This thread is awesome, one question though, can you use AW IMRs with this? I know they aren't protected so I think it could be bad...
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That charger is designed for a 510/eGo. Those e-cigs have some of the charging electronics built into the e-cig, namely, the charge cut-off. So, it would not be safe to use an unprotected cell with one of those. Using a protected cell is still sketchy. Proper USB charging modules designed to charge 3.7V Li-Ion cells are available. That would be a better solution, here and here.
Thanks for the links, so these would be okay for the IMRs? I don't see a charge cut off or anything.
That's not correct Craig. Some e-cigs like the M401 and the Boge 510 disposable work that way, but most use a full fledged charger. Maybe RocketMan will chime in. He's been using eGo chargers to charge his 26650 and 18650 mods.
I used this.
The KR808 universal charger to charge my Joye 510 and KR808D-1 bats, plus I made a little adapter to charge 14500s with it. Worked fine, brought them to a nice 4.18V every time. I had originally tried a M401 charger the same way. Lucky I was paying attention as the 14500 got up to 4.4V when I caught it, and the protection had not tripped at that point.
And FWIW, according to Scottbee the Janty eGo 650mAh bat he dissected had no protection circuit.
I'm not familiar with e-cig chargers other than the 510/eGo since those are the only production Chinese e-cigs I have experience with. If you say the other chargers you mentioned are regular Li-Ion chargers, then as far as I'm concerned, that's what they are.
I'm pretty familiar with the Joye eGos. My wife has been using them for over a year. I've disassembled several of them and I'm familiar with the chargers and electronics in them. I've also disassembled a couple Joye 510s and they contain circuitry similar to the eGos.
For the 510/eGo, I'm fairly confident in saying that charging is enabled/disabled by the e-cig's MCU (micro-controller), not by the charger. That's not to say a regular Li-Ion cell will blow up if a 510 charger is used. A 510 charger runs the cell to 4.2V with the necessary current limiting like any other 3.7V Li-Ion charger. However, the difference is a 510 charger won't respond upon reaching terminal charging voltage where a proper charger would. That job is normally handled by the 510's MCU.
The 510/eGo's MCU provides all the safety requirements for the cell including over-current, over-discharge, and over-charge protection. That's why you won't find something that looks like a protection PCB on the cell in one of those. Those tasks are handled by an MCU instead.
In any case, I don't see any reason to use a 510 charger over a proper USB Li-Ion charger, especially when using a 510 charger may involve some compromise to safety.
I'm pretty familiar with the Joye eGos. My wife has been using them for over a year. I've disassembled several of them and I'm familiar with the chargers and electronics in them. I've also disassembled a couple Joye 510s and they contain circuitry similar to the eGos.
For the 510/eGo, I'm fairly confident in saying that charging is enabled/disabled by the e-cig's MCU (micro-controller), not by the charger. That's not to say a regular Li-Ion cell will blow up if a 510 charger is used. A 510 charger runs the cell to 4.2V with the necessary current limiting like any other 3.7V Li-Ion charger. However, the difference is a 510 charger won't respond upon reaching terminal charging voltage where a proper charger would. That job is normally handled by the 510's MCU.
The 510/eGo's MCU provides all the safety requirements for the cell including over-current, over-discharge, and over-charge protection. That's why you won't find something that looks like a protection PCB on the cell in one of those. Those tasks are handled by an MCU instead.
In any case, I don't see any reason to use a 510 charger over a proper USB Li-Ion charger, especially when using a 510 charger may involve some compromise to safety.
You can also use a eGo fast charger board too if you have an extra laying around. it will charge at 400ma.
You can also use this thing: eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices
Affordable and small enough. You get 2 pieces.
I ordered it. Should come in a few days.
Affordable and small enough. You get 2 pieces.
I ordered it. Should come in a few days.
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I have 2 of those on the way also. I read in a post that someone used it and it works just fine. You can either desolder the usb plug and solder on a female mini usb plug, or buy a usb female to mini usb female adapter from ebay and cram the whole thing in your mod.
Finally got my chargers paid for, just waiting on shipping and the female mini-usb connectors.
Since I use a VV, I have 2 batteries in series. Would it be possible to tie two charger boards together in parallel with each separate output going to each battery + and -?
That wouldn't work because the board connected to the top cell would have the battery ground connection offset by the voltage of the battery below it, essentially creating a short circuit.
It might be possible to use a "virtual ground" to make a balancing charger out of two charger boards, but the problem you run into is you need a >9V supply and USB is only 5V. However, you could use a boost converter to obtain the required voltage. Then you would have a USB powered balancing charger for two series cells, but that would take up a lot of space in the mod, two charger boards and a boost converter. I can't think of a better way to go than to forget about USB and use a balancing charger with the required 3 pin connector. That way, you can offload the charging circuitry outside the mod.
It might be possible to use a "virtual ground" to make a balancing charger out of two charger boards, but the problem you run into is you need a >9V supply and USB is only 5V. However, you could use a boost converter to obtain the required voltage. Then you would have a USB powered balancing charger for two series cells, but that would take up a lot of space in the mod, two charger boards and a boost converter. I can't think of a better way to go than to forget about USB and use a balancing charger with the required 3 pin connector. That way, you can offload the charging circuitry outside the mod.
I find the eGo fast chargers work fine (labeled as 420ma) and have overvoltage protection (4.22 max on mine) built in.
I use them to charge single and parallel 18650 mods and 26650 mods. The 100 to 200ma 510 chargers seem to taper off from CC to CV and take forever (24 hours sometimes) to fully charge some of my larger mods. My wife uses 900mah eGos so having a few of these dangling from a USB adapter in the kitchen allows both of us to use the same chargers.
My latest boxmods use a flush 510 connector as a charging connector. The charger is on the outside. If at the computer, I use a 2 foot USB extension, and the eGo charger to charge and vape. In the car, a 12 volt to USB cigar lighter adapter.
Any connector would work. Just seems logical to use a e-cig connector to charge my e-cigs, and various mini-USB cables to charge cameras and phones or transfer data
I use them to charge single and parallel 18650 mods and 26650 mods. The 100 to 200ma 510 chargers seem to taper off from CC to CV and take forever (24 hours sometimes) to fully charge some of my larger mods. My wife uses 900mah eGos so having a few of these dangling from a USB adapter in the kitchen allows both of us to use the same chargers.
My latest boxmods use a flush 510 connector as a charging connector. The charger is on the outside. If at the computer, I use a 2 foot USB extension, and the eGo charger to charge and vape. In the car, a 12 volt to USB cigar lighter adapter.
Any connector would work. Just seems logical to use a e-cig connector to charge my e-cigs, and various mini-USB cables to charge cameras and phones or transfer data
You can use 2 separate AC-DC adapters with 2 chargers connected to each of them. Connect these chargers outputs in series (plus to minus) and charge your accumulators using 3-pin connector. The adapters outputs are galvanically insulated, so you have real balanced charger.
This way is a little peculiar but simple and inexpensive.
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Yes, you could cobble together a balancing charger with two regular chargers, but I don't see any reason to do that when inexpensive ones are available like this.
You could use the same approach with a couple USB charger boards. It would work if you ensure the charger boards don't share any supply grounds using separate USB connectors and separate supplies. However, if you inadvertently connect to a USB supply with a shared ground, like a USB hub, you'd short the bottom battery through the common ground. I try to avoid things that are not idiot proof myself and generally recommend against them. I invariably seem to be the idiot that screws it up at some point.
You could use the same approach with a couple USB charger boards. It would work if you ensure the charger boards don't share any supply grounds using separate USB connectors and separate supplies. However, if you inadvertently connect to a USB supply with a shared ground, like a USB hub, you'd short the bottom battery through the common ground. I try to avoid things that are not idiot proof myself and generally recommend against them. I invariably seem to be the idiot that screws it up at some point.
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