Lithium batteries are a fire risk. Avoiding the risk is not exactly foolproof. I would not want to have one of those explosions like happened in the police car happen in my car, especially if was driving at the time. The thing I worry about the most is having one bad cell in a group of four that gets into a reverse polarity. I am not sure what happens, but I heard it is bad and the problem can happen from mixing up batteries or having bad connections between batteries and the light. I don’t know if a pipe bomb is a realistic result but if it happened in the light I am sitting on or is sitting in my leg in my pocket, it could get get a little ouchy. It also is true that for every real incident involving a lithium ion battery gone wrong, there are 50 articles and videos of experiments to start fires with these things, which unintentionally show that that these things are difficult to make a fire with. The video I just watched for example started a fire by putting 220 volts onto a lithium ion battery. Ok, note to self, do not plug lithium battery into outlet for the kitchen oven or the dryer. And then for each of those contrived demonstrations, there are 700 articles and forum posts warning us like our whiney grandmothers to be careful and making it seem like these things are filled with nitroglycerin, ready to explode at the slightest shock, instead of lithium ion juice.
Even though the lights will not blind anyone, I guess, blasting the light into oncoming cars from the side of the road is a dangerous move. That explosion in the police car shows what can happen, albeit rare.
My first response to this thread was to want to accuse the thread starter of being an overweight soccer mom who was a victim of sexual assault when she was a child, projecting her irrational fear of everything fun into our innocent hobby. Upon further review, I think a continuing emphasis on safety is warranted. I don’t want to see us become pussified, but it is true these devices need to be respected to avoid losses no one would want especially if a tiny bit of prudence could have prevented it.
As long as we keep the prudence tiny, I am in favor of this discussion.
Good topic