My Xtar May Be Toast.

[jwbnyc]

Funny thing happened after work tonight.

Got home, popped an AW 18350 on the charger, went about my business, saw it was done charging, went over to pull the battery, and noticed it was reading over 4.3V.

Yikes.

Decided to check it on the P3. Read 4.3V, and even flashed 4.4V for a moment. IQ read 74 good.

Double yikes.

So, into a 2.5 to check the voltage again.

4.3V.

Running out of yikes here.

Grabbed another 18350 and threw it on the charger. That one came up at 4.18V, then 4.22V, and was still going. Killed that little experiment.

The battery in question will be recycled.

I'll charge another 18350 after work tomorrow, keeping an eye on it, just to be sure, but that xtar VP-2 has pretty much had it imo.

I have a back up, well had. It's no longer the back up, is it?

Time to go shopping for another back up.

 

[tearose50]

Switching to the back-up charger sounds like a great idea.

 

[Nermal]

Doesn't xtar have a warranty. It's supposed to be a good company. That's why I bought mine from RTD, so you know you've got me a little worried.

 

[jwbnyc]

I'll check but this is not a new charger by any means.

The warranty has most likely expired.

 

[jwbnyc]

Okay, after thinking about it awhile, I went and checked the voltage selector switch.

It had somehow ended up on 3.8V.

So, the charger is okay.

This is one reason I prefer the VP-1.

It does not have the option of user selectable voltage.

Not as may bells and whistles, perhaps, but more foolproof.

Check those voltage selector switches people.

 

[AngiBe]

Thanks for the tip! I'm gonna check mine this morning just to be safe

 

[tearose50]

Okay, after thinking about it awhile, I went and checked the voltage selector switch.

It had somehow ended up on 3.8V.

So, the charger is okay.

This is one reason I prefer the VP-1.

It does not have the option of user selectable voltage.

Not as may bells and whistles, perhaps, but more foolproof.

Check those voltage selector switches people.

Nice!

Very good tip and info to pass on, too.

So glad we now have decent chargers with a display, and that many of us use them. Without the display many would miss an overcharge situation, should it occur.

 

[JUDGMENT AFFIRMED]

overcharged 18650 at 4.24V?

Alarming voltage on self charging 18650 Li-ion batteries

SilverFox

Silver Moderator

Join Date
Jan 2003
Location
Bellingham WA
Posts
11,998

Re: 5.2v 18650
Hello Okeenu,

You may also want to check the accuracy of your voltmeter.

Usually a Li-Ion cell will vent when it gets much above 4.4 volts.

Overcharging is dangerous, but it does give you extended run time. The trade off is the number of cycles you get. If you expect 200 - 300 charge discharge cycles with normal charging, you will find that reduced to 5 - 10 with over charging.

Tom

Hi jwbnyc, I can't tell you not to recycle. But here is some helpful info on overcharged batteries. Good luck

 

[jwbnyc]

Good info. Thanks.

My feeling is batteries are cheap.

I over-charged this one by mistake. Gotta remember to check that voltage selector switch. The battery is probably okay, but why mess around?

Most likely, I'm being overly conservative, but there isn't much of a downside to that in this case.

YMMV