black cloud

I'm not afraid of new technology. In fact, I am part of a team that uses
massive Lipo batteries in an unmanned underwater vehicle. It uses 2 60 lb
Lipo battery packs that I can put on the charger and forget. All charging
and discharging is regulated by circuitry built into the batteries. I can
even balance the individual cells if the voltage between them becomes too
great. The chargers are run by a regular PC running specific software to
handle the job. We can get up to a 17 hour "flight" out of our packs and I
won't even comment on the price as it's in the multiple 10s of thousands.

That being said, how hard would it be for the smaller Lipo manufacturers to
include the same type of circuitry into the packs used in our AC today? If
cell phones, pagers, and UUV's can do it, why not Kokam and the like?
Heaven knows we don't need any excuses for the ambulance chasers to file yet
another costly class action lawsuit over "unsafe" batteries.

As far as reading instructions and warnings- until the "real men don't read
instructions" attitude goes away, there will be those who think they know it
all and will of course destroy what ever it is they were playing with.

My .02

Jim W