Charger getting VERY hot and heating batteries!

[ZombieSlayer]

I recently acquired a VA Variable Volt kit (basically a Lavatube) from vaporalley. At first, charging seemed to go just fine; no overheating (hardly any heat actually) the first time I charged a battery (18650 high drains). Yesterday, I recharged a batt for about an hour, and the charger and battery were pretty hot to the touch! I immediately took it off of the charger, and let it cool. Today, I did a little experiment, and tried charging my other batt. I noticed that the heat was happening in the charger, not the batt. It actually got warm enough for me to smell warm plastic/electronics after only about 4 minutes of charging! But the batt was still relatively cool, unlike the charger. With that, I think what happened the first time the batt got hot is that the charging unit got hot enough to send heat up through the contacts, and from the contacts into the batt. Can anyone tell me what kind of fault this might be?

 

[Switched]

Do not use that charger any more and contact the vendor!

 

[martinc]

...and get a backup charger!

 

[Ratchet]

Get rid of that charger, do not use it. Contact the vendor and see if it can be exchanged. And yes, get a backup charger, you don't want to be without the ability to charge batteries..... Makes for pretty unhappy days..I have one charger, need to get a second one myself for the 16850 batteries but at least I have 4 batteries so I can survive 2-3 days without a charger, if needed.

 

[Boognish]

I had the same problem with a cheap charger that came with a kit. Look into Xtar or Pila chargers. I have the Xtar wp6 and plenty of spacers to charge all my different size batteries. Great investment........Can't put a price on safety!
WP6 II 6 channel li-ion battery charger for 3.7V batteries

 

[ZombieSlayer]

Done. Have a Xtar WP2 II on the way. Thank you guys very much for saving me from dying in a lithium-based inferno.

 

[BuGlen]

Done. Have a Xtar WP2 II on the way. Thank you guys very much for saving me from dying in a lithium-based inferno.

These are getting good reviews, so nice choice. Let us know how it works out for you. I have a Pila on the way and I'll be looking for a backup charger soon.

 

[ZombieSlayer]

Everyone on several sources of user reviews seems to love this one. I figured I'll be more than satisfied with this one. I'll definitely let you guys know how well it works.

 

[Boognish]

Everyone on several sources of user reviews seems to love this one. I figured I'll be more than satisfied with this one. I'll definitely let you guys know how well it works.

Nice... I almost bought the wp2 also, but I figured with the vast arsenal of batteries I seem to be accumulating I would have no problem utilizing 6 spaces instead of 2. I was right. I also got a Xtar charger a while back that fits my 16340's exclusively since I go through these little gems like candy with all my mini mods

 

[ZombieSlayer]

Who knows? I may need to get a larger charger in the future. Especially since I've also been reading about those Panasonic batts that are high drain with a much larger capacity than than other high drains. I'm kinda itching to get my hands on those too, which will possibly cause my charging needs to expand.

 

[ZombieSlayer]

So I've had the Xtar WP2 Mk ii for a couple days now. It's working perfectly; charges a battery within 3 hours. Looking at the specs, they have made the thing virtually idiot-proof. It will charge a batt to 4.2 volts, then stop charging. On another forum, I saw graphs of the performance of someone else's WP2 Mk ii, and it looks like it tests the voltage of the battery about every half second. Once it reads 4.2v, it stops charging. It's also designed so that if you were to leave it on the charger long enough for the voltage to drop, it won't start charging the battery again until the voltage drops to 3.9v. Then, it would just charge it back up to 4.2v, wash, rinse, repeat. It also charges each battery dependently from the other. Overall, it works as it should and that makes me happy. If any of you are in the market for a charger, I'd give this puppy a serious look.

 

[BuGlen]

So I've had the Xtar WP2 Mk ii for a couple days now. It's working perfectly; charges a battery within 3 hours. Looking at the specs, they have made the thing virtually idiot-proof. It will charge a batt to 4.2 volts, then stop charging. On another forum, I saw graphs of the performance of someone else's WP2 Mk ii, and it looks like it tests the voltage of the battery about every half second. Once it reads 4.2v, it stops charging. It's also designed so that if you were to leave it on the charger long enough for the voltage to drop, it won't start charging the battery again until the voltage drops to 3.9v. Then, it would just charge it back up to 4.2v, wash, rinse, repeat. It also charges each battery dependently from the other. Overall, it works as it should and that makes me happy. If any of you are in the market for a charger, I'd give this puppy a serious look.

Thanks Zombie! With all the good reviews this charger is getting, I'm pretty sure I'll get one as a backup for the Pila I have now.

 

[ZombieSlayer]

I just wanted to point out that I made a pretty bad typo. I meant to say that it charges the batts INDEPENDENTLY of each other. Each slot does it's own thang.

 

[Nosha]

310 vapers has it on sale right now for 13.49

http://www.310vapers.com/e-cigarette-accessories/e-cigarette-chargers/xtar-wp2-ii-charger-18650-18500-18350-more.html

 

[markfm]

Yes that is a good price for the wp2 ii. Don't forget an extra pair of spacers for xx340 or other short batteries.

 

[my4jewels]

I have one of these chargers, and I like it very much! I got mine from SuperT a few months ago.

I had the same problem with a cheap charger that came with a kit. Look into Xtar or Pila chargers. I have the Xtar wp6 and plenty of spacers to charge all my different size batteries. Great investment........Can't put a price on safety!
WP6 II 6 channel li-ion battery charger for 3.7V batteries

 

[WillyB]

So I've had the Xtar WP2 Mk ii for a couple days now. It's working perfectly; charges a battery within 3 hours. Looking at the specs, they have made the thing virtually idiot-proof. It will charge a batt to 4.2 volts, then stop charging. On another forum, I saw graphs of the performance of someone else's WP2 Mk ii, and it looks like it tests the voltage of the battery about every half second. Once it reads 4.2v, it stops charging.

That is not the way the correct CC/CV charging algorithm works. The charging is terminated by CURRENT, not by voltage. Getting to 4.2V is literally half the battle. The basic algorithm is to charge at constant current ( which will depend on battery size/mAh) until the battery reaches 4.2V, and hold the voltage at 4.2V until the charge current has dropped to ~10% of the initial charge rate. The termination condition is the drop in charge current to 10%. Basically the battery needs to be fully saturated after it has reached 4.2V. Different manufacturers use various mA figures to determine when to stop, and battery manufacturers also make recommendations.

Note this chart.

Looking at the chart you see that the charge cannot be terminated on a voltage. The capacity reached at 4.2 Volts l is only ~75% of full capacity. For this reason you need to continue to charge until the current drops, then terminating the cycle.

 

[markfm]

The wp2 ii doesn't do a hard cutoff from the reviews I've seen, but rather it will trail down to a very low 0.1 mA, close enough for practical purposes. It is supposed to be close to a classic cc/cv.

 

[ZombieSlayer]

Holy cow! I was simply here to tell people about how this charger works great, and lo and behold; A whole can of worms has burst open! lol I should note that I'm not an electronics expert. Anyhoo, looking back at the manual, it says cutoff voltage is 4.2 +/- 0.05V, CV cutoff is <100mA, and standby current is <20.0mA. Can someone please explain what this means in simple terms so as to avoid this kind of confusion in the future? Many tanks.