Originally Posted by
fisher
My opinion that the resistance of a cell decreases as temperature increases is based on the fact that as the cell is powered on cold, there will be a smaller amount of current than there is after the cell has been on a while and gotten warm. I am sure that you have encountered the vicious cycle of a cell heating, drawing more current, more current makes it get hotter, which makes it draw more current, which makes it hotter...
I conclude from that fact alone, that resistance is decreasing as the cell warms. How else would current be able to increase?
I ran a cell today that began at 12 amps and as it ran, the current grew to 20 amps, and I shut it down because it was getting too hot. It is certain that current increases with heat. I don't know what resistance would be doing other than what Ohm's law would reveal and that is that as current is increasing, with a constant applied voltage, resistance must be decreasing. I don't think it is the temperature coefficient of the stainless, but of the electrolyte.