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Charging lithium ion batteries

I have a Garmin 700 series Nuvi GPS. I also have a Lowrance AC to 12VDC charger with a cigerette like plug on the DC end. It produces 1700mA. This isn't really a charger for Lowrence products so much as it is used to power Lowrance GPS's I have for my boat, when hooked up to my computer. I haven't been able to get a straight answer from anyone at Garmin as to weather I can charge the lithium-ion battery using it. The only answer I got was the voltage out was 5V and between .4A and 1.0A. I can't even get them to tell me what the mA is for their wall converter to cigerette adapter. The Specs manual says nothing about Volts and amps in. It has become kind of a point of honor to find out if I can use the Lowrance charger!

So, questions:

1) Volts and amps out doesn't help me, does it?

2) Does charging a Li-ion battery fast hurt it? Will using this charger hurt the battery?

3) Isn't there a circuit built into these new devices to control the charging curve?

4) The unit gets warm, when charging, but, most Li-ion batteries in other devices I have get quite warm.

5) Please give me the basics of battery maintenance on this type of battery

Thanks,

Will
 
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