Mike Walker
Contributor
It is not hard to install a master switch to camera table/charging station.
You don't need to - they're already there in the form of circuit breakers. My point is that you're not fixing anything by doing so.
The odds of any of these happening:
1) Battery explodes from charging
2) Battery explodes from accidental dead short in storage
3) Battery explodes from mechanical damage or manufacturing defect
4) Battery explodes from someone looking at it wrong
Are all extremely low and probably not that different from each other. They happen very, very rarely and the result is the same.
Eliminating scenario 1 only to get to scenario 2 or 3 isn't really gaining anything.
Any holistic 'solution' should accept that while these problems do happen and the results can be catastrophic on a boat - the actual occurrences are extremely rare. Therefore, rather than trying to jump from say a 1:250,000 to a 1:1,000,000 probability (a very tiny 4x gain) - or, the similarly ridiculous 'build a completely fire proof boat' - I would suggest a more balanced solution is to make the area where batteries are stored/charged etc. non-combustible for the energy levels involved.
Similarly, we are seeing several boats are having trouble getting a simple night watch by a professional crew to work at all (something that is legally required and well established as best practice). Do you really think rules and signatures will make sure things are switched off each night and no one turns them back on? Reliably, day after day, trip after trip? Culturally that might have some chance of working in Germany/Switzerland/etc. (y'all love your rules) but I think it's safe to say that with an international crowd compliance will not last long. Why fight a losing battle with human nature when the problem can be better addressed at its root?
(I'd imagine similar thoughts are put into designing galleys and engine rooms. It would be absurd to tell the chef they can only use a microwave and boiling water to cook because cooking oil might ignite. Rather, we build the galley out of metal so that in the rare case it does happen the damage is contained. I suspect kitchen fires are far more common than battery fires.)