Battery charge time? How long?

[Vaslovik]

Okay, I got my first mod, a mech, yesterday, and with it got two Trustfire 18500 batteries and the Trustfire charger. After vaping those batteries down I put them on the charger, last night, and this morning they are still not charged, the red lights are still on, so naturally I'm wondering how long it takes to charge a Trustfire 18500 that's all the way down.

I'm not thinking there's anything wrong with the batteries or charger, they are brand new, but if it's going to take 18 hours to charge these batteries I will be needing a lot more of them just to keep vaping through the day.

 

[Rickajho]

If a TrustFire is working correctly - less than 4 hours. If a TrustFire is defective - what you got. Lot's of similar complaints here lately.

 

[Vaslovik]

If a TrustFire is working correctly - less than 4 hours. If a TrustFire is defective - what you got. Lot's of similar complaints here lately.

Well just after I posted that I noticed one of the lights turn amber color, and shortly after that yellow, then green, so it finished charging that battery in about 6 hours. The other battery was on there before this one, but was totally drained. I expect the light on it will be green shortly. So I guess I'll have two batteries to vape on today, and I think it might be a good idea to go get a couple more.

Yep, just now that other light went green, so I'm good to go on batteries. I'll vape on them for about 4 hours each and rotate them through the charger.

 

[retired1]

If you're using batteries in a mech until it no longer fires, you're running a serious risk of thermal runaway on your batteries.

 

[Vaslovik]

If you're using batteries in a mech until it no longer fires, you're running a serious risk of thermal runaway on your batteries.

What is "thermal runaway?" I was told nothing about that when I bought my mech and batteries yesterday. Both batteries have been fully charged this morning, but I'm finding my mech has firing issues. Often it will fire weakly or not at all. The button seems not to work all the time, which I've heard is a known issue with Sigelei mods.

 

[ImThatGuy]

Thermal runaway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Running a battery down to it's last breath is never a good thing.

If you've heard of known issues of your mech mod then why did you get one?

 

[retired1]

Thermal runaway is draining your batteries too far and the chemical reaction goes into a runaway state. Are you using protected batteries? Normally, mechanicals are used by individuals who have been vaping for a while and have researched the ins and outs of using a mechanical and know the risks and what to do to minimize those risks.

Tons of info here: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/129569-rechargeable-batteries.html

Edit -- Looking through your posting history, you're fairly new to vaping. Mechanicals are not for folks who are new to vaping. Especially as you didn't do your homework and educate yourself on the safety aspects of using a mechanical.

 

[Vaslovik]

Thermal runaway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Running a battery down to it's last breath is never a good thing.

If you've heard of known issues of your mech mod then why did you get one?

I only found out about that issue AFTER I got it and began experiencing the issue, whereupon I did some YT and Google digging about it.

 

[Vaslovik]

Thermal runaway is draining your batteries too far and the chemical reaction goes into a runaway state. Are you using protected batteries? Normally, mechanicals are used by individuals who have been vaping for a while and have researched the ins and outs of using a mechanical and know the risks and what to do to minimize those risks.

Tons of info here: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/129569-rechargeable-batteries.html

Edit -- Looking through your posting history, you're fairly new to vaping. Mechanicals are not for folks who are new to vaping. Especially as you didn't do your homework and educate yourself on the safety aspects of using a mechanical.

Well then perhaps I'd be better off to return it and exchange it for something requiring less experience. It's having firing issues already and I've not even had it 24 hours yet.

 

[ZeroDisorder]

Well, the batteries are usually to discharge down to ~2.6V. I would not recommend going that far down, as what's known as copper shunts may start to form, causing irregular discharge points inside the cell, creating spot heating and increased cell heating greatly increasing chances of thermal runaway. I've overdischarged every once in a blue moon with various projects. It's risky, especially with steel canned batteries.

A thought: Vaping with mech mods is that power goes down significantly with the voltage since the load is of a (nearly) constant impedance. It may stop giving you good results around 3V or so. Assuming you're running a 1.3 ohm coil you'd be only getting ~7W, which is almost half at what you'd be getting at 4V (~12W). .8 ohms 20W@4V, 11.25W@3V, etc etc. It may have just fallen far below your preference and is still well above the danger point of overdischarge. Though, you should check. Seriously.

Most of the 18650 chargers I've seen do not push the battery in charging. A low voltage cutoff charger is great for such an unmonitered system. Though, it's not the normal operating charger that is scary...

Thermal runaway is a concern of all batteries, but the conditions are rather outside the normal operating conditions by a large portion. The lowest point at which thermal runaway typically starts in a lithium is around 100degC. Internal heating is an issue, and one way to do that is by drawing too much current... The other, by external heating, which (should) be fairly negligible unless you've been leaving your battery/mod on your car dashboard in a Oklahoma/southern state region. Combining those two is rather dangerous. IE Dashboard scenario combined with .2 ohm coil abuse afterword. The third, is the one I find scary since I know how often solid state devices can fail. Charger failure by the regulator fet shorting. The charger will act fine, but is actually putting 5V on the batteries. Yikes! If a cheap charger is used, the regulator will just say it's charging and continue on with it's job monitoring the voltage. Eventually the batteries will vent (with flame) from CO2 production.

 

[Vaslovik]

I'm using the Trustfire TR-001 charger, the batteries are Tustfire 18500's, and my coils are between 1.5 and 1.9 ohms. I'm a heavy chain vaper, and have not used a mod with batteries in a case before. I was urged strongly by a salesman at Royal Vapors here in town to get a mod, and especially a mech which he seemed to regard as the pen-ultimate in vaping. I'm sure he wanted to sell me one, but I didn't get it from him.

 

[ZeroDisorder]

The TF TR-001 is a known hit and miss. I've repaired a few, but they're cheap enough that if you want to be cheap you should just go buy another. Though, a good charger will last you a lifetime and potentially save your face. Literally.

They are very nice if you know what you're doing. They're definitely not for begeinners for a handful of reasons, a good portion being safety. Mech clones are also cheap to buy, and sold as the best, netting high profit. I've seen as much as 500% markup...

 

[Richard75]

I'm using the Trustfire TR-001 charger, the batteries are Tustfire 18500's, and my coils are between 1.5 and 1.9 ohms. I'm a heavy chain vaper, and have not used a mod with batteries in a case before. I was urged strongly by a salesman at Royal Vapors here in town to get a mod, and especially a mech which he seemed to regard as the pen-ultimate in vaping. I'm sure he wanted to sell me one, but I didn't get it from him.

I have a TR-001 charger... I've had it for almost a year now, and it still charges every battery I own to ~4.16, every time. One thing I've noticed (besides an annoying buzzing sound on occasion) is that sometimes the light doesn't turn green when the battery is fully charged. This normally only happens for me when charging two (big) batteries at the same time, and once I give them a little nudge they will go green. However, they're still always charged to 4.16! I'd love to get a Pila someday, but so far my TR-001 has been very faithful.

I'm also going to go against the flow and say that mechanicals are not not for beginners. Now, when you combine a mech with a rebuildable atomizer, then you're going to want some knowledge and experience. When you combine a mech with a rebuildable with sub-ohms, then you really want to know what you're doing. Then you can add on dual coils, or quad coils, and then you're in expert territory. There are layers to everything, and vaping is no different. If you're using a Vivi Nova or a carto tank on top of a mech, it's about as safe and fool-proof as it gets. Just throw in one of those vapesafe fuses, and you shouldn't have to worry at all.

As far as discharging a battery, I'd say it would be pretty hard not to realize a battery is needing a good charging. I usually vape a battery until it reaches about 3.5 (the vape is just too weak past that), and I don't think you should go much lower than 3.3. But again, you'll definitely feel the loss of power in the vape itself. Having only ever owned mechanicals after an eGo and cig-a-like, I can almost guess the voltage of a battery based on the vape.

Don't fear the mech!