Bloated Batteries Pack

I recalled several years back when I replaced my old Nokia phone lit-ionsbatteries I realised that they have bloated considerably & I wonder if the new batch of rechargeables R123A etc would have the same problem.

I realised that a AW's RCR123A is a very tight fit in a P1D CE (you need to tap it slightly to retrieve the cell) & I'm concern about retrieving my batteries after use for recharging in the event it bloats.

your old nokia li-ion battery was probably very dead, or being charged inapropriatly.
with a good charger going apropriate speed for the capacity of the battery, you should not have a problem untill it is at the end of its usefull life.
when the battery no longer functions as well as it once did, replace it , like in 3 years or after 200 charges or something.
just like if you had replaced the nokia battery when you knew it wasnt working very well. so if your worried, then just replace it beofre its so bad.

For my old battery pack, I'm using original equipment only & is puzzled with the bloating after about 1-2 years. Lithium battery behaviour ain't exactly predictable given the number of incidents recently (involving primaries) & thus I'm really worried.

In real life, I would hardly count the numbers of charging cycle a battery goes thru, thus its very difficuit to gauge the lifespan of a battery.

yup
but the only belotion i have seen in li-ion occur was from something that wasnt working exactally right.
how you guage when that will actually occur is indeed impossible. but getting warmer on the charger, lasting less time, stuff like that. stuff we often ignore.
so if you cant be aware of everything (who can) then when you become aware of ANYTHING , toss it then, that is what i was indicating.
so the first time you notice something going ary, or it sticking harder, or the first time it pops into your head, react then as opposed to hindsight.

ya know, come to think of it, ANY gassing in a CANed li-ion that has PROPER mechanical protection should cause the releace thing to stop the battery from operating.
there is this pop-up (type) disconnect that is supposed to stop it if gas builds in the cell, "poly" type of li-ion or bagged li-ions dont have that.
so a proper canned cell via american specs should not expand from expanding gasses , without stopping completly, and that would usually occur on a charge cycle, although it could occur with a backlash from a improper curcuit stuff.

My original nokia batt bloated too from normal use. Guess there's improper ventilation going on somewhere. Hope they have improved since then especially now that their standard chargers have upped to 800ma from the 300-500ma models.

Normally lithium cells bloat when damaged internally (they have a very weak internal structure) or if they are over discharged which was common in older phones (fire came from batteries discharged beyond a certain point with load still on them, phones had no cutoff device, think your beeping and turning off is annoying try a burning phone in your pocket), RC cars planes boats subs all have a common problem with lithium packs being mistreated if treated correctly they will be fine also check (www.rcgroups.com)