FIRE Eve LF230 and JBD BMS 4S 12V 200A

[amotley]

I was lucky that my travel trailer never caught on fire and burned down! Has anyone heard of batteries failing like this. They were purchased from Jenny Wu at Docan and from what I understand only sells grade A. I am sure there will be lots of questions which I do my best to answer. They were purchased Jan 06, 2022. Trailer was parked with solar panels disconnected and no current was being drawn from trailer side when I hooked up a temporary battery to stow awning. Note the battery on the left is the wrong direction it was correct polarity in the trailer.

 

[Hedges]

... when I hooked up a temporary battery to stow awning.

Can you explain that?
What was the temporary battery, and what connection did it have to this lithium battery when you did this?

Sketched schematic would help explain.

 

[42OhmsPA]

I don't see any signs of separators between the cells. Is that correct?
How did the terminal on the 3rd cell get so bent?

Glad you and the trailer are OK.

 

[amotley]

Can you explain that?
What was the temporary battery, and what connection did it have to this lithium battery when you did you the this?

Temporary battery was just a lead acid 12v hooked up after the damaged lithium was removed to retract powered awning that was drying before winter storage. The LiFeP04 cells were all in series controlled by the BMS.

 

[amotley]

I don't see any signs of separators between the cells. Is that correct?
How did the terminal on the 3rd cell get so bent?

Glad you and the trailer are OK.

No separation between cells. The third cell terminal got bent during the battery failure. There was no load on the batteries when failure happened.

 

[Sky-HHI]

Looks like it was over charged, how were the solar panels disconnected and was the another source that may have over charged the battery? Any fuses?

 

[42OhmsPA]

Looking at the photos again, all the action happened with the 3rd cell, it's severely bloated and the pressure relief popped.
I'm betting something got between them and caused a short or it was way overcharged.
If you rebuild run separators/insulators between the cells.

 

[amotley]

Looks like it was over charged, how were the solar panels disconnected and was the another source that may have over charged the battery? Any fuses?

Solar panels disconnected with a 30 amp DC breaker switch. It was out of the sun in a shop. Doubt overcharge with two sources of protection the victron solar charge controller and the BMS voltage cut off.

 

[amotley]

Looking at the photos again, all the action happened with the 3rd cell, it's severely bloated and the pressure relief popped.
I'm betting something got between them and caused a short or it was way overcharged.
If you rebuild run separators/insulators between the cells.

Probably will next time. With such a low C value draw I was not worried about overheating cells. Pulled .5C for like a minute max in two years.

 

[Aussieguy]

Nothing is 100% perfect and failures will happen ... there was some pics going around of a failure in a 800ah battleborn setup
4 batteries ... one went kapoooeee damaged a second one that was up against it.

some smoke, blackened and melted case, probably some flame too ........plus a horrible stink
BUT owner was able to control the situation
would not have been the same if it had been............ Lithion Ion

 

[42OhmsPA]

Probably will next time. With such a low C value draw I was not worried about overheating cells. Pulled .5C for like a minute max in two years.

The separators are for insulating the cells from each other, the layer of blue plastic wrap is very thin.
I've been running 32 of the eve 230ah cells from Jenny for ~1 year with no issues.
They see around 0.4C max sustained when the dryer is running along with other loads. I use these for separators. Arrow Home Products 10pc Flex Cutting Mat, White https://a.co/d/hmGfAdo


I'd reach out to Docan and see what they off in terms of warranty support. It's tough to decipher what they are trying to say with the excellent grammar but I did see 3 years from date of delivery... https://www.docanpower.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=8

 

[cinergi]

Look at the floor of the area where the cells were. ONE cell got very hot. Now look some more - there's a metal frame there. There's some blue plastic from the cell there. My guess is the cell shorted out against the RV frame.

 

[rhino]

Since these were in a travel trailer, how were the cells fastened down and/or prevented from shifting around? In a mobile environment it would be critical for them to be in a "fixture" to prevent movement of the cells especially with respect to each other and protect against rubbing against anything.

 

[amotley]

Look at the floor of the area where the cells were. ONE cell got very hot. Now look some more - there's a metal frame there. There's some blue plastic from the cell there. My guess is the cell shorted out against the RV frame.

I didn't know that it was possible. Thank you for the idea, I will research that. I agree one cell was the main culprit.

 

[amotley]

Since these were in a travel trailer, how were the cells fastened down and/or prevented from shifting around? In a mobile environment it would be critical for them to be in a "fixture" to prevent movement of the cells especially with respect to each other and protect against rubbing against anything.

I built a 2x4 wood frame around them and screwed it to trailer floor. I was worried about the same thing. They were very tightly secured.

 

[amotley]

The separators are for insulating the cells from each other, the layer of blue plastic wrap is very thin.
I've been running 32 of the eve 230ah cells from Jenny for ~1 year with no issues.
They see around 0.4C max sustained when the dryer is running along with other loads. I use these for separators. Arrow Home Products 10pc Flex Cutting Mat, White https://a.co/d/hmGfAdo


I'd reach out to Docan and see what they off in terms of warranty support. It's tough to decipher what they are trying to say with the excellent grammar but I did see 3 years from date of delivery... https://www.docanpower.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=8

The separators are for insulating the cells from each other, the layer of blue plastic wrap is very thin.
I've been running 32 of the eve 230ah cells from Jenny for ~1 year with no issues.
They see around 0.4C max sustained when the dryer is running along with other loads. I use these for separators. Arrow Home Products 10pc Flex Cutting Mat, White https://a.co/d/hmGfAdo


I'd reach out to Docan and see what they off in terms of warranty support. It's tough to decipher what they are trying to say with the excellent grammar but I did see 3 years from date of delivery... https://www.docanpower.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=8

Thank you I will. I will have to educate myself more about the battery case.

 

[amotley]

Look at the floor of the area where the cells were. ONE cell got very hot. Now look some more - there's a metal frame there. There's some blue plastic from the cell there. My guess is the cell shorted out against the RV frame.

I think your on to something. The fire pattern on the wall also starts at the bottom.

 

[featherlite]

. There's some blue plastic from the cell there. My guess is the cell shorted out against the RV frame.

Good eyeballing!

 

[JimmyM]

Holy crap. I have 8 230ah cells from Jenny Wu and a 4S 200A JBD BMS. This really hits a little close to home!

 

[42OhmsPA]

Holy crap. I have 8 230ah cells from Jenny Wu and a 4S 200A JBD BMS. This really hits a little close to home!

Are you using cell separators? Are they in a mobile application?
I have 32 230ah from her pretty much under my bedroom... I'm not worried.