Lithium Ion Battery - safety, regulations and charging

[Jester]

For a consumer type product that will use a Lithium Ion Battery (3.7V about 150-200mAh), what safety standards apply that I should be aware of?

In practical terms, if I use an appropriate Li-Ion charging IC (for example L6924U) and follow the specification sheet am I likely to have a reliable and safe design?

A quick search at Digi-Key only shows batteries with limited capacity (100mAh), can anyone suggest a source for a higher capacity battery (150-300mAh)?

Some batteries come with a built in NTC thermistor, how important is this?

Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom.

 

[Audioguru]

150mAh to 300mAh 3.7V Li-Po batteries are common for small electric model airplanes and helicopters and they and chargers for them are sold in hobby stores.
Online, very cheap Lithium batteries are sold from China and some are fakes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOshOXcSkDA

 

[biff44]

standard LiPo batteries can suffer from explosive failure if they are pierced. three are other battery chemistries, like LiFePO4 that are much safer and outgas much less easily. the downside is the LiFePO4 have less energy density.

that said, LiPo batteries can be safely used. You need to use a circuit that carefully measures the charging voltage, and shuts off the charger before it overcharges. If you have multiple batteries in series for higher voltage, you need to be able to charge them individually using a "balancer circuit".

Unfortunately, that is about all I know on the topic. others can chime in with more ideas.