Batteries only charging to 50% ?

[Sean Di Rienzo]

I purchased four brand new samsung 18650-25r's from a reputable source.

I've been using them for about 3 weeks with no issues, charging on a trustfire dual slot.

I noticed that it took them only around 3 hours to green-light today, which is unusually fast.

I plop them into my Sigelei 100w and it reads 50%, it has done this to both sets so far.

I might have accidentally vaped them down to 0%, which I'm sure isn't great for them even in an APV.

Are they ruined? is my charger Ruined? or is this fixable?

Thanks for all of your help

 

[AmandaD]

If you really did vape them down that low, they're likely ruined. You might want to consider buying a better charger also! Perhaps someone else can chime in with a suggestion?

 

[Sean Di Rienzo]

Damnit, I would be so upset if this is not fixable. Gonna have to spend atleast another 30 to get another 2 pairs.

I will drain them to around 30% and try to re-charge,.

 

[AmandaD]

You should always charge them around 3.7v. I think if they get to 2.5 or below they're probably dead.

 

[CurlyxCracker]

You didn't run them dead... The sigelei cuts off at 6.4v or 3.2v per battery. How long have you had your charger? Do you have a multimeter? Maybe one battery isn't charging.

 

[Sean Di Rienzo]

Charger I have owned for the same duration as the batteries, about 3-4 weeks.

I have tried them individually and they are green-lighting at about 50%.

I do not own a multi-meter. I am in the process of draining to about 30% and will re-charge to see if they greenlight at 50% again

 

[Sean Di Rienzo]

You didn't run them dead... The sigelei cuts off at 6.4v or 3.2v per battery. How long have you had your charger? Do you have a multimeter? Maybe one battery isn't charging.

Phew, hopefully you're right. I might think that one would be damaged but they finished charging at about the same time and are still green-lit when put in individually.

 

[Sean Di Rienzo]

How will I know if I need new batteries?

 

[CurlyxCracker]

How will I know if I need new batteries?

I highly suggest you get a multimeter, you can often get one free at harbor freight, or $5 if not. I'm thinking it's the charger causing batteries not to charge if it's all four of them. You can snag something like a xtar mc1, litecigusa has them for $6. I try and avoid trust fire, personally

 

[Jco9]

Some chargers have an option for different volts to charge at/to. My trust fire I had back in the day had a switch on the side for 3.0v or 3.6v. I remember I had the same issue arise. I saw the switch was on 3.0 and flipped it over and the charge light turned red. After that they charged fine. This may not be your issue but I figured I would put my two cents in.

 

[CaFF]

My Nitecore I4 can charge batts as low down as about 2.4v. Not recommended to get that low, but it's revived 'em.

 

[fq06]

Charger I have owned for the same duration as the batteries, about 3-4 weeks.

I have tried them individually and they are green-lighting at about 50%.

I do not own a multi-meter. I am in the process of draining to about 30% and will re-charge to see if they greenlight at 50% again

In general, the more you run your battery below 3.7v, the exponentially more life you take out of them running till your mod shuts you off. I would think low voltage cutoff would be 3.2v or somewhere around there, not horrible, not low enough to ruin a battery and certainly not over a few weeks.

The charger is giving 50% charge confirmed by the voltage readout on your mod showing about 3.5v fresh off the charger? Or the mod shows a 50% battery level or something?
It would be good to at least get a multi meter to know what you are actually running them down to and what they are coming off the charger at but then again you can get a good digital charger that tells you all that and how many mah were put into the battery, meters the internal resistance telling you the health of the battery. LiitoKala is what I use and there are some other more mainstream digital chargers too without the IR.
Personally I would put the multi meter $ into a charger.

 

[CaFF]

LiitoKala is what I use and there are some other more mainstream digital chargers too without the IR.
Personally I would put the multi meter $ into a charger.

Ohhhhh...why haven't I seen this one before.

http://budgetlightforum.com/node/29731

That looks almost like my MAHA C9000 Wizard One NiMh charger that I still love....

 

[fq06]

Yeah, great charger and only $25... gotta wait 2 weeks for it but whatever.
I bought from that link in the second post and they shipped out next day.

Had a older batt that I thought was getting soft and what do ya know... 35 IR, all my good batts are 18 to 21 IR. Confirmed and in the trash.

 

[Sean Di Rienzo]

In general, the more you run your battery below 3.7v, the exponentially more life you take out of them running till your mod shuts you off. I would think low voltage cutoff would be 3.2v or somewhere around there, not horrible, not low enough to ruin a battery and certainly not over a few weeks.

The charger is giving 50% charge confirmed by the voltage readout on your mod showing about 3.5v fresh off the charger? Or the mod shows a 50% battery level or something?
It would be good to at least get a multi meter to know what you are actually running them down to and what they are coming off the charger at but then again you can get a good digital charger that tells you all that and how many mah were put into the battery, meters the internal resistance telling you the health of the battery. LiitoKala is what I use and there are some other more mainstream digital chargers too without the IR.
Personally I would put the multi meter $ into a charger.

The 50% is being read off of my Sigelei 100w. I don't believe it has an option to display battery output voltage so I'm at it's mercy right now.

 

[CaFF]

Yeah, great charger and only $25... gotta wait 2 weeks for it but whatever.
I bought from that link in the second post and they shipped out next day.

Had a older batt that I thought was getting soft and what do ya know... 35 IR, all my good batts are 18 to 21 IR. Confirmed and in the trash.

Two caveats I see from that thread:

* It doesn’t fully charge battery to 4,2V (4,15-4,18)
* can't charge some protected cells because of length issues?

The Opus BT-C3100 looks sorta good also. Does this new one do the methods of termination?

From: http://powerelectronics.com/site-fi...archive/powerelectronics.com/mag/504PET23.pdf

The preferred charge algorithm for Li-ion battery chem-
istries is a constant current-constant voltage (CC-CV)
algorithm. The charge cycle can be broken up into four
stages: trickle charge, constant current charge, constant volt-
age charge and charge termination

Not sure I like the glue on the capacitor: http://postimg.org/gallery/12l4jxlu6/
Otherwise it's nice & tidy in there though.

 

[fq06]

Charging just short of 4.2 is actually what you want. It will lose ~0.05 as soon as you fire it anyway. Slightly under charging is much much better than slightly over charging. These cheap chargers will not be as accurate as say a RC charger so I would prefer it to error on the cautious side.

No problem fitting any battery in there, LG, VTC5 and efest purple, all with a few mm's to spare.
Termination style can't be selected but it tapers as it should and I don't charge nimh.

If it were in my pocket or getting knocked around at all a glued cap may be an issue but it doesn't get hot enough to melt anything and it doesn't see much abuse so I'm not worried.
Cheaper than the digital chargers you get here in the states and imo better.

Hadn't seen the Opus yet.

 

[CaFF]

Charging just short of 4.2 is actually what you want. It will lose ~0.05 as soon as you fire it anyway. Slightly under charging is much much better than slightly over charging. These cheap chargers will not be as accurate as say a RC charger so I would prefer it to error on the cautious side.

No problem fitting any battery in there, LG, VTC5 and efest purple, all with a few mm's to spare.
Termination style can't be selected but it tapers as it should imo.

If it were in my pocket or getting knocked around at all a glued cap may be an issue but it doesn't get hot enough to melt anything and it doesn't see much abuse so I'm not worried.
Cheaper than the digital chargers you get here in the states and imo better.

Hadn't seen the Opus yet.

Yeah, good points there.
I'd wondered about the length thing as I have a couple batteries that barely fit into the I4..both protected button-top 18650s.

Funny, HJK killed his initial test unit with 4.5v test...lol

 

[Sean Di Rienzo]

I drained one to about 35%, switched the charger to 3.2v and then back to 3.7.

Appears to be working properly now.

Thanks for your help guys. I do think I'll upgrade my charger in the future though as this one doesn't impress me.

 

[fq06]

Yeah, good points there.
I'd wondered about the length thing as I have a couple batteries that barely fit into the I4..both protected button-top 18650s.

Funny, HJK killed his initial test unit with 4.5v test...lol

Buddy charged his red AW IMR button top in mine with a mm or two to spare. I think it has a hair more than the stated 70mm in the cradle.

At least it was only a $25 test

 

[CaFF]

Buddy charged his red AW IMR button top in mine with a mm or two to spare. I think it has a hair more than the stated 70mm in the cradle.

At least it was only a $25 test

Cool. I just measured my two longest 18650 batts: 65mm and 68mm
So, should be good. If not, I'd just use the I4 for 'em.

 

[fq06]

Measured it and it's 69mm.
That opus is really nice

 

[CaFF]

Measured it and it's 69mm.
That opus is really nice

Seems so, but beware that there are several revisions of it.
(2.1 seems to be the latest that HJK reviewed)

Review: http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Opus BT-C3100 V2.1 UK.html


I can't get over how much it resemblese my C9000 though....

Opus:

C9000

 

[GrayMatter]

...snip...
Personally I would put the multi meter $ into a charger.

I agree. I have 2 Nitecore d4 chargers. Picked up for about $30 each. I prefer these over the "i" series because it tells you the voltage of the batteries when you put them on.


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