*** RECALL WARNING ***
The battery I linked above is no longer available and the vendor has removed themselves from the Amazon store that I purchased it from. I just received an email from Amazon telling me that the battery I bought was recalled for safety issues where there are have been 13 reported fires to date, more info here:
www.cpsc.gov
Basically I'm SOL with no way to get any recourse from Amazon because my purchase is outside of their 30-day protection period and the seller has shut down with no option to send me a replacement.
There is no information provided about the root causes for the fires which forced the recall, but I am going to choose to continue using the battery based on my previous experience with observing LiPo fires due to abuse around racing radio controlled cars. Essentially, heat is the #1 cause to premature battery failure, so storing a lithium battery in a hot garage is a very bad idea as heat tends to increase voltage so keeping a battery on a full charge will compound the risk with heat which tends to cause the cells to swell up. Once there is any visible signs of the plastic case swelling then it's time to discard the battery. Almost every LiPo fire I've seen at the race track was confirmed by the owner who knew they had a very old battery that was swollen and needed to be replaced but they kept using it anyway. Another prime time when fires occur tend to be when the battery is being charged. Not all batteries have the ability to balance their cells and the cell closest to the true negative tends to get worked the hardest and not having the ability to measure the internal resistance of these cells increase the risk over time. More info here:
www.smc-racing.net
That said, it's extremely important to be near the battery when it's being charged, if you start to hear any popping/crackling sounds, then you typically have about 10 seconds before billowing smoke erupts from the battery, and then you have maybe 5-20 seconds after that before actual flames erupt. You need to act extremely fast and get the battery outdoors during those precious seconds before smoke and/or flames erupt. I have had to kick a battery pack with my foot in full flames to get it outside our pit room at the race track when other drivers left their aged batteries unattended during a charge cycle. I have learned to replace my RC Car batteries after 1 year of use because they tend to be heavily abused, however it's not uncommon to see packs last between 3-5 years before usable capacitance fades on batteries that I haven't abused.
I will keep a close eye on this battery and provide a follow-up when I feel it's time to discard the pack, I can guarantee it won't last the 10 years that was falsely advertised by the seller!