Battery charger problem

[cbrplume]

Ok this one is throwing me for a loop. I stuck my battery on the charger last night. Light turns red and I think ok it's charging. I wake up and it's still red. I check the battery with my multimeter and nope it's not charged. I put it on the other side of the charger and it charges. I checked both sides of the charger and they both are putting out 4.19-4.22V so why did it not charge?

 

[Breazy_Com]

That's strange ? Got another battery to try ?

 

[cbrplume]

I do but it's not dead. I just found it weird that it would charge on one side and not the other when they both read just fine on the multimeter

 

[Wingsfan0310]

The battery may not have made a good connection on the first side of the charger. Is it slightly dented on either end?

 

[Zamazam]

try another discharged battery in the problem slot and see if it happens again.

 

[cbrplume]

The battery may not have made a good connection on the first side of the charger. Is it slightly dented on either end?

It's not dented at all. Just won't charge on that side.

try another discharged battery in the problem slot and see if it happens again.

I've tried the same battery and another battery I have and nothing. Just won't charge.

 

[Zamazam]

That side while putting out voltage, is not performing under load. I'd get a new charger and trash the bad one. Get a Xtar or a LUC.

 

[cbrplume]

The other side works fine. I'll probably get a new one tomorrow.

 

[dr_rox]

The other side works fine. I'll probably get a new one tomorrow.

What brand charger is it?
I am not a fan of those chargers that have a sliding connector that runs along powered rails.
Too many mechanical connections that could become questionable over time.
Understand the manuf's do it for using different size cells, but stuff designed for multi-use usually doesn't work as well as something designed for specific purpose.
Batteries get their charge from current not from volts. The connector could be showing the right voltage but there is resistance in circuit preventing the current being delivered. It could be mechanical resistance or the semiconductor circuit that throttles the current - going from rapid to trickle current delivery - is defective.

A few years back I came across an unbranded charger for a non-vaping device that needed to be unplugged to reset it.
q;-P

 

[cbrplume]

What brand charger is it?
I am not a fan of those chargers that have a sliding connector that runs along powered rails.
Too many mechanical connections that could become questionable over time.
Understand the manuf's do it for using different size cells, but stuff designed for multi-use usually doesn't work as well as something designed for specific purpose.
Batteries get their charge from current not from volts. The connector could be showing the right voltage but there is resistance in circuit preventing the current being delivered. It could be mechanical resistance or the semiconductor circuit that throttles the current - going from rapid to trickle current delivery - is defective.

A few years back I came across an unbranded charger for a non-vaping device that needed to be unplugged to reset it.
q;-P

It's just a cheap charger. It's not a multi size one it's just for the 18650. I haven't tried unplugging it but I could. I bought a new one today. Eventually I just buy a really nice one I won't have to worry about anymore. I didn't know it could show the right volts and not charge still. Thanks for the info

 

[NemesisVaper]

I've had a few.hiccups with my Efest LUC v4. Thought I got an earlier revision but I doubt it as the early ones slightly over charged. Everybsingle cell I've metered has been at either 4.20 or 4.19V after.a.charge.

Very occasionally I will see a cell "stuck" at bang on 4.0V and it won't go higher until I power.cycle the charger. It's not cell specific and has only happened a few times. Easy for us UK guys to turn on and off because all outer plug sockets have switches. Not sure if Us wall outlets do, all the ones I saw haven't had, just holes for the plugs similar to our two pin bathroom safe shaver sockets.

Good recommendations for chargers for the folks above.

I was using a two bay TrustFIRE (lol!) charger and when I took it apart I was disgusted bybthebstate of it inside. Some surface mounted components that were supposed to have a plastic shell had chips out of them and you could see the metal of the connecting pin showing through. Soldering was poor too.

My LUC is super clean inside, I'm very happy with it and I can now charge 26650s which means (in vapers logic) that I now have to get me a dual 26650 box mod and four 26650 cells. Sweet!

 

[dr_rox]

Some of you guys that like to hack stuff and have an electronics background probably have quite a few rechargeable batteries of varying chemistry and size in their arsenal. I have been using an R/C charger with different homemade charging bays and connectors, from simple single to balanced parallel sleds for mods that use 2 cells in parallel. I can also balance charge up to a 4 cell pack I use in geotech monitoring equipment that has been retrofitted with Lithiums over NiCads. I can also charge SLA batteries with the same charger. Best part about using these chargers is that at a simple glance you can check state, functionality, charge time, and set failsafes like total current delivery. You could also add thermal monitoring. It took a while for the vaping/flashlight community chargers to catch up with the tech used in R/C stuph, but after 3 years of using an xcharger and no incidents I have been happy happy happy.

Just putting it out there for others looking for alternatives and looking to reduce the number of chargers they need on their bench. You can also use the charger for cordless power tool packs.