charging lifepo4 batteries.

[VegasF6]

I wasn't specifically talking about crushing, but certainly the very first link you found would have been this backhoe crush test. There certainly was smoke. The next prominent link was the results of a disassembled A123 from an RC airplane. Hard to say what happened there. The next link I found was a investigation for a Prius fire containing A123 cells that caught fire.

LifePO4 and specifically A123 cells do not vent with flame as others, I never said they do. That's why they are safER. But they can have the same dangerous chemical reaction as other cells and once it's started there is no putting it out. The energy from this reaction must go somewhere. The battery is a steel can. It will build pressure and explode. Luckily there are pressure vents as a safety precaution. Unfortunately they don't do much good when the battery is in a liquid tight tube with an led at one end.

I am not going to spend any more time with this, I will only point out one more time, it is incorrect to make a blanket statement that there is no possibility of accidents with an A123 cell. There is ALWAYS the possibility of accidents. Instead, it's up to the well informed consumer to weigh the pros and cons of each system and make his own choice.

 

[OrBy]

I wasn't specifically talking about crushing, but certainly the very first link you found would have been this backhoe crush test. There certainly was smoke.

Nope - the smoke you see is the LG Chem cell (white) they crushed first. If you fast forward to the 0:55 second mark where they crush not one but two A123 system cells (yellow) - they do nothing...

The next prominent link was the results of a disassembled A123 from an RC airplane. Hard to say what happened there.

I can't quite tell but that looks like another LG cell to be honest (I could very well be wrong though) and there is really no burn or smoke marks on any of that debris. It almost looks like it was just shredded - I am trying to find more info on that one before I comment further.

The next link I found was a investigation for a Prius fire containing A123 cells that caught fire.

"There is no indication that this incident was the result of a shorted or spontaneously ruptured cell. The manufacturer's tests show that an internally shorted cell will not generate enough heat—in and of itself—to rupture the cell." Nope - not the batteries fault. It was an assembly issue with some bad bolts and poor design choices/practices.

LifePO4 and specifically A123 cells do not vent with flame as others, I never said they do. That's why they are safER.

We are on the same page here.

But they can have the same dangerous chemical reaction as other cells and once it's started there is no putting it out.

This is where we are not on the same page. The discharge and charge of a LiFePO4 cell is not really exothermic so there is little to no chance of a run away situation as is found with more common LiCoO2 or LiPo cells. If you really beat on them - they may vent a bit - but when you stop - they do as well. But if you toss em into a fire, yeah they will burn. They would be magic if they didn't.

The energy from this reaction must go somewhere. The battery is a steel can. It will build pressure and explode. Luckily there are pressure vents as a safety precaution. Unfortunately they don't do much good when the battery is in a liquid tight tube with an led at one end.

I kinda get this for other chemistry's but since LiFePO4 vent so little and are non-exothermic I think this is a non-issue.

I am not going to spend any more time with this, I will only point out one more time, it is incorrect to make a blanket statement that there is no possibility of accidents with an A123 cell. There is ALWAYS the possibility of accidents. Instead, it's up to the well informed consumer to weigh the pros and cons of each system and make his own choice.

I am on board with that statement - something could always go wrong so it never hurts to be cautious.

I also apologize to Themaskedwolf for the thread jack. Back to your regularly scheduled charger discussion.

 

[VegasF6]

Turn up the volume in the video. He clearly states the first cell crushed, the white one, is the A123. Pause the video at :55 seconds. You can clearly see the words "LG Chem" on the brown wrapper of the two parallel cells.

 

[cy]

This will do any chemistry on the market and at any rate up to 40 Amps with the right power supply.

http://www.revolectrix.com/pl8_description_tab.htm

that's my charger....

on another topic... doing research on LiFePO4 fires.
would appreciate any hard data on LiFePO4 fires.

please PM or email if you cannot post info

PowerLab 8 (v2) Charger