What is the Best Modern Charger?

[WallacEngineering]

I just decided to get back into Vaping, but I have an issue. I think some of my 18650 cells are damaged. They have been in indoor, room temperature storage for nearly 2 years. My preferred cells are Sony VTC5A's for their brilliant balance of good capacity (2600mAH) and power output for high-wattage vaping capability (25 Amps). I pulled them out of storage and threw them on my EFEST LUC V6 charger. 6-Bay Chargers are perfect for me as my favorite mods are triple-18650 setups, such as my ThinkVape Triad DNA250C (my favorite box mod).

Some of the batteries began charging normally. They went onto the charger, the charger charged them at 0.68A charge rate, and a few hours later, they were ready, and appear to operate normally in the mod. However, some of them do not appear to be charging so normally. 2 cells in particular appear to be severely damaged. They went onto the charger at 3.10V, but as soon as they started taking charge, the voltage spiked right up to 4.19V in under 30 seconds and simply stayed there, slowly charging for about an hour, until it peaked to 4.20V and then stopped.

I need a way to properly test and/or detect the life of these 18650 cells, as well as a way to properly but them through "Refresh" cycles, where you slowly discharge them down to 3.10V VIA an intelligent charger, and them charge them back to full at a very slow rate under 0.50A so they can slowly come back to life. I build high-performance Hobby-Grade RC cars that use similar Lithium-Polymer battery packs such as Traxxas and Arrma cars, and this cell refreshment technique has been proven many times to help recover weak cells and bring them back to normal operation, although cells can of course become damaged beyond repair.

So, Im hoping some more modern chargers have come along that would allow me to do so. Are there any 3, 4, 6, or 8-bay chargers out there with truly adjustable charge rate (can you choose from 0.1A, 0.2A, 0.3A, 0.4A... ECT up to 2.0A)? Are there any chargers with a slow discharge cycle or cell life testing capability? Should I simply give up and throw away a bunch of perfectly good cells just because 2 of the 12 seem damaged and start over with a whole new set? Maybe upgrade to the newer Sony VTC5Ds which go up to 2800mAH and retain the 25A output?

Let me know what kind of modern chargers are out there, thanks in advance!

 

[eSMOKA]

Sounds like you may want to look into the SkyRC MC1000 charger and see if it does what you need. But it's $100

I don't know if the Opus BT-C3100 might be suitable, just realize that the internal resistance readings are not accurate. But it's $30 on sake right now...

https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/opus-btc3100-v2-2

Info

Review of Charger Opus BT-C3100 V2.1

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

My favorite is the Miboxer C4-12, it measures internal resistance to give you an idea of battery life left. It can also charge up to 3a on all slots at same time. Additionally the slots are wide and long enough to put in and remove the biggest cells. If you are looking for more capabilities then the SkyRC charger mentioned above is your best bet. Finally here is a link for charger reviews from a reliable source:

Round cell charger index

 

[WallacEngineering]

Thanks for the input guys! I will look into these!

 

[Carambrda]

You can't measure the DC internal resistance of batteries accurately with any of the chargers we typically use for our vaping purposes. Their reading is just waa-aaaa-aaaaaaay off in that department. I own the SkyRC MC3000 myself. While it's still the best charger out there especially if you're looking to do some battery analysis that also includes monitoring discharge cycles, I can not justify the added expense if going to use it strictly for vaping plus knowing when it's time to buy a new set of batteries... not even by a long stretch.

Battery capacity degradation is commonly accepted to be the primary indicator for battery aging, alongside some other important factors (such as the erratic behavior that you described, i.e. a battery charging to full capacity in next to no time or it taking an abnormally long time to reach to full capacity status, or, for another example, an abnormally fast self-discharge speed while the battery is just sitting there resting and not being used). But pretty much any charger that can measure the capacity will still be suitable enough to get a handle on capacity degradation, even if the reading is off by, like, 15%. All you basically have to do is measure the capacity of the battery when the battery is still new and unused, write the number down, and then measure it again at a later date in order to make a comparison. A capacity loss of 20% is generally a sign of the battery nearing end of life.

That being said, personally, I, never measure the battery capacity by doing a discharge test. My Nitecore UMS4 displays the mAh that went into the battery while charging, and, the fact that the number is highly inaccurate isn't very relevant in any way. Just replace the battery whenever you feel like the performance degradation has worsened to the point of it slowly starting to piss you off, or maybe replace it just a little sooner─especially sooner if you are the kind of vaper who tends to put a lot heavier stress on the batteries than most.

I like my Nitecore UMS4 that I use with an Anker (QuickCharge 3.0 compatible, supporting up to 18 watts) USB wall charger, mainly because it is arguably the most user-friendly, or hassle-free charger of them all. I mean... it charges all my batteries, and it charges them well! About the only thing that I don't like about it is I probably should have bought 2 of 'em before the price went up. That and the fact it refuses to fetch my slippers or heat up my supper... which is another bummer.

As for a 25A battery that will outperform the Sony/Murata VTC5A. Look no further than the Molicel P26A, and, do yourself a favor by ordering it from one of these listed official distributors of genuine Molicel batteries:

Courtesy of Mooch (aka Battery Mooch on YouTube).

 

[Carambrda]

, and this cell refreshment technique has been proven many times to help recover weak cells and bring them back to normal operation, although cells can of course become damaged beyond repair.

That's right, trying to "revive" a damaged cell or any cell that you have reason to suspect might be a damaged cell is the equivalent to breaking all basic rules of battery safety. Just don't do it... no matter how badly you want to land yourself in hospital. The minimum voltage for the cell you use is an official spec, usually 2.5V. A lithium-ion rechargeable cell that either is or has been below the minimum voltage specified in the official datasheet for the cell is a cell that should never be used, as there is no way to tell if or how badly it's been damaged. It means that the cell might unexpectedly short circuit internally during use, and might do so without any prior sign of warning. In a worst case scenario it might burst into flames or cause a battery explosion, and, just because the chemistry type is safer compared to a LiPO, doesn't also make it "safe".

 

[WallacEngineering]

That's right, trying to "revive" a damaged cell or any cell that you have reason to suspect might be a damaged cell is the equivalent to breaking all basic rules of battery safety. Just don't do it... no matter how badly you want to land yourself in hospital. The minimum voltage for the cell you use is an official spec, usually 2.5V. A lithium-ion rechargeable cell that either is or has been below the minimum voltage specified in the official datasheet for the cell is a cell that should never be used, as there is no way to tell if or how badly it's been damaged. It means that the cell might unexpectedly short circuit internally during use, and might do so without any prior sign of warning. In a worst case scenario it might burst into flames or cause a battery explosion, and, just because the chemistry type is safer compared to a LiPO, doesn't also make it "safe".

Well Luckily none of the cells were that low, they were all above 3.0V. However, my mistake was leaving some of them fully charged since vaping charging stations do not have a "storage" charge function.

With RC Lithium-Polymer packs (which trust me, are far more dangerous than any vaping cell - this is what happens when you puncture a fairly small quad/drone pack -

), the chargers have a "storage charge function" which will bring the battery pack up or down in voltage per cell until it reaches about 50% charge (3.85V per cell) which is the safest voltage for long-term storage of the cells. Too far discharged or charged, and the cells will chemically degrade over time.

Luckily, I forgot that my ProTek RC "Prodigy 625 Duo Touch" RC charger can in fact charge and discharge Lithium-Ion 18650's. The only bummer is I can only do one at a time. So right now, I am very slowly discharging each one down to 3.00V using a very slow 0.5A discharge rate, one at a time, as a part of a refreshment cycle to see if I can coax some life into my cells. The first 2 cells took over 3 hours each to do this, and the charger reported draining about 2300mAH going from 4.20V down to 3.00V. this is a good sign so far, I may have lost a tiny bit of capacity here and there but so far this seems to be recovering the cells. The ones that didn't show any weird issues on the LUC V6 are the ones Im using for vaping in my Lost Vape Triad DNA250C and its going well, they report 100% full charge on the MOD itself.



I will still upgrade my vaping charger at some point but for now it seems like I might be able to save myself ~$100 and continue using the setup I already have. The ProTek RC charger is a $250 extremely advanced charger. It can charge at up to 20 Amps and 200 Watts per channel, it has graphs and charts that monitor voltage, internal resistance, internal and external battery temperature, how much mAH was taken out or pushed in, you can even monitor change in internal resistance as a battery goes from discharged to fully charged, and can even be used as a DC voltage output source with adjustable voltage and amperage to test electrical components say if you need to test an old cooling fan or something.

The charger will automatically detect internal faults with any cell or battery pack of any type or chemistry and report the issue and cease charging/discharging automatically if an issue is detected. Its the safest means I have for testing my 18650s to see if they have any life left in them. As I said, so far its going well and recovering my cells quite handily. If there are any issues, I will report back.

ProTek Prodigy 625 Duo Touch Charger:

ProTek RC "Prodigy 625 DUO Touch AC" LiHV/LiPo AC/DC Battery Charger [PTK-8519]

This is the ProTek R/C "Prodigy 625 DUO Touch AC" AC/DC Battery Charger. The next generation of Prodigy has arrived. The Prodigy Touch 625 DUO AC... PTK-8519

www.amainhobbies.com

 

[Just Frank]

I've heard good things about (this is a copy and paste):

GYRFALCON ALL-88 BATTERY CHARGER​

I think this will be my next charger.

 

[Carambrda]

Well Luckily none of the cells were that low, they were all above 3.0V. However, my mistake was leaving some of them fully charged since vaping charging stations do not have a "storage" charge function.

With RC Lithium-Polymer packs (which trust me, are far more dangerous than any vaping cell - this is what happens when you puncture a fairly small quad/drone pack -

), the chargers have a "storage charge function" which will bring the battery pack up or down in voltage per cell until it reaches about 50% charge (3.85V per cell) which is the safest voltage for long-term storage of the cells. Too far discharged or charged, and the cells will chemically degrade over time.

Luckily, I forgot that my ProTek RC "Prodigy 625 Duo Touch" RC charger can in fact charge and discharge Lithium-Ion 18650's. The only bummer is I can only do one at a time. So right now, I am very slowly discharging each one down to 3.00V using a very slow 0.5A discharge rate, one at a time, as a part of a refreshment cycle to see if I can coax some life into my cells. The first 2 cells took over 3 hours each to do this, and the charger reported draining about 2300mAH going from 4.20V down to 3.00V. this is a good sign so far, I may have lost a tiny bit of capacity here and there but so far this seems to be recovering the cells. The ones that didn't show any weird issues on the LUC V6 are the ones Im using for vaping in my Lost Vape Triad DNA250C and its going well, they report 100% full charge on the MOD itself.

View attachment 184303

I will still upgrade my vaping charger at some point but for now it seems like I might be able to save myself ~$100 and continue using the setup I already have. The ProTek RC charger is a $250 extremely advanced charger. It can charge at up to 20 Amps and 200 Watts per channel, it has graphs and charts that monitor voltage, internal resistance, internal and external battery temperature, how much mAH was taken out or pushed in, you can even monitor change in internal resistance as a battery goes from discharged to fully charged, and can even be used as a DC voltage output source with adjustable voltage and amperage to test electrical components say if you need to test an old cooling fan or something.

The charger will automatically detect internal faults with any cell or battery pack of any type or chemistry and report the issue and cease charging/discharging automatically if an issue is detected. Its the safest means I have for testing my 18650s to see if they have any life left in them. As I said, so far its going well and recovering my cells quite handily. If there are any issues, I will report back.

ProTek Prodigy 625 Duo Touch Charger:

ProTek RC "Prodigy 625 DUO Touch AC" LiHV/LiPo AC/DC Battery Charger [PTK-8519]

This is the ProTek R/C "Prodigy 625 DUO Touch AC" AC/DC Battery Charger. The next generation of Prodigy has arrived. The Prodigy Touch 625 DUO AC... PTK-8519

www.amainhobbies.com

View attachment 184302

Yeah, what I meant to say about the SkyRC MC3000 is it's technically the best one for typical round cells─not for battery packs. I bought it to be able to charge Lithium Werks (formerly A123 Systems) ANR26650M1-B cells correctly to 3.65V (LiFePO4), and to be able to set the cut-off voltage of other cells (Samsung 20S, Sanyo 2070C, Samsung 30T, iJoy 26650) to something lower than 4.2V in order to tame certain hot coil builds on my various types of mech mods whenever I want. The type of charger you have is specifically designed for battery packs so round cells don't fit directly on it, as there's no bays to hold the cells in place. Aside from a whole test setup he uses for all his battery tests, Mooch uses the high grade test laboratory type of power supplies for charging all his batteries excepting only on certain rare occasions. I believe he has a clamp system that needs to be screwed tight against the battery's terminals, and that uses a pair of leads for hooking it up to a power supply.

The bays on the SkyRC MC3000 are so deep, I find it rather annoying to have to reach all the way in there to get the batteries on/off the charger. In direct comparison the Nitecore UMS4 has the word "comfortable" written all over it. Previous models from Nitecore had an internal power supply that would heat up the batteries somewhat, thereby shortening the cycle life of the batteries─though not terribly so. One of the main complaints was they were slow chargers. Especially the D4 was, and so I guess it explains why so many people still don't like the brand much. But the UMS4 is reasonably fast if paired with the correct type of USB wall charger, and, it being USB not only eliminates the aforementioned internal heat generation, but at the same time also it adds on an extra layer of safety due to the Anker or Aukey USB wall chargers' built-in safety features that separate the battery charger's circuit from the AC power/mains outlet more reliably than most power adapters that come included with the type of battery charger that uses one. Anker/Aukey are known to be highly reliable brands also in this regard so that's why I think going for USB in this particular way is a good decision. The micro USB port on the UMS4 doesn't suffer from unnecessary wear and tear if you just leave the USB cable plugged into it.