PSA… Be careful when charging Li Ion batteries. We have moved our chargers to box in the garage. Last week while I was running an errand and Nada was on the back porch, an 18650 on charge in our office exploded, she said she thought someone had fired a shotgun in the house. The charger was tucked away in a bookshelf so the blast was directional right at Nada’s office chair. All the charred stuff came from the one 18650 battery. Thank the Good Lord she was not sitting in her chair. Stay safe folks!
UPDATE…
I responded to someones post and the picture below. This was my response and I thought others should get a chance to read it: I have been researching lithium battery technology for the insurance company I do work for and writing a research paper for them. When these cells fail, they have an internal vent to relieve over pressure, but once the thermal runaway reaction heats up, the off-gas is combustible and will likely catch on fire. Be careful about trying to charge these in a metal box or some other protective enclosure too, just in case you were thinking that would help. The off-gas is combustible and if trapped, could result in a deflagration (low level explosion) rather than a fire. For homeowners, buying name brand batteries that cost a bit more might be something to be considered. Otherwise you get cheap Chinese products that may not be as well built. Poorer quality control on the lesser brands my result in defects that could result in the above. As these batteries get older, the risk goes up. So dating them with a Sharpie and replacing them after 5 years is something else to consider.
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Where are the pics? I thought they explode only when overcharged.
I had just put it on the charger about 30 minutes before it exploded.
Glad everyone is alright, Dave!
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Had one blow years ago from a drone battery.
Sure was a lot of smoke.
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Yikes!!! Glad to hear nobody was hurt.