Electronic – How hot can a lithium ion battery safely get while charging

charginglithium ionsafetytemperature

How hot can a lithium ion battery safely get while charging? I've found some references to 113F, but I know a lot of batteries used in cell phones get a lot hotter than 113F. I measured 140F on my Galaxy S4 while it was charging up from a fully discharged battery. On the other hand, Samsung is currently exploding batteries with their Note 7, so cell phone manufactures may not be the best reference.

Is 113F the max ambient temperature for charging lithium ion batteries? In that case, what's the recommended max temperature for a battery pack itself?

Best Answer

There is not good/bad, probably that 113 F (45 C) is probably on the conservative and safe side.

Being able to charge a phone quickly is a selling point so Samsung probably deliberately allows for a higher temperature before the charging rate is decreased.

A higher temperature decreases the lifetime of the battery.

Samsung choose their optimum balance between battery charging time, safety and lifetime.

Your choice might be different dependent on the application. If a long charging time is not an issue then that 113 F is probably fine.

And as mentioned in the comments: read the datasheet