Canon warning against AA lithium batteries

Both canonrumors.com and canonwatch.com have posted an advisory from Canon USA warning against using AA lithium batteries in Canon flashes and battery packs..This is due to the possibility of certain AA lithium batteries overheating in rare cases. I would assume this would invalidate a warranty when such batteries are used. 
I found a forum post from April 2013  http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/forums/thread28345.htm  where a sports photographer reported AA lithium batteries in his Canon flash overheated, melted the battery cover, and destroyed the flash. This was a case of continuous rapid recycling at high output, using an external battery pack containing NiMh batteries and AA lithium batteries in the flash. 
It would be nice to know if this Canon advisory is due to this single report, multiple reports, or from further testing by Canon.

Edit: Previously Canon supported lithium battery use with a caution against many rapid recycles.

 

It is likely not the lithium batteries in the flash that are the primary source of the overheating.  Likely it is the OVER use of a high power NIMH booster such as the Quantum.

I have had experience with such high power units and stopped using them after too many electronic glitches and noticing the start of overheating.  Another issue was having to have yet another charger.

Personally I use flash a lot:  the PowerEX batteries in the flash, and the same PowerEx batteries in an 8 cell Photix type booster.  Nowhere near the juice of the Quantum, but nowhere near the risk.  Seems a reasonable balance.

Lithium batteries DO heat up a lot! I have used them in my flashes a lot, but when I really noticed that they heat up is when they were installed in a metal barreled flashlight. You can really feel the heat through the metal barrel when used for a relatively short period of time..

Joe

Lithium AA batteries have ben out a long time and I used them extensively in the flashes called out without incident and now all of a sudden they are a problem? This is likely more a legal department press release then it is a engineering department press release.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Lithium AA batteries have ben out a long time and I used them extensively in the flashes called out without incident and now all of a sudden they are a problem?  This is likely more a legal department press release then it is a engineering department press release.

It is what is known in business as CYA

Yup, I actually had CYA in my post and edited out since I thought people whose primary language isn't English wouldn't understand

Here's a good source of info on lithium and other types of batteries:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/arti ... ith_li_ion

Tesla has had it's share of problems with battery fires with lithium ion batteries:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/0 ... 39456.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFUNPpn4080

Tesla uses about 7000 cells in a car:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/arti ... _batteries

Joe

Stephen Feingold wrote:Edit: Previously Canon supported lithium battery use with a caution against many rapid recycles. 

Nikon used to warn about using the flash for more than 10 or so consecutive discharges in succession. This had to do with burning the front lens over the flash from the heat generated by the flash element. If I can find a reference, I will post it.
EDIT: On page 142 of chapter 5 (Reference on side of screen says 72) it says to let flash rest for 10 minutes after firing 15 consecutive shots to prevent flash head deterioration :

http://cdn-10.nikon-cdn.com/pdf/manuals ... /SB-26.pdf


Joe

Here's a related article and a personal experience by a user:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/News ... News=14133

http://travelthroughpictures.com/photo- ... bad-flash/

Joe

I have been using lithium batteries for years in my Canon speedlites (with a Quantum Turbo) without any reason for alarm ever. I use lithium AA and AAA batteries for everything else I own that needs them and have never had any issues. I have tried using rechargables, but they more are annoying than the money saved using them to me, especially when traveling and I need whatever outlets I can find in a small hotel room to run my laptop, charge my camera batteries and the Quantum Turbo, download cards onto portable hard drives, etc. I use the speedlites most often for fill flash on forest birds, so that is mostly in short bursts with plenty of time for cool down between uses. I have no intention of doing anything differently from now on because of this warning. I'm still using the old 550EX units and they're cheap to replace anyway.

While I think the whole thing is a farce, do note that if you are using Lithiums with a Quantum or other external power source, you are never drawing current at a high level from the lithiums in the flash. All they are doing is powering the CPU and the display which is a very low current draw. If you were using them to charge the flash tube, they would get much warmer. There is ZERO risk if you are only using them in conjunction with an external power source since that external source is what is charging the flash tube.

E.J. Peiker wrote:While I think the whole thing is a farce, do note that if you are using Lithiums with a Quantum or other external power source, you are never drawing current at a high level from the lithiums in the flash.  All they are doing is powering the CPU and the display which is a very low current draw.  If you were using them to charge the flash tube, they would get much warmer.  There is ZERO risk if you are only using them in conjunction with an external power source since that external source is what is charging the flash tube.

That's good to know.  I do sometimes forget to turn on the Quantum battery and fire off a few shots with only the lithiums before I notice that it's taking too long to recharge between shots