I have held off using LIPO on my boat and will likely do so for... A long time. I do have a WattCycle 314ah for the RV trailer. Not much mileage on that one but so far acting as expected. The tech is getting pretty decent. I made my choice based on Will Prowse vids - to me the guy looks straight and does a decent job, if a little hyper. The WattCycle batts stood and continue to stand out as one of the best built batteries. Their software has had problem which have made them a target of internet pile-on for the last year. I'm quite sure a few of those people had a legitimate bad experience and I'm also quite sure most of it is the result of a lust to shout out and some installation problems and misconceptions about how one approaches tech, complex products.
But that's not why I post here. There is an aspect of lithium batts that I believe any user should look at carefully but that's completely minimized, ignored and left out of almost all general purpose media coverage. In the wrong circumstances they can be deadly. And the "wrong circumstances" are not that hard to encounter. It boils down to 1) heat; 2) physical damage; 3) electrical damage due to overcharging. The nominal danger is fire and the way a batt can kill and potentially destroy everything nearby is threefold: 1) huge clouds of extremely poisonous smoke emitted almost instantly if a fire starts; 2) extremely high burn temps; 3) lithium fire can NOT be extinguished by _any_ means available to anybody in practice.
I'll go over the a couple issues that are easy to check briefly. But anybody who values due diligence needs to do their own because that is the only way a person gets convinced - they convince themselves if/when they decide to look at something and dig for their truth.
The ambient heat factor in how these batts could ignite works in combination with what the batt is "doing" and the temp. Batts are ok up to about 140F. That's not a temp you find in most human living space. But if the batt is in a hot space and is being charged fast or has damage then we're much closer to a problem. Old batts, possibly damaged physically or electrically are much more susceptible to heat.
Over charging: The tech is really very very good and there is a lot of safety features in batts sold the last couple years. But. That's when everything "else" is ok. If you look at the BattleBorn issues Will Prowse documents on his vids, you see a production design fault which can cause these batts to melt and explode. Will tests his batteries at their manufacturer ratings - their maximum ratings - which many user will never approach. But many will because you buy the batts to _use_ them and that includes drawing huge amounts of power for the windlass or the water heater or thrusters or the microwave. And use on a boat include bouncing about, shaking everything - so loose internal connection on a batt are directly stressed. Testing to maximum rated usesage is completely legitimate and some sailor might well demand that of their batts. Electrical systems can and do fail and act wrong.
The the above para is meant to point out that sh* happens and it's not all that uncommon, actually. Especially considering how the market works and how everybody is looking for a supercheap deal. A lot of batts on the market don't measure up and so "everything else" can not be counted upon to "be equal". Even though the tech is, in fact, miraculous, the real world does not play by any rules. Betting on the tech to make life perfect and safe is something that we all do in one way or another all the time... But it IS a bet. And in the case of LIPO batts, the bet involves your life and those around you.
Cannot be extinguished. Check with _any_ fire department. They all have a policy to let lithium burn out. HUGE amounts of water can beat a lithum fire down by reducing the surface temps below the flame point. But as soon as the water supply stops, the electrical short inside the batt heats it up again and reignites the fire. Read some comments of the RadioControl hobbiest crowd who have use Lithium batts for years. And how the little bitty ones they use have incinerated some of their cars and garages, even though they were in "safety bags". How they spend much effort to create safe batt storage OUTSIDE their homes if they can do that. Those guys know their batts and have developed a _large_ respect for the danger and the importance of good handling.
Smoke. Check with _any_ fire department. If that nice e-bike under the stairs starts to burn, the recommended action is to run, if you cannot physically remove the burning battery (that powers the e-bike) outdoors w/in 30 seconds - a minute is pushing it hard because of the smoke and heat. A lithium fire can fill a 12x12 room w/poison in 30 secs.
But I bought a LIPO for my RV. How does that compute? It's a _calculated_ bet which depends on details that cannot be readily created on a boat. I can install the batt OUTSIDE the RV living space where there is a moderate chance it can burn itself out w/out destroying _too_ much else and where it can't instantly poison my lungs. The batt box includes heat shields to contain the flames and the poison smoke is not contained in a small living space. I can bale out of the RV real quick - I'm not going to plunge into icy water and drown immediately (although I might freeze if I'm in the wrong place...). Before I did my research, I was planning to install it under the bed. That plan changed, big time.
So heads up. It is miraculous tech, but there is a LOT of power stored in one batt and if it gets out the wrong way, things can get very very bad. Think about the small space on a boat, the impossibility of extinguishing a lithium fire, the importance of an excellently designed and installed charge system that won't stress the batt, what happens if the boat is rolled and the batt breaks loosel and is thrown onto the top of the hot engine, the importance of a batt that is truly well put together with robust functioning safety features as advertised.
I bought one. I'm using one. I think chances in my use case are good. But. Do look beyond the enthusiasm of the advertising people, the buzz feed of the WonderTech community. Try to get the whole story. It's readily available to those who care to look. It made me rethink my use of LIPO batts. Respected people put them in boats. Reasonably people can draw different conclusions. Just spend a little time, think about the whole picture ahead of time, to reach _your_ conclusion.
RJL
