[Midair]

Originally Posted by williame3590

I use a crock pot ceramic bowl insert with pyrex glass lid. Lid is naturally ajar because of the battery wires and flames will not escape the bowl.

That's what I use. Works well and gives me piece of mind.

Bill

Originally Posted by OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK

I wonder about the wisdom of charging batteries in bags and small boxes. How is the heat supposed to dissipate?

Mervin, I don't believe heat dissipation during charging should be a concern. The containers protect from the extreme and, normally, short lived "flash" flame that can accompany a catastrophic LiPo failure. I always charge my batts at 1C regardless of their "C" rating; everything from two cell 260s to six cell 5 Amp LiPos. At 1C my batts never get warm, so even charging in a LiPo sack isn't a problem. If the batts are getting barely warm, its probably a factor of quality, age and/or batt health and should be considered normal. If they are getting warm enough to cause concern, then either the charge rate is too high or they are faulty. Thankfully, in the nine or ten years that I've been using LiPo batts, I've never had a failure. LiPos are a wonderful, relatively safe power source for our hobby, but treat them well and apply a little common sense in their use and maintenance.

Peter

[Midair]

Originally Posted by williame3590

I use a crock pot ceramic bowl insert with pyrex glass lid. Lid is naturally ajar because of the battery wires and flames will not escape the bowl.

Bill

That's what I use. Works well and gives me piece of mind.

Originally Posted by OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK

I wonder about the wisdom of charging batteries in bags and small boxes. How is the heat supposed to dissipate?

Mervin, I don't believe heat dissipation during charging should be a concern. The containers protect from the extreme and, normally, short lived "flash" flame that can accompany a catastrophic LiPo failure. I always charge my batts at 1C regardless of their "C" rating; everything from two cell 260s to six cell 5 Amp LiPos. At 1C my batts never get warm, so even charging in a LiPo sack isn't a problem. If the batts are getting barely warm, its probably a factor of quality, age and/or batt health and should be considered normal. If they are getting warm enough to cause concern, then either the charge rate is too high or they are faulty. Thankfully, in the nine or ten years that I've been using LiPo batts, I've never had a failure. LiPos are a wonderful, relatively safe power source for our hobby, but treat them well and apply a little common sense in their use and maintenance.

Peter

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

I have never had a lipo even get slightly warm on charge either but I tend to charge very conservatively.
I have had few come out of a plane warm but last thing I would ever do put it in an enclosed container to cook. I want it to cool and the sooner the better.

[stegl]

Originally Posted by Boatcrazy

On that note I have a question.
I bought a Great Planes Brand Electrifly 3S 900mah lipo last summer from LHS.
I used it about 6 times in a couple of electric gliders end of last year and did notice that it was a little warm by time time I brought the glider down (wasn't over discharging the battery) did not think too much of it at the time.
So a few days ago I was charging up same battery from storage and I could feel a bit of heat from top of the lipo charge bag when I place my hand over it.
At this point the battery was at 85% charge so took the battery out of the bag and off the charger and placed it in one of my 12Ga steel storage boxes and it stayed warm for some time
One cell is a bit low compared to the others but not enough to be an issue I thought.
Could this battery a potential fire hazard and should I get ride of it?

Some good suggestions on what to look out for on this lipo. If charging at 1C and if you feel the battery was warm or felt a bit of heat is hard to judge. This is where an IR thermometer can be very useful to tell the exact temp. What one says is hotter than normal one may say is normal. I keep one handy just for this purpose. You can find then around $25-35 on sale at times. Bought mine at Princess Auto and have seen them at Canadian Tire also.
Max temp at high charge or discharge use is 140F degrees.

About damaged Lipos ; saw one last summer from an accident with the corner torn and no smoulder ... go figure on that one.