The long term 'safety' of Li-ON batteries

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antoniosk

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#214148 29-Apr-2017 21:26

Something that struck me this evening.... over the years I've gathered a small collection of devices (video cameras etc) that have LiON batteries in them. As I've stopped using them, I've not thought further about the lifespan and safety of keeping these batteries in the house. Which got me thinking about the volatile nature of Lithium when exposed to oxygen.

So... what is the risk? I doubt the casing will suddenly fail and expose the chemicals to oxygen, but how long do you keep these for?

I'll pull everything out of the house tomorrow, but I got to wondering if there's a standard. And where does one dispose of these sort of batteries these days?

________

Antoniosk

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#1772695 30-Apr-2017 04:01

Spontaneous combustion is rare but possible. But not as common as the days of the X Files.

tripper1000

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#1777900 8-May-2017 15:36

Yeah, I know what you mean. I am loath to chuck them in the rubbish - a) because there has got to be a way to recycle them & b) I am super nervous about setting the bin/rubbish truck on fire. I presently keep my dead & spare cells in a an old metal tool box with the lid closed and sitting on concrete, so it anything ever goes up, it won't spread.

richms

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#1777924 8-May-2017 15:58

My puffed up ones are all sitting outside and have had nothing happen to them despite all the moisture over them probably totally draining them to nothing. Not had anything with an inbuilt cell stay outside yet, would probably just take it to the mall to the phone recylcing box at one of the telco shops.

Richard rich.ms

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#1777926 8-May-2017 16:02

joker97:

Spontaneous combustion is rare but possible. But not as common as the days of the X Files.

Happened to a trailer unit a wee while ago.
Internal batteries spontaneously combusted and the whole plastic housing etc was blown to a billion bits. A LOT of force behind a Li-ION explosion.

mdf

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#1777930 8-May-2017 16:11

Haven't had any explosions, but definitely had some swelling up ominously.

In Wellington, you can drop off batteries at the Southern Landfill. For some unknown reason, it's *not* at the e-waste section of the recycling bit, you have to go up to the main section (through the barrier arms and being weighed). When I went, there was still no charge, you just had to go through the rigmarole.

spronkey

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#1777944 8-May-2017 16:42

If you discharge them before long term storage (they will self-discharge anyway to be fair), they should be pretty safe.

Lithium Ion is dangerous when the cells store a lot of energy (i.e. charged). When discharged, there's not a lot of potential energy in there, so not a lot of energy to explode either.

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Rikkitic

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#1777989 8-May-2017 18:54

There really do need to be better recycling options here for this kind of thing. In Holland, any place that sells batteries is obligated to receive old ones. When I left, the supermarkets all had collection bins at the entrance. Also, bottles have deposits on them and can be turned in for cash or credit at the checkout. I don't understand why this was eliminated in New Zealand. I can only assume that it was the government caving to business interests. Unfortunately, New Zealand is still a bit backward in this kind of thing. All of this stuff should not be going into landfills with ordinary rubbish. This is just passing the buck to the next generation.

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