18650 question

[shannon walker]

I have a soda charger and 2 Efest 18650 2500mah 20 amp cdr just wondering if it's better to charge at .5 than 1amp? I have been charging at .5 amp. But the charger gets really warm not the batteries just the charger. I googled it and from what I have read online it is normal for it to get hot and is ok unless my batteries start getting hot

Is this safe dangerous ? Y or y not
Is .5 amp better than 1amp y or y not

 

[numbskull]

As far as I know, the difference is how fast it charges your batteries. 1 amp will be quicker than .5 will be. I usually charge my batteries at .5, from what I understand the more power (higher amp) you put to your battery to charge the more strain you put on it (as long as your batteries are capable of taking a 1 amp charge, you have nothing to worry about) decreasing the over all battery life cycle.

I have used the 1 amp option on my charger on the rare occasion I need the juice up quickly.

 

[shannon walker]

As far as I know, the difference is how fast it charges your batteries. 1 amp will be quicker than .5 will be. I usually charge my batteries at .5, from what I understand the more power (higher amp) you put to your battery to charge the more strain you put on it (as long as your batteries are capable of taking a 1 amp charge, you have nothing to worry about) decreasing the over all battery life cycle.

I have used the 1 amp option on my charger on the rare occasion I need the juice up quickly.

That's kinda what I was thinking and I have other mods so no point in charging at 1amp

Do you know about the charger getting hot?

 

[numbskull]

It's pretty normal. My Efest LUC V4 will only get hot when I have all 4 bays charging. Other than that it just gets sort of warm. As long as your batteries don't get hot, you're good

 

[IMFire3605]

The charger getting warm is normal, remember how warm you mod gets pushing 10 or more amps out of a battery.

Some chargers can go higher on their charge rate, but as stated above, it is actually more gentle to trickle charge a battery at the lowest charger setting, my LUC4 has a 2 amp setting for bay 2 and 3, only time I put the unit into that mode is if I need to rapidly charge my 26650 batteries which are 4000mah, .5amp charge takes forever for them to do so, my 18650s if I am urgent need of a battery I'll put the LUC4 into 1amp mode, normal charging for the 26650s is 1amp mode, normal charging for the 18650s is 0.5amps. Not only is this low power trickle charge easier on batteries, the charge state is also its most accurate, yes takes longer, but the charger can calculate what the true charge state of each battery is more accurately. I've got over 2 dozen various 18650s, so am never without a charged battery. I use a battery, set it aside for about 4hrs to let it settle down, put it on the charger, once charged, again another 4hr sit and settle down cycle before it is safe to use in my opinion, most times a battery isn't used for 2 to 3 days in the rotation due to the number of cells of various ratings and mods that have various power requirements, Sig150 and IPV3 I have 3 sets of LG HB6s and 1 set of Sony VTC4s, my Sig Mini 30W I've got LG HG2s and Sony VTC4s, SVD 2.0 I've got 2 Panasonic NCR18650B's and 2 AW IMR 2000mah 10amps, Mechs I've got 6 LG HB6s.

I've just adjusted to charging time and battery rotations, just have to set your own battery routines, but you will get less mileage out of a battery constantly rapid charging it, most batteries like the Sony VTC4 can handle 4amp recharging modes, but the cycle life is decreased to about 1/6th the number or charges you can do at 0.25 or 0.5amps.

 

[Bunnykiller]

sounds like the charger is making 1 amp all the time and the .5 amp switch shunts power downwards and results in heat forming... soooo... that would be normal to see the charger get warm... I charge mine at .5 amps, nice and slow.. been using the same VTC4s for over 2 yrs now and still working good

 

[bigrf85]

generally with batteries what is called a trickle charger is far kinder to the batteries just like a car battery a .5 amp charge will take longer but far less stress that hooking a charger up to it in jump start mode. lower amps for longer time may even extend the life expectancy of your batteries.

 

[K_Tech]

It's been a long-held belief that slower charging rates are better for our batteries (and I usually charge mine at 0.25 amps) but there was some interesting research done last year at Stanford that's challenging that belief. Their research has been limited to coin Lithium-ion batteries, but basically it shows that the battery doesn't really care about the charging rate. Their research shows that the particles charge fully, individually or in small clusters, and then the charge moves on to the next cluster.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2683...last-slow-charging-may-not-be-the-answer.html

That being said, heat is a battery killer, and slower charge rates produce less heat, so I am going to stick to my method for the time being.

 

[shannon walker]

Thanks guys I appreciate the answers

 

[Hans Wermhat]

I charge mine @ 2A on my LUC. I have 6 VTC4's, one pair is over a year old. For most of their life they were charged twice a day every day and used in a mech at less than .4 ohms, They are still going strong. I don't leave my batteries charging unattended and I don't like being stuck sitting next to a charger for hours and hours waiting on 1 pair of batteries to charge. A pair charges in less than 45 mins @ 2A, but at the .5A setting they take over 4 hours. If a $12 pair of batteries craps out on me 6 months faster, that is an acceptable loss.