I have two single Samsung 30Qs I've had about a year but only have been using for about 5 months. They seem to have both diminished life one worse than the other. What do I need to look at on my charger to see what parameters are out of whack?
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Other than seeing reduced mAh, the only other thing most chargers would display that would have any relationship to health of the cell would be internal resistance. As I understand it though, most chargers measure DC resistance, which isn't very useful compared to AC resistance.
Where did you get your batteries from?
They're rated at 3000, but that's with a 2.5v cutoff which is well below what mods usually cut off at, being about 3.2v. the only way to tell is by comparison to what you were able to get out of them when they were new. Keep in mind also, that Samsung batteries aren't licensed to be sold to consumers, so it's Impossible to tell exactly how old they really are.
I'd look at what rate you are charging them at. Some chargers offer 2A charging, which is fantastic if you are in a hurry. However it's not that good for battery longevity
That may be why they are diminished already. I occasionally charge mine at 2A when I'm in a hurry and don't want to charge them unattended.
Charging them at 1A will be better for their longevity than at 2A
To prolong a cell's lifespan as much as possible it's a good bet to go as high as half its standard charge rate.
For the Samsung 30Q that would equal 0.75A.
For the Samsung 30Q that would equal 0.75A.
Ok, but what mod are you using, what kind of tank and coil, and what settings, particularly wattage, do you set your mod to?
Well within the amp rating of those cells, so that shouldn't have caused an issue. You said you have had them for 5 months, 3-4 cycles per day? That's about the lifespan of an 18650, as they're supposed to be able to take 300-500 charges before deteriorating.
My charger says each of them is charging to about 2100 mAh. One has about 36 ohms and the other 42. I'm not sure if there's a decimal point there. Probably. Is it time to get some new ones?
Around a year ago I got dozen of the Samsung 3Q. 8 out of that batch died in less than 3 months the rest are still going. Pretty sure they were genuine as I got them form Liion Wholesale.
I have not bought anymore of them since.
I have not bought anymore of them since.
Maybe. Hard to tell without knowing what they charged to when new. The internal resistance doesn't sound bad, but from what I know, checking health through resistance is futile.
Do you know where they started out? I like to record stats for my batteries every few months so I can tell how much they're deteriorating.
In any case, Mooch suggests replacing batteries if any of the following are true:
- Loss of capacity is annoying you
- Batteries are warming up more than they used to during use or charging
- Batteries don't get to 4.2 v when being charged. This means when they never reach 4.2 v. It's not such a problem if they get to 4.2 v on the charger but quickly drop to 4.19 or 4.18 after you take them off.
- There's physical damage
- They discharged to under 2 v
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