Battery and charger questions.

[ntoine101]

Hey there, I just got my first mech yesterday and bought a trustfire tr-001 charger and this battery. I apologize if this is a nooby question, but how long do these usually take to charge? Also, am I supposed to set the volts on the charger to 4.2 or 3? The guy at the shop said to set it at 4.2 but the descriptions says it's 3.7 volts.

 

[Ryedan]

Set the charger to 4.2v, which is the fully charged voltage of a 3.7v nominal Li-ion battery like you bought.

BTW, that charger is not particularly good as chargers go. Here's a review of it by a good reviewer. If you want to skip the technical stuff scroll down to the conclusion. The safety concern is the charger doesn't fully stop charging when the batteries are full. Overcharging these batteries will at the least make them wear out fast, at worst can cause them to burn or explode. It also does a slow charge, making it harder to always be there and awake when it's charging. Never leave this charger on overnight.

Also, those batteries are 20 amp max continuous, not 35A.

 

[jwag1973]

The batteries are indeed 20A as previously stated, that said they're fine if you use common sense, and build a coil that's appropriate in regards to battery specifications.

 

[Rickajho]

It's really a disservice to be selling that charger with those batteries. You will will be lucky if they are done charging... somewhere between 15 to 20 hours.

 

[ntoine101]

Sorry for the late reply. It kind of bugs me that this shop is selling stuff with the wrong info..
And yeah, this charger is pretty slow, I always sit by it until the light turns green, takes about 5 or 6 hours :s
What charger do you guys recommend?

 

[jwag1973]

My favorite charger's are my Nitecore D2's. They charge at 300 or 500mAh and terminate charge at around 4.16 - 4.18 volts which is what my preferences are. I also like that the bays are completely independent, you can charge different chemistries at the same time as well as different charge rates of either 300 or 500mAh simultaneously. They're not the fastest, but very good in my opinion. I also have an XTAR VP2 which can charge at 250/500/1000mAh. Whatever charging voltage you select is the same for both bays. It's a nice charger as well, and capable of charging noticeably faster than the D2's. All chargers I've mentioned have nice LCD display's which I also like. If your interested in four bay chargers, the XTAR VP4 or the Nitecore D4 are good choices too! Good luck.

 

[ntoine101]

Thank you, I'll look and see if they sell the nitecore at the local shop here, as long as it isn't as sketchy as this charger is