Can a Bartleby charge an AW IMR Li-Mn?

[Nedus Mustafus]

Hello, veterans.

I posed the above question to cybervex himself, and he replied that he wasn't sure how the battery would react to the charger. I recently converted to AW IMR 14500 3.7V 600 mAh batts after researching on the board, but I am leery of attempting to charge them with the Bartleby's built-in USB charger. I charge Li-Ion's on a PILA charger (also purchased because of things I read on this board)... I also charge the Li-Mn's on the same charger. By using my 1st grade logical abilities, it would seem the Bartleby could also do both... right?

Is it practical, and, more importantly, SAFE to charge the IMR's with the Bartleby? I really don't want to ruin these nice, shiny, EXPENSIVE batteries.

Thanks for all that you folks do.

 

[Kurt]

The charger you have for the Li-Mn's is probably a slow-charging unit. If it takes over an hour to charge a dead battery, it is using a relatively low current for it. The Bart, at least the one I had, was very fast charging. Clearly the current was high through the USB...in fact, it took out a USB port and a few cheaper USB cables. The unit still works, but the high current took out its own port, I think, as it does not charge anymore. Still works great with batteries charged on another charger though.

Charging batteries is far more than having a charging port that the battery fits it. Differing materials require different currents, voltages, etc. Some materials do well with fast charging, some REALLY do not, and could ignite. The Bart was designed for Li-ion 14500, and as a charger, at least with the one I had, I think it had much room for improvement...the convenience of fast charging can be negated by the damage it can cause. So unless he improved the charging circuit, I think you may be taking more risk than you want. If Li-Mn can handle repeat high-current charging, you will probably be ok. But you should find out about that, or else you might lose both the battery and the Bart.