Posted on 09/06/2019 10:26:54 AM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker
Lord almighty Free Republic
This forum is just amazing at times
One of the least commonly known problems with lithium batteries (LIPO) is that OEM batteries have a circuit board in every pack that monitors each cell voltage during charge or discharge to make sure the cells stay in their nominal voltage range.
If a cell becomes out of balance with other cells in the pack during charge, for example, the circuit will stop charging that cell.
The difference is between a $50 battery pack and a $30 pack? The $30 pack (cheap chicom knock-off) doesn't have the safety circuit.
When you read stories about people whose cell phones, computers, etc. catch fire, it's because these people replaced the OEM pack with a cheap chicom knock-off.
If you read my post #13 on thread you'll find some follow-up info on the dangers of charging cheap chicom litium batteries.
Also, the captain may have said ‘blocked’ which the Coastie interpreted as ‘locked’.
There was no lock on those doors.
Thanks for bullet points, Dan. Avoid clicking through to Daily Mail unless on Ghostery browser. These are the important details I’ve been waiting to hear. Bottom line: the Captain and Crew behaved with honor. That’s all I wanted to know. The cause will be revealed by the forensics and will never bring back the dead nor assuage the guilt/anguish of those who tried to save them.
Thanks for mentioning that.....
In a word, yes. You are mistaken.
I posted the transcript from the mayday call above. The 'locked' part came from the dispatcher, not the captain.
A poster, who has been on this boat, wrote on another thread that not only is there no locks on the doors leading to the berths, but there isn't a door.
The stairway (ladder in nautical terms) leads from the forward part of the berthing section to the forward part of the galley.
There is an emergency escape hatch at the aft section of the berths, but that many times the passengers will pile their gear onto the hatch, rendering it impossible to use.
That, and no racial component.
Hi.
“I am betting on murder suicide arson.”
Did any of the passengers know the Clintons?
5.56mm
My understanding is that the agencies haven't released the names, yet.
All of the names we know about came from friends and family.
Perhaps. But this is a different case. More than 1 airliner has been taken Down by defective lithium batteries. They can cause quite devastating accidents.
“If I couldn’t sleep on shore and join the boat in the morning, I would want to bring my own tent and bedding and sleep up on deck.”
Been on similar boats on the Red Sea, and that’s exactly what I did.
That's possible, knowing what I know about consumer-grade lithium batteries. I've posted info on this thread.
A simple forensic examination of the battery pack itself would reveal if it were the culprit. If it has the protection circuit board built into the pack, it can most likely be ruled out.
There was an article that said that there was a couple of power strips in the galley where all the passengers could charge their cell phones and camera batteries. I'm betting a cellphone battery overheated and set the other phones off. The heat generated from the lithium ion batteries on fire would soon have the whole galley in flames.
Thank you Dan. I was looking at the picture of the boat. If the galley caught fire it would be impossible for the crew to get to them. Wood boats built in the 80s did not anticipate the phone and camera batteries being recharged.
Maybe the future will find some kind of fireproof recharging stations.
One would think that if that is the case the evidence would be recoverable.
Unless it burned up in the fire. Pictures I saw showed the whole boat in flames, front to back.
The NTSB is fairly competent at this sort of thing.
If you review my posts on this thread, (#13 & #42) I've included information about the dangers of lithium batteries.
The dangers aren't in the batteries, per se. The danger is in the batteries lacking the protection circuit that keeps the cells from over charging or over discharging.
This is a known problem with lithium batteries. RC modelers have had to deal with this since lithium batteries came to modeling.
One of the most common solutions is a fireproof, explosion-proof 'bags' or containers that are used when charging the batteries. They are cheap and plentiful on places like Amazon, etc. They won't contain the toxic smoke, but they will prevent a fire.
I predict we'll be seeing a lot more usage of these in the future.
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