A jump starter kit has become a fashionable alternative to an expensive call-out. Or to asking a neighbor to risk their auto electronics when we could have cared better for our starter battery. These kits are also handy power supplies for laptops and mobile devices. Sounds too good to be true … Perhaps it is, when there’s a lithium battery inside.
Lithium Battery in Jump Starter Kit Explodes in Home
We posted about this incident on September 30, 2018 previously. At the time, we thought a leaking lead-acid battery had exploded while charging. Now we know a lithium battery inside a jump starter kit was behind it, so we decided to post an update.
The family living in the Bend home had left their starter kit on charge while they went floating in the nearby Deschutes River. This is a broad waterway popular for kayaking and whitewater rafting especially at Big Eddy north of town. While they were chilling, firefighters believe the battery malfunctioned or overheated, causing the carpet to catch fire and spread throughout the home.
Watch Unattended Jumper Starter Kit Explode
Lessons From this Jump Starter Kit Incident
The lithium battery in question had a 6,000 mAh (milliamp hour) rating. “There’s a lot of energy in those lithium batteries,” Bend Deputy Fire Marshal Cindy Kettering told News Channel 21.
“The problem is, if there is some sort of failure, that energy has to go somewhere. And usually it’s going to result in something called thermal runaway.” That means there’s something we call a domino effect. Whereby the first troublesome cell in the jump starter kit sets off the adjacent cells until the whole thing runs out of control.
We have reached the point where lithium batteries intertwine with our lives. We should no more leave them charging unattended, than leave the doors and windows open when there’s a storm brewing.
Related
Charging a Starter Battery: Safety Tips
Fast Charging of Automated Guided Vehicles
Preview Image: Farewell Bend Park, Bend, Oregon
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