! (while in someone's pants pocket!)

The whole thing is NUTS if you ask me!!!

 

[WENGINE]

I’m not usually a paranoid person but this conversation is making me concider looking for or fabricating some kind of fire proof container that can hold the charger and batteries while charging and storing. I would imagine you would need to keep the batteries sperate, if they were together and one went off I’m sure it would take the others with it

 

[bobs409]

This is from 6 years ago. I'd say they haven't made much progress on making them safer since then!

 

[bobs409]

 

[55Brodie]

Back when we had science labs in high school a favorite stunt was to drop some lithium down the lab sink drain and wait for the fun to begin when someone turned on the water faucet. Lithium and water produces lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas is extremely flammable if not explosive.
Makes me wonder who ever thought lithium batteries were a good idea.

 

[boxerdog]

I'll take any genuine Milwaukee or Dewalt 18-20v batteries y'all don't want. In the interest of safety, of course. And maybe the tools also.

The clone batteries are usually junk.

 

[bobs409]

Ok...

Dewalt battery catches fire burning my truck

This happened 2 years ago and I was quiet about it. Just so you guys know a dewalt flexvolt battery burned my truck writing it off. Luckily the fire shorted wiring out turning my headlights on this was at 930 pm before bedtime. I noticed the lights on so went to check and my truck dash was melted...

forum.toolsinaction.com

 

[skipxt4]

 

[Shaark92]

we have specific bags to put electronic devices which have a "thermal runaway" in progress on the airplane. So it's become a sufficient problem to outfit all the aircraft with these contingency supply.

I too try to keep these batteries in a place where they'll just burn themselves and not the shop ... eg. POLLY.

 

[Carmine]

This thread has me somewhat paranoid. I went out to the garage today and put my 3 batteries in a steel pail by themselves. Nothing flammable in their area, Carmine.

 

[blkblk63ss]

Years ago I bought a black and decker cordless drill with two battery's and charger. I was never impressed with battery life of this unit always charging one or the other. One day using it I started smelling something burning. Turned around and on my workbench I had it charging the other battery and it melted the battery over the charger. I unplugged it and threw everything in the trash .

 

[bobs409]

 

[bobs409]

 

[No409]

My dads neighbors garage burnt from a battery fire, and i work for a hazardous waste cleanup company, and had to go to a fire cleanup once, that started from the guy charging his batterys. He was restoring a 60`s vw bus, with fresh engine on stand, and lost everything.

 

[skipxt4]

That, IS Scary stuff.

 

[425/409ER]

To me, the cheapo china knock off batteries are the ones to worry about IMO. I have a ton of Li-on Ryobi batteries for my tools, never had a problem with any of them.