How to keep LiPos from burning down your house (safe lipo charging) 

I always say goodbye to my family before I go out to charge a LIPO. You never know if you'll get out of there alive. A little hint. never look directly into the eyes of the battery

In my 10 years flying helis & planes I've never had a issue with charging my lipos. If any lipo gets slightly warm during a 1c charge it's immediately retired! Be safe guys.

I'm a firefighter and a lover of rc planes. I have charged my lipos in a .50 cal ammo can for years, but I've never heard anyone recommend it. Thanks for spreading your knowledge on safe charging

Thanks, man your always around when I need you. So I wanted to show you my appreciation for your efforts. I know I can be a pain in the butt, your patience is unmatched.

Story time, I have bags of lipos and thought just in case something happened while we were away, I put them in the oven, when we came back I forgot about them, I went to work and then my wife turned on the oven, coming home from work seeing my wife standing on the driveway with smoke coming out of the house, we had to call the fire department, luckily the house didn't burn down, and cooking the lipos didn't set them off, just the smoke from the lipos bags melting. Anyways lesson learned, I now have a batt-safe, and when I charge it's only on top of the oven these days.

A tip: Put a smoke and a heat detector in your lipo bag. Although these are made of plastic and therefore combustible, but on the other hand you have a faster alarm, before the detectors on the ceiling.

This man risked two of his cameras, a charger and sacrificed a battery for our education. JB you are are a vital member of this community. TY.

We fly RC and my next door neighbor never took care of his lipos. If he crashed he reused the battery. He charged his batteries in his garage in the storage room. He ran home one day and plugged in a battery to charge as he was flying that day. He drove off after setting the battery to charge. We were not home at the time but the security cameras caught the time line after he left as the smoke started coming out of the garage at about 45 seconds after he pulled out. The garage doors caved in at the 3 min mark and the fire dept showed up at the five min mark. Bottom line is his home was destroyed. We live in a min lot line subdivision and the fire dept told us what saved our house was the winds that day were blowing in between the houses and not against them. He has a tremendous amount of gilt from this and him and his wife are now living in an apartment waiting for the house to be rebuilt. My lipos now live and are charged outside as this was a hard lesson to learn for our flying community here. Pay attention to this video please!

I have to say, That content and information regarding the FPV hobby is plentiful, but Mr. Bardwell constantly provides us with useful, pertinent and "demonstrative" (retrieving quad from a tree quite humorous) information regarding the hobby. Much appreciated. Thanks again.

you should do a follow up showing quickest ways to put it out, like throwing kitty litter over it and things you maybe shouldn’t use; showing what happens with each one.

This should be a mandatory video to watch when getting into Rc/fpv. I charge mine in a lipo bag, just in case and never unattended.

Your intros just keep getting better over the years, JB. Love your sense of humor, that little explosion effect when you dropped the battery was priceless 😂

9:50 When you want that your EV can be quick charged in 5 minutes, you're basically asking for 12C charging for it. Remember, it also has li-ion or LiPo cells inside it. There's no way it can be charged that fast without damaging the battery.

You sound like a teacher. I like how you explained everything so clearly. Now I understand why it's such a big deal when a battery lights on fire in an airplane.I didn't know dangerous charging a lipo can be. I used to just charge 2 rc car batteries on the sink and walk away like there is no possibility of an explosion. You may have saved my house or even my life. Thank you. It's scary to think about how some people will leave their batteries charging overnight in the house. 😮

Beginner here, got myself a Traxxas udr and your one is the only one that explains Li-pos clearly and concisely, Thank you for the video! and the science experiment.

I think this is one of the most informative and educational videos on the internet. Love the extremely detailed explanations! Thank you! Learned a TON!

i feel like you deserve some recognition from a mythbuster for that lipo fire.

Hey Josh, great video!! I just upgraded my drone, and am switching from 1S to 4S batteries. This video was super helpful!

I've been using LiPos since 2010 or so. I've never had one explode or even catch fire. I did have one swell a bit after a hard crash but I disposed of it immediately so that I wouldn't have it explode or catch fire. Like with all things, proper care and maintenance are important.

Very cool - we have the same wood stove! Never thought of using it to charge lipo's but thats a great idea. My chargers have a temperature probe that straps to one of the batteries you are charging and you can set the safety parameters so it will shut off charging if it gets too warm,

Worth noting also that any "safe" charging container has its limits. if you store all your batteries in said container and then one of them goes off while charging..... well, you then got a MUCH bigger fire on your hands. Hedge your bets and keep batteries in separate safe containers.

The problem with LiPo compared to Li-ion in the format 18650 (cells in ebikes e.g.) is that Lipos don't have any safety precautions and are made for extremly high energy density. Li-ion cells get safer when they are not too energy dense - thats always a compromise. 18650 have 2 extra safety features: the CID (current interruption device) that cuts the connection on the positive side when pressure builds up inside the cell. The 2nd is the PTC element integrated in the positive side that works like a recoverable fuse. When the current is too high it gets hot and its resistance increases rapidly, lowering the current. Not all cells have the PTC elements, esp. the high current cells don't have them any more as they cost some power. Very cheap cells from china sometimes miss both features - 'trust fire'! ;-)

Your fire 🔥 safety tips, are Psychologically, very sound. Your message/point is very well received, with respect to myself. Continue with future projects. Looking forward to seeing them

Thanks for this video. The last time I flew was back in the days of frequency crystals, NiMH batteries and flybar helicopters. There's a lot to learn about the current state of tech and equipment

Good thing I'm binge watching your videos while I'm waiting for my first diy kit to arrive. I really didn't know about the batteries. Definitely gonna mod one of my ammo boxes to charge batteries.

i never forget my first fckup, it was silent in my room and i hear a TICK, later again a tick and then some more. it was the sound of expanding plastic that the lipo is wrapped in. i looked at that buldging lipo and that sinking feeling i never forget. for like 5 sec i froze and i could only stare at the lipo, i quickly grabbed it and threw it out the window. it was on fire when i got outside with a bucket of water

It took me a while to learn something today . I can sometimes recharge faster in a grill and lipo bag outside and be able to fly more maybe if i know what I'm doing . You guys are always ahead of me 10 years.

I love how comforting it is when he says hi I’m Joshua bardwell and you’re going to learn something today

I have 7 Bat Safes, one big one for charging (safe up to 200Wh) and 6 smaller ones for storage/transport (max 50Wh each). My LiPos are either in a quad or in a Bat Safe, and kept outside so the smoke doesn’t contaminate everything if they go off - no exceptions. There is no way I’m risking a fire like that indoors.

I'm so glad you mentioned the BatSafe. I can't recommend these enough, they are worth every penny if you can afford them. We don't charge anything without them. I have 4 standards. The XL's unless you use huge batteries are very inconvienent.

Very informative video, didn't leave anything out. Anyone getting into charging batteries on a daily basis need to see this, even if they already know all this info it's a good refresher.

When I was in the votech electronics program during highschool my first year project was making a power supply from scratch and I enclosed it in an ammobox, so when I saw that you also had a Frankenstein powersupply in an ammo box I really smiled at that. Good man.

Josh, your recent videos have been on point. I like that you’re exploring some different aspects of fpv! Thank you!

I've never had a fire, but I charge in an ammo can, then transfer to a separate ammo can. That way if a battery ignites while charging, I only lose one or two as opposed to all of them. I figure the whole process takes a few extra minutes compared to charging on a countertop, but given how I live in a pretty dry area dense with old, wooden houses, it's worth it. If I have a small fire I don't immediately catch, it isn't unlikely (though not likely either) that the whole side of the street could burn down. There have been some pretty large fires recently where thousands of homes near me have burned down, and I don't want to be the one to cause another fire.

I also use ammo cans to charge lipos, and keep them in there for storage. Also put your lipos in storage mode/storage charge if you won't use them for more than a few days.

I took notes from this video. Thanks man.

I always charge at 2c. No problems so far

Changing the moment you charge is probably the best way. Storing should be between 3.7V and 3.75V per cell( I set the charger at 3.72V). Why? They do not hold enough energy any more to even have a thermal runway as you demonstrated. It is like a candle next to a gas tank with a little bit of gas (3.8V) and when it goes you lose the car, or a candle next to a completely empty gas tank (below 3.75V) and there is no fire and your car survives. Best management is to store and transport at storage voltage, and charge ON SITE. Its almost always outside, and your always supervising, while at home you might need to go to the toilet or have a meal. It is better for the LiPo to be charged and discharged the same day, when they are warm, and store them on storage voltage at low temperature, this way they age a lot less. Stepping away from the whole mindset of charging at home before you go out, minimises the risks tremendously, and you don’t run the risk of fires at home or in your car at all. I would rather use two Lipos in one season, charging them at 2C or 3C and get all their life out of them recharging two or three times per day, then have six Lipos fully charged in my house or car, and having to store them over the winter. Lipos love to cycle, having less of them and using the crap out of them is way more safe then trying to keep a whole lot of them and using them several seasons. Lipos age with storing and getting older as well, that also increases the risk of fires. I also like the idea more of having as minimal as possible number of Lipos in the house, that also reduces the risk a lot more. Store safe at home and during transport, and charge and use them extensively on the field, then the risk is only there, not at home. What the fires concern, they are intense and short, your charger survived standing next to it. A piece of cement board usually holds a 1000Celsius for half an hour, the Lipo burns 1 to 2 minutes max. It is the smoke that is dangerous, especially the Hydrogen Fluoride (HF), and the Bat Safe does not filter that out. The Bat Safe is a tin can with some mineral glass whool inside, it only filters soot. The only product that actually filters the HF are Cirrux cushions, they are also used in the certified Zarges boxes, the only ones allowed for air transport. Bat Safe is a nice consumer product, but in case of a fire, get the hell out of your house, the poisinous gases are still dangerous! Stay and sleep safe!

This video most likely saved my body and my house, as one of my lipo batteries today just exploded, very informative, and thanks!

Excellent vid on this important subject. Tnx for uploading.

Great video! Couple two cents if I may....All sheet rock/drywall is fire retardant up to at least 1hr, but I would still use the type that's actually labeled fire retardant like Joshua said, it's usually 2-3hrs. Lithium Polymer/Lipo batteries statistically let loose more often when discharging on a charger than charging, so if you're putting a bunch of lipos into storage level voltage, be just as attentive as when charging them. Lastly the fire proof/oven gloves are almost a must and a great idea if charging indoors, another, almost free, item to have right next to your charging area is a bucket, half full of salt water. While it won't fully stop the lipo from letting loose, and it does increase the smoke output, it will contain an open flame. This doesn't change the fact that you should also immediately take the bucket outdoors as soon as you toss the lipo in the water, whether it lets loose or not, it will just keep your hands from getting burned on your way outside. For anyone interested, I'm not selling anything, just bored over quarantine in 2020 and made a video of a DIY self extinguishing (or lessoning chance of house catching on fire) lipo bunker, that you can make for about $30-$45. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eKBPLvVwNrI.html

You cold have said "I'm Joshua Bardwell and I'm gonna burn something today" :D

Happy to see you didn't skip the safety slippers when messing around with fire.

I had a 2 cell catch on fire. It was on a wooden surface and started cracking. Luckily I was within hearing range and heard it because I wasn’t watching it. I was able to grab it by the leads and throw it on the gravel driveway where it burned up. I was lucky! YOUR VIDEO IS SPOT ON AND HELPFUL.

I’d like to see the same experiment but from a battery inside one of the bags that they sell on places like Amazon that are supposed to help keep them safe while like traveling and such. Great video!

i am using 2 steel army ammunition boxes. Works great. Inside wall has been plated with fireproof isolation.

Great video that's worth watching by anyone who charges them, One thing I think is important to mention, Avoid buying second hand equipment that comes with a lipo battery unless you know the history of the equipment your buying, Too many people try to sell on faulty repairs that should really be recycled not sold.

Thank you for this demonstration and a lot of info. I can't understand why there is no additional safety features in LiPo batteries. I think the simplest improvements could change life of many. Two things come to my mind. One is thermal sensor to measure temperature inside during charging - turn off charging if exceeded specified value. Second is simple tension fuse, a battery pack wrapped with thin wire - if battery increases size, then wire is breaking and charging stops. The second one is the cheapest solution. Could you also tell something about battery safety of commercial drones eg. DJI?

Can someone clip 10:26 (puh-pity-puh-pity-puh) and make a J Bardwell remix lmfao. I've been watching this guy for 3 or 4 years and he IS the masterclass for drones. Oscar Liang, as helpful as his intent is, is no where near as helpful for kinesthetic(visual/physical) learners as this guy. I've learned at least 80% of everything I know about drones from this dude and that's mainly because I didn't know he already had a video on it. If you see this, THANK YOU FOR YOUR DUTY. (Not to mock the armed forces, thank you too!)

Been flying Lipo’s for more than 20 years and have yet to experience a single fire - I even punctured retired batteries to see the fire but never got one to light up. *Touching wood*

Joshua,absolutely great informative video. I am more of the attentive type battery charger. What really sucks is the lack of sleep I get the nite before I fly!

Great video! That battery popping is a fantastic demonstration for folks who don’t take battery care seriously. Since this was aimed at new-ish flyers, it might have been useful to discuss lipo bags in comparison to ammo boxes.

The charge rate also needs to be determined by the manufacturer. If I'm charging Chinese Amazon batteries I never exceed 1C. In fact, I charge those zeee packs at .7C. even my better batteries I typically charge less than 1C if I'm in no rush. Other hobbyists say I'm old school but I've got packs that are 10 years old that still hold near their original capacity. They aren't even the least bit puffy either, and have very acceptable internal resistance.

Yet another very informative video, thank you Joshua for making them

Very good and very video Josh. This is a virtual one stop shop for anyone with questions about lithium batteries. 😎👍

Spread the word, maestro! Lipo safety is always a nice subject.

Huge thanks to JB. Single handedly responsible for preventing my house from burning down along with being the only reason I was able to build and fly my own quad without pulling out all my hair. (no offense)

Thats One of The Best Tips Ive ever herd Bro For People like me who Don"t know what there Doing Charge it in the wood Heater For Peace of Mind problem solved Thank you

Great info. Thanks for sharing 👍

JB…freakin hilarious. So glad you’re still having fun with your channel!!!

Cylindricals are safer than pouch, and LiFePO4 are the safest. Repurposing 18650 for the moment on about 8000 units, only one did go hot on me, and I have sorted out about 8% of them (all used for ? cycles) capacity is going down with time but then it plateau at about 75% of spec new cell. Some degrade with higher internal resistance, some just go dead, some have a problem of self discharge. All bad are within the 8% loss. Those that looked the most beat up that I started using 4 years ago are still stable, and offer 70 to 75 % of spec capacity, IR is a little high, but I use them at 0,05 to 0,1 C and that way there is never one problem. Each cell is wire fused, and I inspect with thermal camera under load each month. The house is working perfectly on this battery. (24/7 servers, fridge, internet, coffee, lights, pumps, A/C etc.)

Very detailed, helpful and super important video!!! Thank you so much!

Masterfully explained Brother, thank you 🙏🏼

After flying for the day, I was packing up to go home. Put my batteries in my fireproof bag. While putting my gear in the back of my car, I heard a hissing sound and then smoke. Dump contents of battery bag on to the ground, kick burning battery away from the other batteries. Very violent. I store my batteries in battery bag and inside a metal tool box. I use the batsafe box when charging. Thanks for your channel, very, very helpful.

This is awesome Joshua. I’m so glad you did this video. More ppl need to take this more seriously. You the man👊🏻

Six months ago, I had a Canon camera battery ignite in my RV. Fortunately I was in the RV and was able to extinguish the resultant fire with minimal damage. The flames out of that little battery were very intense.

Thanks a lot for this lecture!

I was sitting outside of the room where 2 of my LiPos were charging and modified something on my quad, when suddenly it smelled like an IC or some other electronic part burned. At first I thought that something on my quad had gone wrong, checked, but didn't find anything. The smell got worse and then it clicked in my head: there are LiPos charging in the nearby room! So I stormed into said room and just wanted to rip the "safety" bag from the charger to throw it outside, when there was a big WOOF and the whole thing was instantly on fire with the bench and table around it; there was a crackle like a campfire. I went out of the room instantly and my brother fetched a fire extinguisher. I took it and went into the room again but couldn't even see anything anymore because of black smoke and other yummy particles. I just sprayed in the general direction of the LiPos several times and luckily it seemed to extinguish the fire because our house - which is 70ish years old - didn't burn down. The fire brigade only had to blow out the smoke and apply a minimal dose of water, thankfully. Output: 1 room completely burned out and 2 others full of fire extinguisher powder - all in 1 - 2 minutes of LiPo fire. I always considered myself handling the LiPos carefully, I even checked the batteries frequently when charging and always charged them in the "safety" bags. Also I never charge above 2c. My takeaway: - "Safety" bags are not at all safe - Charging IS dangerous - Always charge in a LiPo box or an area where nothing can burn and check them frequently when charging - Respect your LiPos, you don't want to be an enemy and they have feelings too - I am now paranoid when smelling that "electronic" smell

I was multitasking, so I may have missed this, but here's a quick blurb about how, or rather what's required to extinguish a lithium fire. "Small lithium-ion batteries can be doused with water because they contain little lithium metal. Lithium-metal battery fires can be put out with a Class D fire extinguisher. Larger battery fires are best handled with a foam extinguisher, CO2, ABC dry chemical, powder graphite, copper powder or sodium carbonate." Thanks for all you do, Joshua! Play safe. cg

I always store my Lipo’s individually in a clay flower pots, after watching this video, it seems like that’s what I need to do when charging it as well.

Thank you. A must to watch.

One thing Josh mis spoke about. On the battery labeling, 6S actually stands for 6 series. A 6 series pack does indeed have 6 cells, but there are other configurations of 6 cell packs. A pack labeled 3S2P is a 6 cell pack where the wiring is 3 series x 2 parallel. In this configuration, the cell count would still be 6 cells, but it is wired to be a 11.1 volt pack. A 3S2P pack are not common today. In the early days of LiPo batteries, larger capacity cells were not available so the manufacturers wired the packs this way to gain capacity.

I had a lipo fire. I was lucky that I was right there and could stop my house from burning down. Since then, 1C, BAT-Safe, while present. No exceptions.

Great video, very informative ✌Thank you!

Great instructions sir!! Very very useful 🙌🏻 thank you 🙏🏻

I was lucky enough to be there when a 4s battery lit up. So true that they burn in water! I dropped the battery in a bucket full and it still burned. Just getting it out of the house was a trick. I never leave them alone now. Thank you for this essential video.

When charging, make sure the balance leads are all the way in the charger. I noticed them only half way in one time and the readings per cell were incorrect. It was charging thinking the voltage per cell was much lower than it really was. Definitely a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, I noticed early enough and stopped the charging in time.

The music when it went off got me. Good shit

in switzerland we can get Lipo bags made out of fabric. U can also get granules which melt and enclose the battery

Excellent clip Josh. My#1 rule: I never leave the house when charging batteries. Question: Often times after flying I'll return home and the discharged batteries will lay around for several weeks before I charge them and go flying again. Is that ok? Or upon returning home, should I charge them up right away? Thx

All it takes is being gone just 5 minutes for everything to go up in flames! I had my first fire in late 2020 while parallel charging. Occurred at the very end of the charge cycle. Probably a bad cell that ended up over-charged. I quit parallel charging -- and it's been a lot easier to just have 2x Hota D6 Duo Pro units.

Wow - had no idea there would be that much flame... kinda like watching a xmas tree light up. Thanks for the safety vid! Lol I store my lipos in the fireplace when I go on vacation.

I just had one explode last night. Brand new battery, glad I was around

Just to point out, at 4:43, you said full charge is 25.6v as full charge, instead of 25.2v. Minor nitpick, but could be dangerous.

Has anyone ever researched the difference between HV and normal lipo chemistries? I've always suspected them of being just normal lipo chemistry and just overcharged. None of mine ever lasted long at all.. which might help support my theory a tad.

Nice video. A long time ago, I had a Lipo ignite in my hands while I tried to add a piece of bicycle tire around it for protection, oh the irony. The pressure of the rubber caused the Lipo to ignite and instantly caused a burn the size of a dime, so deep that in few days it became a fairly deep hole. Be very, very careful when handling Lipos.

Excellent video. Thank you

OMG, cant' believe there is 100K viewers and 3K likes... come-on guys, Joshua just fried a decent pack in order to educate us... do not just pass by, hit a like at least!

didn't learn nothing today

Great Video! 👍👍 Thank You.

thanks for theses friendly advises

I'm really impressed with how resilient hobby-grade LiPo batteries actually are. One of my batteries got a small dent in one cell through a crash. I was already preparing to throw it away. I discharged it to a safer voltage level and checked it regularly for any signs of heat, swelling or voltage fluctuations. As nothing was happening even after some hours sitting in a LiPo bag, I measured the internal resistance of all cells and compared them to a healthy battery. It was not showing any signs of damage. I measured the thickness of the battery and let it sit longer in the LiPo bag. Over multiple days I checked the thickness, resistance and voltage level. It kept constant voltage and internal resistance over all cells and it did not swell or deform a bit. So after a week I was confident enough to charge it up again and fly with it. I checked it during the charging process and nothing happened, everything was normal. I then used in in my quad and it performed perfectly like all my other batteries. It did not get hot, it did not swell, it did not catch fire or anything. It just has that slight dent in one cell, but performs absolutely perfectly. So I am prepared that this battery will probably get bad sooner than the others, but so far it's doing much better than I would have expected. Another battery suddenly dropped voltage very quickly during flight and I had to do an emergency landing. According to the logs, the battery was discharged down to 9V (6S battery). I checked the cell voltages with a LiPo checker and they were all over the place, some even at below 2V, while others were around 3.6V. I repeatedly measured it and monitored it for any puffing or heat. It just continued to self-discharge with nothing happening. Of course it's dead and can't ever be charged, but it didn't cause any problems at all. You should always be careful, but I guess you would have to be really unlucky or abuse your LiPos to have them catch on fire. Don't charge any puffed LiPos, don't overcharge them, charge them with an appropriate current and at least measure individual cell voltage with a LiPo checker or your charger. If just one cell goes bad, it can screw your whole LiPo.

Thx a million Joshua for another great video:) High five from Norway

Thanks for the informative video. 👍

Getting back into FPV. Your intro reminded me why I sub to you. Hahaha

Thanks!

Awesome informative video as a newcomer, this has taught me alot 👍😊

what a great informative video!! Thank you!

Interesting stuff, good to know what the signs of a pack on the brink of lighting up are, thx for that! When you did the experiment, though, you had such a short lead from the charger to the battery pack, weren't you worried about damaging the charger?

I can neither confirm nor deny that I’ve done something similar. +1 for the helmet (and of course the T). Charge safely 👍👍👍