I had a homebrew 12 volt rechargeable pack made up of a number of 
cells, about half again as D batteries, all in a large pouch with an 
output connector.  Somehow something internally shorted and I noticed 
a "hot" smell and found the device, pretty much too hot to touch.  I 
grabbed it with pliers and took it outside and left it.  When all was 
said and done, the whole thing had pretty much melted.  Had I not 
been around and noticed the smell, it certainly could have caused a 
fire.  What a deal that would have been to come from the office 
to!  Makes a guy damned careful about fusing power sources!
Pat, K9JAUAt 03:17 PM 1/4/2015, you wrote:
>Hi, Harvey.  I actually had two AA batteries start to get warm in the
>right rear pocket of my pants.  Reason?  I had a metal chit that we
>used to A"chit out" tools or keys (I worked in a prison for
>22years).  Anyway, between having that chit and a set of small keys
>in my back pocket, one day I felt some warmth back there.  When I
>looked, the batteries had shorted against the chit and keys, getting
>pretty hot.  Needless to say, I stopped this process and in a
>hurry.  Lesson learned. a Real pain in the ass.-  Funny now, but not
>funny then.-Matt, N1IBB.
>
>t 03:54 PM 1/4/2015, you wrote:
> >you're welcome.
> >
> >Early in my ham days I almost had a fire in my pants
> >pocket because one of those rechargeable packs contacted my keys.
> >Fortunately, it only got hot and I took it out of my pocket before anything
> >serious happened.  But I did have to have the battery pack repaired.  Icom
> >used to include a pad which you could slip into the pack to prevent that
> >from happening.
> >Harvey
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >On Behalf Of Matthew Chao
> >Sent: Sunday, January 4, 2015 2:28 PM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: FW: FYI VERY IMPORTANT
> >
> >Hi, Harvey.  Great reminder, and easy to overlook!  Thanks for
> >putting this out there.--Matt, N1IBB.