Should I be worried about lithium batteries

[brainhulk]

Everybody remembers the exploding Samsung note phones from last year. iirc, there is a thin membrane preventing the short circuit and fire.

Since lithium batteries are in everything now, all these products are subject to the same disaster if there is shoddy manufacturing right?

 

[KMFJD]

Everybody remembers the exploding Samsung note phones from last year. iirc, there is a thin membrane preventing the short circuit and fire.

Since lithium batteries are in everything now, all these products are subject to the same disaster if there is shoddy manufacturing right?

i'd be more worried about getting shot in your country than a lithium battery hurting me.

 

[IronWing]

Should I be worried about lithium batteries?

Yes. Check out the Fearmonger's Shop for helpful information and purchases.

 

[Ichinisan]

Any alternative with similar capacity would have the same risk. It’s a lot of stored chemical energy, so the quality of manufacturing is a big deal when it comes to safety.

 

[IronWing]

Go with LiFePO4 batteries instead. They are a bit heavier but don't have the thermal runaway problems.

 

[iroast]

Go with LiFePO4 batteries instead. They are a bit heavier but don't have the thermal runaway problems.

Nice! However, those batteries aren't as dense as Li batteries. LiFePO4 18650's highest capacity currently is @1500mAh vs @3500mAh for Li ones. The nice thing about LiFePO4 is high temperature application like dashcams for really hot summers.

 

[ctbaars]

Yes. Absolutely.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6134a1.htm
They are like candy.

 

[zinfamous]

Well they are much safer to lick than the classic alkaline 9-volts, and generally more rewarding.

 

[IronWing]

Well they are much safer to lick than the classic alkaline 9-volts, and generally more rewarding.

<ouch>
Why you lie?

 

[bradly1101]

I have concerns too; we have seen so many unrelated smoking/fires, but they are unavoidable if you want modern, portable electronics.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Nice! However, those batteries aren't as dense as Li batteries. LiFePO4 18650's highest capacity currently is @1500mAh vs @3500mAh for Li ones. The nice thing about LiFePO4 is high temperature application like dashcams for really hot summers.

If you have the space and application for them, the LIFEPO4, 15AH 40152 from headway are nice batteries.
Can charge them with 10A without an issue. Manufacturer states that 3C is possible (45A).
These batteries can deliver 150A and more when shorted, so be careful with these batteries.
Never connect a depleted one and a full one together, fuses inline will highly likely burn out.

We use them for our customer projects.

 

[Elixer]

Everybody remembers the exploding Samsung note phones from last year. iirc, there is a thin membrane preventing the short circuit and fire.

Since lithium batteries are in everything now, all these products are subject to the same disaster if there is shoddy manufacturing right?

It isn't about them just exploding, they also swell, and can ruin the seal or make things bulge.
And once they start to bulge out, they can easily break loose from the holder.

"Regular" batteries can also ruin stuff as well when they start to leak, and you get battery acid all over.

 

[Exterous]

<ouch>
Why you lie?

Judging by all the whips, chains and clamps in his house his idea of 'rewarding' might be different than yours

 

[thebestMAX]

My only worry is that the airline security checkers are going to glom onto this and start confiscating extra camera and flashlight batteries. Some of those are expensive and some agents have never seen anything but aa,aaa,c and d cells. Freak out at 123s.

 

[Red Squirrel]

In general good quality 18650's or similar form factor cells are fairly safe, it's the lipos that sometimes worry me as they keep trying to make devices thinner and thinner and that is pushing the tech beyond what is reasonable. I don't understand this obsession with making stuff so thin. Anything under like 1cm is diminishing returns really. I'd rather have a thicker device with more IO ports and a bigger battery. Especially a laptop. A phone I can sorta understand, but even then. That said, safety wise it's been pretty good other than the oddball incidents like the Note 7. That was not really related to thinness just some kind of fault where it would short out.

I think they should just start putting class D extinguishers on planes and even in schools/office buildings for when someone's device decides to Allah Akbar itself.

On the other hand vapes are probably more dangerous in general and use 18650's, but lot of people get the batteries off Amazon/Ebay and they are fakes are sometimes more dangerous, then they are putting in coils that are a fraction of an ohm, which is basically a short circuit. Yeah, it's going to explode.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

With the current recommendations for banning Lithium ion battery powered electronics from the cargo hold of planes I wonder why they think it is safer in the passenger cabin of the plane. It isn't like seats have the means to put the exploding or on-fire Li batteries out.

 

[Alee McNally]

I don't think there will be anything large enough in the cabin to cause a major problem. The largest electronic item you can carry on is a laptop, correct?
You'll be ok.✈

 

[Red Squirrel]

TBH I'm surprised they don't have an outright ban on them already. The government tends to be very quick at banning stuff. You can't even bring WATER on a plane. Though lithium ion battery explosions are not so much an issue with the tech, but an issue with the race to the bottom. Every company tries to find every place to cut corners to make stuff cheaper and cheaper and often they cut corners on safety because it's something you don't really notice until it goes wrong, and often times they are lucky enough that it never does.