Anyone use a real charger with there 18650 batterys?

[Trayce]

Nothing should ever show as "4V", there should always be a decimal point.

You can go into the menu system and select what you want the display to show when you press the fire button. The options are:

2. Display Power (or Display Voltage if you are in variable voltage mode) - This setting displays the wattage or voltage that you have selected with the +/- buttons.
3. Display Resistance - Shows the resistance of your attached device in ohms.
4. Display Battery - Shows the remaining charge on the inserted battery.

If you have your voltage set to 4.2V and when you press the fire button it displays 4.0V then you have it set to option #3.

Excuse my ignorance, but I'd like to understand this too. If the VAMO is set to option 3 to display the remaining battery charge, and it's an 18650 3.7v batt, how can there ever be 4.0v remaining? Isn't it more likely set to volts and they are seeing it set to a 4v power setting? Do I have this all wrong?

 

[SilverZero]

That is a pretty cool looking charger, I would have gotten one like that is i had known, If the wife ever goes to a MOD i will have to cause she can't figure out how to charge with the other chargers well and its not all that safe if you do not know what your doing





I thought it should be like 4.0V also but it only shows 4V..... Not sure what mode i am in, I need to watch the video about the Vamo and settings again. I got it to Watts and it shows me whatever the watt is when i press the Fire button, if I press the left button it shows the Battery Voltage.
Well Not I just did it and it showed me 3.9V I swear yesterday it only showed 4v

when I press the Right button and hold it shows the OHMS of the tank or whatever I have on it.

Yesterday it looked like there was a small square something in the way of part of the display but today its not there. Don't know what it was where it went but glad i do not see it anymore.

I do not know how many watts is safe, for how many ohms, I got the chart but is only for Volts not watts, I am using Watts..
Is there a easy way to figure out how many volts are in whatever amps, I am mostly using 6watts, 7 is way to much for my tanks, Highest is 2.4 the machine is reading 2.3, and the lowest is 2.0 I have to use 5watts for the 2.3

If you are using the chart above the numbers in the colored boxes are in watts. That's your power setting.

if 6W works fine for you then stick with it. With a 2.3Ω coil 6W putts you right in the middle of the green area.

 

[SilverZero]

Excuse my ignorance, but I'd like to understand this too. If the VAMO is set to option 3 to display the remaining battery charge, and it's an 18650 3.7v batt, how can there ever be 4.0v remaining? Isn't it more likely set to volts and they are seeing it set to a 4v power setting? Do I have this all wrong?

When 18650s are fully charged they will read at 4.2V.

 

[Trayce]

When 18650s are fully charged they will read at 4.2V.

Wow. In all my reading I never saw this! Why they are [listed as] 3.7v batts then? Why not 4.2? Do you happen to know?

 

[awsum140]

Every battery, even a zinc/carbon, when fully charged will show voltage higher than the "nominal" cell voltage rating. This is a normal condition, for example a 12 volt car battery will show over 13 volts when fully charged. As soon as a load hits, the voltage begins to drop and how fast it drops is a function of how heavy the load may be. In a way, it almost resembles a static charge caused by a collection, or lack of, additional electrons.

 

[Trayce]

Every battery, even a zinc/carbon, when fully charged will show voltage higher than the "nominal" cell voltage rating. This is a normal condition, for example a 12 volt car battery will show over 13 volts when fully charged. As soon as a load hits, the voltage begins to drop and how fast it drops is a function of how heavy the load may be. In a way, it almost resembles a static charge caused by a collection, or lack of, additional electrons.

Ohhhh yeahhhh. I remember about the car battery thing now being 13.2v or so on a fully charged 12v batt. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Vapeman12]

Thanks everyone, and I was wrong my CE5 reads 2.6ohms 6 watts seems good with it. Also, on the normal display it shows readings fine its only in the menu when there is something blocking the readings, that's strange. I got to use it lot more yesterday then day before. Mine is down to 3.6 right now

 

[90quattrocoupe]

You going to spend $125 to charge $10 batteries?

That's like putting nitro-methane racing fuel in a 1969 1100cc VW bug???

Actually, 1969 VW bugs ran a 1500cc motor. The 1100cc motors were back in the early 50s.

Greg W.

 

[djslik]

What is a Hobby Charger

Nice how to on "REAL" chargers

OH and if you check the rest of his site you will see very detailed reviews on all popular chargers and batteries.

 

[Thrasher]

This is the charger I have on the way, Amazon.com: XTAR VP1 2 Channels 10440/16340/14500/14650/17670/18500/18650/18700 Intelligence Charger: Camera & Photo though I got mine from MD-Lightsource.com for $51, free shipping, and 10% off using coupon code FB10... for a total of $45.90. The one from MD-Lightsource comes with the DC car adapter in addition to the AC block... the one from Amazon and many from eBay don't include the DC charger. Seems like some vendors remove it to sell separately.

View attachment 248414

Can choose charge rate between three settings, the highest 1a, and it has a built-in voltmeter to give you the current charge state of the battery via an LED readout. I ordered it b/c I don't want to have to use a VM to read the battery after each charge to make sure it's good and not shorted or faulty.

Seems like a good compromise between an expensive hobby charger and a cheap charger for those who don't already own a hobby charger for other reasons.

this charger rocks, the algorithm used to charge does a great job conditioning batteries. does not over charge and if the battery is left on the charger they drop and hold at 4.19v

the spring arms are very stiff and hold the battery well

the voltage meter on the front pretty cool, I charge my 2900 and 3400 pannys at 1 amp.

also has a 12v car adaptor if you need to charge on the go.

all in all this charger has received many favorable reviews on the flashlight forums (very hardcore when it comes to batteries and equipment) and is a very good compromise for us without stepping into the 100+ hobby charger range.

 

[Trayce]

this charger rocks, the algorithm used to charge does a great job conditioning batteries. does not over charge and if the battery is left on the charger they drop and hold at 4.19v

the spring arms are very stiff and hold the battery well

the voltage meter on the front pretty cool, I charge my 2900 and 3400 pannys at 1 amp.

also has a 12v car adaptor if you need to charge on the go.

all in all this charger has received many favorable reviews on the flashlight forums (very hardcore when it comes to batteries and equipment) and is a very good compromise for us without stepping into the 100+ hobby charger range.

I am just learning about all this but I have to agree. I finally picked it up today from the mailbox along with 2 EFEST IMR 18650s and I really like the charger. The batteries tested on my VM at 3.82 and the charger read them as 3.84, so well within the +/- .05 margin of error. (Assuming my VM is correct... could be the charger is reading them better than my meter.) IAC I placed them in the XTAR VP1 and because I wasn't in a hurry since my VAMO won't arrive until Monday I let them charge at 250mA. It took them slowly up to 4.2v and stopped charging, then like you say, if you leave them in the charger it will cycle back on to keep them close to that.

However I removed them and the VM read them as 4.18v.

And yes, those flashlight people are serious about their gear! I had Googled about a good 18650 charger and ended up in a flashlight forum which is where I read about this charger. Then the best place I found for price was the MD-Lightsource which caters to these flashlight people. The owner of MD-L is a cop and a very nice guy... had my order ready to ship literally within a few hours of placing it. The picture on his site is a military guy with an automatic rifle and a mounted flashlight... so I guess that's why that community is serious about their batteries and chargers... you don't want to be chasing bad guys in the dark and have your weapon-mounted flashlight go on the fritz!

If the XP1 is good enough for them, it's good enough for me. Also comes with a 15-day replacement warranty, then a 2yr free parts warranty. So hopefully even though it's made in China it will perform well.

EDIT: Meant to reiterate that anyone buying one should be very careful to read the fine print as most of the places I saw them, they had removed the DC/car adapter from the package and noted somewhere in fine print on the site: "Does not include DC charger," when the packaging has a place for it. That's what was weird. It's like vendors are pulling them to sell separately. The one on Amazon I linked to was like that (at least that day). And also the ones on eBay I looked at had a small note that the DC charger was not included. So again, find a place that sells the entire kit, DC charger included!