[Ham-Computers] Battery recharging

[jandlmiller at bellsouth.net]

Thanks, Jim.  There's lots of varying opinions about Li-ion and I am not certain even the experts agree.  Nearly anyone who has recharged a rechargeable battery knows that the very act of recharging creates a huge amount of heat internal to the battery, and you can feel the very warm (or hot to some people) battery during that process.  Eventually, through normal chemical processes and the heat, one or more cells no longer can the charged, the battery won't hold a charge for very long, and eventually it must be replaced.

Most of the time, when I use a laptop, I totally remove the battery and operate with a small, portable UPS plugged in to a convenient source of 120VAC.  If 120VAC fails, the UPS fills in and I can either operate for a time, or commence to shut down without losing all my work.  When I am going to be away from convenient 120 VAC I do use my battery since there is no choice.

What I am trying to do is fine way to rapidly recharge several batteries outside of the laptop, and include a charge indicator for each.

John W0ITK