[RE-wrenches] Discover AES explosion!

[Starlight]

Hi Michael,

For 11 years I’ve been in the Li battery business. We formerly designed and installed over a hundred Li battery based systems, mostly mobile installations but UPS and off-grid as well. Since 2018, we no longer do installations.  Currently we sell our own Li-ion brand with many thousands sold and in use. We have not had any fire or explosion claims.

Most Li batteries sold in the US are not UL1973 or ETL certified. Many batteries are very cheaply made to have the lowest price. Based on my experience I consider any battery not certified as potentially dangerous. I don’t know if Discover is certified and make no statement about them. 

An important question is what will an insurance company do if there is a claim and the product you install is not certified to these high safety standards? Worth considering.

Larry Crutcher
Starlight Power Systems




On May 3, 2024, at 8:21 AM, Michael Morningstar via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

Two days ago, one of my clients came home to find the door of his powershed blown off its hinges and a smoldering Discover AES. The case was still intact and the entire room is coated with a fine graphite-like powder. The fire department was unable/unwilling to do anything to cool the battery down and it smoldered for a day. 199 degrees fahrenheit after 18 hours. Discover is taking this seriously and their response has been great. They are in contact with the cell manufacturer to find a "best practices" for the clean up of the room. They also have said that this is a first for them (lucky me).

I'm just curious how rare or common LiFePO 4 explosions are? I've never heard of one in the context of residential storage. This has me pretty freaked out.

Michael Morningstar 

Morningstar Electric Inc
PO Box 1494
Mount Shasta, CA 96067
530-921-0560
CSLB 1116835
mjmorningstar at gmail.com <mailto:mjmorningstar at gmail.com>

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