Please stop charging ebike batteries overnight!

[Slaphappygamer]

This is sickening. Fire was reported after midnight (so certainly overnight charging) and the shop has been fined for violations in the past. Hundreds of batteries were involved. 4 lives are lost.

4 dead after battery causes fire at New York City e-bike shop that spreads to apartments

Authorities say a fire that started in a New York City e-bike shop spread to upper-floor apartments, killing four people and injuring several others

abcnews.go.com

 

[mfgrep]

Thanks for posting! I hadn't given this much thought as a new ebike owner. Thanks to your post I will not be charging while I sleep.

 

[old guy 666]

I do a couple rides a week, 20-40 miles. I throw the battery on the charger while I grab my shower and get cleaned up. I check on it after that, and it usually all 4 lights green. That is good enough to start another long ride.

 

[Roamers]

Why do most of the fire reports publicized appear to be in NYC?

 

[keithj69]

Go out and buy a timer for the plug and set it long enough to charge while one is awake.
My house is automated and I have a connected 4 button pad that will turn on/off the connected electrical plug. One button is off. Then I have 2/4/8 hour timers setup on the other 3 buttons. I only charge when I am home and awake.

 

[PatriciaK]

We charge on timers while awake also, but, this story likely had to do with charging a whole bunch of cheap, no name, questionable quality batteries at once. Just asking for disaster on that kind of situation...

 

[keithj69]

We charge on timers while awake also, but, this story likely had to do with charging a whole bunch of cheap, no name, questionable quality batteries at once. Just asking for disaster on that kind of situation...

You are correct. At least we can get ahead of some of this by letting others know how to charge in a smart way. Start at the bottom for harm reduction. Sad about the lives lost.
Edit: I will disconnect the power charger from the plug and bike when i go to bed if I am auto charging. Best way to not have the scenario in the story.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Plus I doubt they had smoke detectors or such either.

 

[keithj69]

Plus I doubt they had smoke detectors or such either.

Crappy lithium batteries vs a smoke detector.....hmmmm.....my bet is the batteries win.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Crappy lithium batteries vs a smoke detector.....hmmmm.....my bet is the batteries win.

yes but smoke detectors will give you warning to get out. way to many people and iI bet this buyers did not have them.

 

[keithj69]

yes but smoke detectors will give you warning to get out. way to many people and iI bet this buyers did not have them.

True. One more thing to add to the harm reduction part for the newbies to consider.

 

[indianajo]

I charge in the yard with the bike cabled to an iron lawn chair. I only charge to green light 3 times a year. Rest of time the timer gets it.
People in NYC, buy LiFeP04 or Nmc batteries. Not enough room there to charge outside.
90% charge is my goal. Bought a 80%/90%/100% charger from lunabikes, it was dead out of the box. Was August, was too busy with field work to hastle with them. By mid-September it and $36000 of other tools electronics & media were stolen.
My first 2 batteries were LiFeP04, both had weld or cell problems that caused voltage collapse if more than 5 amps was discharged. Got the money back from Amazon for the 1st one. LiIon battery from lunabikes is now 4 years old, no problems.

 

[mschwett]

Why do most of the fire reports publicized appear to be in NYC?

65,000 people using ebikes to deliver food alone, many or most of whom are riding inexpensive bikes with poorly built batteries that get charged unsafely.

 

[mfgrep]

65,000 people using ebikes to deliver food alone, many or most of whom are riding inexpensive bikes with poorly built batteries that get charged unsafely.

Precisely. I was recently in New York City. Standing eating some street food at night. There were so many GrubHub bikers I couldn't believe it. One evening I watched two of them conversing while they switched batteries out from their backpacks. Both their bikes and their batteries look like they were rode hard.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

Timers are a good idea however, pack voltage is still present at the charging port. Even though the voltage from the wall socket has been cut off, pack voltage is still present at the battery side of the charger. Im not sure if that is much of a concern though, since the amperage is lower.




I useD TO USE these…

Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q6QFV1M?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

**THESE HAVE BEEN RECALLED. DO NOT USE**




With these, I can monitor the amps flowing from the wall socket to the charger. When the amperage starts to fall, I’ll either remove the charger or continue to monitor until amperage falls to zero, then disconnect.

You don’t need to be on the same WIFI to monitor, either. I can charge anywhere at my home and monitor away from my home. Though, I’m always home when charging. It’s just nice to have the option and constant visibility.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

yes but smoke detectors will give you warning to get out. way to many people and iI bet this buyers did not have them.

Especially if they are asleep.

 

[6zfshdb]

I store & charge in ammo cans on a cart under a smoke detector using a timer and always supervised.

Should the smoke detector go off, I'm hoping I have enough time to push or pull the cart outside with a garden rake.

I use this mechanical DPDT twist timer

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003A4IOXS/?coliid=I1ZMNBYN6QSK53&colid=1KERB770YRAW3&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

It's a double pole switch which disconnects AC from the charger as well as DC from the battery to avoid backward discharge. That way, the charger and battery are both isolated.

I don't trust electronic timers. I've had issues in the past with unexpected results caused by the frequent power outages, blips & surges we get here.

 

[None]

From my experience, living and commuting on bicycles & ebikes in NYC metro since 2013; bicycles & ebikes have been essential to transforming the traffic pattern in NYC and surrounding metro.

Please do not speculate about the specifics of the fire if there is no data with sources provided.

There is enough misinformation about battery caused fires in the news already.

There is no specific evidence that battery that caused this fire is a lithium battery, any other type of battery or something else; it just happen that fire occurred at a ebike shop with prior violations.

 

[6zfshdb]

From my experience, living and commuting on bicycles & ebikes in NYC metro since 2013; bicycles & ebikes have been essential to transforming the traffic pattern in NYC and surrounding metro.

Please do not speculate about the specifics of the fire if there is no data with sources provided.

There is enough misinformation about battery caused fires in the news already.

There is no specific evidence that battery that caused this fire is a lithium battery, any other type of battery or something else; it just happen that fire occurred at a ebike shop with prior violations.

Lots of hate is being unfairly heaped on e-bike batteries these days. I'd like to see some statistics comparing lithium battery fires with those caused by smoking in bed, kids playing with matches, electric heaters and other preventable fires caused by human ignorance. You don't see much about those incidents right now. It seems the press would rather vilify the product rather than the user.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

The one constant in battery fires seems to be charging over night. That seems like the best thing to avoid. This isn’t specific to New York, just battery fires in general.