A properly constructed Li-ion battery is supposed to have protection
against short circuits. But why tempt fate? If it doesn't work for
some reason (or it's a cheap ebay clone that has had the short
protection left out to save a few cents) the consequences can be truly
drastic. If it explodes (which it can certainly do) you're in serious
trouble. If it only catches fire you're still in trouble. Li-ion fires
cannot be extinguished by water. Lots of water will cool the blaze but
the only option is to let it burn itself out.
Here's a quote from the Energizer material safety data sheet:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION III - FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARD DATA
If fire or explosion occurs when batteries are on charge, shut off power
to charger.
In case of fire where lithium ion batteries are present, flood the area
with water. If any batteries are burning, water may not extinguish them,
but will cool the adjacent batteries and control the spread of fire.
CO2, dry chemical, and foam extinguishers are preferred for small fires,
but also may not extinguish burning lithium ion batteries. Burning
batteries will burn themselves out. Virtually all fires involving
lithium ion batteries can be controlled with water. When water is used,
however, hydrogen gas may be evolved which can form an explosive mixture
with air. LITH-X (powdered graphite) or copper powder fire
extinguishers, sand, dry ground dolomite or soda ash may also be used.
These materials act as smothering agents.
Fire fighters should wear self-contained breathing apparatus. Burning
lithium ion batteries can produce toxic fumes including HF, oxides of
carbon, aluminum, lithium, copper, and cobalt. Volatile phosphorus
pentafluoride may form at a temperature above 230° F.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I'll use a battery cover. That's why I was glad to get the
source for covers since I have a couple batteries without covers.
Chuck Norcutt
Moose wrote:
> Dan Mitchell wrote:
>> I'm curious -- why? The contacts on blm-1's are recessed enough that
>> you'd have to be very unlucky to get something touching both positive
>> and negative at the same time to cause a problem, even if you were
>> storing them loose in a bag with your paperclip collection or something.
>>
>> What am I missing here?
>>
>
> Common sense? The useful question "What's the worst that can happen?"
> has often kept me from excessive concern and behavior. In this case,
> shorting an LI-ion battery is not as minor as many other things, they
> can be quite nasty, fire, explosion, that sort of thing.
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