A cautionary tale of cheap lights

[benb]

Bike lights explode, almost burn down cyclist's house

The cheap bike lights, made in China, caught fire while charging, destroying half of the cyclist's home...

 

[Dave 123]

An illuminating piece.....

 

[outlash]

That's an awful piece of writing, something that's getting ever more common on Road.CC unfortunately. For starters, it's the battery that's caught fire, not the lights.

 

[SD1]

And there was nothing wrong with the battery. It is the chargers at fault. They are supposed to change to trickle charge once battery is fully charged. faulty ones continue on fast charge causing the battery to burst into flames. Even good manufacturers will tell you to put the battery in a metal box while charging. Sweet tin does the job.

 

[Jody]

Same with everything electrical, sometimes they go wrong and cause a lot of damage. You could find articles on everything like IPhone exploding and setting on fire, washing machines, ecigs, tv's.

You take your chances on a light that costs sub 20 quid with batteries, charger, postage and profit! Mine has been faultless for the last two years. I am however changing the battery pack for some quality batteries, charger and holder due to the odd story like this.

 

[vernon]

And there was nothing wrong with the battery. It is the chargers at fault. They are supposed to change to trickle charge once battery is fully charged. faulty ones continue on fast charge causing the battery to burst into flames. Even good manufacturers will tell you to put the battery in a metal box while charging. Sweet tin does the job.

The problem has no single cause but, in many instances, the problem does lay with the li-ion batteries. Manufacturing defects in the batteries or the absence of total discharge protection circuitry in the battery packs contribute to the overheating and bursting into flames.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/safety_concerns_with_li_ion
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/01/economist-explains-19

There's also a long string of articles at this web site that points the finger of blame at the li-ion li-po batteries - if the chargers were at fault why is it that only the batteries are being recalled?

The current wave of hoverboard battery fires have a complex range of causes many of them battery quality related.
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/why-are-hoverboards-exploding-and-catching-fire/

I'm not aware of any quality battery manufacturers issuing 'charge in a metal box' instructions it's a precaution that seems to have spread amongst the cognescenti e.g. aeromodellers who put their li-ion cells through many more charge/discharge cycles than the average user of li-ion cells and for whom the risk of a thermal runaway event is much higher particularly if the cells are poor quality.

By all means repeat your mantra that it's the chargers that are at fault but please back it up with some evidence.

 

[Tin Pot]

If only there were some kind of safety standards products could be held to...

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

FFS he put water on an electrical fire..... water that reacts with lithium FFS

 

[night cycler]

My free cautionary advice is never leave any device charging if you are leaving the house or going to bed-not even the phone on charge.

 

[albion]

It is incredible that lithium batteries are allowed in homes.

They never really solved the Dreamliner battery problem, legislation for a chamber to contain the fire was the way round the risk in that case.

 

[vernon]

It is incredible that lithium batteries are allowed in homes.

It's incredible that mains electricity is allowed in homes.

 

[Andy_R]

It's incredible that people are allowed in homes

 

[vernon]

FFS he put water on an electrical fire..... water that reacts with lithium FFS

The quantity of lithium is small. It's also a recommended technique - read section three of this document from a lithium cell manufacturer

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/lithiumpolymer_psds.pdf

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

The quantity of lithium is small. It's also a recommended technique - read section three of this document from a lithium cell manufacturer

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/lithiumpolymer_psds.pdf

I can see from the pictures of his house that the bowl of water really helped

 

[vernon]

I can see from the pictures of his house that the bowl of water really helped

That doesn't have any bearing on the validity of the safety advice from the battery manufacturer or your erroneous assertion.