[Elecraft] Being cautious around Li-Ion Batteries

[Fred Jensen]

On 12/10/2014 6:00 PM, Doug Person via Elecraft wrote:
> Any chemists on-board? Curious as to what the exact chemical process is
> that causes such a powerful state change. Hard to believe that something
> so dangerous and volatile is inside so many things we carry around in
> our pockets.

Charging [or discharging] batteries creates heat.  Most everything 
[except fruitcake] will eventually become reactive in ways we don't 
enjoy if you create enough heat.  Things early in the first column of 
the periodic table don't require much heat.  Fruitcake never explodes.

I've discovered a fundamental law:

if(isabattery(the_thing) && isfromchina(source_of_the_thing))
	{
	dontbuyit();
	}

My first experience with batteries-from-China occurred when I married my 
wife in 1967.  A wedding gift was a wall clock.  We unpacked it in our 
new apartment in So. Houston, installed the included Chinese 1.5V 
carbon-zinc dry cell, and hung it on the wall.  About 2 months later, 
she asked me, "What's that running down the wall from the clock?"  The 
battery was a "Flying Bomb" brand, I'm not making this up, which should 
have been a clue, alas ... I was newly married and focused on other things.

It's like PL-259's ... if it's not Amphenol, don't waste your money, 
although so far, cheap PL-259's do not have a record of exploding.  I 
learned during my engineering career that quality is built-in by the 
manufacturing process.  You may find a good Chinese battery, but it may 
take a few explosions/fires before you do.

I'm glad he's OK.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
- www.cqp.org