At what voltage do you recharge your 14500 or 18650 protected cells ?

[Str8V8ping]

Iv been searching and nobody ever mentions when its time to recharge their 18650/14500 etc cells . I have never found a definitive answer on this .. I have always recharged them at approx 3.6-3.7v or whenever i have time to top off above those voltages . Im not sure if thats the proper voltages to recharge but i always just stay there cuz i know its safe .Iv never even experienced reduced vapor befor recharging . I would like to get as much usage time as possible and wondering how much lower i can go safely before recharging ? Does anyone go close to the 3v cutoff ?

Lets make this thread to state what cells you are using and/or at what voltage you usually recharge . Im sure a lot of newbies would find it usefull .

Well to start it off like i said above :

Trustfire flame,aw protected 18650 and 14500's - i recharge at 3.6-3.7v at no load

 

[RedAlert]

I can usually tell when they need it, and each time I measured them(I don't bother anymore) they were around 3.7 to 3.8v

 

[fray]

I am not near that technical. I vape till I "feel" the battery is low then swap them out. I don't carry a meter with me 24/7.

I use high drains so the drop off is usually a pretty dramatic shift in performance

 

[jmanning]

My vv device quits working when the batteries get too low. That's when I charge them.

 

[Str8V8ping]

My vv device quits working when the batteries get too low. That's when I charge them.

Around what voltage would that be ? Do you have a low voltage shutoff or just drain them that low ?

 

[AttyPops]

2.75 volts is cut-off for my 14500's built in protection circuit. As a general rule, you should be using protected batteries... the protection stops over-draining. Of course, some other battery chemistries are different, but these are general guidelines for standard cells.

If you want to lengthen battery life (not charge duration) try recharge at 3.2-3.4ish volts.

The main voltage of Li Ion is 3.6/3.7 volts. So recharging at 3.6 is overkill and would cause you to miss out on a lot of battery life. It's a curve. 4.2 volts to start... quick drop to 3.6/3.7 volts for quite a while, then quick drop off to 2.8 ish.

 

[Str8V8ping]

2.75 volts is cut-off for my 14500's built in protection circuit. As a general rule, you should be using protected batteries... the protection stops over-draining. Of course, some other battery chemistries are different, but these are general guidelines for standard cells.

If you want to lengthen battery life (not charge duration) try recharge at 3.2-3.4ish volts.

The main voltage of Li Ion is 3.6/3.7 volts. So recharging at 3.6 is overkill and would cause you to miss out on a lot of battery life. It's a curve. 4.2 volts to start... quick drop to 3.6/3.7 volts for quite a while, then quick drop off to 2.8 ish.

Good to know that i can take it that low . Doesnt the voltage drop under load though . If it does i would think it would drop past the 3v mark at 3.2

 

[AttyPops]

I got the info off the side of one of my batteries. How they measure it is not stated. But the PCB/protection circuit takes care of it. There are many that wish to charge before cut-off. I just vape until either A) performace is crappy or B) it cuts out. Then charge. That's what the protection circuit is there for.

I have 3 sets of 14500's. Charge about a set per day (maybe averages a bit higher) and some sets are over a year old... and I used to have only 2 sets. So at least 2 of the 3 sets have about 1/2 year or more of vaping on them. They are $10.00 per set or less. Meh. I wouldn't sweat it. Vape until the performance is low/near cut-off then recharge. That will give you max duration.

Sometimes we get too picky about this stuff, IMHO. You could drive yourself nuts with a multi-meter or battery voltage gauge and have virtually no gain.

2 cents

 

[ancient puffer]

I use AW IMR 14500's and 18650's. I notice a performance drop off that is consistently around 3.8-3.9volts. I've pushed them down to 3.4 during power outages, but normally, right around 3.9. I've read that shallow discharges are fine with these particular batteries, and, although I've been using them since March, haven't lost any yet.

Just FYI, I always meter them when I take them off the charger as well, and they are consistently recharged to 4.1+ or 4.2

 

[Str8V8ping]

I got the info off the side of one of my batteries. How they measure it is not stated. But the PCB/protection circuit takes care of it. There are many that wish to charge before cut-off. I just vape until either A) performace is crappy or B) it cuts out. Then charge. That's what the protection circuit is there for.

I have 3 sets of 14500's. Charge about a set per day (maybe averages a bit higher) and some sets are over a year old... and I used to have only 2 sets. So at least 2 of the 3 sets have about 1/2 year or more of vaping on them. They are $10.00 per set or less. Meh. I wouldn't sweat it. Vape until the performance is low/near cut-off then recharge. That will give you max duration.

Sometimes we get too picky about this stuff, IMHO. You could drive yourself nuts with a multi-meter or battery voltage gauge and have virtually no gain.

Yea but you cant always guarantee that the protection is going to kick in . Maybe 3.4ish is a more happy medium .


2 cents

I use AW IMR 14500's and 18650's. I notice a performance drop off that is consistently around 3.8-3.9volts. I've pushed them down to 3.4 during power outages, but normally, right around 3.9. I've read that shallow discharges are fine with these particular batteries, and, although I've been using them since March, haven't lost any yet.

Just FYI, I always meter them when I take them off the charger as well, and they are consistently recharged to 4.1+ or 4.2

I always meter off the charger and taking them out of the mod as well as a few times while in the mod ,I mostly only check while in the mod on stacked setups where i want to know if one battery is draining faster then the other .

 

[AttyPops]

Others may chime in here, but from what I read above:

What you guys are doing is simulating "semi-HV" vaping by just vaping at the top end of the battery curve 4.2 - 3.8 volts. You can do that, doesn't bother me. However, the OP was talking about getting max duration out of the battery.

You may wish to lower the resistance of your atty and vape through more of the battery's range if you are above the 1.5 ohm LR range. You should get good performance at 3.7 volts... with the top end being hotter at the start. Of course, the lower the ohms, the higher the amps needed and the more you will be interested in IMRs (more for the 14500s or boosted stuff).

Just a thought. Another thing to do is to check into vv mods if you want the oomph. You do, of course, notice a difference in performance at 4.2 volts compared to 3.7. I vape at a dedicated/regulated 5 volts myself, with 3.0 ohm atties (8.3333 watts).

This is the curve I keep talking about. You guys are discussing only the upper 1/5th or maybe 1/10th of the curve (estimate). Ideally, you want to adjust your atty/carto ohms to get a satisfying vape through the 3.7/3.6 range to get some battery life out of the device. This would be under load, of course.

 

[Str8V8ping]

Others may chime in here, but from what I read above:

What you guys are doing is simulating "semi-HV" vaping by just vaping at the top end of the battery curve 4.2 - 3.8 volts. You can do that, doesn't bother me. However, the OP was talking about getting max duration out of the battery.

You may wish to lower the resistance of your atty and vape through more of the battery's range if you are above the 1.5 ohm LR range. You should get good performance at 3.7 volts... with the top end being hotter at the start. Of course, the lower the ohms, the higher the amps needed and the more you will be interested in IMRs (more for the 14500s or boosted stuff).

Just a thought. Another thing to do is to check into vv mods if you want the oomph. You do, of course, notice a difference in performance at 4.2 volts compared to 3.7. I vape at a dedicated/regulated 5 volts myself, with 3.0 ohm atties (8.3333 watts).

This is the curve I keep talking about. You guys are discussing only the upper 1/5th or maybe 1/10th of the curve (estimate). Ideally, you want to adjust your atty/carto ohms to get a satisfying vape through the 3.7/3.6 range to get some battery life out of the device. This would be under load, of course.

Nice i will start using them to around 3.3-3.4v before the steep drop off unless im home and can just top off anytime . I usually vape at about 5v now . Check out my mods below . I also am working on a VV single boost mod

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/226489-my-blackbox-skyscraper-vv-mods.html

Also i just ordered some AW IMR's and panasonic IMRs in 18650 and 14500

 

[Str8V8ping]

Has anyone used the new panasonic IMR 18650's (callies Kustoms) ? If so what do you think of them . From what i hear they blow the AW away in terms of life and performance .