Originally Posted by
Brissieboy
There are a few things to be aware of with lithium:
- they start degrading as soon as they are made: will only last up to two or three years from the date of manufacture regardless of how they are used/abused.
- they are very sensitive to high temperature: causes them to degrade much faster than they normal.
- if you completely discharge a lithium battery, it's buggered.
- if you overcharge them they can become very hot and may burst into flames (or at least be severely degraded if not buggered).
- they should have on-board battery management.
- and there is a small but very real chance that a failed lithium-ion battery pack will burst into flames.
and there maybe more . . .
The onboard smarts is primarily intended to maintain a balanced charge state (cell voltage) across all cells as their individual voltages will vary as the cells each age slightly differently. Without this, the battery is at very high risk of catastrophic failure. DO NOT USE AN UNBALANCED LITHIUM-ION BATTERY unless you really know what you are doing.