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it's just kinda a messy drawer of batteries/screwdrivers/IKEA assembly tools/etc. We've had it for like 15 years and it's never been an issue but I saw a tiktok video of a lithium battery exploding and it made me realize, there's a lot of potential energy in one drawer and idk if I'm taking the necessary safety precautions 😅
idk a lot about how batteries work, but like are they at risk of turning into a pillow and fireball like lithium ion ones?
Dunno if it helps but I put batteries in glass jars. Keeps them from getting contacted by metal things, keeps the leaks contained.
That's a great idea actually
Each battery in their own glass jar?
Because, else, the batteries have metal things that can contact each other, no?
I use jars small enough that they are physically unable to do so.
I can see 2 possibly bad scenarios:
Tools with open metal surfaces (left corner) could short circuit a battery, if it touches both poles at once. But most of your batteries are still in packaging.
Lithium batteries could heat up and then catch fire. This happens usually to very old lithium batteries while charging. Watch out if their outer shape changes, if they start looking like a fat belly, then get rid of them.
Everyone seems to be saying this is super safe, but I wouldn't do this. If nothing else the batteries can leak and therefore you should put them in a container to prevent damaging anything else if that does happen. And yeah I definitely would try not to have metal tools banging around with the batteries, personally.
If that's not lithium batteries, I think it's "ok".
Still just in case, you should probably remove the tools that are in this drawer 😀
The danger rating to any person in your household being harmed by the batteries in this drawer is about on the same level as receiving an electric shock from your TV while sitting on your sofa.
Or from the house burning down from the alarm clock
The key is to ensure that you store any “pouch” lithium batteries away from everything else, and preferably in an airtight container and drained to 20% power.
Dry cell batteries (like the ones in your picture) should be stored in glass or plastic, so if the corrosive electrolytes leak out, they don’t damage anything else; you just have to recycle all the batteries the electrolytes touched.
As long as you don't leave it open like that. Otherwise it could be a tripping hazard or you could get a bad bruise grin running into it.
If you are creative enough anything can be dangerous, friend.
How many batteries could you swallow before you died from it?
A single coin battery will do (or at least get close), but you will die in agony.
At least 11
Ah, are you the kid who ate 10 batteries and lived?
...my council has asked me to decline answering that question
It’s fine. Even if they were lithium batteries —still fine. See battery manufacturers actually design batteries specifically so that they don’t fail catastrophically (🤯 crazy right?) but it’s true. Turns out they have whole-ass warehouses full of them.
Obviously it’s possible for lithium batteries to fail catastrophically, but this isn’t a typical failure mode. Generally catastrophic failures happen when a battery is damaged and or under load.
Typical household batteries are not as energy dense as EV batteries. And are not packed as densely such that a single cell puffing won’t cause a cascading failure.
I do recommend keeping them in bags to contain leaks, coin cells are generally already well packed, but it can’t hurt. It’s also not a terrible idea to write the date you bought them on the bags and properly dispose of them after ~5 years.
Turns out they have whole-ass warehouses full of them.
damn your preemptive hyphen preventing me from reading it as ass-warehouses and chuckling to myself
You are a free person. Do not let hyphens impede you from doing the things you want!
unzips
I mean… there’s that company big ass fans, I feel like they definitely refer to it as such ;-)
Generally catastrophic failures happen when a battery is damaged
I'm not a chemist or 'battery scientist,' but I understand that Li+ ion cells can indeed be heavily damaged without showing any outward traces of such. That is, internal filaments can build up over time, and a damaged cell can be at risk when charging (as you note above, I believe).
That said, there may be associated swelling that tends to indicate such damage, but I'm not sure that's always true. A cell with a cheaply-made casing would be a combined risk.
True. There’s lots of pretty dodgy cells floating around these days, and they are often marked as being from more reputable manufacturers… I’m speaking mostly of packaging batteries 18650 and larger (probably smaller too) rolled type batteries, though I assume there’s shitty prismatic/pouch types as well.
I didn’t see anything like that in OP’s image, which is why I wasn’t advising undue caution. Personally I try very hard to stick with reputable brands and establish manufacturers when playing around with bare cells, power banks, weird Amazon gadgets, etc.
I’m certainly not a proper expert either. I do try to exercise an abundance of caution with unknown or questionable products, damaged cells, etc.
Years ago when getting into quadcopters/drones I read some good advice; high powered batteries should be treated more like fuel than traditional NiCad/NiMh batteries. That advice has always served me well.
Probably one of the less dangerous things you do on a daily basis.
It is less dangerous than me sitting on my ass all day.
If you look on aliexpress, they sell zip cases for batteries that have a foam insert with holes cut for different sizes of batteries. They also have mesh zip pockets inside for your flatter coin cells etc.
We have one and I haven't looked back.
I worry about house fires, so I find this gives peace of mind over shorting batteries. Safety concerns aside, it just helps with overall organisation.
For old/untrusted lithium cells that are waiting to be recycled, i have a clamp shut ammo case from army surplus.
Unless those 9 volts are individually wrapped, I wouldn’t put the screwdriver that close to them. Other than that, it looks fine to me, someone who barely knows more than average about batteries.
I don't see any lithium batteries in this picture. Unless that black thing on top is one. I think you're overthinking it
The two black things towards the top are a multimeter and an ifixit brand repair kit (basically just a screwdriver and some multiple-dozen screwdriver bits), so nothing that will explode.
Only thing I'm worried about, is the multimeter of it doesn't have right angled connectors.
Why does that matter? They kinda bother me
If the leads are not right angled at the connection point then you will destroy them. Has happened to me before.
I mean, every guy has one of those drawers and I don't think I've ever heard anyone being hurt or dying from an exploding battery storage box; Sooo I'd say you're fine?