Immediate advice needed...shorted IMR battery heating fast.

So... I was testing the shock absorbing qualities of the M2 head and long story short, I have an 18500 IMR battery that seems to be shorting itself outs as it is heating rapidly. I'm currently periodically spraying it with and upside down air duster, but it still seems to be discharging. Please advise me what to do.

Please keep primary discussion on how to properly monitor this battery as is discharges, and then of how I should dispose. After that is settled I will gladly take questions and criticism regarding my poor judgment after my problem is solved.

Thanks,
Depupty T.

Keep it cold !
Keep it outside ..

Put it on cold concrete or something so it can heatsink ....
If you have a cold pack ... [ sports injuries ]

And keep your distance , in case it blows up

brilliant (actually) cooling it down it is less likly to thermally overload.
but were not supposed to comment :mecry:

just get it into a tall open metal container with nothing in or around it, if you cant get it in a safe outside place.
once most of the energy is gone and the heat goes back down, it shouldnt be doing surprising things.

I got it isolated in in a big aluminum box (and old airforce air conditioning unit) 4'x6' with 3/8 inch walls in the middle of my front yard. I think its fully depleted since it doesn't seem to be getting any warmer. Thanks for the quick responses.

Since this is after the fact, HobbyKing (and other places) sell safe charging bags, ~$7 for a largish bag that is lithium-fire proof, explosion proof, and GREAT for any battery situation; burning, venting with flame, or merely overheating cells all go in the bag.
The bags are originally marketed as safe charging sacks, as majority of incidents occure during charge and battery bag is designed to allow large battery packs to be sealed inside with charging leads running through flap.

You planned it well having an incident with IMR, a 'safe chemistry' cell. With no oxygen in the mix, your damaged cell couldn't vent with flames.

Presumably during the recoil testing the case pinched around the pcb creating a very slight short? (I've seen an IMR burn up 24awg wiring so if there was time to write it was a sedate event)

Definate +1 for thinking to keep it cool.

My $0.02, in future if it's 'unsafe' chemistry (li-po, li-co) get it outside and clear. It would have been tragic if you were trying to keep it under control (active cooling) and further degradation caused rapid cell dis-assembly and un-quenchable lithium fire. I do commend you for responding in the situation, and having the fore-thought to experiment with inherently safer cells.

Yeah , its best to know what to do beforehand , if it were to vent , its going to spew out lots of harmful chemicals , so getting it out of your living environment ASAP .

2nd / Rather than just haplessly watching the batt go thermal , placing the battery in a safe place , and a cold place , like a nice ice cold driveway will help . One of those gel packs kept in the freezer for sports injuries and such lightly wrapped in a tea towel will actively cool .

You dont need to place yourself at risk , but doing nothing , is not my personal credo .

:thumbsup: Good to see things worked out ok , but let the container vent , that you put the batt in or you may inhale toxins . Eeer , open the door and dont breath , just let it vent for 5 minutes or so before you dispose of the batt .

Linger said:

My $0.02, in future if it's 'unsafe' chemistry (li-po, li-co) get it outside and clear. It would have been tragic if you were trying to keep it under control (active cooling) and further degradation caused rapid cell dis-assembly and un-quenchable lithium fire. I do commend you for responding in the situation, and having the fore-thought to experiment with inherently safer cells.

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:thumbsup:

Linger said:

...I do commend you for responding in the situation, and having the fore-thought to experiment with inherently safer cells...

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To be perfectly honest, there was no for thought involved in this process. I I had bought this bezel two months ago before a converted all my incan lights to IMR, this extremely reckless incident would have happened with two AW Black Label LiCo cells. In which case I would have definitely would have quickly ditched the cell and kept a great distance away.

One slightly off topic observation I would like to make would be in regards to the FiveMega bodies and all similar, including the bored out surefire bodies. The lip on the head end inhibits the any shock protection to the cell because the batteries impact it. Unlike on a unmodified Surefire running primaries where the batteries move freely. Something to consider before ever considering mounting a light with rechargeables on a shotgun...(something I myself had planned for my own Remington 870.)

AW black labels wouldn't go as far as this, the protection circuit would trip at ~2C and would stay that way for awhile, now if the wrapping was damaged and the conduit shorts to the body then you are in for more excitement than you bargained for

To a certain temperature internal resistance drops low enough to allow a self-sustained reaction....what you are doing is an excellent way to prolong the reaction time, but it won't stop it. it will likely do two things in the next 24 hours, one is and the other to gradually stabilize [with sufficient cooling] until the chemistry either goes "out of gas" or simply halts because of an decrease in temperature.

Either way the cell's toast, when you do get around to retrieve the battery, make sure you're in a well ventilated place. wrap the terminals with electrical tape and take it to anywhere that accepts laptop/cellphone batteries.

Aren't IMR cells supposed to be intrinsecally safe (as opposed to standard LiIon)?

Fallingwater said:

Aren't IMR cells supposed to be intrinsecally safe (as opposed to standard LiIon)?

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you'll have to talk to Ampdude on what he meant by safe: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2734315&postcount=5

According to mdocod, its about less energy density
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2735966&postcount=15

Fallingwater said:

Aren't IMR cells supposed to be intrinsecally safe (as opposed to standard LiIon)?

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IMR cells are safeR than your standard Lithium Cobalt cells, but it doesn't mean that they are completely safe. As with any cells which store energy, there is always danger. Even the safe phosphate cells (LiFePO4) have some dangers, although considerably safer than LiCo and IMR.

Afaik, IMRs will not "explode" i.e. rapidly vent with flame - but when they are abused, they can still "vent"/leak and even burst. Just not as violent.

There are a number of threads in the safety subforum which show this. I myself had an IMR18500 which spewed out some of its electrolyte when I accidentally short circuited it. Also take a look at the TK Monster explosion.