Lithium Ion tool battery charge station?

[tomplum]

Has anyone made a secure area for charging and storing their tool batteries? The reason I ask is that every once in a while someone has a fire that they point back to a tool battery being charged. In my shop, I have 4 M18 chargers in a row and if one would malfunction, the whole building would likely be gone. At times a battery will be left on charge overnight. My normal MO is to get them off the charger, but then I just toss them on the shelf next to the chargers anyway. It seems to me a metal cabinet maybe double lined w/ sheet rock set up could be a good thing? Any thoughts?

 

[Diggin It]

Mine are on a wooden shelf next to the miter saw .... all covered with saw dust.

Not quite what you were looking for though, eh?

 

[RNeumann]

Take a video of your shop, contents and the battery chargers. Now continue per normal. I’ve seen exactly one fire “caused” by charging batteries in my career. It was a college student who wrapped her laptop in a blanket and had it on the couch. The blanket and couch were scorched- nothing else.
Trying to predict or protect yourself from an appliance, vehicle or accidental fire typically exposes you to other potential issues. It’s way more likely your stove, heater or vehicle will start a fire then the battery charger.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

No, but i did have a dewalt nicad bulge out and destroy the charger.

 

[oosik]

I have several Li-ion power tools. All the chargers are in their respective cases - along with the tools. I take them out - set them on my work bench and use as needed.

I have never worried about a Li-ion fire or explosion - NEVER WILL. If it happens - it happens - that's why I have insurance.

 

[tomplum]

Insurance will not begin to replace what is stored in my shop. So in my world, I am a reasonably heavy user of LI tools, the batteries go through a lot of charge cycles. It makes sense to me to take a little time to protect what I wouldn't want to see lost. If it doesn't make sense to you, that's fine. Should anyone have ideas on construction, is venting needed etc. , I'd like your thoughts. Lot's of great talent on these boards!

 

[prichard]

How about just putting them in a metal cabinet? Without additional fuel I cant imagine they would burn long. Most of the fires I've read about with them the real issue was due to other combustible materials. Also, cell phones and laptops are much more susceptible to issues due to higher density.

 

[vvanders]

Working in electronics we had an official disposal bin. Solid metal thing with a good lid. You'll want ventilation when charging.

Look up laptop battery fires if you want an idea of what they are like, biggest thing is not sitting on anything flammable and good 3' clearance around. Usually they don't throw flames and just burn in place.

 

[Handloader109]

Put on metal table or shelf away from anything else flammable. And one cheap thing to do is put them on a timer. 3 or 4 hours and it cuts off.

I worked in a business that used rechargeable batteries to power tube sealer. Each location has from a dozen to 3 dozen chargers with a battery on each all the time.. 60 plus locations. None ever had fire.

 

[tomplum]

Thanks for your responses. At this point I'm rethinking the area for safety concerns. IE relocating my flammables cabinet and drain oil, tweaking the welding area. Like most everyone else, the shop is too small for all that goes on. So the charger area will be placed accordingly. It all works pretty good until I have to start making sawdust and that ends up taking up a bay if not more.

 

[Alan W.]

Heres my setup. Each plug is individually switched. Metal ventilated shelves.
Set off by itself.
My last job before retiring involved disposing of bad lithium ion batteries from the assembly line. I have seen what a degrading battery is capable of.

 

[plowhog]

Lithium ion batteries can be very hazardous. I accidentally started a wildfire this year due to one. It was in my rear tractor toolbox but bounced out while I was brush hogging. The blade hit the battery and ... pow ... instant wildfire. More than an hour later, with the fire out and firemen and equipment everywhere, the battery was still too hot to touch without burning skin. It's a chemical reaction thing.

One thing I might suggest is putting your battery chargers on timed outlets. So you can never accidentally leave it charging for long periods of time.

 

[tomplum]

I like the timer ideas mentioned by some of you. Will end up making a wall mount with some extra sheetrock for some metal shelves. Thanks for all of the input.

 

[tomplum]

I thought I would revive this as a reminder. My wife has a friend who woke up the other night to a smoke filled house. The source was lithium battery on a charger. She didn't say what brand or kind. They apparently have quite a job on their hands getting the smoke and smell out of the house, but fortunately no fire started. Myself I just set up a metal rack in a better location of the shop than I had before with a countdown timer. Thanks again everybody.