“But then her eyes fell on a lithium-ion battery she was charging.”
If they were charging a lithium battery overnight, which it appears to be as they were just waking up to the fire, then they were stupid for doing that.
Lithium-ion batteries can ignite or explode when overcharged. Overcharging causes them to overheat, creating a dangerous chain reaction called thermal runaway that can result in fire, venting of toxic gases, or violent rupture. This occurs because excess energy breaks down the internal components, causing the battery to produce its own fuel and oxygen, making it extremely difficult to extinguish. And to add insult to injury, if they are not thoroughly extinguished, they will re-ignite. Kind of the gift that keeps on giving.
Not too smart. A good rundown on these batteries and how to treat them is here:
https://www.fire.qld.gov.au/safety-education/battery-and-charging-safety/lithium-ion-battery-safety
They really worked hard on this and it shows.
wy69
I wouldn’t consider them stupid, just not informed, as I was. Thank you for that information. About 2 weeks ago there was a fire in our community caused by an e-bike in which one person died. It would be nice if “public service announcements” would be broadcast with the information you gave us.
Thanks for the reference.
There are charging bags and even better charging boxes (one is called “the bat” that can help stop exploding batteries from catching whole house on fire. Problem is most folks wont want to take the extra steps to recharge their phones or tablets. Too “inconvenient”. We use a double bag system for phones, but they arent .arge enougn for tablet. Gotta find a larger one.
Lithium-ion batteries can ignite or explode when overcharged. Overcharging causes them to overheat, creating a dangerous chain reaction called thermal runaway that can result in fire, venting of toxic gases, or violent rupture. This occurs because excess energy breaks down the internal components, causing the battery to produce its own fuel and oxygen, making it extremely difficult to extinguish. And to add insult to injury, if they are not thoroughly extinguished, they will re-ignite. Kind of the gift that keeps on giving.
Li-Ion batteries can also have a thermal runaway if you over-discharge them. The key component to most Li-Ion battery fires; the safety circuit.
OEM batteries include a safety circuit that prevents over charging and over-discharging. In multi-cell battery packs, the safety circuit also keeps the individual cells balanced so an individual cell cannot overcharge or over-discharge.
The "more stringent rules" mentioned in the article is a reference to the safety circuit. Chi-com battery manufacturers will omit the safety circuit as a cost-cutting measure. Those are the cheap after-market batteries you buy from Amazon.
Re-ignition usually doesn't happen to a single cell. Once a cell bursts and vents the gases and/or ignites, that's it. The real problem with re-ignition is in multi-cell battery packs where the heat of one cell sets off the thermal runaway in adjacent cells.