Protect yourself from fire
Lithium-ion batteries can pose a serious risk of fire to yachts, but fireproof charging boxes can offer protection. Pantaenius staff visited Fisacon, a producer of such boxes, for a demonstration and to hear what’s coming.
Initially, the smoke from the big black lithium-ion battery doesn’t look very spectacular. But once the thermal runaway chain reaction is started, one outburst of flames follows another until parts of the case go flying up into the air behind the protective glass. Surely, nobody wants to experience a scenario demonstrated on board a yacht, next to inflammable or even explosive material. Sadly, the number of fires caused by failing lithium-ion batteries is on the rise.
That’s why companies like Fisacon offer fireproof charging boxes. The Fisacon boxes go under the product name Raclan. They work like this: Rechargeable batteries and chargers are plugged into the Raclan box with an external power supply. An electronic system monitors the charging process. If the sensors detect an increase in temperature or the presence of flue gas, the system initiates alarms. At the same time, a nozzle sprays an extinguishing and cooling agent onto the batteries. This eliminates the possibility of the battery igniting the surroundings.
The standard Raclan boxes offered by Fisacon can take batteries up to the size of those used for e-bikes. At the demonstration, Fisacon showed a bigger prototype charging box for water toys’ batteries in the presence of various industry partners such as Pantaenius’ Holger Flindt. Meanwhile, the company has developed fireproof charging compartments called RAMBSS that can be integrated during a yacht’s build process. That could eliminate the risk of losses like that of MY “Kanga” in 2018. Delivery of the RAMBSS components is announced for the final quarter of 2024.