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Battery powered Z-wave devices, potentially serious fire hazard!
I had a very unpleasant and risky situation this week. While I was working in my home office, I suddenly heard a sharp bang followed by a hissing sound. A quick inspection did not directly reveal what had been going on. Since I was alone at home, this must have come from somewhere, not from another person since there was no one else.Looking around I smelled a chemical burning smell at the 2nd floor of my house. Looking around I finally found the source of all; a NEO coolcam siren that had caught fire somehow.... The plastic was still glowing from the fire inside. Totally caught by surprise I went down to my office and sat down to think this over. Only minutes later another bang and hissing. I immediately got to the 2nd floor to see the siren showing fire inside and producing a lot of chemical smoke.
Opening up windows to get rid of the smoke and stench, I watched the siren from a distance. This was appropriate action since the siren was on a brick wall and nothing close by that could get on fire. Afterwards when the fire seemed out, I got to google to find out more.
This is what came up:
1. Lithium Ion batteries as used in cameras and other devices (like the siren) are considered to be risky products.
2. When more then a single battery is used, or used in series like in the siren, there are serious risks.
This is definitely not my field of expertise, but I found out there are special anti fire bags to be use for storage and transport of these batteries... From what I think now, somehow there must have been a mismatch between the (original) batteries that initiated this mishap. First one exploded and got on fire which secondly initiated the same behavior for the other battery.
Since I was at home when this happened and could have taken more actions if necessary, things turned out fine after-all. But, when not at home, when such a device is close to stuff that would easily caught fire.... What might have happened then?
This is not about blaming NEO coolcam or others, but I consider this serious fire hazards of which we all should be aware of I believe.
Has anyone experienced similar things?
Comments
Deze producten zijn niet voor niets zo goedkoop blijkt maar, ik hou het voorlopig even op fibaro.
The package did exactly what it was designed to do and tested for. It containt the explosion from the battery and kept the fire containt. So mission well done.
Every Z-Wave battery powered device is a mini bomb. They dont go off that often but any small surface damage can make the package weak. Even a tiny scratch will let air in the package eventually causing a chain reaction.
Did you hang it on a screw and not used the sticker that was supplied ?
Then i guess the screw had a sharp edge and damaged the battery casing.
Lipo. Lithium ... Very dangerous and not know by people that dont read the whole manual and all warnings.
Did you guys already forget iPhone and Samsung Note gate ?
Or those nice blown away faces that go arround on Facebook and vkmag . E-smokers need a lot of power and also use lithium
Just take really good care of youre batterys and all wil be ok.
But theres Always a chance
No fire or anything like that, but I was also home and could react in time. If left unattended, I guess it could get hairy
It is a real contradiction, the cure seems worse then the decease. The siren is part of an alarm system; for security reasons...
Never seen that happen before on those at least that I've noticed.
Anyway, I try having all my devices powered from the mains, cannot get around with the door/sensors and the Fibaro multisensors.
I think if I show this post to my wife she'll ban all the Fibaro battery powered devices. And my home automation entirely! Here down under in Oz most of the houses are made of timber and plasterboard unlike Europe where nice solid bricks and concrete.
Thanks for sharing this @RuudvB good to learn that it can happen right under our nose.
Although I have no idea how these differences appear, since both batteries were started use at the same time, maybe the chemicals destabilize somehow. When differences appear the batteries seem to try to compensate this between them. Many times this is considered to be the cause that starts a chain reaction.
The "good" thing is, that most battery powered z-wave device only hold 1 single battery. This of course is no guarantee that these issues do not occur, but from the above one might conclude the risk being less at least....
While I am willing to buy neo coolcam I would NEVER use the batteries they ship. They go directly to the chemical waste disposal.
There was nothing Ruud could have done to prevent this other than buying a brand that does not include 99 cent batteries. Suggesting anything else is wrong. A cheapo battery can blowout even if it is treated absolutely perfect.
Why do you oppose the standard supplied batteries? For me they are part of the product which I expect to be regular quality. After my recent experience, I might change this "simple thinking"
How do I know what batteries do not suffer these issues....? What are good or better quality batteries? Are they guaranteed not to explode..?
Although the above is about performance, are there specific safety tests around that show serious difference between brands?
Few months ago I bought several replacement batteries which I have not used yet. The brand is PK-cell, to be exact: http://pkcell.com/index.php?m=content&a=index&classid=34&id=47
Are they any good? How risky are they?
I bought 8 sensors from them, 2 of them were defective and 1 had a battery that was clearly already bulging. I can't tell you what brand it was (had only chinese on it) because as said I removed them immediately and replaced them with Panasonics.
As is again proven here you should not trust things you can't read.
https://www.batterygenius.be/duracell-lithium-cr123a-3v-lithium-bulk