Link - Half a million hoverboards recalled due to fire hazard

[John Eucist]

Before @Shoe73 (one of our great moderators) gets annoyed for this being off-topic I want to say that I think it's related to eucs because of the similar battery packs and probably from same factories as some eucs (at least the lesser brands).  And wow, it's seems like a complete recall of every single hoverboard sold in the States or something.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/06/health/hoverboard-recall-fire-hazard/

http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2016/Self-Balancing-Scooters-Hoverboards-Recalled-by-10-Firms/

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

I bought mine from AliExpress, and they seem to be working fine.  I wonder what AliExpress buyers are supposed to do as all the smaller sellers probably aren't going to refund people's purchases and pay for return shipping back to China?  Even if they refund people their money, are we supposed to drop the packs off at a battery recycling depot or something?  It sounds like a good thing to do the recall, but I wonder how effective it will be as there likely are quite a number of people who bought them online from other sources not on the recall list of firms.  I'll have to rethink where I store mine as it's probably safer to store them in a metal container with some venting and have a smoke detector nearby.

Have they figured out what is causing the thermal runaways?  I thought the BMS should be taking care of overcharge situations, or do some packs come without a BMS maybe?

 

[John Eucist]

I think it all boils (no pun intended) down to the 18650 cells that are used.  If it's not one of the major trusted brands from Japan or Korea (like panasonic/sanyo, LG, Samsung, etc.) then you're at a far greater risk of them catching fire.  This is not specific to hoverboards.  eucs are the same imho.

[John Eucist]

7 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

It sounds like a good thing to do the recall, but I wonder how effective it will be as there likely are quite a number of people who bought them online from other sources not on the recall list of firms.

 

If you didn't buy from a U.S. company (which imported it from China of course) then I'm pretty sure you won't get any options for return or refund.

9 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

I'll have to rethink where I store mine as it's probably safer to store them in a metal container with some venting and have a smoke detector nearby.

I think the biggest risk is during the charging phase, followed by using it, and the least risk storing it (I don't think I heard of a single case).

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

I've seen some hoverboard fire protection bags where you place the hoverboard into while charging and for storage, but I don't know how well they work.  I usually charge them up until the charger light turns colour or about 2 hours, and never leave them unattended for any long period of time.  If I had an outside shed, I'd probably store them there.  Otherwise they have been pretty reliable.  They go for about 10 kms per charge although I haven't tested them to the limit, but I was surprised that they are pretty capable.

[dmethvin]

I just saw a TV news report that claimed all the Razrs and Swagways have been recalled except for the ones recently shipped that now pass UL testing (they'll have a sticker on them). They had the chairman of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission saying that testing revealed poor quality components, bad assembly, and fundamental design flaws.

http://www.cpsc.gov/en/About-CPSC/Chairman/Kaye-Biography/Chairman-Kayes-Statements/Statements/Chairmans-Hoverboard-Press-Statement/

 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

If they banned all poorly constructed products from China I think we'd lose a large number of items out there.  I recently bought some magnetic iPhone quick disconnector charging cables that ended up getting uncomfortably hot at the connector end.  They were pretty cheap so I just stopped using them.

Other items have only lasted so long and failed due to poor components or construction.  It's a bit hit or miss with some items.  Nothing's burned down my house yet so I count myself lucky.  With these hoverboards people are crashing them and jumping off curbs so they likely are under more stressful conditions.  Any damage to a cell could possibly result in charging issues.  If I took my Chinese made laptop replacement battery and tossed it into the air a few times hitting the ground and tried charging it right after for 24 hours there could be issues.  

These high powered lithium Ion cells probably aren't designed for high impact activities.  I wonder how much safer the UL certified ones are.  Just because it's certified doesn't make it fire proof I think.  I do hope it makes them safer in the long run.  I've seen people stick sharp things into iPhones making them explode.  It should be interesting to see how things pan out over time with these.

[Kimball]

13 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

I bought mine from AliExpress, and they seem to be working fine.  I wonder what AliExpress buyers are supposed to do as all the smaller sellers probably aren't going to refund people's purchases and pay for return shipping back to China?  Even if they refund people their money, are we supposed to drop the packs off at a battery recycling depot or something?  It sounds like a good thing to do the recall, but I wonder how effective it will be as there likely are quite a number of people who bought them online from other sources not on the recall list of firms.  I'll have to rethink where I store mine as it's probably safer to store them in a metal container with some venting and have a smoke detector nearby.

Have they figured out what is causing the thermal runaways?  I thought the BMS should be taking care of overcharge situations, or do some packs come without a BMS maybe?

 

From the link:

" Note: At the request of the Commission, Alibaba Group has taken voluntary action to require certifications from testing agencies for hoverboards listed by third-parties on the AliExpress.com and Alibaba.com online marketplaces.  Consumers are urged to immediately stop using hoverboards which do not comply with applicable safety standards and dispose of them in accordance with local and state regulations.  "

Not sure how that will turn out.

[HEC]

2 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

If I took my Chinese made laptop replacement battery and tossed it into the air a few times hitting the ground and tried charging it right after for 24 hours there could be issues.

That's exactly the key issue in most of those hazards. Battery packs sitting totally unprotected scratching against sharp inner edges of the cheap cast plastic casings. No foam or rubber pads protections to minimize the shocks from vibrations and hard hits or punctures of the heat wrap or even battery casing itself.

[Rehab1]

@HunkaHunkaBurningLove I like the idea of  hoverboard protection bags! They are Costly! I have both a 6" and 10" version. They are now just sitting around collecting dust but the idea of adding fireproofing around the devices after reading @John Eucist report would certainly increase my piece of mind especially at night.

[HEC]

9 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

@HunkaHunkaBurningLove I like the idea of  hoverboard protection bags! They are Costly! I have both a 6" and 10" version. They are now just sitting around collecting dust but the idea of adding fireproofing around the devices after reading @John Eucist report would certainly increase my piece of mind especially at night.

LiPo charging and storage (fire retardant) bags are fairly common in RC model area. However can't imagine how much useful they'll be for batteries of much large capacities ... The amount of generated heat and smoke would most likely make it pointless in house or apartment anyway.So the generic rules will be as already mentioned above:

Charge under supervision, store safely with smoke / fire detection device in vicinity and so on. I'm quite sure that many of the faults / fires were also caused by sub-standard cheap chargers not cutting the charging current at correct voltage or (even worse) at all!

[dmethvin]

4 hours ago, HEC said:

That's exactly the key issue in most of those hazards. Battery packs sitting totally unprotected scratching against sharp inner edges of the cheap cast plastic casings. No foam or rubber pads protections to minimize the shocks from vibrations and hard hits or punctures of the heat wrap or even battery casing itself.

And that's not limited to hoverboards.

 

[HEC]

11 minutes ago, dmethvin said:

And that's not limited to hoverboards.

 

Yes - EUCs are unfortunately not much better in this matter. At my first strip off of the new wheel I plan to add some foam / rubber pads where possible.

[Pingouin]

I thought that li ion where used instead of lipos specificaly to not have these kind of issues. As a RC hobbyist, I had several low quality lipos that bursted into flames, but never happened with li ions.

[HEC]

13 minutes ago, Pingouin said:

I thought that li ion where used instead of lipos specificaly to not have these kind of issues. As a RC hobbyist, I had several low quality lipos that bursted into flames, but never happened with li ions.

LiOn batteries are more resilient / less sensitive than LiPos however not without danger. And once they'd ignite it's much harder to put the fire off due to the large capacity the EUC battery packs are build to.