Lithium-Ion batteries

Since I retired in 2008, technology may have moved on. What I recall was li-ion batteries were a nightmare. 

Failures were, thankfully, rare but when they occurred they could be very bad. At a guess I would say 1 in 150000 failed. This does not sound too bad, but how many are out there in laptops and other devices? I know of at least one person who had her flat totally destroyed when she was charging a li-ion battery pack.

If abused, the batteries can catch fire and explode. For this reason I never ever leave li-ion batteries charging unattended. Assume they are potential bombs.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-63532906 .

I am sure many incidents in the past were brushed under the carpet as product recalls could be extremely expensive.

These batteries can be misused. Treat them with the greatest respect.

Solid state batteries - NOT amateur radio

These are the "holy grail" of batteries promising higher capacity than LiIon batteries and faster charging times. However getting them into mass production has proved hard. 

It is rumoured that 2 Japanese manufacturers are close to mass production. If it happens, it could be transformational. Imagine an electric car with a huge range that could be charged whilst you drink a cup of coffee! If this really happens, it could signal the end to fossil fuelled cars. I certainly hope this happens.

Also, Lithium is not an endless resource.

Batteries catching fire

Some years ago, when I was still working, there was a small risk of batteries being damaged and catching fire. 

When battery packs catch fire the result can be dramatic. LiIon batteries were especially vulnerable, especially if dropped or abused. The incidence was probably about 1 in 150,000 packs. Failures, especially causing fire, cause customer alarm. In the limit, this can warrant a product recall. Recalls can be very expensive. You can imagine the cost of recalls if you sell mobile phones or laptops. A manufacturer will do everything possible to deny this and avoid the cost of a recall.

According to the BBC, Hyundai is replacing 82000 batteries in some electric cars at crippling cost. I pity them. This must be a nightmare for manufacturers of electric vehicles.

From personal experience, LiIon battery packs can be little bombs. I never, ever, risk leaving them charging without supervision. One person we have met left her mobile phone charging and burnt down her flat. Such incidents are rare, but they do happen. Modern technologies may be safer, but treat all batteries as potential bombs.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56156801 .

LiPo batteries and chargers?

It seems the radio control people make wide use of LiPo rechargeable batteries these days. My own experiences go back to 2008 with LiIon batteries and these were like little bombs if not carefully charged and maintained. 

It taught me a lesson: never leave a LiIon pack on charge unsupervised. Failures were rare (about 1 in 150000) but if not carefully looked after and charged they could burst into fire. I suspect many laptop manufacturers kept very quiet about failures fearing the costs and damage to reputation of recalls.

I know nothing much about LiPo batteries, but I hope technology has moved on and they are safer.

For rigs  like the FT817 and IC-705 I suspect they could make useful external battery packs capable of many hours of use. 

What I need are recommendations for LiPo battery packs and chargers, preferably from Amazon Prime rather than eBay. What would you recommend?

Battery Technology

Since I retired 10 years ago, I have rather lost touch with advances in battery technology.

There is no doubt that if electric cars are to really take off, then ranges have to be increase significantly (300 miles on a single charge), batteries have to get much cheaper, materials have to be commonplace and charge times have to be fast. I have not heard any real news to confirm these are progressing.

There is no doubt that a lot of research must be going on in this area for PCs, mobile phones and electric cars.

Battery technology

Although hard to admit, I am behind in battery technology. When I left commercial industry some 10 years ago, lithium polymer batteries were new.

What I do know is that electric cars still have insufficient range to allow "normal" people to be interested. Electric cars are still expensive and the ranges generally insufficient for a long journey, although probably fine for most domestic journeys such as shopping and local travel.  I note the "new" FT818 portable from Yaesu still talks about a NiMH battery pack.

There is no doubt that a breakthrough is needed still, especially for electric cars. Until the price of batteries comes down a long way, charging times are slashed and capacity dramatically increased, we are going to struggle.

Batteries need to improve on many fronts. I am sure technology has moved on, there is lots of research, but what is needed is a real breakthrough. I am pretty sure I have not missed this.

See https://www.ft.com/content/46adb98c-d8ef-11e7-9504-59efdb70e12f .

Shack PC not charging

After being a bit worried, all is now well. To reduce noise I have been running the shack PC on its internal batteries when trying to receive on 136 and 472kHz. For some reason, the internal batteries refused to charge.

I left the PC on mains power and see it was part way through (yet another) Windows 10 update. This has now fully installed and the batteries seem to be charging OK now. So I put this mystery down to the (partial) update. Why does Windows 10 seem to have updates so often? I thought it was meant to be wonderful?

As the battery was so flat I cannot go on 136 or 472kHz until this evening.

Batteries by Royal Mail - some change to rules

Some changes are about to come into force which will affect what can be sent by Royal Mail.  It would appear that some rules are being relaxed whereas others are being made more strict and this could have an effect on sending certain items, such as lithium batteries, via Royal Mail. 

Steve G1KQH sent me this which he received from Battery Force, a battery supplier:

"From the 10th of January 2013 due to legislation outside our control, Battery Force will no longer be able to send Lithium batteries using Royal Mail Post. All Lithium batteries sent after this date, will have to go by courier. Using couriers will unfortunately increase the delivery charge for lithium batteries."
 

The Royal Mail website attempts to clarify the rules here:

http://www.royalmail.com/despatch-inward-mail-services/hints-and-tips/prohibited-goods

At the moment I'm not clear what the implications will be. It does sound a little like "job's worth" and health and safety gone mad although, like all such moves, the intention is good: to make the mail service safer.  But before long we will not be allowed to walk across a road because of the danger. 

How did we manage in years gone by?