All, What specific chemistry are these batteries? Li-ion? LiPo? LiFePO4?
The three different types of lithium-based battery all have different ways of 'looking after' them (I'm a heavy user of Lithium-based batteries, for airsoft, portable radio and r/c... I suspect the reason for the note about 'specified charging time' is based on the chargers being designed to charge at a certain rate (usually measured in 'C'... for 'capacity')... Presumably if it recommends a 2 hour charge, the provided charger charges at 0.5C (half the capacity per hour). If you stick the batteries on a 'proper' hobbyist's charger, you'll have a variable maximum charging rate, so you could in theory cut it down and leave it running longer... In fact some chemistries actually prefer to be charged at anything as low as 0.1C! If someone can fill in the blanks on battery types (and ideally the capacity too!) that'd be fantastic. As for the steel pan on the concrete patio... That's a great idea provided it a) isn't going to rain and b) there aren't any bugs or creatures that will nibble through your cabling. The conventional method of charging safely indoors is to drop the batteries into a LiPo charging bag (available fairly cheaply from all good r/c stores and hobbyist websites) which is designed to contain any fire or explosion caused by improper overcharging of the batteries. For what it's worth... LiPo and LiFePO4 batteries also need to be balanced (and as such are sold with a 'balance connector' on a fly lead as well as the main 'power output' connector. This allows all good chargers to individually float a cell or pull a bit from another cell to keep all of them in balance. 73, and a firm left handshake. John (XLX) -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of MaverickNH Sent: 30 July 2016 14:18 To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [ KX2] KXBT2 Charger I put a battery in a steel pan out on the concrete patio and charged overnight - the LED went Red to Green overnight and the battery was still cool in the morning, so all went well. The timer sounds like a good solution for indoor safe charging, but I'll still do so in a pan on a patio block, just in case... My son got a little battery-powered remote control race car many years ago, and the battery scorched the Formica counter top when it overheated during charging. So yeah, those lithiums can be nasty without proper circuitry and care. Bret/KC1CJN -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/KX2-KXBT2-Charger-tp7617624p7620894.htm l Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to j...@eeek.org.uk ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
