[printhead]

My understanding is that lithium batteries are internally fused to prevent explosion from a short circuit.

[El Gran Salseron]

"My understanding is that lithium batteries are internally fused to prevent explosion from a short circuit."

Not so. I worked at a company that used lithium batteries for offshore survey work. They blew up quite frequently but fortunately did not cause any injuries. They usually blew up over night during charging or test discharging.

[fso301]

My understanding is that lithium batteries are internally fused to prevent explosion from a short circuit.

Thanks, I've opened NiMH cellphone battery packs and noticed a small amount of circuitry neccessary to qualify the battery as a "smart battery", If the "internal" fusing is part of one of these tiny circuit boards, bypassing it is no problem. I guess the question is, "What's the benefit?".

If a short circuited lithium ion battery explodes with 10% (I have no idea how much energy we're talking about) of the energy of TNT, daisy chaining lithium ion batterys into a larger explosive charge would be a waste of time. On the other hand, if it has 60% of the energy of TNT...