There are so many incorrect assumptions in that excerpt... heres my reply.
This is quite possibly the most retarded thing I have ever heard. LI batteries are all the same, [kramer] Wrong, Lithium Ion recharge-able cells are made to withstand the rigors of several hundreds of charge-discharge cycles. Lithium primary cells are not, they are one time use only.. by design. Using any cell chemistry beyond its design intent greatly increases likelihood of a cell venting incident. it's just that some have two extra connections on the battery pak; one is for monitoring circuit current while charging and one is for monitoring battery temperature while charging. [kramer] This may be true depending on the pack design. Both of these extra connections need to be fully monitored during each charging cycle before a reasonable person can assume the charged battery pack is adequately safe for use when fully charged. [kramer] yes thats what balanced circuit chargers are designed for, but when charging individual cells or multiple lithium Ion cells in parallelin a CV charge circuit... its a moot point as cell balancing is not needed. (I am no expert on this last topic, I just learned about balanced cell charging this morning).
A LI battery has no more propensity to 'explode' than your average NiMH battery; [kramer] IMHO incorrect, NiMH (as well as Lithium-Ion) cells can vent just as readily when overcharged, or polarity reversed. However, the chemicals vented by NiMH are not nearly as bio-hazardous as Lithium gas. are but when it does leak your LI battery is far more useless and far more expensive to legally dispose of. [kramer] That may be the case, I have never priced the recycle cost of varying cell types. Coupled with the fact that the manufacturers can make each LI battery so much smaller nobody would care about it, [kramer] gross assumption on his part. Here in on the left coast battery recycling is taken very seriously. and you have the very direct reason why your local trout stream needs to be stocked every year at taxpayers expense instead of naturally rebounding to it's former glory; a reasonable citizen can understand why lately big business has been gaining political ground over local environmental groups. Don't pretend they have nothing to gain by misleading you. [kramer] Its not worth my time to even try and comment on this last part.
