Nitecore d2 charger

[ZackM]

I just got the nitecore d2 charger which I use to charge my 2 efest 2500 mah 18650 batteries. One battery is about 2 months old and the other is 2 weeks old. I use an ipv2 (usb port broke), along with the aspire atlantis.

I noticed when I charge them fully to 4.20 v the battery doesn't as last long as it did when I was just using the USB port on the ipv2. I would go a full day without having to charge, and now my battery life is about 4 hours. The battery life decreased a lot for both batteries.

Is there something wrong with the charger, or batteries? I got the 2nd efest when I bought the nitecore. Please help!

 

[lamarrk]

Moved to Batteries and Chargers from Simple Solutions
Simple Solutions is to assist the Beginning Vaper with getting started

 

[Ryedan]

I just got the nitecore d2 charger which I use to charge my 2 efest 2500 mah 18650 batteries. One battery is about 2 months old and the other is 2 weeks old. I use an ipv2 (usb port broke), along with the aspire atlantis.

I noticed when I charge them fully to 4.20 v the battery doesn't as last long as it did when I was just using the USB port on the ipv2. I would go a full day without having to charge, and now my battery life is about 4 hours. The battery life decreased a lot for both batteries.

Is it correct to assume that a day's worth of vaping is 16 hours, so the batteries now last 1/4 as long on a charge from the Nitecore?

Is there something wrong with the charger, or batteries? I got the 2nd efest when I bought the nitecore. Please help!

The sudden change in battery performance makes me think it's the Nitecore. However, if you are metering the batts off the charger at 4.2V and you're getting that much difference in run time, I would say the batts have a problem. Does your DMM agree with the Nitecore for battery voltage? What other information are you getting from the Nitecore?

One good test would be to charge in the mod again and see if battery time goes back up. If it does it's the Nitecore, but if this is the case the battery voltage can not be 4.2 from the Nitecore.

Checking battery voltage when you take them out of the mod is also a good idea, specially while you're having an issue.

 

[ZackM]

Is it correct to assume that a day's worth of vaping is 16 hours, so the batteries now last 1/4 as long on a charge from the Nitecore?



The sudden change in battery performance makes me think it's the Nitecore. However, if you are metering the batts off the charger at 4.2V and you're getting that much difference in run time, I would say the batts have a problem. Does your DMM agree with the Nitecore for battery voltage? What other information are you getting from the Nitecore?

One good test would be to charge in the mod again and see if battery time goes back up. If it does it's the Nitecore, but if this is the case the battery voltage can not be 4.2 from the Nitecore.

Checking battery voltage when you take them out of the mod is also a good idea, specially while you're having an issue.

I never checked them with a DMM. I just went with what it said on the screen. Normally it says it charges to 4.2 v exact.

 

[Stosh]

I never checked them with a DMM. I just went with what it said on the screen. Normally it says it charges to 4.2 v exact.

This is where a DMM comes in handy. You can check with a meter to see if they agree, handy to check if your mod's displayed remaining battery voltage (if so equipped) agrees with your meter or charger 's meter.

Anytime there's a problem, comparing different voltage measurements makes the troubleshooting easier...

 

[Ryedan]

I never checked them with a DMM. I just went with what it said on the screen. Normally it says it charges to 4.2 v exact.

You're troubleshooting a problem. You're basing battery performance on the Nitecore screen voltage reading. How do you know that is accurate?

You're getting a huge difference in battery time between two chargers. Something is wrong, it could be the batts or the charger. To figure this out you have to start somewhere. Without knowing the Nitecore voltage reading is correct, well, you don't now that's correct.

Have you tried charging with the built in charger?

 

[ZackM]

I don't know if the Nitecore is accurate. I need to get a DMM to check. I came to that conclusion because when i was using the built in usb on the ipv2 the battery life was longer. However, when it broke, thats when I got the Nitecore. Thats when I noticed when the battery performance didn't last as long, so i assumed it had to be the charger.

 

[ZackM]

I don't know if the Nitecore is accurate. I need to get a DMM to check. I came to that conclusion because when i was using the built in usb on the ipv2 the battery life was longer. However, when it broke, thats when I got the Nitecore. Thats when I noticed when the battery performance didn't last as long, so i assumed it had to be the charger.

I don't know if the Nitecore is accurate. I need to get a DMM to check. I came to that conclusion because when i was using the built in usb on the ipv2 the battery life was longer. However, when it broke, thats when I got the Nitecore. Thats when I noticed when the battery performance didn't last as long, so i assumed it had to be the charger.

You're troubleshooting a problem. You're basing battery performance on the Nitecore screen voltage reading. How do you know that is accurate?

You're getting a huge difference in battery time between two chargers. Something is wrong, it could be the batts or the charger. To figure this out you have to start somewhere. Without knowing the Nitecore voltage reading is correct, well, you don't now that's correct.

Have you tried charging with the built in charger?

 

[ZackM]

This is where a DMM comes in handy. You can check with a meter to see if they agree, handy to check if your mod's displayed remaining battery voltage (if so equipped) agrees with your meter or charger 's meter.

Anytime there's a problem, comparing different voltage measurements makes the troubleshooting easier...[/QUOTE
I don't know if the Nitecore is accurate. I need to get a DMM to check. I came to that conclusion because when i was using the built in usb on the ipv2 the battery life was longer. However, when it broke, thats when I got the Nitecore. Thats when I noticed when the battery performance didn't last as long, so i assumed it had to be the charger. ]

 

[ZackM]

You're troubleshooting a problem. You're basing battery performance on the Nitecore screen voltage reading. How do you know that is accurate?

You're getting a huge difference in battery time between two chargers. Something is wrong, it could be the batts or the charger. To figure this out you have to start somewhere. Without knowing the Nitecore voltage reading is correct, well, you don't now that's correct.

Have you tried charging with the built in charger?

I don't know if the Nitecore is accurate. I need to get a DMM to check. I came to that conclusion because when i was using the built in usb on the ipv2 the battery life was longer. However, when it broke, thats when I got the Nitecore. Thats when I noticed when the battery performance didn't last as long, so i assumed it had to be the charger.

 

[Mangguo]

I Personnally have a nitecore UM20 charger. There is once a time I inserted in a bettery which is nearly 3V, and it's capacity shows 50% full, which is wiered.
I don't knwo if this agrees to what you discribes.

 

[dingo1799]

Voltages on both of my D2 chargers are off by .05v. They stop charging according to itself at 4.20, however my dmm disagrees and shows 4.15, not sure if .05v is enough to worry about, but i swap out batts often enough it doesn't bother me

 

[Monotremata]

Voltages on both of my D2 chargers are off by .05v. They stop charging according to itself at 4.20, however my dmm disagrees and shows 4.15, not sure if .05v is enough to worry about, but i swap out batts often enough it doesn't bother me

Mines about 4 months old and my meter shows 4.07 on the batteries every time. Gonna replace it soon and keep it for my AAs heh.

 

[dingo1799]

I got to thinking about it yesterday and decided I don't like it either. Just ordered an opus bt c3400

 

[sando7]

Voltages on both of my D2 chargers are off by .05v. They stop charging according to itself at 4.20, however my dmm disagrees and shows 4.15, not sure if .05v is enough to worry about, but i swap out batts often enough it doesn't bother me

my D2 never charges anything over 4.15, could be a good thing but i sure like seeing fresh charged batts at 4.20; so i either use my I4 or my LUC4.
been looking at the X-Tar VC4 and just might pick one up soon.

 

[KGB7]

My D2 2015 model also stops at 4.15v even though the screen says its 4.20.

If you put DMM on the charger while its charging, it will give you a read out of 4.18 right when its stops.


Here are the specs of the Nitecore site. Thus cut off at 4.15v is normal.

Output voltage: 4.2V ±1% / 3.7V ±1% / 1.48V ±1%

http://www.nitecore.com/productDetail.aspx?id=115

 

[Monotremata]

My D2 2015 model also stops at 4.15v even though the screen says its 4.20.

If you put DMM on the charger while its charging, it will give you a read out of 4.18 right when its stops.


Here are the specs of the Nitecore site. Thus cut off at 4.15v is normal.

Output voltage: 4.2V ±1% / 3.7V ±1% / 1.48V ±1%

http://www.nitecore.com/productDetail.aspx?id=115

Mine stops at exactly 4.07 now on all my batteries. It was within their specs for the first couple of months, but now I went back to my Xtar MC2. No display but my batteries come out at around 4.17 or so again.

 

[Rickajho]

Two things anyone needs to be aware of about a d2:

The display stops at 4.2 volts. If a d2 is charging batteries over voltage the display will never show it.

The d2 voltage display stops and freezes at the end of the charge cycle. If the battery voltage is dropping for any reason at the end of the charge cycle the d2 display doesn't show that either. In other words, it does not actively monitor and display the battery voltage once the charge cycle is completed.

So you have a display on a d2. And if ever there was a reason to need a DMM as well - it would be when using this charger as the display doesn't tell you much.

 

[KGB7]

As a short experiment, i fully charged 4 Samy 25r batteries with D2 charger.
Took the batteries out of the charger and used DMM to check the voltage, and all 4 batteries gave me 4.15v read out.

I waited 5min and put the batteries back on the charger. The batteries continued to charge for about 3-5min, even though the display on D2 showed voltage between 4.17v and 4.19v when i placed the batteries in to the charger.
After the batteries were fully charged the second time and D2 showed 4.2v, i used a DMM to check the voltage, and all 4 Samy 25R batteries were at 4.15v. The amperage charge rate has dropped down the second time around to an average of 150mah.
The D2 charger starts out with 500mah, but over the hours during a charge, the mah drops down. This is my pet peeve about the charger. I have spent many years in RC racing cars and flying planes, and i have never seen a charger that drop charging amperage during its charge cycle. If the charger is rated at 500mah, then it should charge at a constant rate of 500mah instead of bouncing around.



I have ordered the D2 charger and a pack of 4 Samy 25R batteries back in November 22nd of 2014, according to my receipts. To my calculations, i have fully drained down to 3.2v and fully charged all 4 batteries in the past 5 month, at least 70 times. As of today, all 4 batteries are working properly, giving me many hours of charge in Sig100+.

IMHO, Nitecore chargers are "mediocre"....2 stars. i only bought it because i got a good deal from Amazon for $19.


edit;

My DMM is a Blue-Point EEDM503B.

 

[Monotremata]

I got mine for $19 on Amazon like a week after you did haha.