Safe Litium Ion Charger?

Ok I have been doing some reading and now find myself in a state of house burning down paranoia.

Been reading charger reviews on the flashlight forums about chargers like the Ultrafire and trustfire models and that they are overcharging battery cells by like .05V (Up to 4.25 instead of cutting out at 4.2V flat) which I would not think to be too much but according to the reviews this could result in ventfireboom.

What do you guys use to recharge and do you let them run over night or do you sit on top of them with a multimeter till they finish?

I was going to use 18650s and let them go overnight or allow them to charge while I was @ work but this has got me worried that I will return home to a burnt down memory.

 

Me being a single full time father.Made it a rule of thumb when i started vaping with Mods.Never leave the house or go to bed with a charger plugged in! Why take the chance?

 

I hear what you are saying. But I am sure that I will forget from time to time to pull them of the charger.

Maybe if I set them up on a timer, I have a few around here I used to use to turn on and off my aquarium lights. just set it to turn off at say 11PM? Will charging a battery half way today and finishing the charge tomorrow hurt the battery?

18650s will take a bit of time to charge.

 

Well, besides a good charger make sure you also got good batts. Especially if they are the one to stay in the charger overnight.
If you want a better quality charged at a still affordable price try the PILA IBCT charger.
Im sure you ve seen a few reviews on those while on flashlight forums.

Ha ha and a cool idea on the timer!

 

yeah I am getting all my gear from madvapes, Trustfire 14500 protected and a Trustfire tr-001.

 

Hoyt,
I use the WF-139 UltraFire charger to charge my 18650's and notice that turning the charger on it's side does help keep it a lot cooler. I don't know if this will prevent the batteries from catching fire but I do know it does cut down on the heat build up a lot. I charge batteries while I am at the computer and usually keep my eye on them the entire time periodically checking the warmth of the batteries itself. The batteries I use are the AW's, TrustFire red and black, UltraFire 3000mah and all of them seem to cut off at 4.17-4.19 volts so I assume the protective circuit is working.

One thing I have noticed though is the charging times can vary from 1-5 hours depending how little charge was left or how many batteries I have on the charger. That is why I sometimes have to turn off charger and resume charging at a later time so I too am unsure if this will decrease the life of the lithium cells but so far after about 40 days of use, all the batteries seem to be fine.

A timer could also be prone to fail and the one I use for my Christmas tree lights has failed to turn off many times. I would rather risk shortening battery life just because the batteries are so cheap in comparison to risking an explosion so, I say just charge them when you have the time to keep an eye on them.

Aloha, Keith

 

I believe I will monitor them but keep them set up on a timer as well. The timer I used has never failed me in the 5+ years I have been using it. It is a digital system with a multitude of programing options.

 

First off how good is your meter? Unless it's an expensive Fluke it will be off by at least .05V anyway. But in which direction? If 4.25V is a totally accurate reading it's no big deal. You'll probably be cutting the longevity a bit but it's not going to blow up at that voltage. Does it feel warm to hot? The problem with those cheap ass chargers is they go into melt-down taking the battery with them.

The timer is a good idea, I use one. It's also best to keep the batts 'topped off', they will last a bit longer that way (charge cycles) if not totally drained each time.

 

Well I have a decent meter (have never tested it against a fluke though) but I do not have my charger and batteries yet. I am simply getting input from the vapers here concerning what I have read on other forums that use these type batteries and chargers.

I do not plan on draining them, I figured I would come home and swap out batteries and charge them while I was sitting here at the house.

Pretty sure that 900mAh will get me through a workday pretty easily.

And once I get the parts left on my parts needed list for my copper pipe, I will be trying out 6V via some RCR123 3Vs

 

If you are a Joye 510 user and go with the Tenergy 3V Li-PO's you can expect a loaded voltage of 5.18V with a fresh charge. Within a few minutes you'll drop below 5V. That's actually a good thing as you can use standard atties.

My 18650/2 Li-PO copper pipe mod was one of the simplest mods I made. It is hard to keep shiny though. Works like a champ.



Note I got big hands, it's about 4 1/2" long.

 

got my 2 14500s and my charger and the charger reads 4.25 unloaded and reads 4.23-4.25 when the batteries are charged.

There is really no heat to speak of. Once the batteries are puled of the charger they read 4.23-4.25 as well. So I am satisfied that this is a safe charger for now. I will continue to re-evaluate it for a month and periodically after that and we will see if there is any degredation in the charging circuitry.

I will be gettting some 18650s next and finish my pipe mod. As far as charging CR2s and 123 that are 3.0V I will guess a different charger is needed? as this one is 3.7. any suggestions?