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Freezing temps affect lithium ion battery charging

January 19, 2007

You've probably heard about the unseasonably cold weather currently affecting normally-balmy California. If you're a Californian unused to dealing with freezing temperatures, here's an interesting word of caution from the excellent Battery University website: It's hazardous to charge lithium-ion batteries at temperatures below freezing.
li-ion battery pack in iceAt temperatures below 32°F – for example, when you leave your cell phone on the battery charger in your car – the battery's anode picks up a metallic plating. The plating is non-reversible and cumulative, so after several sub-freezing charge cycles, the pack's safety is compromised: A sharp impact or an aggressive charge (typical of many of today's charging circuits) invites the infamous lithium-ion thermal runaway condition. Or, less dramatically, your cell phone battery may simply stop working.

Posted by Margery Conner on January 19, 2007 | Comments (1)

February 2, 2007
In response to: Freezing temps affect lithium ion battery charging
Batteryguy commented:

Cell phones do not allow charging outside of 0-45C(32-113F) for safety reasons. This is actually true also of most devices equipped with Li-ion batteries. The exception being for a mobile phone that it allows some charge when it detects a 911 call in progress. ~Batteryguy

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