#4799

The reason I decided to move out all my batteries was from seeing reports on the news re hobby batteries catching fire while on charge. I never leave my batteries on charge unattended but decided to move them just to eliminate any perceived risk in my mind. The most common fires I have seen are toy heli’s, quads and hover boards. I am suer cars/trucks would be in there as well. All the batteries and chargers I have bought have very clear warnings on them.

Of course this has not removed all the LI batteries from under the main roof as just about anything electrical in the house will run off or use LI batteries for backup these days. A number of well know brands have had recalls because of fire risk but minimal on the total number sold. looking into these devices there are very complicated circuitry to manage battery condition. But even the best get it wrong sometimes. Looking inside a 18V drill battery you will find a very complicated circuit board on a lot of them. Of course also built in there is a memory chip they can use in a warranty claim to see how you have looked after it.

A few months after I sorted my batteries there was two reports close together of two houses burning to the ground over here. Both initially were blamed on charging batteries overnight. Never saw anymore info on them. One was a drill and the other a lawn mower. There may be some very crucial facts missing from that initial report like maybe the drill was dropped from a great height and suffered some mechanical damage which was not obvious on a cursory inspection. Who knows but it was not the toys this time.

That opens up another situation where I store all my power tool batteries in my shed. All I can do in that case is not leave them on charge unattended. I dont mean sitting on them but be within the vicinity.

There are many other causes of house fire, electrical faults, electrical appliances etc, they are at the very low end of risk so apart from maintenance and replacement.

On this forum I am talking to the educated but a reminder occassionally does not hurt.