[Elecraft] Re: Li-ion battery

[Fred Jensen]

Got a couple of direct replies to my "battery on fire" post, I don't 
normally do this but folks on the reflector might like to see the 
discussion:

W0RW asked:
What kind of LiIon battery did you have short?

It was a 3-cell pack I got at the local RC Model airplane store that 
produced a nominal 11.7V.  The cells were held together by filament 
tape, and the whole assembly was very light.  I put a coax power 
connector on the already tinned leads, used it on a cruise thru the 
Panama Canal, and the big display began not long after I returned.  I 
had seen some of the warnings and I had been keeping it in a coffee can 
outside.  I did charge it with the appropriate charger.

I don't know if it shorted, all I know is it suddenly began swelling, 
broke the filament tape, and then smoked and quickly burst into a fire. 
  I grabbed the coax pwr connector and flung it onto my gravel driveway 
(I was outside on the deck with my KX1 and BuddiePole at the time)

N8NOV asked:
Why did the battery self-destruct?

Your guess is as good as mine.  I did communications and control system 
engineering in my civilian working life, mainly for the DoD, and I got 
D's in chemistry in college.  [OK, C's in inorganic, and we're not even 
going to organic :-) I'll take partial differential equations any day 
over organic chemistry.]

73 and HNY to all,

Fred K6DGW
Auburn CA CM98lw