[Bennie_R97]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

@Bennie_EONNext

Not so much teaching new things. More just trying to keep the old ways alive! And a few laughs along the way never did anyone any harm.

Seeing it from my perspective for me can be new things as I may know different ways or not know the old ways at all 😅

[meldrewreborn]

Interesting video on the BBC website of home CCTV of a battery fire. It’s speed and violence is quite amazing.

the problem is that most people will put their convenience first rating the fire risks negligible. But for some those fires will happen. Just as someone wins the lottery no matter what the odds against it, so some will have the battery fire experience.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

My friend and business partner is a bit of an expert on batteries. As well as being my 'go to guy' for work-related battery requirements, he is also a keen modeller and uses lithium chemistry batteries in model boats, aircraft and the like. He has never had a 'battery incident' with lithium batteries in all his many years experience.

But, he always uses 'professional grade' charging equipment with individual cell temperature monitoring, and overcharge/undercharge protection and cell balancing. Many of the chargers that come with CCC (Cheap Chinese Consumer) grade equipment are barely capable of charging a battery, let alone doing it properly. In his experience of such things, his opinion is that the best place for cheap chargers is in the bin.

I'm a fan of lithium when it comes to cordless tools and small appliances, but I agree with him that it's not so much about the battery chemistry, but all about the charger.

Older car battery chargers back in the day were often nothing more than a transformer and rectifier, no smoothing and zero protection and just an ammeter to show what was going on. Lead acid batteries were tolerant of a bit of abuse, but it wasn't the best way to charge a battery properly. It would get the car started, and that's about it.

Even with lead-acid, I use a five-stage electronic charger and monitor for charging. The batteries last longer and are never abused. Lithium is a lot more twitchy, so unless the charger is doing the job properly, they are an accident waiting to happen with 'cheap' consumer goods.