Li-Ion Batteries - THE TRUTH

[THE]

So let me see if I have this.. No one is sure of what the chargers are really doing when the light goes green, but we're reasonably sure that almost all lithium ion batteries have protection circuits so they won't get too low or over-charge. The maximum they'll go to is 4.2V, and keeping a lion battery fully charged for extended periods of time will shorten the life. It's much better for them to be at 90%+- charge. Topping up charges are better than allowing them to go all the way down to cutoff, even though they probably won't allow themselves to get low enough to die.

I'm just stating what I think I've learned in reading all 13 pages of this.. If I have any of this wrong, PLEASE explain it to me

I notice on my KR808D-1, it takes 2-3hrs for a full charge in the USB charger.. then it turns green. But if I take it out and immediately put it back in, it'll stay red again for 2-5 minutes. Nothing I've read here really explains that. I'd expect a ni-cad to behave that way, but a lion???

Thanks for all of the information!! You're beautiful!!
Whenever I'm ahead on money, I think the BEST thing to do would be to make my own charger. Get a connector like our chargers have and use one of those intelligent chargers. Someone mentioned old style RC cars.. My brother in law has the newer ones which use LiPo batteries (very picky about how they're charged!) and the charger he uses allows you to dial in the battery type, charge rate, max voltage and everything else. It's exactly what we need, I think.

[THE]

Sorry for the double post... the strangest thing happened, pg 14 was redirecting me to pg 13 and I couldn't see my post, at all.. seems to be working now!!

[chrislee]

"4.Over-discharge of the cell is far more damaging but protected against by the equipment, in our case the e-cig when it cuts out."
LOL! I have no idea about that. Thank you!

[CtryBoy]

Uh...call me stupid.
Has it been said here that leaving the battery in the charger longer that necessary is OK because of safety shut-off circuitry built into the battery or that its a bad idea because of reduced life-span due to over-charging. I'm getting a mixed message here.
I can't always monitor battery charging time. Maybe a smarter (smarter than me) charger is needed that shuts off automatically.

The only catch would be the charger KEEPING the battery at the higher voltage for extended periods could shorten total life span. Since they prefer to SIT at a lower voltage. Certainly wouldnt store them in the charger for extended periods protection or not. But as long as you trust your batt/charger and arent leaving it on the charger for 24+hrs at a time, doubt you'll notice much difference. But the instructions in every charger you get will say you must sit there and watch the charger the entire time so they can CYA in case of failure.

But then again if the charger stopped short of 4.2V, although that might give better long term performance, it could taint vaping performance.

[Big_Nige]

No one is sure of what the chargers are really doing when the light goes green...

I'm fairly sure that the chargers continue to give an output when the LED goes green, they certainly do when there is no load connected.

I'm running a test now ...

... and I can confirm that the charger maintains the output voltage when the LED goes green. However, the batteries may not continue to charge, as they do have a microcomputer inside.

[LATER] after further testing, it seems that the batteries start their charge drawing around 200mA, which reduces as they charge. By the time the LED is green, they are down to around 1mA, so this is unlikely to do any damage if left on charge.

[Scarlet Fire]

My brother in law has the newer ones which use LiPo batteries (very picky about how they're charged!) and the charger he uses allows you to dial in the battery type, charge rate, max voltage and everything else. It's exactly what we need, I think.

Will the universal chargers work on the LifePo batteries, or does it have to be a specific charger? I bought some Tenergy LifePo4 RCR123A batteries and then noticed after the fact that the product description says to use the Tenergy charger for LifePo batteries. I charged them on my universal charger before I saw that and didn't have any problem, but now I'm wondering if I need to get the Tenergy charger. I kind of hope not, because the Tenergy charger for the RDR123 is only specific to that particular battery.

[THE]

Will the universal chargers work on the LifePo batteries, or does it have to be a specific charger? I bought some Tenergy LifePo4 RCR123A batteries and then noticed after the fact that the product description says to use the Tenergy charger for LifePo batteries. I charged them on my universal charger before I saw that and didn't have any problem, but now I'm wondering if I need to get the Tenergy charger. I kind of hope not, because the Tenergy charger for the RDR123 is only specific to that particular battery.

I wouldn't know.. but I think that charger he had for his RC cars can charge pretty much any battery. I know that it does NIMH and NICAD and LIPO for sure.

I'm not familiar with LifePo batteries. . .

I do know that LiPo batteries can explode fairly violently...... so be careful
And I'm sure that someone with more knowledge of this will be along with a better answer

[quasimod]

What happened to the links in the OP?

[kawirich]

I have been using Li-ion ( lithium ion), Li-po (lithium polymer), and Li-fe (lithium ferrite) batteries for some time now. I use a great deal of them in my R/C Hobby. Truth be told Li-ion is the older of the new generation of rechargable batteries. When charging these batteries when the light goes from red or amber to green the battery is ready to use. When you get a new battery it comes with approximately 75% charge, you MOST DEFINATLEY CAN USE IT RIGHT AWAY. There is no need for maintanace charges or clycling charges, the batteries used for E-Cigs are not smart batteries they are just protected batteries. And they do indeed have a limited life span. And that is due to the chemical make-up of the battery. Example you can only pour vinegar on baking soda so many times before nothing happens.

[stevenejb]

I'm trying to clear up some confusion I have. Since 14500 3.7v 900mah batteries drain over usage, I'm assuming the voltage does as well which impacts the quality of vape. I currently have UltraFire Protected 14500 3.7v 900mAH batteries. Is there a battery that will run at a constant or steady voltage until it needs recharged, like the AW IMR 14500 3.7v 600mAH?
I'm trying to find a way to maintain quality vaping at 3.7v without the battery voltage falling drastically over usage. Hopefully this makes sense.