BEWARE of ARCTIC BATTERY EXPLOSION

Yikes, I just got this off of LC, apparantly "Bo" a facebook user threw his WL 18650 battery in the trash because it melted the inside from heat.

Looks like I'm not the only one that has had a problem with the 18650 battery that Wicked Laser has supplied with the Arctic.


So far WL has not deleted that post yet, which is surprising in itself.

electron said:

Yikes, I just got this off of LC, apparantly "Bo" a facebook user threw his WL 18650 battery in the trash because it melted the inside from heat.

Looks like I'm not the only one that has had a problem with the 18650 battery that Wicked Laser has supplied with the Arctic.


So far WL has not deleted that post yet, which is surprising in itself.

Click to expand...

Take a screen shot of the post before it gets deleted....

Jerry

I just grabbed it, here's the link were it is, so far still there.

WL - Arctic Battery Explodes - View topic :: Laser Community

electron said:

Yikes, I just got this off of LC, apparantly "Bo" a facebook user threw his WL 18650 battery in the trash because it melted the inside from heat.

Looks like I'm not the only one that has had a problem with the 18650 battery that Wicked Laser has supplied with the Arctic.

Click to expand...

Bo's battery did not melt, his arctic melted. He said that the battery spring inside melted into the plastic, and said there was no way to fix it, so he threw it in the trash. So if there is potentially that much heat created inside the host, which is right near where the battery sits...BOOM! He was lucky..

OK, now I'm sufficiently scared/paranoid
I think I will use an old ammo box and charge them boogers OUTSIDE!

I have heard some of the horror stories with Liion's in the RC hobby but have not had any Liion batteries until now.

Should I use a ventilation fan in the box to help with cooling?

RoDnSuE said:

OK, now I'm sufficiently scared/paranoid
I think I will use an old ammo box and charge them boogers OUTSIDE!

I have heard some of the horror stories with Liion's in the RC hobby but have not had any Liion batteries until now.

Should I use a ventilation fan in the box to help with cooling?

Click to expand...

CAUTION, you should NEVER charge a battery in a Confined space, gas will build up causing an even bigger Explosion, Please don't do this.

Sure put it outside if you want to be safer than possibly starting a fire in the house, but NEVER confine it inside of something. Look at it like this, black powered sprinkled on the ground will burn very fast with a great amount of heat and smoke. However black powered confined inside of a pipe for example, is called a pipe BOMB, because it will explode from the pressure of the building gases and heat.

Stay safe.

just cancelled my order because of this. thanks for the info electron.

Thank you electron. That was a "DUH" moment for me. I should have thought of that myself.

Thanks,
Rod

electron said:

CAUTION, you should NEVER charge a battery in a Confined space, gas will build up causing an even bigger Explosion, Please don't do this.

Sure put it outside if you want to be safer than possibly starting a fire in the house, but NEVER confine it inside of something. Look at it like this, black powered sprinkled on the ground will burn very fast with a great amount of heat and smoke. However black powered confined inside of a pipe for example, is called a pipe BOMB, because it will explode from the pressure of the building gases and heat.

Stay safe.

Click to expand...

Ehh, you mean black "Powder" (as in gunpowder), not powered?

I needed to backspace both errors on two previous "powder" words, for some reason, my fingers just keep hitting "powered"

Pipe bomb, hmm, as somebody mentioned, if the battery went while inside the laser- no gas actually has anywhere to go, tailcap is threaded tight , and heatsink and everything in the front is pressfited and glued I think.

Powered or powder...The operative part is **POW**

I know lead acid batteries produce Hydrogen gas when charging/discharging but do Liion batteries?

electron said:

I'm lucky I keep both Halon and CO2 extinguishers in the house because of the vast varity of electronics I have, I grabbed the Halon extinguisher for this.

Most any Class C extinguisher will work quickly for live electric fires, Halon is really nice because it won't ruin your electronics and everything around it, it evaporates after you use it, unlike powders; you'd be cleaning them up for days.

Click to expand...

Most common extinguishing agents won't work with Class D metal fires. This includes Halon and CO2.

At such high temperatures, in cases where the metal itself has ignited, Halon will break down to form toxic compounds such as hydrogen chloride. These breakdown products are not only highly toxic, they also have absloltely no extinguishing effect.

Extinguishing a Lithium Fire | Air Safety Week | Find Articles at BNET

Those extremely high temperatures will also break down carbon dioxide, and strip the oxygen from the CO2 and continue to burn. This is why lithium and magnesium metal can burn in a solid block of dry ice.

This is especially important for lithium primary batteries, where they will contain substantial amounts of lithum metal (as opposed to lithium compounds)

Short of a proper Class D dry powder (there is a difference between dry powder and dry chemical), the most effective option is common table salt. Ensure the salt is completely dry, and use a long-handled tool to apply over the burning metal.

Although it is slightly corrosive, and hard to clean up, it is one of the few proper extinguishing agents used for Class D metals, and commonly available.

this thread is gold. i am glad you are okay buddy. it could be worse.
BUT, i faved this thread, bookmarked and set it as homepage
i had a good 10' laugh

I'd suggest to you, that you should get the Cells from A123 Corp that can pass the nailgun and short circuit tests, but on the other hand suggesting a cell that can do 25 amps for 30 seconds, without damage, is perhaps not such a good idea. They do fail by boiling out their electrolyte, once the water is gone, A123's chemistry stops working. Most likely the safest lithium based cell on the planet.

Recent FAA and DOT rule changes suggest lithium batteries are still a bigger problem then most people think.

I'm glad your not hurt.

Steve

Ouch! that's horrible. Lithium batteries do make pretty nasty explosions when they rupture, thats why they are also equipped with more safety features than any other battery. If the battery was really 3 years old it might not have had a built in charge control chip to monitor safety thresholds.

Hello Everyone,

I'm thoroughly scared now to use my recently acquired S3 Arctic.

I have 2 protected Ultrafire 18650 batteries @ 3000mAh but have noticed when I've used them in the Arctic that the tailcap will not fully close tight. I've also noticed that at the higher mAh the laser seems to drain the power in the battery so much faster than the green WL 18650 @ 1300mAh that came with it.

I'm so freaked & paranoid to use this battery now even though it lasts longer in the laser!

Can anyone please let me know if there are any other batteries that will fit in the Arctic, NOT blow-up, & is also comparable to the amount of time it powers the laser as the 1300mAh?

Thank you,

Alfie Chip

Glad you and your house are OK--VERY Scarry.. moving all my batt chargers to the porch. hk