OH CRAP! Bet you never had this happen before!

[LINUS]

Noco lists storage temps of -22F to +176F.

Sure....if it’s real Noco.
I forget who, but someone posted a horror video link to a knocked-off Noco unit from Youtube.

I’m happy with my genuine Noco stuff, but they are known knocked-off stuff.

The one knockoff I’ve seen came in a cheap/rough cardboard box.
—Real Noco comes in a smooth outer finish cardboard (feels almost waxey), and has multiple inner cardboard partitions/packing of the product parts.

It was the burned trickle charger, so we never saw the unit up close pre-fire.
Fortunately for the owner, it happened in his yard, not in a barn or worse- out on the water.

If you get a “smoking deal”, you’ll prob have a “smoking unit” pretty soon

 

[MoJ]

I wish I could find the source but I recall reading the NOCO design was such that if it did fail, the failure wasn’t incendiary but rather a bulged case etc.

This topic is of interest since I’ve elected to go with one giant quality battery instead of two. The portable power pack is my backup plan. Sounds like I need to buy the NOCO from a good old fashioned authorized brick and mortar dealer.

 

[John the Amateur]

Well, it is a time for firsts, at least for me anyway.

The Mrs. was out shopping and came home about 45 minutes ago. She comes bouncing in the house saying "There is smoke coming out of the Land Cruiser!".
Needless to say it is my baby and I drop everything and run out to the driveway. Sure enough, the cab is full of smoke! I hurriedly run back into the house and get the keys, open it up and pop the hood thinking I need to disconnect the battery. I also open the back hatch and run around to the passenger side and open it up and .... THE SEAT IS ON FIRE! Well HEAVY smoke anyway.

I left my Antigravity Micro-Start on my seat after jump starting it on Friday and it exploded. I yank it out and immediately solder is dropping out of it. Yep, hot enough to melt solder is probably hot enough to start a fire. It is hot, I quickly get water and put out the seat then commence to put out/cool off the jump starter kit. Both literally have steam coming off of them.

Thankfully the Mrs. was out shopping otherwise we never would have noticed it. I normally park the rig in the garage but was hauling a trailer on and off this week and just left it in the driveway.

Yes, it was hot today, 107. The windows were cracked but I would not be surprised if it was over 130 in the cab.

To make matters worse, I just put new leather seat covers on this thing less than a month ago! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!

Well, the carnage photos.


View attachment 1715417 View attachment 1715418 View attachment 1715419

That is really UGLY! I suspect at some point that package was exposed to direct sunlight on the seat. If that happened the battery in that zip up holder could have gotten far hotter than just the inside temperature of the car. Think about a steering wheel or even a dark dash board exposed to direct sun! I would not be surprised if the surface temperature got up to 70C or more!

 

[Douglas S]

Sure....if it’s real Noco.
I forget who, but someone posted a horror video link to a knocked-off Noco unit from Youtube.

I’m happy with my genuine Noco stuff, but they are known knocked-off stuff.

The one knockoff I’ve seen came in a cheap/rough cardboard box.
—Real Noco comes in a smooth outer finish cardboard (feels almost waxey), and has multiple inner cardboard partitions/packing of the product parts.

It was the burned trickle charger, so we never saw the unit up close pre-fire.
Fortunately for the owner, it happened in his yard, not in a barn or worse- out on the water.

If you get a “smoking deal”, you’ll prob have a “smoking unit” pretty soon

The product in this video is real NOCO as I recall, and is basically crap.

 

[MoJ]

The product in this video is real NOCO as I recall, and is basically crap.

So is it real NOCO or not? Posting something that implies it’s NOCO when it’s not verified is how bad info gets started.

 

[LINUS]

The product in this video is real NOCO as I recall, and is basically crap.

I can’t speak to Noco build quality or the exact products that are most counterfeited, but I have their 3 bank trickle charger hard-mounted in my boat, and my uncle installed literally hundreds in the boats he sold over a ~5yr period before he retired & sold his last dealership.
I do know they were a bigger case (harder to make space on a bulkhead or transom area), but that they preferred them to the Battery Tender brand/lineup (I have the BT Junior on my quad). And those are near a standard among trickle units.

He didn’t/doesn’t BS people to make a sale or try to pull any moves on people. Quite the opposite as he always gave people benefit of the doubt - so when I was getting my Wooldridge rerigged / LS3 motor upgrade, a Noco was his pick for a boat not only owned by family, but a boat he rides in plenty if we’re not in one of his.

He is a old school fella, no internet, no cel phone - but he always did right by people under the philosophy of his word being his bond - & Noco was used unless someone asked for other stuff (IDK what, the burnt/fake charger happened right near when he sold - but I know it was sent to Noco & they said it was fake). That incident was why I know what I do of Noco, and am confident in the genuine one in my personal boat (worth more than all my vehicles) since mine is post-fire of the fake, was supplied by their shop vendor.

My Uncle Jerry: Fishing: Larry & Jerry do it again & again & again

I know Noco has been around since WW1 -era & their real authentic products seem well thought of in the local marine boat scene.

And that Noco stuff is faked more than Ping golf clubs or Scotty Cameron golf putters, big time.

I’m no EE, but I’m open to hearing if you know of a superior product to Noco (I don’t own any of the Li-ion jumper packs, so no experience) but I’m planning to buy one soon. Open to hearing of a superior unit at reasonable pricing.

Sounds like a few other people here could use the same advice too

I think my stereo stop buddy has the style here that caught fire (I’ll update what he’s got when I confirm) - his takes wiggling one of the clamps to battery post (flawed pigtail) -as the manufacturer had a flaw in his from new. They got 3-4 of whatever they have as free gifts from the rep back around Christmas. So I know whatever he has is already flawed.

***Edit was to specify brand trickle charger I have on quad, I googled it***

Also wanted to agree with @MoJ -I need to watch that video & see if that unit was 100% known as a genuine Noco. But his point about verification/sources is spot on.

 

[sdnative]

^ from my limited research a couple years ago, I felt the genuine Antigravity to be one of the best jumper packs on the market at the time.

 

[Douglas S]

So is it real NOCO or not? Posting something that implies it’s NOCO when it’s not verified is how bad info gets started.

It's not counterfeit. Right from Canadian Tire which is a Noco dealer.

 

[MANUCHAO]

Betcha it was a knockoff like mine was. It was swelling BADLY so I got rid of it, after it stopped charging and broke the connectors in seperate instances. Buy once cry once.

Mine was purchased straight from their website..... no knockoff here. ..

But that matters little now.... just glad i found the time bomb before it went off. ..

EDIT: added pics...

this thing holds a full charge..
The swelling continues.....
I'm leaving the LED on until it is completely discharged.....

 

[sdnative]

It's not good for Li-Ion batteries to be stored fully charged or fully discharged. From what I understand 20-80% SoC is preferred. I wonder if leaving these fully charged in the vehicle is contributing to the swelling / reaction?

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

damn, that's crazy

I've been more than happy with the GB40 NOCO's I have in each of my cars, but I'm actually considering one of the new capacitive jumpers

 

[mrhustle23]

But it's a dry heat? Glad everyone is OK and it's just your seat!

 

[sunrk]

Remember the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that suffered from a spate of defective batteries and other related issues.

Wouldn't want to think jump starters would have the same run of problems given their batteries are far higher capacity/density than what goes into a smartphone.

 

[amgraham]

That sucks. I'll have to check my XP-10 when I get home.. It's laying in the backseat of my Audi . I will say Antigravity had a bad problem with knockoffs.. Most of the time you could tell the difference because the real ones had kind of a grippy/rubbery texture while the knockoffs were smooth. Mine is 27 months old and has always worked fine.

I have a Noco as well for use around the shop. No issues yet with that one but it's only like 6 months old IIRC. It better be real since I paid like $200 from my local parts store.

 

[mingles]

Better safe than sorry... Based on the suggestion earlier in this thread, I ordered this bag from Amazon last night and it showed up this morning .

My XP-10 will reside in here from now on. Thanks @Azca for posting your experience. It hopefully will prevent someone else from having the same fate (or worse).

 

[Azca]

Better safe than sorry... Based on the suggestion earlier in this thread, I ordered this bag from Amazon last night and it showed up this morning .

My XP-10 will reside in here from now on. Thanks @Azca for posting your experience. It hopefully will prevent someone else from having the same fate (or worse).

View attachment 1716864

I don't think mine got to the point of ignition otherwise, I think the truck would have fared much worse. There was no tell tale sign of flame and I would have seen that as the paper instruction booklet edges had just begun to darken. I think it was close however, based upon the melted solder that was splattering across the driveway when I grabbed it out of the rig.

What I am getting at is that the what really appears to have done the damage was the heat. While I believe ignition was imminent, it had not taken off yet. I would be cautions in thinking a protective bag such as this would stop the transfer of heat, which I think caused all the damage. The bad may reduce it but, not for long.

 

[sunrk]

How do li batteries handle really high-current almost instant discharge into a load?

One of the things with any sort of jump-starting is getting a low-enough resistance connection to the battery terminals to permit high enough current to be drawn from the parasitic power source (seperate charged battery, another vehicle, a jump-starter, etc.).

 

[mingles]

I don't think mine got to the point of ignition otherwise, I think the truck would have fared much worse. There was no tell tale sign of flame and I would have seen that as the paper instruction booklet edges had just begun to darken. I think it was close however, based upon the melted solder that was splattering across the driveway when I grabbed it out of the rig.

What I am getting at is that the what really appears to have done the damage was the heat. While I believe ignition was imminent, it had not taken off yet. I would be cautions in thinking a protective bag such as this would stop the transfer of heat, which I think caused all the damage. The bad may reduce it but, not for long.

I take your point seriously and agree that a fireproof bag is probably not the final answer, but it’s better than what I had 24 hours ago. My thinking is evolving on these products and, other than manufacturing defects, a quality BMS (Battery Management System) that monitors cell temp during charging, and keeping them away from an external source of heat is key to keeping them safe. A good name brand product should take care of the first, and where the unit is stored should help with the second. After a lot of research, I paid top dollar for the XP-10 unit hoping that it was quality. Time will tell.

A few years back I had the pleasure of having a 24ft travel trailer burn up from thermal runaway on a large lithium ion battery bank. The trailer was in storage, no one was hurt, and insurance made me whole, but I acquired a new found respect for lithium ion battery fires.

 

[Mudder]

All I'm doing is sitting here worried now. Keep mine in my personal truck which has been sitting in 80 to 90 degree weather the past 6 weeks. The old rig is black as well.

 

[Azca]

I take your point seriously and agree that a fireproof bag is probably not the final answer, but it’s better than what I had 24 hours ago. My thinking is evolving on these products and, other than manufacturing defects, a quality BMS (Battery Management System) that monitors cell temp during charging, and keeping them away from an external source of heat is key to keeping them safe. A good name brand product should take care of the first, and where the unit is stored should help with the second. After a lot of research, I paid top dollar for the XP-10 unit hoping that it was quality. Time will tell.

A few years back I had the pleasure of having a 24ft travel trailer burn up from thermal runaway on a large lithium ion battery bank. The trailer was in storage, no one was hurt, and insurance made me whole, but I acquired a new found respect for lithium ion battery fires.


View attachment 1716944 View attachment 1716945

Wow! Just goes to show that these things may not be as safe as we would like. Imagine if this happened while the vehicle was stored in your garage or just outside of your home.

And to think, my cruiser could have looked like that.