Usage of a Dead CR123 as Spacer for charger

greenstuffs

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Hi all i have a dsd charger and need a spacer for it to be able to charge, can i use a dead cr123 as spacer will it carry any consequences?
Thx
-Le
 

defusion

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Feb 21, 2007
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It will probably explode/catch fire.
I wouldn't recommend it.
I suggest a dedicated spacer.
 

Fluffster

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Nov 9, 2006
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Reykjavik, Iceland, Arctic Ocean
This is a very bad idea. A dead CR123 is not inert at all! Neither is it a convenient conductor of electricity, between the + and - there's a lot of volatile gunk that does not like battery chargers.

If you do this, the cell will heat up and most likely explode, disgorging extremely nasty chemicals in the process, most notably hydrofluoric acid(HF). HF penetrates skin quite easily and unnoticeably, even more so if you happen to breathe the fumes from the explosion.

Once inside your body, HF will destroy whatever tissue it encounters and the pain will become quite severe when it starts reacting with the calcium in your bones. This may not manifest until hours after exposure, which may be too late for treatment, possibly necessitating amputation. As little as 2% body exposure can be fatal, depending on concentration. 3 parts per million is considered the safety threshold for HF. This really is the stuff of nightmares.

Use an inert spacer, machined out of a solid block of metal.
 

DM51

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Borg cube #51
Yikes. I hope you were in time to stop him. Any loud bangs heard coming from the greenstuffs residence? No? Good.

Greenstuffs: use a dowel rod with a bolt through it, or a piece of plastic tube with some wire through it, or a stack of dimes, or... ANYTHING !!! ... but NOT a dead battery!
 

2xTrinity

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Dec 10, 2006
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Are you thinking of wrapping the battery up with an insulator, and then wrapping that in something conductive, or actually charging through the dead battery? Either way I wouldn't recommend it -- especially not conudcting it through the battery as that's a severe fire/toxicity hazard for the reasons already posted.

I'd say ideal would be a length of metal of the proper size, or short of that, find something like a plastic tubing that you can cut to the right length and run a wire through, or around, to use as a spacer. Something roughly the shape of a CR213, but inert, would work.
 
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MrAl

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Sep 9, 2001
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3,144
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New Jersey
Hi there,

I had a completely dead NiCd in a pack once and i shorted it out with a jumper
wire, soldering it to both ends of the cell. It has worked for a very long time.

Only caution here is that the cell can leak so you have to keep an eye on it.
 

greenstuffs

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Dec 4, 2006
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Norman, OK
I'll buy some spacers. I wasn't going to try it until i see the responses, i know they are dangerous stuff thats why i asked first :D
 
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