There are reasons that airlines don’t allow passengers to carry lithium batteries (at least, above a certain size)…
You can actually carry pretty large LiPo batteries on a plane. You can have unlimited batteries up to 100 watt/hour, and for a 3S 11.1V lipo, that’s 9000mAH. You can additionally bring up to 2 batteries of up to 160 watt/hours, which would be about 14,5000mAH.
LiPo batteries are at the highest risk of fire when either charging or discharging. When they are simply sitting, they’re pretty safe. I plan on teaching a Lithium battery safety class soon, for anyone who wants to learn more about them.
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Unless punctured or heated.
I fly pretty often for my job. I noticed on my last flight with Southwest that I had to certify that I wasn’t carrying any lithium batteries. Period. I know the FAA doesn’t ban batteries entirely, so I checked the box, but it bothers me that it simply states lithium batteries, without specifying size or quantity.
Let me know how much you guys need would rather buy the correct item than trying to save a dime.
Safety equipment is always a #1 priority.
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Thank you @Robert_Davidson, if you can cover half the cost that would be great! A brand new Venom Stronghold LiPO Charger is $119.99 at Amazon (See below). So the RC Committee can spend $60 if you cover the other $60. I will donate a +12V DC power supply to DMS for use with this charger.
This will save DMS from having to use a fire extinguisher to put out a LiPO Battery that catches on fire.
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The manufacturer states that charger will not contain a fire from a battery with a 60 Wh or higher capacity. (I have no idea if that is or is not a potential problem for those charging batteries at DMS.)
Everything I can find indicates a Lithium-battery fire produces heat well beyond the melting point of polycarbonate. I suspect the unnecessary polycarbonate cover will become fuel to continue / increase the fire. Even if it does not ignite, the molten polycarbonate will certainly increase the mess.
This charger has built-in temperature probe that monitors the battery’s temperature while it’s charging. If the temperature starts to approach the flash point for Lithium, the charger will stop charging and sound an alarm to let the user know the temperature is too high.
This charger has the highest safety rating of all chargers available in the USA according to the ROAR sanctioning body. www.roarracing.com
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Done; please let a procurement officer know to go ahead and purchase it
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I had to do the same thing when I flew southwest in Feb. I know cargo will not allow them either. Saw a pretty in depth airline/FAA/NTSB video on it not to long ago.
Awesome. I definitely would like to use a safer charger so this doesn’t happen again. I would also like to maybe write up a quick user guide so novice users like myself don’t burn down the makerspace because I don’t know how to properly set the current.
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Does the old charger still work?
Yes, but the buttons on the right side are melted so it’s hard to press the button or see the LCD.
What’s the plan for it? Trash? Disassemble / reverse engineer? Use as-is?
It’s still useable, and the LCD screen appears to still work correctly.
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A post was split to a new topic: I need a course in setting up a new profile and buying the right receiver for my DX8
I was talking to @hasbridge about the training discussion going on in this thread. Below is a link to a power point i made years ago, for fire fighting training classes I conducted at Love Field. It’s a broad strokes, quick presentation, designed for people who have no experience in fighting fires. Feel free to hack it up and make it into your own.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-Xq4FPUT9N2emVrTmhUQ0UyQ28/view?usp=sharing
Kent
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So I see we have received our new charger, but it requires a DC power supply. Any chance we have one or can get one to set it up?
Also anyone familiar with this charger want to show us how to use it?
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Yes @themitch22, I have a HP server power supply that I will donate to the Aero/RC Committee to use with that new Venom charger. I will bring the power supply with me tomorrow evening when we have our Committee Chair Discussion Meeting at 9 PM.
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I am here at the Space and I just happen to carry around a spare power supply with me at all times… but it seems this one just meets the minimum 300W, whereas yours probably hits the recommended 500W.
I left it on the shelf (donation) incase someone wants to make use of it…