I have preached here on the forum about why beginners should not try to make a Lithium Ion battery charger.
I recently purchased a charger and some AA sized 14450 Lithium Ion cells. The charger is specified to charge that size, among others, up to 6 at a time.
Charger
Batteries
I put 5 cells in the charger this morning, and fortunately left the room. About 15 minutes later I heard an explosion very much like a gunshot or larger firecracker. Looking up the stairs, the room in which the batteries were charging was filled with smoke. I went up and found the charger upside down, with no batteries in it. Ash and pieces of battery were scattered everywhere. I assembled what I could. The large metal pieces were found 15 and 25 ft from the location of the charger, and clearly used to be two of the five cells.
Another piece traveled about 10 feet and landed on the fringe of an oriental rug, starting a fire,which, luckily did not spread.
I feel very lucky that I was not sitting where I am now, which is 2 feet away from the exploding batteries. Also, I am happy that this was not one of my designs, lest the lovely wife Morticia ban my electronics hobby!
The charger has reverse polarity protection, which I have tested and it works, so it was not caused by inserting a battery backwards. It also claims to have all kinds of protections. I measured the current when charging previously and it was in the 400mA range per cell, which is certainly okay for these cells even if the 2400 mAh rating is incorrect, (which it is, probably more like 600.) I think I am going to get myself one of those fireproof Lithium Ion charging bags made for the paranoid.
Bob
I recently purchased a charger and some AA sized 14450 Lithium Ion cells. The charger is specified to charge that size, among others, up to 6 at a time.
Charger
Batteries
I put 5 cells in the charger this morning, and fortunately left the room. About 15 minutes later I heard an explosion very much like a gunshot or larger firecracker. Looking up the stairs, the room in which the batteries were charging was filled with smoke. I went up and found the charger upside down, with no batteries in it. Ash and pieces of battery were scattered everywhere. I assembled what I could. The large metal pieces were found 15 and 25 ft from the location of the charger, and clearly used to be two of the five cells.
Another piece traveled about 10 feet and landed on the fringe of an oriental rug, starting a fire,which, luckily did not spread.
I feel very lucky that I was not sitting where I am now, which is 2 feet away from the exploding batteries. Also, I am happy that this was not one of my designs, lest the lovely wife Morticia ban my electronics hobby!
The charger has reverse polarity protection, which I have tested and it works, so it was not caused by inserting a battery backwards. It also claims to have all kinds of protections. I measured the current when charging previously and it was in the 400mA range per cell, which is certainly okay for these cells even if the 2400 mAh rating is incorrect, (which it is, probably more like 600.) I think I am going to get myself one of those fireproof Lithium Ion charging bags made for the paranoid.
Bob
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