Battery Charger getting Warm

[happydave]

so i have been using these batteries for a long time now 14500 - 800mAh Sanyo Battery

they work great and charger never gets warm at all when i charge them


a few days ago i bought some Li-ion 14500 batteries 800 MAH. from my local vape shop
and when i put them on the charger the whole charger gets pretty warm, not hot, but warm enough to notice.
is that a bad sign? i have never seen this before
the vape shop batteries are no name with just the type, size, MAH, and voltage printed on them
the charger is a nitecore i2

 

[Rickajho]

Dave I'm of the opinion that that is never a good sign in a Nitecore. A charger should not need to get hot in order to function properly. That charger should be able to handle an 800 mAh bettery without doing that. At the same time, you are dealing with some no-name batteries so there isn't anything that can be said regarding quality going on there either. They could be suffering from higher than normal internal resistance.

 

[happydave]

Dave I'm of the opinion that that is never a good sign in a Nitecore. A charger should not need to get hot in order to function properly. That charger should be able to handle an 800 mAh bettery without doing that. At the same time, you are dealing with some no-name batteries so there isn't anything that can be said regarding quality going on there either. They could be suffering from higher than normal internal resistance.

thank you, i will be returning these no name batteries. and getting more of the sanyo ones.

 

[jimbodaddy74]

FWIW, my 18v Makita Li-Ion charger has a cooling fan. Seems as though some chargers are expected to get a little warm. Your mileage may vary, offer void where prohibited.

 

[Rickajho]

FWIW, my 18v Makita Li-Ion charger has a cooling fan. Seems as though some chargers are expected to get a little warm. Your mileage may vary, offer void where prohibited.

Design is everything. Nitecore seems to cut corners as close as possible to working without without failing. Unfortunately that seems to lead to a lot of component failures and overheating complaints because there is so little overhead built into both the design and quality control to make allowance for much of anything. I can put anything from 800 mAh 14500's or 18350's to 2900 mAh 18650's in an Xtar WPII 2 or VP1 and neither the batteries or the chargers ever get warm let alone hot. It just doesn't happen.

 

[catilley1092]

I've noticed that shortly after I start charging my AW IMR 18490 3.7V 1100mAh batteries on my ThreatFire charger, both the charger & batteries gets quite warm, then cools down after 30-45 minutes. Similar to one of my Ni-MH 2 hour battery chargers, but a bit warmer.

Maybe that's why I'm not getting as long of a charge out of the batteries as I once did. I just bought this in January, it was a complete mod kit including, Astro clone w/case, DBox PuriTank, 10 extra coils, 2 of the AW batteries per specs above & the ThreatFire charger, all for $90. As to the tank. it was initially a Pro Tank, which was supposed to be better, but I was slurping juice like crazy, so he swapped to a different brand at my insistence. He thought the bad tank to be a fluke, but me not well informed about best brands, just didn't want to take the chance on another.

Now he's going to be bringing me 2 Panasonic batteries to check out, but even if they're top line, I'm now concerned the charger needs to be replaced also. After all, I know a little about electronics, being a computer enthusiast, I've seen firsthand that cheap power supplies (PSU's) will ruin the best of motherboards & other expensive computer components, including graphic cards (GPU's) & CPU's, actually can fry everything in a split second.

It's the same thing, these cheap PSU's runs hot & damages components. That's why "gold" rated PSU's that costs $90 & up are better than $29 Raidmax units. Same theory, different product.

Thanks to happydave for creating this topic, this was a concern to me anyway, but the answers within reinforces it.

Cat

 

[Cloud Junky]

It happens when they are becoming worn. chuck it if it is old.

 

[happydave]

the no name batteries seem to really get my mod warm as well... the last time i got no name batteries from the same place they worked just fine.

the no name batteries are brand and under a 30 day warranty.
i watched the sales guy pull them out of the box and take them out of the plastic wrap and hand them to me.

i should also mention this is the second set (2) of these no name batteries i got from them.
the first set, one was just dead 0.7 volts "fully charged" the other only charged to 4.0 volts and got the charger really warm so the vape shop gave me 2 more.

i would just like to say this vape shop has been very good to me for the last two years. this is the first problem i have had and they are doing everything to make it right.

im sure something is up with these no name batteries i have. the other 14500s (sanyo) i have do not get warm in the charger or mod.

 

[jimbill]

I have the i4 charger that gets a little warm and i think that it's normal been using it for about a year now.

 

[happydave]

the no name batteries seem to really get my mod warm as well... the last time i got no name batteries from the same place they worked just fine.

the no name batteries are brand and under a 30 day warranty.
i watched the sales guy pull them out of the box and take them out of the plastic wrap and hand them to me.

i should also mention this is the second set (2) of these no name batteries i got from them.
the first set, one was just dead 0.7 volts "fully charged" the other only charged to 4.0 volts and got the charger really warm so the vape shop gave me 2 more.

i would just like to say this vape shop has been very good to me for the last two years. this is the first problem i have had and they are doing everything to make it right.

im sure something is up with these no name batteries i have. the other 14500s (sanyo) i have do not get warm in the charger or mod.

i just checked the temp of the plastic case on the charger and its over 100 degrees F

 

[kiwivap]

I can put anything from 800 mAh 14500's or 18350's to 2900 mAh 18650's in an Xtar WPII 2 or VP1 and neither the batteries or the chargers ever get warm let alone hot. It just doesn't happen.

My Xtar Wp II never gets warm either.

 

[jimbill]

I say 100ºF is to hot and should not be used.

 

[happydave]

I say 100ºF is to hot and should not be used.

yeah i would totally agree with that. and the fact that my sanyo batteries do not get warm at all tells me something is "different" about these no name batteries.

 

[kiwivap]

yeah i would totally agree with that. and the fact that my sanyo batteries do not get warm at all tells me something is "different" about these no name batteries.

We use celsius here. Initially I thought I read 100 degrees celsius and nearly lost a mouthful of coffee. And yeah - 100F is too hot. I figured you know that.

 

[happydave]

We use celsius here. Initially I thought I read 100 degrees celsius and nearly lost a mouthful of coffee. And yeah - 100F is too hot. I figured you know that.

as american im kinda proud of our backwards system of weights and measures
sure it works and all but when the rest of the world uses something different it sort of makes you feel "Special"

 

[catilley1092]

Speaking of quality batteries, is the AW IMR a good brand?

Cat

 

[jimbodaddy74]

Speaking of quality batteries, is the AW IMR a good brand?

Cat

Yep. They are.

 

[happydave]

Speaking of quality batteries, is the AW IMR a good brand?

Cat

AW is the brand.
IMR is the chemistry like Li-ion or Li-Po
IMR is a "safe" chemistry meaning that if it decides to "vent" or explode it will not shoot out a fireball, only hot gas.