Originally Posted by Katzenjammer
Apropos battery cases...
Rather than go with a lead-acid battery (groan! they weigh a ton) I was thinking that, say, 4 or 5 12v 1800mAh camcorder (or similar) batteries in parallel should work fine. Making a case wouldn't be a complete problem, since acrylic sheets and cement are readily available. But then I start wondering about whether, clamped together, they might overheat and possibly even catch fire. Are there any double-Es posting here who can speak to the subject of overheating and also the subject of ganging them in parallel? (I jumped from p4 to here, so I don't know whether we have EEs posting in this thread)
In general you must be very careful when connecting packs in parallel. A failed cell can easily overheat as the good cells will discharge through the failed one. Only connect matched cells, or cells designed to be connected in parallel, and only connect cells with a similar state of charge.