Hand-held vacuums with lithium batteries

[grumpy grizzly]

My wife is looking at a post Christmas hand held B&D hand held vacuum but she is concerned with its lithium batteries. I know all about the problems FDNY and others have had with bicycles, just how safe are these? Note I said post-Christmas, LOL!

 

[Capttomo]

Lithium batteries are in your cell phone and laptop and many other cordless household items. The big problems with lithium ion batteries begin to occur when people use chargers for their devices that are not the one originally supplied by the original manufacturer, or when they need a replacement battery and buy one of the cheap Chinese replacements instead of a genuine replacement from the original manufacturer. The third major cause of lithium ion battery failure is when the battery is physically abused or damaged eg. Dropping it on hard surfaces. I have a cordless vacuum, cordless drills, cordless leaf blower and weed wacker. I take extra caution when handling batteries so as not to drop them, I do not throw on the lawn or ground like I did with my hydrocarbon powered lawn equipment. And lastly I only charge the batteries while I am near the charging area, awake, and home. And have additional smoke detectors in the immediate area where the chargers are eg my workbench in the garage. When the battery is fully charged remove it from the charger and do not let it sit in a powered charger for long periods. I do not live with a paranoia of these items as they can be very useful. I do use some common sense and extra caution when managing battery usage and care. I will not however buy an EV vehicle and if you do, I would highly advise to never place the EV charger in a garage or charge the vehicle in a garage. Electric bikes….not for me. JMO. Stay safe. Happy Festivus.

 

[Captain784]

Good Information. I recently dropped the Lithium battery from my cordless leaf blower. I was upset because it landed on my big toe and broke the bone. I guess I was luck it did not hit the concrete garage floor. The Underwriters Labatory near the Philadelphia Airport is currently evaluating recent tests done on Lithium Batteries so more information should be coming out when U.L.s results are published.
Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired

 

[Extra One & One]

Thank you for this thread!
After reading this I checked my lithium-ion batteries. My vacuum and my drill have UL approved chargers and batteries. The chargers for my leaf blower, weed whacker, and hedge trimmer are UL approved, HOWEVER, the batteries for them are not! All three are from well known companies. Perhaps the thinking is those tools are used outside. I was going to store the batteries in my house over the winter, but they are now in my shed. I purchased a thermal fire bag to keep my UL approved batteries in for an extra level of protection.