Why and does it matter

[Erfolg]

In a recent thread it has been suggested that charging at 0.5C, is better for battery life.

I have always charged at 1C, which is plenty fast enough for me.  I know that many people would like to be be able to charge at a faster rate, for convienance. At 0.5C it would take approx. 2 hours to charge, but still not an issue for me.

I have trawled the internet looking at battery manufactures information. I have found one reference to charging at less than 1C, which is "Quest", which simply says that charging at less than 1C could be beneficial. Most seem to be more concerned at high discharge rates.

This however does not necessarily mean that there is no merit at less than 1C charging. But how much less and why?

I found that Lipoly batteries are not necessarily all constructed from the same materials, but I guess that most, if not all commercially batteries available to us all ,use the Alluminium, copper and polymer gell construction. The electro chemistry is provided by Quest, showing a reversable chemical process.

Yet no one suggests why 1C is the maximum, other than hinting that a fire could result as the process becomes hexothermic. If the the chemistry is as a simple reversable process given, why would lower  than 1C be better.

The suggestion is there, by Quest, but not the reason. Would 0.1C or lower be better still? If so, by how much?

Perhaps the manufactures are the best people to ask, but may be someone visiting this site, knows the answers and limits etc.

Erfolg