Charging Batteries in Multiple Sessions ???

[robtest]

So I just got some big ole 26650 batteries and have used 18350s and 18650s for most of my 2 year vaping career ...

I really love the recharge on the 18350s cause I can throw them in the charger when I get home from work and they are recharged before bedtime.

The 18650s take much more time, like ~6-8 hours in my charger, the 26650s even longer...

Now I have heard terms like battery memory, and know they have a lifetime of XXX number of recharge cycles.

What would be the ramifications of charging up these big batteries over 2 or 3 evenings???

I don't want to do unsupervised charging. I have a played with rc airplanes and had a cheap chinese 750mah 7v battery flame out on me (don't try this at home, almost like magnesium burning...)

If I charged the batteries for 3 hours one night, 3 hours the next, and then topped it off on the 3rd day, would that count as 3 recharge cycles or only one (considering it charging bottom to top) ???

 

[jae]

Supposedly these modern IMRs don't have memory, or it has a negligible effect. Really, what you want to think about are charging cycles over the lifetime of the battery.

http://lifehacker.com/5875162/how-often-should-i-charge-my-gadgets-battery-to-prolong-its-lifespan

 

[robtest]

thanks, exactly what I was needing...

 

[YardByrd]

CAW! My ongoing study of batteries and their chemistries indicates that due to battery chemistry, esp. LI-ION batteries, may actually lose some charging capacity (the actual area that stores charge) if they are not recharged properly, i.e., one charging session. About one year ago I started resting all batteries (one hour before charging and one hour after charging standing upright) before use. This seemed to improve my 18650s. Once again, it is due to battery chemistry, that I leave them standing upright. I also store batteries, in plastic cases, standing upright. I hope this gives you some food for thought regarding the chemistry of the batteries you use. If you pay attention you will see there are various battery chemistries avaialble. CAW!

 

[MrScaryZ]

Robrest as Bugout said due you need to get a good charger man I use the Xtar VP1 but to each his own but whatever you are using is very very slow
Some professional level RC Chargers can charge batteries in no time but they have all kinds of crazy processing ability. I have one but its too much of a hastle to run the leads to a battery box etc,,, I myself would recommend the Xtar its been shown over time that charing LI-ion to 4.19 volts extends life also the Xtar has a boost function to revive (Some dead batteries) Good luck

 

[robtest]

I am using the Nitecore Intellicharger I4 for last week or so, I had one of the little "standard" Trustfire 2 bay chargers before... I have a fancy rc battery charger, but not sure that it will do a 1 cell battery... Plus attaching it to an ecig mod battery would be tricky since I don't have a bay type enclosure...

 

[MrScaryZ]

So I just got some big ole 26650 batteries and have used 18350s and 18650s for most of my 2 year vaping career ...

I really love the recharge on the 18350s cause I can throw them in the charger when I get home from work and they are recharged before bedtime.

The 18650s take much more time, like ~6-8 hours in my charger, the 26650s even longer...

Now I have heard terms like battery memory, and know they have a lifetime of XXX number of recharge cycles.

What would be the ramifications of charging up these big batteries over 2 or 3 evenings???

I don't want to do unsupervised charging. I have a played with rc airplanes and had a cheap chinese 750mah 7v battery flame out on me (don't try this at home, almost like magnesium burning...)

If I charged the batteries for 3 hours one night, 3 hours the next, and then topped it off on the 3rd day, would that count as 3 recharge cycles or only one (considering it charging bottom to top) ???

I have a question with the Nitecores how many 18650's are you charging at a time the only way to get 1amp charge rate with them is to use either the two inner or two outer bays if you put them side by side you will be charging at I believe its .5 amp (500Mah) just a FYI if I am wrong someone chip in but that explains your long charge times... To answer you question about memory. Li-ion do not have memory like the old Nicads think of your cell phone for example sometimes we charge it a bit other times we do a ful charge I just let my Iphone 5S totally die on accident and she charged right up I would not worry at all about this... Now the one thing about Li-ion batteries is if they get to low and this depends on the battery some say 2.5v for exaple they may appear not to charge anymore most of the better chargers have a boost circuit that will (sometimes) bring them back to life... so IMHO never ever let you Li-ion batteries for mods get totally dead according to whatever Mod I change them way before they get that low ... Hope this helps Now the LUC charge can charge at 2Amps and the xtar at 1amp in each bay I have all of them your nitecore included and I see the Xtar charging more consistency and faster and the batteries do not heat up as much as on t he Nitecore this is from my experience and open to debate of course

 

[jae]

I have a question with the Nitecores how many 18650's are you charging at a time the only way to get 1amp charge rate with them is to use either the two inner or two outer bays if you put them side by side you will be charging at I believe its .5 amp (500Mah) just a FYI if I am wrong someone chip in but that explains your long charge times... To answer you question about memory. Li-ion do not have memory like the old Nicads think of your cell phone for example sometimes we charge it a bit other times we do a ful charge I just let my Iphone 5S totally die on accident and she charged right up I would not worry at all about this... Now the one thing about Li-ion batteries is if they get to low and this depends on the battery some say 2.5v for exaple they may appear not to charge anymore most of the better chargers have a boost circuit that will (sometimes) bring them back to life... so IMHO never ever let you Li-ion batteries for mods get totally dead according to whatever Mod I change them way before they get that low ... Hope this helps Now the LUC charge can charge at 2Amps and the xtar at 1amp in each bay I have all of them your nitecore included and I see the Xtar charging more consistency and faster and the batteries do not heat up as much as on t he Nitecore this is from my experience and open to debate of course

On my i4 i think it's every other slot are paired, so you want to charge the same type of battery in them.

 

[robtest]

Nitecore Intelligent I4 charger manual:
http://www.euroled.it/files/I4-charger_UserManuals.pdf

Highlights:

Each of the i4’s four microcomputer-controlled charging slots is capable of monitoring and charging batteries independently

Capable of charging 4 batteries simultaneously ·Each of the four battery slots monitors and charges independently.

Note: When four batteries are charged at the same time, each charging slot will receive a maximum output current of 375mA. When one or two batteries are charged, each slot will receive a maximum output current of 750mA.

The i4 features four charging slots, with each slot able to charge batteries independently. Rechargeable batteries of differing chemistries and voltages may be charged simultaneously using 1, 2, 3 or 4 of the charging slots

 

[GargoyleK1]

I still have yet to understand why "these" batteries seem to be such a big deal when charging. I have seen ONE youtube video where the battery was purposfully bypassed and it took a good 15 or so minutes for it to fail.. Which of course would be next to impossible to do on a charger.

So please excuse me but I have charged high output RC batteries, car batteries, truck batteries, bus batteries, NiCad batteries, Lithium batteries, smart car batteries, Hybrid batteries, and pretty much anything else you could imagine… And I have yet to see why these particular batteries generate such fear.

Does anyone have a "real" example… Personal example… Not some regurgitated crap story with no proof that these batteries are in any way more dangerous than any other battery? And no telling me you bought a shit battery, gave it to your toothless cousin which got drunk and superglued his fire button on then passed out and blew up half of hic ville doesn't count..

Just a real example of how these "vape" batteries are more dangerous than the flashlights they originally came out of?? Oh yeah.. I have flashlights with these exact batteries in them that I have had for years… I charge them all the time unattended.. Yeah… I'm CRAZY!!!! LOL

 

[1truk]

So I just got some big ole 26650 batteries and have used 18350s and 18650s for most of my 2 year vaping career ...

I really love the recharge on the 18350s cause I can throw them in the charger when I get home from work and they are recharged before bedtime.

The 18650s take much more time, like ~6-8 hours in my charger, the 26650s even longer...

Now I have heard terms like battery memory, and know they have a lifetime of XXX number of recharge cycles.

What would be the ramifications of charging up these big batteries over 2 or 3 evenings???

I don't want to do unsupervised charging. I have a played with rc airplanes and had a cheap chinese 750mah 7v battery flame out on me (don't try this at home, almost like magnesium burning...)

If I charged the batteries for 3 hours one night, 3 hours the next, and then topped it off on the 3rd day, would that count as 3 recharge cycles or only one (considering it charging bottom to top) ???

I do this all the time with my larger batteries and have not seen any adverse effects from doing so, to date. Personally I would not be overly concerned about longevity unless you are working with inferior batteries to start with. I do not claim to be an expert on battery tech, this is just my experience.

 

[UncleRJ]

Robrest as Bugout said due you need to get a good charger man I use the Xtar VP1 but to each his own but whatever you are using is very very slow
Some professional level RC Chargers can charge batteries in no time but they have all kinds of crazy processing ability. I have one but its too much of a hastle to run the leads to a battery box etc,,, I myself would recommend the Xtar its been shown over time that charing LI-ion to 4.19 volts extends life also the Xtar has a boost function to revive (Some dead batteries) Good luck

I have the VP1 myself and I love it. At the 1.0 amp setting it will charge my 18650s in just a couple of hours. I am actually considering getting a second one unless (and I have not really researched it yet) the new Nightcore digital charger is capable of charging multiple 18650s at a full 1.0 amps.

 

[VapeHogSD]

Please settle a friendly argument. I say that it's fine to leave batteries in my Niteccore i4 after it's fully charged, he says it will shorten the battery life... Who's right?/

 

[Hobby Kid]

Please settle a friendly argument. I say that it's fine to leave batteries in my Niteccore i4 after it's fully charged, he says it will shorten the battery life... Who's right?/

The i4 will continue to draw power from the batteries even when it's power supply is switched off because it's still making a complete circuit. One could argue that this is 'vampire' usage (yes, it's a real term used for electricals left on standby). But the draw is so minuscule that it doesn't bare any real world relevance. So no, it won't shorten the batteries life.

However, elsewhere on this forum (here) vapers have discussed the added longevity of standing/storing batteries upright rather than lying down. But my Panasonics are well over a year old, have always been stored lying down and after a recent test have shown no loss of capacity.