On 11/16/2013 11:06 PM, Leon wrote:
On 11/16/2013 9:35 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
dpb wrote:
On 11/15/2013 7:26 PM, patrick wrote:
As to lithium batteries yay or nay. ...

I'm still holding off...heard too many firsthand stories of chargers
overheating to be comfortable having one in the house or barn lest I
forget to unplug it.

You'd be very well advised to check into those stories before placing too
much confidence in them.


Most recent story of just a couple of months ago--JD dealer here has
started carrying Milwaukee, Makita, and another one or two in new
dealership showroom besides the Green-branded stuff (the maker of whom
for them I'm not positive--need to ask Russ about that). Anyway was
looking for the LED lantern attachment to go on the existing Milwaukee
NiMH packs I have for winter backup power-outage lighting relief and
didn't have any for them, only the Li. So that naturally go to the
discussion of same and he mentioned he'd had three packs overheat and
nearly start fires on different tools/manufacturers and they had also
had trouble with some in the shop. So his take was "don't leave them
unattended" -- mine is "not taking a chance" at least yet.

I find that very hard to believe. Very hard. Dealer's stories are
not all
that reliable. Especially if the dealer is older or fixed in some
older way
of doing business. You really don't think this would be more well
publicized if it were really true?

It could happen.....right after the dusc collector explodes from a
spark. ;~)

I think the safe bet is to put the charger on a electric timer to shut
the power off after a couple of hours or what ever the normal charging
time is.




I think the stories of Li batteries bursting into flames got started
years ago as a result of early use by the R/C crowd. Model plane flyers
are always looking for a way to reduce weight and Li batteries were seen
as the new perfect answer. The problem was they would frequently build
their packs without the benefit of knowing how to protect them from
under or over charge. Discharge too low and you kill the battery.
Overcharge it and you have instant fire. The fix, of course, was to add
circuitry to prevent either condition.

I have 2 Milwaukee 12V Li battery devices. One is almost 2 years old
and the other about 6 months old. They get used a lot and the batteries
hardly get warm from use or recharge.

However, being a belt and suspender type guy I use a timer as Leon
suggested. Not that I'm particularly worried that they will overheat.
I just have an aversion to leaving anything on that doesn't need to be on.