Z
z_sonofbuster
Guest
i'm really new to the flashlight collecting thing and recently picked up a couple of 14500 lights. then i came across this site and started reading about the dangers of Lithium Ion batteries. then i read the thread about the exploding 18650. then i read about people pulling apart their old laptop batteries. then i decided i might offer my awesome story of the exploding computer. the computer in this story is currently behind a bit of snow in the garage so i can't wipe off the soot to see what was inside the battery pack but once that snow melts, you bet i'll be out there lookin..
back in May of last year, i was on my laptop and put it to sleep, closed the lid, then put it on the charger in my bedroom and laid the thing down on the corner of the bed where my fiance was sleeping. i went into the kitchen to get lunches ready and stuff when a few minutes later i hear screaming from the bedroom. my first thought was someone snuck into the house and was attacking my fiance.
i ran into the bedroom to see a blazing fire on the bed where my computer used to be.
!!!
i told my fiance to grab our baby boy from his room and get out. in the meantime, i grabbed the fire extinguisher and S***, it's dry!. i grabbed another extinguisher and luckily, it worked and i doused the flames, but the plastic and bed were smoking like crazy.
i called 911 and got the fire dept out. they checked the remains of the computer with a thermal scanner thing and doused it some more and chucked it and our bed out the back door. our bedroom was a mess obviously; dust, soot, water. the dust was all over the house too. that all said, it wasn't too bad. we got out safe, my fiance was alert enough to wake up when she felt the heat so she didn't get injured, and my boy was thrilled to see the fire trucks and sit in an ambulance 🙄 the damage was isolated to the bedroom and insurance covered it all.
i know the issue was with the battery b/c it had been replaced maybe a week or two before. the fire chief seemed to think that's where it all started too. yes, it was a cheap third party unit purchased off eBay. it did work fine up until then.
now that i've been reading about the dangers of LiIon batteries -- and especially since i am about to purchase an 1x18650 light -- i've been really really curious to see what that battery pack was made of and try to gather as much info as possible from it and maybe even share it here to see if anyone can add their knowledge.
i'm not really paranoid as i've been using devices with LiIons every day for years. and, i know my situation was not the norm. but now that i know those packs are the same as the cells we put in our flashlights, i wanna see em up close. pics to come...
back in May of last year, i was on my laptop and put it to sleep, closed the lid, then put it on the charger in my bedroom and laid the thing down on the corner of the bed where my fiance was sleeping. i went into the kitchen to get lunches ready and stuff when a few minutes later i hear screaming from the bedroom. my first thought was someone snuck into the house and was attacking my fiance.
i ran into the bedroom to see a blazing fire on the bed where my computer used to be.
!!!
i told my fiance to grab our baby boy from his room and get out. in the meantime, i grabbed the fire extinguisher and S***, it's dry!. i grabbed another extinguisher and luckily, it worked and i doused the flames, but the plastic and bed were smoking like crazy.
i called 911 and got the fire dept out. they checked the remains of the computer with a thermal scanner thing and doused it some more and chucked it and our bed out the back door. our bedroom was a mess obviously; dust, soot, water. the dust was all over the house too. that all said, it wasn't too bad. we got out safe, my fiance was alert enough to wake up when she felt the heat so she didn't get injured, and my boy was thrilled to see the fire trucks and sit in an ambulance 🙄 the damage was isolated to the bedroom and insurance covered it all.
i know the issue was with the battery b/c it had been replaced maybe a week or two before. the fire chief seemed to think that's where it all started too. yes, it was a cheap third party unit purchased off eBay. it did work fine up until then.
now that i've been reading about the dangers of LiIon batteries -- and especially since i am about to purchase an 1x18650 light -- i've been really really curious to see what that battery pack was made of and try to gather as much info as possible from it and maybe even share it here to see if anyone can add their knowledge.
i'm not really paranoid as i've been using devices with LiIons every day for years. and, i know my situation was not the norm. but now that i know those packs are the same as the cells we put in our flashlights, i wanna see em up close. pics to come...
)
