Is It Safe To Leave A Light With A Rechargeable Lithium In Your Car?

[ernsanada]

I was wondering how safe it is to leave a flashlight that uses a Rechargeable Lithium in your car? Will the outdoor elements, heat or cold do damage to the light or your car?

I was thinking of keeping an Ultrafire Cree C2 in my car.

 

[AlexGT]

Good question! I would like to know too, AW says that do not let his cells go over 60 Celsius (140F) or damage may occur to the cells.

AlexGT

 

[VidPro]

no its not "safe" temps of 140*F and higher, and temps of -20*F and lower are going to cause problems. Direct sun with a FLat black light , you can imagine the temps that can reach.
But i do it and have not had a problem yet.

dont Charge in the heat EVER. this would be a HUGE problem.

keep the light somewhere where direct sun and the heat are less, park in the shade, use a mirro reflective type sun shade, on your windshield, crack open the windows a bit.
get roll down reflective shades for side windows (black or tinted are worthless)
get all the Legal windows in the car "tinted" but with mirror reflection type tinting, not black or shaded. legal windows in most states are anything but "A" (driver side) "B" (passenger side) and Windshield. check your local for tint laws.

park in the garage. many things can be done to keep the CAR ITSELF out of conditions that are getting close to or beyond the spec of the battery.

or Just take it OUT of the car, or use an alternative power source when in the car.

remember i said it was NOT safe, the rest is just trying to help.

 

[Mad1]

I wonder if storing it in a Pelican case would help keep it within the recommended temperature range?

I just keep an L2T and some spare alkalines in my car just in the glove box.

 

[LESLIEx317537]

So, is a regular non rechargable safe? Like the CR123a camera batts?
For the past 2 days I've been leaving my Fenix P1D CE in my center console.

When I was into Remote Control planes, in 2001 Lithium Polymers (Kokams and the like) became really popular for electric planes. Compared to the Lithium Ion, the Polymers were much safer to charge and use. They would not explode and go on fire like a Ion, but the polymers rather puffed up like a marshmellow.
I did hear of one guy who charged the Ions in his backseat and the whole car went on fire.

 

[VidPro]

I wonder if storing it in a Pelican case would help keep it within the recommended temperature range?
.

is it some kinda of case that cools itself mabey with a piazio refrigeration unit .
otherwise its insulation, insulation can have it take longer to get to a temperature, then it could be reflection, say if it was a white case, or a chromed case.

 

[VidPro]

So, is a regular non rechargable safe? Like the CR123a camera batts?
For the past 2 days I've been leaving my Fenix P1D CE in my center console.

no not really consumer batteries can handle a lot of what people throw at them, but the specs for max and min, are just a bit larger range for most of the primary. especially when they get some lawyer in to set the range (on the spec sheet, and packaging) lower so they cant be sued .

if you keep it on the center console, THEN your car is (say) dark green, then park it out in the sun, then dont do anything to reduce the heat, then the sun sneaks across and directally hits the flashlight, well, that is probably the scenario that people dont expect , and what gets em.

 

[LESLIEx317537]

My car is Black. I'm gonna use my L1D CE when it gets here this week instead with a Alkaline AA or Ni-MH AA. I have a Gyration mouse in my car that uses Ni-MH rechargables that I have been using for 4 years now. -Yes a computer mouse.
And use the P1D CE for work and around my home. - Look into getting a CR123a rechargable batt and charger.

 

[VidPro]

My car is Black.

then your all set, untill you go to arizona, in the middle of death valley, in the middle of the summer equinox, and leave it out at 10am, and come back at 4pm.
I live in california, and the temp inside the car can and does reach 140*+ when you dont do anything to prevent it.

i checked a few specs stuff (they all vary a lot) and the ni-mhy is about the same high, but lower operation temp for nimhy , is more like 0-32*f. operation means having to warm it up to use it.

nimhys are pretty well sealed, compared to li-ion, and handle pressures better. same with lithium primary, they are well sealed, and handle some pressure. the li-ion is supposed to stop operating when pressure rises in the cell.

so other than anything possibly popping or causing a fire, the li-ion is the most likly to "be damaged" when pressure occurs in it from heat. lithium and li-ion most likly to actually start a fire if they were highly over temperature..

 

[chesterqw]

it isn't safe to have your car oil tank filled with petrol in the first place.

 

[LESLIEx317537]

Yea, better be safe than sorry.

Many people leave lighters in their cars. A big no no.

 

[LESLIEx317537]

it isn't safe to have your car oil tank filled with petrol in the first place.

Petrol needs a flame to ignite it. You can boil the gas to 140F but it will evaporate. As long as you don't spark it, I think it's safe.

What would spark it, is possible a overheating Lithium Ion CR123a.

 

[LESLIEx317537]

Don't alot cell phones use Lithium Ion? People leave them in the car all the time.
But then again, didn't someone blow up at a gas station when they were filling the tank and their phone rang?

 

[LESLIEx317537]

Pretty much everything today is unsafe.
Right now it's pet food.

 

[Patriot]

In some climates you might be able to get away with that. I can't do it here. I've measured interior temperatures of over 180 degrees before in July. The heat tends to prematurely kill anything with batteries.:thumbsdow

 

[HarveyRich]

I tried the web for information on safe upper storage temps for NiMH batteries, with no luck. So, what's the deal on those in cars? I know the charging capacities are reduced dramatically at very high temps, but what about safety. I leave flashlights with them and with Alkaline batteries routinely in my glove compartment.

Also, it is easy to leave a camera, computer, cell phone, etc in the car in the sun, which can have bad effects on these storage devices.

 

[txaggiechl]

-15F killed the AW17670 cell inside a Surefire L5 that I left in my truck overnight back in February. Something popped inside the cell and the white rubber ring turned brown and nasty smells were released when I unscrewed the battery compartment on the L5. Luckily the L5 wasn't damaged, but the battery was destroyed and does not work anymore.

I've had primary cells in a spare-carrier and inside a Surefire 6P in my truck since last summer (140F+ in the summer, -25F in the winter) and they still work great. There is definitely a different chemical makeup between LiON & Rechargeable LiON batteries.

 

[Fluffster]

You might want to consider moving to Iceland

 

[Mikeg23]

...Something popped inside the cell and the white rubber ring turned brown and nasty smells were released when I unscrewed the battery compartment on the L5...

Completely off topic, but I have a Lithium-Ion and the white part at the positive end turned brown a long time ago. Doesn't seem to have hurt anything it's just discolored. Wonder why?


As for the original post I have to ask- If the light is getting left in the car then it probably won't see much use. So why use a rechargable?

 

[Barbarin]

But.. What flashlight? According to UL Testing our U-04 flashlight can be left in the car, and it is using a 18650 Li-ION. The flashlight will stand the pressure generated by a deffective battery, even at high temperatures.