Help! I'm Lost!

[Alice in Vaporland]

Hey guys - I'm just about to pull my hair out here trying to figure a few things out. Here's what's going on:

I just bought myself a Kangertech 60W Topbox Nano, and so for the very first time, I've found myself needing to use 18650 rechargeable batteries. Up until now I've been spoiled with the ease of eLeaf's iStick 30 - plug an go! So yeah - 18650s...hrrrmmmm....grrrrr. lol

I bought myself a couple of Samsung INR18650 25R 2500mAh, 20A batteries, and the Nitecore New i2 Intellicharger. Well, from what I'm to understand, the charger was supposed to know to *stop* charging the Samsungs once they reached 4.2V - am I right? Well, it looked to me like it was going to keep right on charging them until they got to 4.35V, so I pulled the plug when I realized it just wasn't gonna stop.

So, I go ahead and put the battery in the Topbox, along with a 1.5 ohm SSOCC coil, and set it up for 15W in variable wattage mode. The resistance was reading 1.6 ohm on the coil, and 4.7V, and I got a little scared, thinking it probably wasn't supposed to be reading above 4.2V...? See, this is where I get completely lost.

I've tried Googling the heck out of this, but I just can't seem to figure out:

a) if my charger was supposed to stop at 4.2V for my battery, yet failed to do so for some reason
b) if the battery reading 4.7 means it's overcharged, thus possibly posing a danger
c) why the heck I wandered away from housed battery-type units! (lol - shiiiiiiite)

Any and all advice welcome - don't want to pull any idiotic rookie moves here, and I trust you all like family! (...even if I have been MIA for some time now!)

Cheers!

~Alice

 

[Paratech]

Each battery will be 4.2
What you are reading is the applied voltage to the resistace of the coil.
If you reduce the wattage you'll notice that voltage will lower as well.

 

[shawn.hoefer]

The Intellicharger i2 doesn't have a screen. How did you determine that it was charging to 4.35 V?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[SMOKIE]

Hey guys - I'm just about to pull my hair out here trying to figure a few things out. Here's what's going on:

I just bought myself a Kangertech 60W Topbox Nano, and so for the very first time, I've found myself needing to use 18650 rechargeable batteries. Up until now I've been spoiled with the ease of eLeaf's iStick 30 - plug an go! So yeah - 18650s...hrrrmmmm....grrrrr. lol

I bought myself a couple of Samsung INR18650 25R 2500mAh, 20A batteries, and the Nitecore New i2 Intellicharger. Well, from what I'm to understand, the charger was supposed to know to *stop* charging the Samsungs once they reached 4.2V - am I right? Well, it looked to me like it was going to keep right on charging them until they got to 4.35V, so I pulled the plug when I realized it just wasn't gonna stop.

So, I go ahead and put the battery in the Topbox, along with a 1.5 ohm SSOCC coil, and set it up for 15W in variable wattage mode. The resistance was reading 1.6 ohm on the coil, and 4.7V, and I got a little scared, thinking it probably wasn't supposed to be reading above 4.2V...? See, this is where I get completely lost.

I've tried Googling the heck out of this, but I just can't seem to figure out:

a) if my charger was supposed to stop at 4.2V for my battery, yet failed to do so for some reason
b) if the battery reading 4.7 means it's overcharged, thus possibly posing a danger
c) why the heck I wandered away from housed battery-type units! (lol - shiiiiiiite)

Any and all advice welcome - don't want to pull any idiotic rookie moves here, and I trust you all like family! (...even if I have been MIA for some time now!)

Cheers!

~Alice

Your fine, the volts of what the mod is pushing out is not the same as the volts in the battery. The mod has a chip to control voltage, and wattage. Just like when I use a 3.7 volt battery in a 5 volt regulated mod pushing out 5 volts.. Plus the mod has protection.

• Short circuit protection
• Overcurrent protection
• Low voltage protection
• Low resistance protection
• Low battery protection
• Reverse battery polarity protection

 

[Alice in Vaporland]

Ahhhh, thank you! I knew I could count on you guys! I probably should have known that about the volt reading from the Topbox, but I've just been so paranoid about being on the look out for anything over 4.2V that I had a little moment there. lol

Still scratching my head as to what my i2 charger is doing though, because it happened again this morning. Here's a photo of the charger I'll use to help illustrate what's going on:

So, I've been charging 1 cell at a time, on the left hand side, and when I first put it on the charger it flashes on and off next to the 3.7V marking - then 2 green dots flashing up to the 4.2V marking - and then after that it keeps on going, flashing 3 green dots up to the 4.35V marking, and as soon as I notice that, I unplug it, since everything I've read tells me these cells have a max capacity of 4.2V. I wish I had a voltmeter so I could see just how charged they are when I take them off - I don't seem to be getting very long life out of each charge, which surprises me since my settings are 12W with 1.59 ohm and 4.24V.
My biggest concern though is whether or not the i2 charger is messing up and misreading the INR (I've read this used to happen a fair bit with the older Nitecore models, as they're more familiar with reading IMR tech). Should I be worried that the charger is going to overcharge my batteries and cause some serious damage? Should I try to get a hold of some straight-up IMRs, or buy a new charger? Rather strapped for cash right now, but don't want to risk life and limb either...
@shawn.hoefer , no, no screen per say, just an engraved screen and flashy lights.

 

[Alice in Vaporland]

Ahhh, ok - phew! Good to know. I was scared I was going to start seeing fireworks in here! lol

 

[SMOKIE]

Here this video maybe helpful. I do not have this charger but it looks like you can adjust the voltage charge output with those buttons.

 

[SMOKIE]

Ahhh, ok - phew! Good to know. I was scared I was going to start seeing fireworks in here! lol

Watch the video, and read the instruction book.

 

[Whiskey]

Moved to battery area

 

[nightshard]

A regulated mod increases the voltage it receives from the battery(s) (using a boost circuit) or reduces it (using a buck circuit) based on what it needs to reach the wattage you requested, that's what "regulated" means.

 

[Alice in Vaporland]

Thank so much to all who replied. I was pretty spoiled when I had my iStick 30W - just had to USB plug that sucker in when it got low, so the whole battery side of vaping was one that I just had never touched on.

I've just been popping them on the Nitecore charger when they get low. I don't know exactly how low they're getting before I charge them, as I don't yet have a voltmeter (I figure it would be a good idea for me to invest in one...). I have yet to let a battery actually "die" while in use yet. When I put them on the charger now, I leave them until the 3 green lights stay lit, and charging stops automatically. One side of the Nitecore "display" has percentages going up the side, and at 3 lights on, that signifies 100%. On the other side of the display, 3 lights on means 4.35V. They lineup like this:
100% - 4.35V
80% - 4.2V
30% - 3.7 V

So, am I overcharging them to 4.35V, or is only measuring % for my battery type? This, I do not know. I will say I notice the charger getting quite warm at times, and wonder if that's all together normal. This happens regardless of the point in the charging cycle. I have had it suggested to me that I buy a better charger, but can't afford one just yet.

Lastly, I've noticed that the batteries don't last long at all - I was shocked at how little time you can get out of one of these compared to the time I could get out of my old eLeaf iStick. I'm lucky to get 4 or 5 hours, mayyyybe 6 off of one charge of the Samsung INR18650 25R 2500mAh, 20A. The setup I'm using is the Kangertech 60W Topbox Nano, with 1.5 ohm SSOCC coils, set anywhere between 12W and 16W - usually 14W. I also find it really hard to get a good draw off the thing, even when the flow is wide open. It's such that this new vape has caused me to become a DL hitter after a year of being a mouth-to-lung'er. *sigh* Seriously thinking about going back the other setup, just as soon as I can afford to buy another new one - the old one died a gruesome death, *but* it *did* last me 14 months at least.

If anyone has any advice on anything mentioned here, please feel free to chime in! I need all the help I can get. lol