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LifeP04 meltdown in a Sprinter van ?

Rocksnsalt

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LiFePo4 - Catastrophic failure.​

Spotted on the sprinter forum today. YIKES! ?
Re will it take a charge, relax… it’s a joke…
 

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Those sprinter van guys are wild and crazy, no?? :ROFLMAO:
Is this for real? Or just a joke post? Only three cells, but you can see the cell bags inside. Wow!
 
Thats a lot of damage. I say there were shorted somehow. Did the offer and explanation?
It’s being discussed on that forum thread with (understandably) a few Fbombs which are allowed there so I didn’t link the thread. Unknown what the exact irrefutable cause was as of yet.
 
Those sprinter van guys are wild and crazy, no?? :ROFLMAO:
Is this for real? Or just a joke post? Only three cells, but you can see the cell bags inside. Wow!
I just added a 2nd pic.
It’s definitely real, and it would’ve been much worse but the “Mother Benz” system alerted his phone in the middle of the night and he ran out and extinguished it.
 
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He's admitted defeat and stupidity.
 

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I saw this thread this morning on Sprinter Source, glad that the van was saved

I'm looking forwards to see what the cause was, i did have a quick look at the BMS settings, not sure i'd use those settings, but everyone has there preferred settings.

It'll be interesting to see what the hatch material was?
 
4p4s can be dangerous. Like any case where not all cells are monitored separately.
Especially with a low balancing Daly BMS.

But in this case I think it was an electric fire (arc or bad connection heating up).
The 3-4 of the 4p even the gas cap is still intact.
Usually if an internal short happens in a cell then all the parallel cells short though that cell and pop too.

So I think it was not a LiFePO4 fire ... it was a fire on top of a LiFePO4 battery :)

I am also curious about the black and red (main?) cables. Only 8 cells are visible but it seems the black is connected to the inside of the lower cells?
And the red to the outside of the top (burned) cell?
And I can not see the series connection between those two 4p ? For such a big pack at least 2 connection should be between the parallel sets (best all 4).
And no isolation between the cells.
Not the best pack I ever saw.
 
It is part of the hazard risk of DIY battery pack building, and using prismatic cells in a mobile application.

The demand for Li based cells is very high, and the ability to produce perfect cells every time is .... very difficult.
 
So, was there weight on top of the studs? That seat deck looks very, very tight to the studs. There was a guy once who laid plywood on top of his studs, and laid himself on the plywood, to do some task. His cells died hideously, too, iirc.
 
Hi all - it is real. I am the moron…..

Was not a short. I caught it as it was erupting the gasses. I am starting from scratch and looking for advice.
Where to start?
Dear @TorqueMonster72, Welcome to the forum!!

I am so sorry that your battery pack was damaged from a heat failure.

Unfortunately, I am not in a position to make any guesses as to what specifically caused the fire to evolve.

Sometimes people post pics on this forum and people try to figure out what went wrong. It can be challenging to get the exact answer after the fact, as you probably know.

Anyways, hoping you are in good health, and if you need help figuring out a new system, people here are often eager to help!

:)
 
Posting any new pictures in this thread might be fruitful, as this is almost a "mirror" of the other thread.

Every mistake is an opportunity for EVERYONE to learn :love: thank you for posting!
 
Hi all - it is real. I am the moron…..

Was not a short. I caught it as it was erupting the gasses. I am starting from scratch and looking for advice.
Where to start?

I would suggest complete rebuild of your pack.
And we make some really good suggestions here in the forum.
See the other cases in the Up in Smoke section or post your questions here :)

I would suggest first to make some pics from the whole current pack. So we can see what is connected where.
Next get all cells out. The ones near the bad 2 cells need to be tested. Internal resistance, capacity.
Then with all the good cells a top balance ... set all parallel and charge to 3,55V ... when finished then some minutes to 3,65V
And only after that you build a new battery.
Maybe with a bit of redesign like not 4p4s but 4s4p. Yes it uses 4 BMS but so all cells are monitored.
Without buying new cells you could build a 4s3p pack (3 BMS).
 
Hi all.

I pulled out the entire pack already and the supplier swapped all 16 cells no cost to me.
The original set up was to have a 4S4P solution but considering the cell series never seemed to properly hold true to each other, I am going to abandon this concept.

@mrzed001 - your suggestion was what I was planning. Considering the shit show of the off gassing like a volcano (and honestly it would have been cool to see OUTSIDE and on the ground away from many things :mad:)
so starting from naught…..

for the basis
- I have a Xantrex XC Pro 3000W inverter/charger.
- I have 600W solar to Victron DC-DC solar controller
- we are using induction cooktop
- we are using 120v hot water tank
- we are also using a 15k BTU Penguin II heat pump

am going to build out 4 batteries each with its own BMS.
I am planning on using extruded Alu for the chassis, and I have 1/4” Alu plate lying about to build a box.
Also planning to set the BMS inside the van and run 2/0 to from everything. I know Alu has a lower melting point of steel, but contemplating the use of Rockwool as a fire barrier to keep the temp’s regulated.
 
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