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Question about dead space.

H4X0R46

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
So I have an E-SYB E4 charger (this is my favorite charger yet!) And it shows the amount of mAh being added to a battery. I always charge my HG2s when they're halfway dead, so the charger usually shows around 1500mAh at the end of it all. My question is this, when the battery is aged and has a lot of dead space, will the charger show less mAh after charging them? Or will it still show the expected 1500mAh even though a lot of it is dead weight?
 

Carambrda

Platinum Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
The charger will likely show less mAh after charging them because their capacity rating, which if they're still new batteries is 3000mAh, will have gone down so if you are making sure you discharge to half the capacity before recharging, then yes, usually. But I should add that if the charger features a protection timer the goal of which is to make it stop charging in the possible event that the severely aged battery is taking much too long to be charged, then if that's what caused it to stop charging, the mAh shown by the charger might not be accurate. Usually a reduced capacity is the first sign of battery aging, as it happens normally, always. (Even, if the battery isn't getting used.) It is a normal part of how the battery chemistry in a lithium ion rechargeable battery works. The mAh number shown by the charger is usually, but not always, a useful indicator of the amount of aging that has occurred. There could be other factors that throw off this number because different chargers react differently to what they monitor, how they monitor, and how they react to what they monitor. There could be properties at work like temperature, or if the battery doesn't hold its charge too well in a severely aged battery the internal resistance, or possible damage it took due to weak spots in the manufacturing process if they went undetected during the manufacturing process so damage causing all sorts of issues or off-behavior in the battery leading to what the charger expects from the battery. Therefore the answer to your question is we don't know.
 

H4X0R46

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
The charger will likely show less mAh after charging them because their capacity rating, which if they're still new batteries is 3000mAh, will have gone down so if you are making sure you discharge to half the capacity before recharging, then yes, usually. But I should add that if the charger features a protection timer the goal of which is to make it stop charging in the possible event that the severely aged battery is taking much too long to be charged, then if that's what caused it to stop charging, the mAh shown by the charger might not be accurate. Usually a reduced capacity is the first sign of battery aging, as it happens normally, always. (Even, if the battery isn't getting used.) It is a normal part of how the battery chemistry in a lithium ion rechargeable battery works. The mAh number shown by the charger is usually, but not always, a useful indicator of the amount of aging that has occurred. There could be other factors that throw off this number because different chargers react differently to what they monitor, how they monitor, and how they react to what they monitor. There could be properties at work like temperature, or if the battery doesn't hold its charge too well in a severely aged battery the internal resistance, or possible damage it took due to weak spots in the manufacturing process if they went undetected during the manufacturing process so damage causing all sorts of issues or off-behavior in the battery leading to what the charger expects from the battery. Therefore the answer to your question is we don't know.
Well this was an awesome answer and thanks for taking the time to run me through it! Yeah I ALWAYS check my batteries with a multimeter before AND after charging to make sure I don't miss something. I'd imagine for the most part that having yo charge them earlier than usual would be the dead giveaway right? The charger always seems to charge them "full" to about 4.21v - 4.23v. so I think mine are fine. In truth, it might be safer to just get new batteries early before they start showing signs of aging, I've had these cells since late December 2017 and been charging them every 3 or 4 days.
 

Carambrda

Platinum Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
There's generally no need to get new batteries before they start showing signs of aging excepting only if they're damaged, either visibly or internally due to mishandling/abuse, or if there's lack of certainty that they haven't been mishandled/abused, or if there's reasonable evidence to suspect fake batteries, or if their specifications no longer meet your requirements (or if you've just learned that they've in fact never met those requirements). You can decide to buy new batteries the moment when the performance degradation reaches the point where it just pisses you off too much, as a little capacity loss is not an immediate safety concern, at least not if you follow all the usual guidelines about battery safety so basically with that in mind everyone can simply choose for him/herself how much earlier than usual will be too early to still remain acceptable.
 

H4X0R46

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
There's generally no need to get new batteries before they start showing signs of aging excepting only if they're damaged, either visibly or internally due to mishandling/abuse, or if there's lack of certainty that they haven't been mishandled/abused, or if there's reasonable evidence to suspect fake batteries, or if their specifications no longer meet your requirements (or if you've just learned that they've in fact never met those requirements). You can decide to buy new batteries the moment when the performance degradation reaches the point where it just pisses you off too much, as a little capacity loss is not an immediate safety concern, at least not if you follow all the usual guidelines about battery safety so basically with that in mind everyone can simply choose for him/herself how much earlier than usual will be too early to still remain acceptable.
Well that's good to know, I saw someone on reddit say that he uses his batteries until they are just dead. Not something I would do personally, but maybe I'll just buy new cells once they stop holding a good charge. Thanks for all the info! This forum never lets me down! ;)
 

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