Al, you really need to stop worrying about nothing all the time
Hello Nigel,
It is becoming clear to me that you and i come from different walks of life. You are happy with some things that i am not happy with. In particular, i come from a place where at one time i needed to know where every electron was in a given circuit for example, where most of the time we dont need this information, we just need a basic measurement like for current. If we measure 1.0 amps and it's really 1.01 amps, most of the time we dont care. But sometimes we do, and i like to dig deeper. What is causing that extra 10ma? Sometimes it matters, sometimes it doesnt, but i prefer not to use a blanket policy for everything where i ignore certain details just so it makes it easier.
There two ways of looking at science and the practical. One is to look deeply into the details, so every 1 nano amp out of 10 amps might matter, and the other is to skip over that extra nano amp. Most of the time we dont need to know that, but in science sometimes the details tells a more complete story of what is happening. A notable case is GSP where the frequency reference has to be precise, and the small details of relativity theory have to be taken into account in order to get the required accuracy on position measurements on the earth.
But even for lack of agreement on this or that, we still should have respect for one another. Enough to recognize that if someone brings up a question or an answer and that person has proven in the past to find answers to questions that were pressing at the moment for hundreds or even thousands of other people, that there is most likely something to this or at the very least, the *possibility* that there could be something to this. If it turned out that there was a little something to it, then it would add to all of our knowledge in the field. If it turned out that there was absolutely nothing to it, then nothing's really lost.
What surprises me is that for someone that has proven in the past to find good answers to problems that their opinion should be counted as so seemingly little. That kind of attitude can be counter productive in that the one that ignores the reasoning may look like the one that isnt quite paying enough attention
You may want to note the other responses too, as some of them were quite intelligent as you can plainly see. So some people must have had the same thoughts, and as i look around on the web i see a similar situation...where some people were questioning the possibility that one type of metal might cause a problem were another type might not.
It might also interest you to know that i have purchased wire from a no so reputable source, and that wire was very high in resistance and even would not solder properly. So you see what can happen. It was mentioned that it could be copper plated wire, because it looked copper but it could not have been very good quality copper. That was the first time that i remember getting something i could call 'bad' wire.
You might also remember the RTC battery issue in the past. Many people seem to agree that an Li-ion battery should not be charged above the recommended voltage for at the very least reason that it would ruin the battery. Many sites also note that it is dangerous to charge above the recommended max voltage.
So my choices are:
1. Go ahead and charge above the max voltage anyway despite all the warnings on the web, or
2. Make darn sure that the voltage doesnt go above 4.2 volts.
Since #2 surely is not that hard anyway, i chose not to take a chance on stressing the part and i believe that is the most reasonable, as do others who know a lot about these kinds of batteries.