I think it was the HSE (could have been the IEE?) in the late 80's that reported problems with early lithium cells, tales of totally destroyed labs and workshops because they had somehow got charged due to failure of blocking diodes or the absence of them altogether. Made for pretty frightening reading.
Lithium cells can and do explode very dramatically and burn rather well.
There have been plenty of incidents in the RC fraternity where we use extremely low impedance cells right at the limit. With multi-use chargers that are easy to set wrong.
The most chilling was a guy who left one on the front seat of his car on a hot California day..it wasn't even connected, but the heat inside the car was enough to cause it to deform and short out, and it burnt the whole car out.
Mostly the 'lithium ion' celsl (incorrectly named) use thick steel jackets to prevent this, but are too heavy. And can explode. The 'polymer' cells just swell and pop. In low current applications the cells generally come with circuitry inside to limit peak currents and to disconnect them if the voltage gets too high on charge or too low on discharge. On model aircraft hese introduce too much weight and loss,with currents on big models often exceeding 100A, and 20-50A being typical, we have to run them 'bare'
Needless to say a failing motor or a props trike can cause the whole thing to pop and often catch fire.
However its no worse really that having a model and a car full of methanol and nitromethane mix...
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.