Thermoelectric Cooler & battery selection

[quote author=Drew Davis link=topic=182592.msg1353755#msg1353755 date=1376514908]
While I appreciate your concern drjiohnsmith I don't think the company would try to blow me up! Also, your the only one that is concerned. What do the rest of you think?
[/quote]Sorry for the late reply, just saw this. I agree with drjohnsmith. I would not parallel Li-ion.

You can get Li-ion in two flavors, protected and unprotected. If you use protected cells, then a little digital circuit inside the cell will disconnect the cell if it's over/undercharged. If you use protected cells, and if you trust the protection circuit, and if the protection circuit does not fail, then you could in theory use them in parallel, but the protection circuits IMHO do not offer enough protection from any number of failure modes possible from paralleling. You would need to do additional monitoring and load management to achieve a bare minimum of safety.

There's a reason a Tesla automobile with all those Li-ion cells costs so much. It's not just parts cost, a LOT of electrical engineering went into it to keep it from catching on fire all the time.