Bulging Lithium Battery: Stratux ADSB

[CT583]

Hello fellow Aviators.
I wanted to bring it to your attention that the battery used might swell and expand unknowingly.
I am just blessed this didn’t rupture while airborne with my spouse or other occupants in the plane. Lithium fires scare me, especially at altitude.

I sent a picture to CrewDog Stratux and they seemed to brush it off and simply sent me a link to their replacement parts website. Not sure how I feel about that.

Nothing changed about how I operate to make this battery swell. I flew two days, it was fine.. during preflight yesterday and noticed it was so swollen that the case was cracked open. Outside air temps were not hot or as extreme as anything experienced in July/August. Airplane lives in a hangar, so it’s not an external issue.

This situation somewhat changed my approach to having batteries in the cockpit without a lithium fire bag. It’s seemingly cheap insurance to becoming a fireball at 10,000 feet.

Be safe out there

 

[AV8R_87]

Valid for any lipo battery you bring to the cockpit. If swollen, do not use. Probably overtemped or orvercharged. They (usually) don't vent or catch fire from that state during a moderate discharge, but disposing of it is still the best thing to do.

Want to play it safe in the cockpit, get a thicker powerbank, they usually use 18650 cells, which are a lot more robust.
Or install a 12V accessory outlet (if you don't have one) and run the Stratux from a 12V->5V converter.

 

[mandm]

Can you get a longer wire and put the power bank on the floor so it’s not in direct sunlight? Although probably a good idea for it to be in your visual sight in case it does start to smoke. Swollen batteries happens, not sure the reason exactly, but it has happened on an Apple laptop of mine in the past as well.

 

[bentmettle]

I've had this issue with packs that I
1. stored charged
2. left exposed to heat

in varying degrees.

Don't store lipos in your plane, which feels hypocritcal to type given how many I have in model airplanes in the next room :/

 

[SoonerAviator]

Well the benefit to being in a small, unpressurized aircraft is that the doors are generally fairly easy to open in-flight. So if I have a battery pack smoldering/catching fire, that thing is getting tossed out a window or through the open door (opened enough to shove it out). Wrap your hand with your shirt or anything else if need be.

 

[TonyGT]

I can't contribute must to the topic, except to say everyone should see a lipo battery fire (in a safe enviroment) in person. It will change the way you think about charging and storing one. Be careful!!

 

[Ed Haywood]

Crew Dog is going to sell the cheapest Chineesium battery they can find.

IMO optimal Stratux install is under panel, no battery, powered from USB port, with cables to remote ADS-B antennas and GPS puck.

 

[GeorgeC]

Want to play it safe in the cockpit, get a thicker powerbank, they usually use 18650 cells, which are a lot more robust.
Or install a 12V accessory outlet (if you don't have one) and run the Stratux from a 12V->5V converter.

1. I wouldn't use pouch-style lipos at all for this application
2. The stratux software is not particularly energy efficient, necessitating the use of larger batteries

Buy hobby-grade avionics, win hobby-grade prizes...

 

[francisco collazos]

Well the benefit to being in a small, unpressurized aircraft is that the doors are generally fairly easy to open in-flight. So if I have a battery pack smoldering/catching fire, that thing is getting tossed out a window or through the open door (opened enough to shove it out). Wrap your hand with your shirt or anything else if need be.

Have you ever seen one of these catch fire? Trust me you're not touching it and by the time you can do anything about it, the cabin is most likely full of lithium smoke which is really bad in itself.

move it to the 25 sec part

 

[SoonerAviator]

Have you ever seen one of these catch fire? Trust me you're not touching it and by the time you can do anything about it, the cabin is most likely full of lithium smoke which is really bad in itself.

move it to the 25 sec part

If I'm in the air and I have a LiPo battery on fire, I'm going to find a way to remove it. Again, using your shirt or anything else as protection to grab onto it for 5 seconds or less to get it out the door is much more preferable than dying in fire/smoke filled aircraft. Hopefully if the LiPo battery goes, you see the smoke from it and are able to take quick action before it actually ignites/explodes.

 

[Shepherd]

You need to get rid of that battery.
No ifs, ands or buts.

 

[Albany Tom]

I've had this issue with packs that I
1. stored charged
2. left exposed to heat

in varying degrees.

Don't store lipos in your plane, which feels hypocritcal to type given how many I have in model airplanes in the next room :/

I believe you 100%, but the only time I've had batteries puff is after charging. So I'm wondering if the puffing happening after heat on a full charge is a symptom of an over-charge or worn battery that's been charged. I say this because I haven't seen batteries puff after either normal use or prolonged storage when disconnected.

To me, 'going puffy' is a kind of nice warning feature. When it happens, as others point out, the battery is gone and dangerous. Much better to have it push the case open so you can see it than have the condition occur and not be noticed until the next charge.

Like others here I've seen it with RC batteries all the time. But also with name brand laptops, where the battery will puff and push the keyboard up or case open. Or bluetooth audio devices, where the battery will cause the case to split open.

I don't know if the metal cased cylindrical cells are any safer from this type of overcharge damage or wear. My concern there would be that the pressure builds up without physical damage or expansion, so you have the ticking time bomb of a dangerous cell, but you don't know it because the case is either holding the pressure or venting it. I do know that name brand lithium tool batteries seem to have problem detection built in, that basically brick the battery when they act weird. My bet is that this circuitry is what makes the battery safer more than the cell configuration. Guessing with most of this.