Caring for batteries

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BakedDragon42

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So I've just started using my Sigelei 150w and it came with two Efest 18650 35A's. I have two VTC4's on the way and they should be here in a day or two, but for now I'm stuck with only one set of batteries. I know with cell phones the belief was you would want to drain your phone till it dies then charge to full as soon as you got it. With the phones today I've heard you don't have to do this anymore. But I've never used rechargeable batteries before so I'm not sure the best way to take of them. So I just have a couple of questions regarding the best way to take care of them to ensure safety and longevity.

1. How low should I let the battery get when I'm using it? Let it die (0%) or at what percentage should I plop them in the charger?

2. About how long is the life of a battery? I don't mean from charged to empty I mean how many recharges can the battery get and still be safe to use?

3. If I'm in a pinch and have no other battery or charged mod with me is it ok to take the batteries out, charge them for a little while (not to 100%) and use them until I'm able to swap them out for fully charged? Or should I just suffer for awhile until I can get my hands on fully charged batteries?

4. I have the Nitecore D2, is it safe to let the batteries remain on the charger if they've reached 100%? For instance while I'm sleeping? Or should I wait to charge them when I'll be awake when they reach 100%?

5. And lastly, If I have one pair of batteries (Battery1) fully charged and in my mod and one pair of batteries fully charged (Battery2) sitting on the side (not in the charger) will the batteries on the side (Battery2) lose their charge in the 2-3 days it takes me to drain the first pair (Battery1)?
 

sonicbomb

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Fully discharging IMR battery will break it. Operate it between 3.6 and 4.1 volts.

1. 0% on the Sigelei will not be absolute flat for the batteries. Still I would charge then before it hits 0%

2. About 300 cycles. Discharging the battery half way twice counts as one cycle. Most people change out batteries after a year regardless of cycles used just to be safe.

3. Partly charged is fine

4. Never leave a battery charging unattended, let alone when asleep. It's highly unlikely to be a problem with a good charger which the D2 is, but imagine the consequences if there was a fire.

5. You may lose a few tenths of a volt

Additional heads up, those Purple E-fest batteries are 20 amp continuous discharge rate, not 35 amp, the VTC4 is a 30 amp CDR battery. The Sigelei uses two 18650s in parallel so you will have a pool of 35 amps with the Efests, and 45 amps with the VTCs to make use of. If you are using coils you built yourself, always check the resistance before installing it on your mod.
You can use Battery drain | Steam Engine | free vaping calculators to check that you are not exeeding the amp limit of your batteries.
 
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Ryedan

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So I've just started using my Sigelei 150w and it came with two Efest 18650 35A's. I have two VTC4's on the way and they should be here in a day or two, but for now I'm stuck with only one set of batteries.

I have a Sigelei 150. It's a great mod. They need 20A batteries at 100 watts and 30A batts at over that. Atty resistance makes no difference. I believe the Efest 35A batts are really 20A batts.

My comments are in red in the section below here:

I know with cell phones the belief was you would want to drain your phone till it dies then charge to full as soon as you got it. With the phones today I've heard you don't have to do this anymore. But I've never used rechargeable batteries before so I'm not sure the best way to take of them. So I just have a couple of questions regarding the best way to take care of them to ensure safety and longevity.

1. How low should I let the battery get when I'm using it? Let it die (0%) or at what percentage should I plop them in the charger?

I swap my batteries out at around 50%.

2. About how long is the life of a battery? I don't mean from charged to empty I mean how many recharges can the battery get and still be safe to use?

If you take care of them and don't stress them too much you can get 500 plus charge cycles from them.

3. If I'm in a pinch and have no other battery or charged mod with me is it ok to take the batteries out, charge them for a little while (not to 100%) and use them until I'm able to swap them out for fully charged? Or should I just suffer for awhile until I can get my hands on fully charged batteries?

If you take them out before they are fully charged you'll gain net charge cycles.

4. I have the Nitecore D2, is it safe to let the batteries remain on the charger if they've reached 100%? For instance while I'm sleeping? Or should I wait to charge them when I'll be awake when they reach 100%?

I always only charge batteries when I'm here and awake. That goes for all my batts, cell phones, cordless phones, laptop, power tools, etc. If the charger board malfunctions it can start a fire. It doesn't happen often, but when it does go wrong it can really mess you up.


5. And lastly, If I have one pair of batteries (Battery1) fully charged and in my mod and one pair of batteries fully charged (Battery2) sitting on the side (not in the charger) will the batteries on the side (Battery2) lose their charge in the 2-3 days it takes me to drain the first pair (Battery1)?

No. However if you leave battery 1 charged for days before you use it that will shorten its total life span.

Hope that helps.
 
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