Lipo Health and Safety

Please post all questions and answers in here. This way people can easily see if someone else has the same problem.

Moderators: BeligerAnt, petec, administrator

Post Reply
Remote-Controlled Dave
Posts: 3716
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:30 pm
Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland
Contact:

Lipo Health and Safety

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

Hi all.
As you all know we have to fly in for AWSs and the lipos have to come with me in hand luggage (whether stuck inside a robot or separate). We have never had an issue bringing them through security but I always get paranoid that one is going to "go off" whilst in flight. On the way there I am extra careful to keep all the batteries separate so they can't short off each other but on the way back the fatigue I suffer on the trip tends to mean I don't care and bung them all in a pot together.
So far nothing has occurred. My question is am I just being overly cautious on the way there or overly stupid on the way back? What are the chances of two lipos shorting each other out, or smoking, or going balloonatic on the plane if I just bung them in the bag? What does everyone else do to transport their lipos and has anyone ever had one go off?
I've been involved with lipos a good 10 years now and the only time I've had one go is due to personal fault (accidentally shorting one, accidentally putting a spinning disc through another) or in combat as expected so I'd love to think its one less thing I can worry about when embarking on the trips.
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
User avatar
joey_picus
Posts: 1137
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:51 pm
Location: Lancaster, Lancashire
Contact:

Re: Lipo Health and Safety

Post by joey_picus »

The obvious solution would be to use a lipo sack to transport them for peace of mind - that's what I'm planning on doing at least (I have used a Kendal Mint Cake tin in the past but I'm upgrading). Assuming you're not using odd connectors though, I'd have thought the chances of you shorting a battery through just normal jostling are very small indeed...
Joey McConnell-Farber - Team Picus Telerobotics - http://picus.org.uk/ - @joey_picus
"These dreams go on when I close my eyes...every second of the night, I live another life"
EpicentrE
Posts: 831
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2003 12:00 am
Location: Coventry
Contact:

Re: Lipo Health and Safety

Post by EpicentrE »

Just be sensible about it, really; if the lipos don't have any exposed terminals or connections, they're not going to short no matter how you throw them together. If they do; well, wrap them in something, or cover the exposed bits with electrical tape, and then refer to the first sentence. A lipo sack probably isn't a terrible idea for your peace of mind, but mine are all shoved haphazardly into draws in my bits box.
Scott Fyfe-Jamieson, Captain of Epic Robotics. Champion of AWS38/41/42.
http://www.epicrobotics.co.uk
TeamCrash
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:33 am
Location: Wolverhampton
Contact:

Re: Lipo Health and Safety

Post by TeamCrash »

I don't use LiPos personally but why not use a LiPo bag?
Team Crash- Robots:
Crash (Antweight)
RDR (Antweight)
The Not So Grim Reaper (Fleaweight, retired during construction)
Crash XL (Beetleweight, construction phase)
Remote-Controlled Dave
Posts: 3716
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:30 pm
Location: Antrim, Northern Ireland
Contact:

Re: Lipo Health and Safety

Post by Remote-Controlled Dave »

That's fine. I expected this to be the answer and have never had an issue so far, I just wanted to do a check. I'm sure they wouldn't let me through security with them if they weren't aware what they can do. Peace of mind is nice to have.

Next time you'll here I've been arrested for letting off a small incendiary device on a plane :P
Die Gracefully Robotics
Winner - AWS 39
User avatar
BeligerAnt
Posts: 1872
Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am
Location: Brighton
Contact:

Re: Lipo Health and Safety

Post by BeligerAnt »

If you're feeling a little paranoid, get a LiPo sack, remove all the batteries from the robots and put all the batteries in the sack. Tape up the connectors if you want.
This is probably overly cautious. A battery on its own is unlikely to do very much. The problem with several batteries is that if one goes it will rapidly upset the others! A handful of small cells in a LiPo sack are still unlikely to be much of a problem.

A pallet full of laptop batteries are another matter entirely...
Gary, Team BeligerAnt
Post Reply