BATTERY BUNKER
by Lee, March 23, 2005
I have had conversations with several flyers on the battery bunkers. Kevin and I went shopping and may have a good inexpesive idea that would meet our needs.
Our goal was to get a bunker that would:
1. Isolate each battery so that a burning cell would not spread to other batteries that are charging.
2. Have enough mass to be able to handle heat of a fire and a possible explosion.
3. Be affordable and practical and locally obtainable.
Here is what we came up with.
If you go to Lowes, Home Depot or other hardware store, you can buy cinderblock that has open hollow chambers in it. Having held the cinderblocks I cannot imagine that any lipo battery would have the power to break the block in a fire or with the small scale eruptions that they could have.
You can buy cinderblock in different sizes. I actually think the small block with three holes per block would be adequate for the 1200 lipos I use. They cost about $1.00 each. There are other flat blocks available that would make a good heavy lid and base for $0.79 each.
It has also been suggested that a sand bag in a ziplock bag be used for a lid. If a battery burns it will melt the bag and drop sand on the fire.
I have extended my charging cables to 48" so that the cinderblock bunkers can be kept on the floor while the chargers are far enough away to be safe.
I think this will work and is a realistic answer to the questions and concerns we have had.
Lee
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