So I guess what I really want to know here, is what will happen, if I use the Xtar WP2 to charge the TET battery. Will it blow up, kill the battery, just charge slower etc... that's what I am trying to work out at this point.
Just slower. This is not rocket science, though from the discussions here it seems like a lot of people think it is.
The TET factory supplied battery provides
about 3000mAh. If your charger can supply 1A of current, it will take approximately 3 hours to charge a depleted battery (while the charge process isn't 100% efficient, the battery also won't be totally dead, so for a "pretty much" depleted battery will take about 3 hours). If you charge it at a 500mA rate, it will take about 6 hours; 600mA rate, about 5 hours. If you charge it at a 2A rate, it will take about an hour and a half; 3A rate, about an hour.
There are lower and upper limits to the amount of current you can supply when charging a battery. If you supply too much current, you will reduce the number of cycles you get out of the battery; if you supply way to much current, and you're not using a protected battery, you'll blow up the battery. If you supply too little current (say .1C or less, or 300mA or less for the battery we're talking about), it will take forever to recharge the battery (10+ hours), and depending on the design of the charger, may fool it into not recognizing the end of charge cycle properly (though this does NOT generally happen with lithium based batteries, only NiMH batteries).
Keeping in mind that TET emphatically says that you MUST use a protected battery, it's not likely that you can overcharge their battery to the point of it venting (exploding). TET doesn't specify exactly which Japanese cell it uses, nor does TET exactly specify what the values are for the protection circuit it incorporates. The protection circuitry for a lithium battery is designed to prevent the charger from supplying too much voltage and current and from letting the battery discharge at too great a rate, or to too low a voltage. That's its purpose in life.
Also typically for lithium cells of
the type that TET supplies, you can discharge at a rate up to 2 or 3 C (i.e., 6 to 9 amps for the cell in question). Charge rate maximums, however, vary greatly depending on the cell's exact chemistry and physical design, so it's not wise to speculate without knowing exactly which cell TET is going to settle on. Some lithium cells (not the one that comes with the Cera!) are designed to be charged at up to 15C.
In no case do you have to worry about charging at .5C, which in this case is 1.5A. There is also no
safety concern
that I've read about charging at the 1C rate, which is 3A; charging at the 1C rate
likely reduces the number of charge/discharge cycles slightly compared to charging at .5C rates. That said, the real answer for maximum charge rate should come from TET, not from me or anyone else here. The protection circuit they use will also impact the maximum charge rate, as that's one of the parameters it's "protecting".
I use one of those "complicated computer controlled charger/dischargers" that Noah mentioned, and so I can program what rates and voltages and methodology are used. Unless Noah tells me otherwise, I plan on charging my Cera battery at the .5C rate (1.5A) if I'm in no rush, and the 1C rate (3A) if I am. Before I charge it at the 1C rate, I plan on getting permission from Noah.
Speaking of which, why speculate...
Hey Noah: What is the recommended and maximum charge current for the new Cera cells?
