Spooked by recent recalls - Are these battery charging cabinets worth the investment?

[PCeBiker]

@Chargeride
This guy's from your neck of the woods.

 

[PCeBiker]

I was thinking about the carbon footprint of ten pounds of CO2??, so I asked the


So, I would need to blow off 89 tanks of my CO2to blow off as much CO2 as an American.

I'm Up To The Challenge !!
That sounds Like LOTS of FUN

 

[PCeBiker]

If you don't use your oven, you could charge the battery in there. Or a fireplace. An old grill or old refrigerator in the backyard works.

My gas oven is broken anyway so I could use that, but I prefer to charge my batteries right beside me while I watch TV.

That way I figure that I should see/hear/smell SOMETHING before it FuKin EXPLODES??

I've got a well built battery with Quality Samsung 50E Cells inside, and I Really Don't Think that they are counterfeit cells.

It's packed Tight inside an aluminum case that is abrasion proof and should take a pretty good hit before it Blows Up.
I have dropped my batteries a couple times (from about a foot) and did no damage.

I charge my batteries manually at 0-3 Amps to whatever voltage I choose, so I choose 51.6 then top up the last three Volts before a ride.

I'm quite confident that I will never "need" a CO2 but I wanna make dry ice again.
It's been almost 40 years since I made a CO2 snowball.

Remember Fire Extinguishers aren't as dangerous as the person using it.

 

[Gordon71]

What about these? https://www.amazon.com/JHSafer-Fire...ords=Ebike+battery+safe&qid=1775220369&sr=8-8

 

[Chargeride]

I went to a scrapyard many years ago and the young lad working there had oxyed through the gas pipe while cutting an axle off.
Before he could get out from under the car he had burnt all his hair and top layer of skin off his scalp .
Im talking burnt layers peeling off all blackened at the edges.
It was literally 30 mins before I arrived, he was back working on another car, not even peeled theburnt skin off.

We were, jesus mate, youll get an infection, go the hospital.

'nah, I did the same to my chest a few years back, it 'll be OK .
Pulls up his top and it was a bit mottled but OK.
My mates looking at the car in question and the lad says 'what are you after.'
Went straight for the joke..
'A petrol pipe off a MK4 cortina'.

 

[PCeBiker]

'A petrol pipe off a MK4 cortina'.

I had to google that.
Didn't help much.

I assume the petrol pipe has thicker walls, so less chance of burn through??

 

[Max Black]

What about these? https://www.amazon.com/JHSafer-Fire...ords=Ebike+battery+safe&qid=1775220369&sr=8-8

What about these? https://www.amazon.com/JHSafer-Fire...ords=Ebike+battery+safe&qid=1775220369&sr=8-8

Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been researching safe storage and charging solutions for a while now, so I’ve definitely looked at these explosion-proof bags. The price is super tempting, and I honestly almost bought one myself.

However, I watched a few videos where creators stress-tested them, and they basically seem to be just fabric bags without real protection.

After seeing how it performed in the test, I feel like these bags are just a waste of money and might give a false sense of security. Here is one of those test videos:

 

[Max Black]

Thanks for sharing that UL search site. I actually went ahead and checked a few other e-bike brands that my family, friends, and neighbors own, and couldn't find a single one in the database. Guess you really do get what you pay for. It seems like the 'UL' certification sellers claim and the real, legitimate UL are two completely different things. I’m honestly baffled as to why platforms like Amazon accept these so-called UL2849 certifications and let these e-bikes be listed and sold.

With gas prices up and the weather warming up, we're riding way more than in the winter. I might have to go 'spread some anxiety' to my neighbors now... I know, I'm terrible! But on a serious note, I'm planning to reach out to a few of them to see if we can go in together on a safe charging cabinet. If we split the cost and share it, it makes a lot more sense for everyone. Lol.

Quick update on the shared cabinet idea with my neighbors:

Yeah… that went nowhere. Most people just don’t see it as a real issue. “Been fine so far” seems to be the mindset.

Honestly that made me more uncomfortable, not less — knowing multiple batteries (and not all of them from known brands) are charging right next to my wall.

So I ended up just getting something for my own setup.

I went with the smaller Yolin battery charging cabinet mainly because space is tight in my apartment. Didn’t really have room for anything bigger, and I didn’t want to turn the place into a charging station.

It’s still early, but so far it’s been less about “fireproof” expectations and more about having a defined place to charge and keep things contained. Before, I had batteries and chargers kind of scattered around, which in hindsight wasn’t great.

The suppression module is one of those things I hope I’ll never need, so I can’t really speak to that — but at least it feels like there’s some layer there if something goes wrong.

That said, it’s definitely not cheap, and I’m still not convinced it’s something everyone needs. If I had a garage or more space, I might have gone a different route.

For a small apartment setup though, it’s at least helped me worry a bit less.

 

[6zfshdb]

My brother found out last year what happens when battery charging does go wrong. The building next to his in an apartment complex nearly burned down:

You can see in the first picture where an ebike was being charged on a first floor balcony. The battery ignited and set fire to the vinyl siding which traveled upward eventually burning most of the roof off the building. Luckily, it happened on a weekday when most residents were at work and no one was injured.

As a result, the apartment complex banned e-bike charging in all the apartments. To get around the ban, he stores and charges his batteries in the trunk of his car. Fortunately, his parking space is just a few feet from his first floor balcony, so it's a simple matter of running an extension cord out to his car.

He considers it only a minor inconvenience and takes comfort in the fact that the incident won't be repeated by another irresponsible resident.

 

[Max Black]

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You can see in the first picture where an ebike was being charged on a first floor balcony. The battery ignited and set fire to the vinyl siding which traveled upward eventually burning most of the roof off the building. Luckily, it happened on a weekday when most residents were at work and no one was injured.

As a result, the apartment complex banned e-bike charging in all the apartments. To get around the ban, he stores and charges his batteries in the trunk of his car. Fortunately, his parking space is just a few feet from his first floor balcony, so it's a simple matter of running an extension cord out to his car.

He considers it only a minor inconvenience and takes comfort in the fact that the incident won't be repeated by another irresponsible resident.

Thank you for sharing this—those photos are absolutely wild. That’s every e-bike owner’s worst nightmare right there.

Your brother’s trunk solution is… definitely creative, but wow—that’s a pretty high-stakes workaround. Hopefully, he’s got solid insurance on that car.

Honestly, seeing this makes the price of a battery charging cabinet feel a lot more reasonable. I guess it’s just part of the cost of riding when you live in an apartment.

 

[Chargeride]

A huge BYD storage carpark for test cars has just gone up in China
It wasnt a battery fire that started it, but it soon turned into one.

Fire at BYD campus garage sparks widespread concern as stock slips

A fire at a multi-story garage used for storing test and scrapped vehicles has been extinguished, with no casualties reported.

cnevpost.com

 

[Max Black]

Once a fire starts with high-density battery storage, containment is incredibly difficult...

A huge BYD storage carpark for test cars has just gone up in China
It wasnt a battery fire that started it, but it soon turned into one.

Fire at BYD campus garage sparks widespread concern as stock slips

A fire at a multi-story garage used for storing test and scrapped vehicles has been extinguished, with no casualties reported.

cnevpost.com

It demonstrates how quickly a fire can escalate when EVs are stored densely together...