[Elecraft] Fire in the house li-ion

[Richard Fjeld]

Just a note to say I’m still thinking about the information from this thread, and I’m glad to learn of fires while a Lithium type battery discharges.  I had no idea they would do that, and it takes the fun out of having them.

I had bought a balance charger and a voltage monitor, and low voltage alarms, but I have made battery packs that wouldn’t be practical to  attach a monitor to.  Example, I have an old Kenwood hand-held that hasn’t had a battery pack for years.   Now, for a few dollars,  I had made a battery pack for it.

I also have CREE flashlights made for the 18650, and 14500 batteries.  There is no way to monitor the voltage in this application.  I tested one yesterday and found it was down to 2.0 volts.

(Also being marketed today, are packs to jump-start cars and trucks. That will be interesting!)

This thread has made gel-cells look pretty good to me again.

Thanks to all,

Rich, n0ce

From: Bill Tippett<mailto:btippett at alum.mit.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2017 1:31 PM
To: Terry Schieler<mailto:w0fm at swbell.net>
Cc: Elecraft Reflector<mailto:elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Fire in the house li-ion

Ditto Terry's comments.  I'd add that balanced chargers (<$20) and
inexpensive monitors (<$3) will detect when a cell begins going bad.  One
cell having a much lower voltage than the others is an immediate flag.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IMax-B6-Digital-LCD-RC-Lipo-NiMh-
battery-Balance-Charger-US-STOCK-100-New-/311592092378?
hash=item488c5602da:g:mmsAAOSwdpxUWyl3

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lipo-Battery-Voltage-Monitor-Meter-
7-4V-11-1V-22-2V-2S-6S-Cells-LED-Display-/110762643408?
hash=item19c9f7cfd0:g:GQ4AAOxyqKVRigvv

I also never put any lithium battery (LiPO or Li-Ion) inside my radios.
I've seen more bad publicity about Li-Ion batteries (e.g. Samsung S7
phones, Dell laptops, etc) than LiPO batteries but I'm not sure why that is.

73,  Bill  W4ZV