Fire proof battery box?

[RichT]

I put my cells in an aluminum truck toolbox.

How you getting on with the truck box ? Before i saw your posting i did the same. Top balancing cells and trying to work out where to put the Fuse and BMS etc.

 

[Brett V]

How you getting on with the truck box ? Before i saw your posting i did the same. Top balancing cells and trying to work out where to put the Fuse and BMS etc.

It's worked very well. So well, I'm Building another one to double my capacity. The BMS is tucked in on the left of the box. Clearance is close but it works great. I have the fuse mounted on the back of the box, above the top of the cells. The inside back of the toolbox is covered with self stick neoprene. I removed the handles from the toolbox and have a piece of 1/2" plastic cutting board attached to each end. This gave me a convenient place to mount the BMS and shunt, as well as provide a signal path out of the metal box for the Bluetooth. It wasted an inch of internal space but I still had enough room. You'll notice I mounted the box with the lid hinge down and against the wall. It looks like you have room on the left, are you building one 48 volt battery and another 24 volt?

 

[Juan Gonzales]

I am a Professional fire man for 20+ years.

Do not put batteries in a metal enclosure. Use drywall. that is what is used for firewall and fire protection in gun safes. When a battery overheats, we get H2 production. THat needs to be oxidized pronto, molecules at a time! When a cabinet full of it decides to deflarate... ya, know.

so, ventilation, and heat dissipation. cement board is not your friend. drywall will be a fire barrier, but not for an interior source like a big battery.

I am new to the big battery world, but I do know what I am paid to do.

Hi @owen69420 , your input as a fireman is greatly apreciated.
You mentioned NOT to put our batteries on a Metal Enclousure.
You do Encourage Drywall, can you develop more this idea for us.
does it make sense to make a drywall cabinet to contain a big solar lifepo4 battery?

What thickness do you recomend? dont drywall have cardboard backing?

Best Regards

 

[acdoctor]

Hi @owen69420 , your input as a fireman is greatly apreciated.
You mentioned NOT to put our batteries on a Metal Enclousure.
You do Encourage Drywall, can you develop more this idea for us.
does it make sense to make a drywall cabinet to contain a big solar lifepo4 battery?

What thickness do you recomend? dont drywall have cardboard backing?

Best Regards

There’s a reason electrical enclosures are metal and not drywall.

 

[Zwy]

Hi @owen69420 , your input as a fireman is greatly apreciated.
You mentioned NOT to put our batteries on a Metal Enclousure.
You do Encourage Drywall, can you develop more this idea for us.
does it make sense to make a drywall cabinet to contain a big solar lifepo4 battery?

What thickness do you recomend? dont drywall have cardboard backing?

Best Regards

Don't believe everything you read on the internet forums.

The member (who hasn't been active since March) states there is H2 production of an overheated battery. This would be true for lead acid technology. LFP is a different animal.

From this page, https://nordkyndesign.com/lithium-battery-banks-fundamentals/

"The differences reside in the materials used and the fact that a lead-acid battery operates through chemical reactions transforming its components, whereas a lithium battery just relocates lithium ions during charge and discharge, leaving everything else in the battery largely unaltered."

If you want more information, start with this thread, https://diysolarforum.com/threads/can-lifepo4-batteries-combust-in-thermal-runaway-event.999/

With LFP great amounts of heat are generated and involved in a thermal runaway situation. It takes high temps to start the process. The idea behind any type of enclosure is to either limit the heat exposure of cells or to slow down the heat release of the cells to prevent combustible materials around the enclosure from catching fire.