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

[Long John]

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.

Javier, the light will survive, but not the battery

Best regards

____
Tom

 

[LEDcandle]

Better to be safe than sorry... I used to have a li-on powered flashlight in my car but swapped it out for an Alk AA one. It's kept under the armrest where things don't seem to get as hot as the globebox, in hopes that it won't leak (so often).

 

[Nake]

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?

On two of the three AW 14500s I have the white ring has turned brown. On the third one the area by one of the vent slots is faintly brown. :shrug:

 

[Effulgence]

Uh... maybe just leave it in the glove box? My glovebox doesn't get too hot, the armrest compartment is also another option.

 

[ernsanada]

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?

The Rechargeable Lithium drains very slow compared to a rechargeable alkaline, regular alkaline or nicad. This is why I was asking about the Rechargeable Lithium.

Right now I have a Dorcy Metal Gear and a Princeton Tec Matrix II Headlamp.

The Ultrafire Cree is a cheap Cree light that I wanted to leave alone until needed like an emergency. The Ultrafire Cree puts out a very nice beam for an inexpensive light. The beam is 100% better than the Metal Gear.

 

[LEDcandle]

Time for some Sanyo Eneloops

 

[Martini]

Time for some Sanyo Eneloops

Not especially useful, considering the fact that the elevated temperature will raise the self-discharge rate. Might as well get the highest capacity cells available.

 

[VidPro]

to the people who have discoloration around the vents, or on the things that the battery is close to.
i have attempted to explain this before.

a CHEAP li-ion battery will not fully disconnect when it becomes "OPEN" although it opens as it is supposed to , so the pressure doesnt continue to rise. there is no Appropriate "anode disconnect" on some cheap cells.

so if your seeing that discoloration, which is usually brown or has kinda rainbowey color change effects, that COULD be oxidation caused by stuff that is exuding out of the li-ion cell.
Meaning the cell is already open. eventually it will stink and the electrolyte will dry out, and it could become a higher risk item.

you should WATCH for stuff like that browning on the exposed metal surfaces, it could be a bad indicator. it could be from something else?

now i am not sure if that makes the cell more likely to be a huge problem (fire when charging and all), because open cells become trash in a few months, but
we do know that an american SPEC protection cell would have anode disconnected at the same time, and become unusable. wheras some cheap cells will open up and still continue to operate.

if you have oxidation occuring like that, you should investigate if there is some sort of problem, or if the cell was not sealed right to begin with.

OR go over to the battery forum here, and post a PIC or somethin.

 

[Mikeg23]

I guess what I was getting at is that since it probably won't see much use why not use regular lithium batteries. Unless your car light gets a lot of use.

The Rechargeable Lithium drains very slow compared to a rechargeable alkaline, regular alkaline or nicad. This is why I was asking about the Rechargeable Lithium.

Right now I have a Dorcy Metal Gear and a Princeton Tec Matrix II Headlamp.

The Ultrafire Cree is a cheap Cree light that I wanted to leave alone until needed like an emergency. The Ultrafire Cree puts out a very nice beam for an inexpensive light. The beam is 100% better than the Metal Gear.