Chargers famous green led - electronist advice needed

[papi]

I have a supermini and a KB Classic. For both batteries type the indicated charging time is 3-4 hours. But, for supermini's batteries the led change from red to green after only 1h and for KB batteries it happens after 2 hours.

The question is: chargers continue to deliver charging currents even the led turn to green?
Did we need to keep batteries to "charge" even the led is green?

[Cellmeister]

Yes, You practically ignore the LED Colors (except initially start of the charge should be a Red Color usually), they are not made to be accurate (same as cell phone chargers) they are just generic indicators, usually the better chargers if they are working correctly will charge the battery, stay green in color and just trickle charge the battery, if the battery is good.

You should always watch the battery / charger for the 1st minute or so to see how long it will change to green, some are in a minute, some in minutes, some longer, they are all different and will also depend on the battery and manufacturers design. After that you should have a general idea of whats happening, so in the future if it changes their may be an issue to look into (most likely you will need a new battery, this batteries are all generic & not made too last long).

How to Charge?

Charge Your Batteries By The Time Stated In The Instruction Manual for The Device, That is The Proper Way.

But if you happen to get one of the chargers with more then 2 color LEDS, or if its flashing a specific or unspecific way then go by what the manual does say.

If the Manual does not state what it means, then you should have to contact the manufacturer & exactly describe the LED Modes that are occurring with what battery.

Bottom Line for charging all devices, go by the time that the instructions state.

Hope that helps

[scrubadub]

Papi - do a search for this as there are mixed opinions about it. Personally I think you should just use it when the light turns green.

This thread will get you started but there are many others, Trog has gone into it a lot:

Battery university

[Spikey]

Ignore the light... forget the light.. don't give into the light!

Even the guys who do reviews on all the e-cigs say that charging til it changes to green does NOT fully charge the battery.

10-12 hours first time... 4 hours each time after that.

[bracky1]

I tested a mains charger for an 8084 and there is NO output once the light turns green. So, it's my belief, that to continue charging after the light has turned green is a complete waste of time. Other chargers may be different, but I doubt it.

[papi]

I just tested 5 minutes ago: supermini battery (user guide charging time: 4-5 hour) after one hour the led turned to green and I measured te voltage: 4.19V. In this case why should I keep the battery another 3-4 hours if I already got the desired voltage?

[scrubadub]

You don't, just use it. Unless you want to wait another 3-4 hours for some reason

[ZambucaLu]

Ignore the light... forget the light.. don't give into the light!

Even the guys who do reviews on all the e-cigs say that charging til it changes to green does NOT fully charge the battery.

10-12 hours first time... 4 hours each time after that.

Personally, this is what I do. I wouldn't go for any less.

Lu

[Denni]

It may just be my imagination, but my batts last longer if I leave them to charge. Hubby maintains that the thing continues to trickle-charge.

[papi]

Finally got the answer from Welcome to Battery University : "Some chargers claim to fast-charge a lithium-ion battery in one hour or less. Such a charger eliminates stage 2 and goes directly to 'ready' once the voltage threshold is reached at the end of stage 1. The charge level at this point is about 70%. The topping charge typically takes twice as long as the initial charge.

No trickle charge is applied because lithium-ion is unable to absorb overcharge. A continuous trickle charge above 4.05V/cell would causes plating of metallic lithium that could lead to instabilities and compromise safety. Instead, a brief topping charge is provided to compensate for the small self-discharge the battery and its protective circuit consume. Depending on the battery, a topping charge may be repeated once every 20 days. Typically, the charge kicks in when the open terminal voltage drops to 4.05V/cell and turns off at a high 4.20V/cell. "