Now kids shoes are catching things on fire

Saw on the news this morning, CBS i believe, in which a shoe caught fire in the back of a car catching the car on fire. Sorry no link. At some point some regulatory agency is going to get involved with liion batteries unfortunatly and its going to worsen the batteries, make them more complicated to use, or just alot more expensive.

Here's a link to the latest kids shoe eruption. http://wgntv.com/2016/05/10/family-believes-toddlers-light-up-shoes-caused-suv-fire/

Another link to this story.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oes-toddler-s-pair-set-family-s-SUV-fire.html

Yeah, saw this on the news today. I wonder if the lithium cell is located in a place where it can get deformed form walking on it.

I read the Dailymail article. There are several things wrong with the information there. First off, I severely doubt that the cell was lithium ion. Li-Ion cells are rechargeable, which makes no sense when it is sealed inside a shoe with no way to recharge it. Also, the warning about batteries on passenger planes was about lithium cells as well, not lithium ion. With suitable packaging and following the guidelines, lithium ion cells are allowed on any plane. On the other hand, lithium primary cells not traveling in their associated device and/or above a certain size are not allowed on passenger planes at all.

Although the Dailymail article was more accurate and less inflammatory than the other one mentioned, I miss the kind of unbiased, accurate news reporting I grew up with, when editors wouldn't stand for the sloppy writing and unchecked 'facts' one usually finds today.

In the article they talk about lithium ion batteries and says that the shoes used the same type of battery as hoover boards.
I'll guess they are wrong here, it must be primary lithium batteries in these applications, probably button cells.

GunnarGG said:

In the article they talk about lithium ion batteries and says that the shoes used the same type of battery as hoover boards.
I'll guess they are wrong here, it must be primary lithium batteries in these applications, probably button cells.

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And what if shoes have pressure energy converter to recharge batteries?

A super cap and some soft of bending energy generator and no battery`s would have been needed.

John.

vadimax said:

And what if shoes have pressure energy converter to recharge batteries?

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Timothybil said:

I read the Dailymail article. There are several things wrong with the information there. First off, I severely doubt that the cell was lithium ion. Li-Ion cells are rechargeable, which makes no sense when it is sealed inside a shoe with no way to recharge it. Also, the warning about batteries on passenger planes was about lithium cells as well, not lithium ion. With suitable packaging and following the guidelines, lithium ion cells are allowed on any plane. On the other hand, lithium primary cells not traveling in their associated device and/or above a certain size are not allowed on passenger planes at all.

Although the Dailymail article was more accurate and less inflammatory than the other one mentioned, I miss the kind of unbiased, accurate news reporting I grew up with, when editors wouldn't stand for the sloppy writing and unchecked 'facts' one usually finds today.

Click to expand...

The writers at the Daily Mail aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. Read some of their other articles. They have no grasp of the facts on most of what they write.

As of April 1st, there are new regulations for shipping via air, any lithium based battery. This includes primary lithium as well as rechargeable and LiPO batteries. https://www.ups.com/content/us/en/about/news/service_updates/20160111_lithiumbattery_US.html

For passenger travel, the general regulations allow you to travel with lithium ion or LiPO batteries as carry on baggage, batteries up to 100 watt hours. At airline discretion, up to 160 watt hour batteries can be carried, maximum of 2 per passenger may be carried.

The shipping changes are based on International tariffs, not just US laws or carriers.

Peak Beam Systems (Maxa Beam light) stopped producing their large lithium battery last year knowing that the battery was to be banned from passenger aircraft.

As for the kids shoes and the batteries contained. the shoes could have gotten wet, chewed on by the family dog, or just been a crappy design or sitting in a HOT car in direct sunlight. This article http://www.inquisitr.com/3086141/pa...-neverland-pirates-shoes-blamed-for-suv-fire/ alludes to the battery being replaceable.

This battery appears to be a primary Lithium coin cell, not a Li-ion cell - see the photo below captured from the video. Probably a CR2032 or CR2025.

Thanks Gauss163. It makes sense that it would be a coin cell if it's just running a few LEDs. I didn't think a coin cell could get hot enough to ignite anything...?

Primary lithium cells contain metallic lithium, which will ignite on contact with oxygen. If the coin cell was being bent as the shoe flexed around it, I could imagine it bending enough to break the seal, let air in and catch fire. After all, you can set things on fire with a match, and there's only a small amount of combustible material in one of those, too.

Yes, when Lithium button / coin cells vent it may be with flames due to the metallic lithium, e.g. see this youtube video, esp. the 2nd explosiion. If you've never seen one explode before, you may be surprised at the energy released from such a tiny cell.

Who knows, may have stepped on something sharp enough to barely puncture the cell, but not leave a big enough hole to let a lot of air in. Vehicle gets hot, things expand, more air gets in and voila!

Watch, we will probably see all kinds of safety warnings on light-up shoes now, if they already don't have them.