AW 18490 issues

[jifjifjif]

Good morning, REOfam.

I have a few questions relating to my wife's mini 18490 that I need some advice with. We've been struggling wiith some battery issues recently and I would like to get them all straightened out.

I bought her 3 brand new AW 18490s from RTD Vapor two weeks ago.
Our charger is a Nitecore Intellicharger i4.

She is so used to using ego batteries and vaping them until they completely discharge, that this has been what is happening with her mini. She will vape it until it no loner hits and when I meter the battery, I don't even get a reading with the doohickey. I put the battery on charge and it begins charging. Hours and hours later, sometimes the LEDs on the charger are all lit indicating the battery is full and sometimes the LEDs are still blinking. Either way, I take the battery off charge and it meters something like 3.67.

Is she killing the batteries by running them until they no longer meter anything? Is the intellicharger at fault? My 18650s charge perfectly using the same charger.

 

[MichelleOhio]

I have four AW 18490s from RTD. I'm pretty sure it's just one of them that will just completely putz out at times (going to mark which batt next time it happens). Like you, no reading on the doohickey and takes forever to charge. I'm guessing it's not your charger as I have something different.

 

[unsure]

I personally never run my batts that low and the intellicharger isn't the fastest compared to others (I know I have one). Of course the deader the battery the longer it takes to recharge so I suggest having 3 make sure to have 2 always charged and yank them out of the REO before they get near 3.7v.

 

[jifjifjif]

Thanks for your insight, Michelle.

What's strange is that of the three I ordered, one I had already marked with sharpie and even after 5 hours on charge, it would read 3.5, so I chucked it. Now I am having similar woes with one of the remaining two.

I have two more on order already.

 

[muzichead]

It is not good to deplete any battery. It will shorten the lifespan and they will eventually not charge anymore. This is why they have a disclaimer not to run them below 2.5v. You may need to replace those.

 

[jifjifjif]

I personally never run my batts that low and the intellicharger isn't the fastest compared to others (I know I have one). Of course the deader the battery the longer it takes to recharge so suggest having 3 make sure to have 2 always charged and yank them out of the REO before they get near 3.7v.

Yep, that's the learning curve she is in.....swapping batteries before they drain completely) She's not used to that after 3.5 years of vaping ego batteries that just die on you when it's drained. I have her starting to swap them after 3 hours of continuous use.

 

[jifjifjif]

It is not good to deplete any battery. It will shorten the lifespan and they will eventually not charge anymore. This is why they have a disclaimer not to run them below 2.5v. You may need to replace those.

Thanks, Muzic. I agree. I have asked her to swap the battery after about 3 hours of use to prevent this.

 

[Alamedean]

FWIW, I just change my batteries when I refill the bottle. Whether it's an 18490 or 18650, the batteries are always above 3.7v and I never have to worry if I am discharging the batteries too much. Even if it's three days or three hours to finish a bottle of juice, this method works for me.

Hope this helps.

FYI: I am running ~ 1.0 ohm, so YMMV

 

[Izan]

FWIW, I just change my batteries when I refill the bottle. Whether it's an 18490 or 18650, the batteries are always above 3.7v and I never have to worry if I am discharging the batteries too much. Even if it's three days or three hours to finish a bottle of juice, this method works for me.

Hope this helps.

FYI: I am running ~ 1.0 ohm, so YMMV

⇈ ⇈ ⇈ ⇈ ⇈
Yeah...That.

Cheers
I

 

[jifjifjif]

FWIW, I just change my batteries when I refill the bottle. Whether it's an 18490 or 18650, the batteries are always above 3.7v and I never have to worry if I am discharging the batteries too much. Even if it's three days or three hours to finish a bottle of juice, this method works for me.

Hope this helps.

FYI: I am running ~ 1.0 ohm, so YMMV

Yep, this method could certainly help. Thanks.

 

[jifjifjif]

Can I check each of the four charging ports on the charger with a voltage meter just to make certain that the charger is working? Will this tell me what I need to know to ensure they are all working properly?

 

[Filthy-Beast]

I swap batteries by the clock. fresh in the morning and then again at 3pm. It's far better to pull a battery at 3.9 or 4.1 volts than to run it to low.

 

[Mrs C]

JIf

It might help to have her meter her batteries periodically as she uses her mini. It was helpful being able to visually associate the readings with the fall off of vape production, especially when I first started using my mini 14500 after being used to the grands.

 

[jifjifjif]

Thanks, all. I/we will employ some method that works.

 

[MichelleOhio]

So, that's the answer…the dying batts are being run too low? Wonder why it only happens with one of mine that was purchased in March. Guess I'll have to start watching the drain on all of them and get rid of that one. But, to me, that's a bad battery from the start. How do you know if they are worthless when you get them?

 

[jifjifjif]

When they all arrived, I put the voltage doohickey on them and they were all around 3.8V. They all charged up to 4.2 upon initial charging, so my guess is that draining them all the way down may have injured them beyond hope. I still would like to rule out the charger though, before I start tossing battteries and buying more and more replacements.

 

[MichelleOhio]

Mine also read okay. Guess it was misuse for me, too. Still seems that it drained faster from the start….I asked about it somewhere back then, but can't find that thread. It may have been in the FB group, too. Oh well….at least I still have some normal batteries. Good luck with your battery woes.

 

[Filthy-Beast]

Test the voltage before charge and after charge. Over charging will kill them fast as well.

Batteries can have different internal resistances. Another test is to determine the voltage drop that happens inside the battery under load.

Test a fresh battery off the charger, Then test at the batteries positive and negative terminals while firing the coil. This reading will always be lower and the difference is the voltage drop in the battery. a very high drop means the battery is bad and needs to be replaced. A battery may show 4.2 volts when charged but can only deliver 3.5 volts under load.

recent test of one of my batteries;
Off charger = 4.19 volts
under load at battery = 4.10 volts
So the battery has an internal voltage drop of .09 volts.

 

[MichelleOhio]

How do you test while firing?

 

[Filthy-Beast]

Hold the contacts of your meter on the positive and negative side of the battery while firing.