EFest Battery with Trustfire T00R1 Question

[Xylocaine]

I recently got 2 EH 2000mAh LiMn batteries in and they charged within a few hours. I used one up and swapped it out and set the other on the charger. It has been on the charger for almost six hours (if not longer at this point) and still has yet to green-light. I pulled it off and checked the voltage on my Vamo and it says 3.7v. Do batteries generally take this long to charge or something?

Edit: Using a TrustFire TR001 Charger.

Further note: I'm very sleep deprived these are EH brand not EFest.

 

[MrWarspite]

Im assuming its an 18650. If so yeah, they take a long time to charge if you use them till their dead. When the light goes green, it will ready 4.1 to 4.2v on your meter.

For longer battery life, its recommended that you charge batteries when they get down to 3.5v. Dont run them all the way down.

 

[Xylocaine]

Yeah they are 18650 alright thank you for the tip I was unaware I just vaped em' till my Vamo said Lo V

Just got done sleeping for 11 hours straight, woke up once for like 3 seconds and passed back out (was very sleep deprived)

 

[MrWarspite]

Just hold down the - key on the vamo for 3-5 seconds and it'll give you the battery life left in voltage. When it hits 3.5, go ahead and swap it out for a fresh one. It'll extend the life of the batteries.

 

[Rickajho]

I recently got 2 EH 2000mAh LiMn batteries in and they charged within a few hours.

Bcuz they already had a partial charge when you received them.

I used one up and swapped it out and set the other on the charger. It has been on the charger for almost six hours (if not longer at this point) and still has yet to green-light. I pulled it off and checked the voltage on my Vamo and it says 3.7v. Do batteries generally take this long to charge or something?

Edit: Using a TrustFire TR001 Charger.

The key here is you are using a TrustFire TR001. And yes, large capacity batteries can take 8+ hours to charge in that thing. Nothing wrong per se, it's how the TR001 is designed and how it functions.

Do yourself a favor and step up to an xTar WPII 2 charger. My 2600 mAh 18650's are charged in that thing - safely - in under four hours.

 

[Xylocaine]

Yeah this thing is taking far too long I'm gonna have to scrounge the cash for a better charger.

I've heard that the TR001 can trickle charge, I have been testing the batteries regularly by pulling them off and using my Vamo or my multimeter. The one never turned red but showed 4.2v so not sure why it hadn't.

Quick edit: Went down to 4.1v after a few drags but still was about 12 hours total charging time.

 

[Xylocaine]

Quick follow up: Just ordered the XTAR WP2 II charger from Altsmoke, along with a vision clearo, 2 battery boxes and then bought about 30ft of silica and 20ft of kanthal from houseofvapors. I only went over 15$ on my monthly vaping budget but i feel justified as its all more or less investment. I don't see needing a new charger soon, and I needed more silica and kanthal because all my setups are rebuildable. Thanks a lot everyone I really appreciate it

 

[MrWarspite]

That's a top line charger, you'll be pleased with it. I still feel uncomfortable with leaving batteries charging unattended, but that charger, like the pilla, has all the safety features to make it safe if you choose to do so.

You can always take that trust fire into work or just keep it as a backup.

 

[MrWarspite]

Oh yeah, one more thing about the xtar. There is a switch on it for 500ma and 1000ma charging. Never charge batteries with sub 1000mah capacities in the 1000ma mode. Since you seem to just be using 18650's you'll be fine, but keep it in mind if you pick up a smaller battery mod in the future.

 

[Wish]

Im assuming its an 18650. If so yeah, they take a long time to charge if you use them till their dead. When the light goes green, it will ready 4.1 to 4.2v on your meter.

For longer battery life, its recommended that you charge batteries when they get down to 3.5v. Dont run them all the way down.

Can you test a battery with a multi meter and find out if it's low? If so, which setting?

 

[MrWarspite]

sure can, on my multimeter i have 200mV, 2V, 20V, 200V, and 600V. You want to set it to the mode thats the next step up from the batteries charge. So for a 3.7v battery the next step up is the 20V Setting. If you were testing a 1.5v AA battery, you'd use the 2V setting.

 

[Wish]

sure can, on my multimeter i have 200mV, 2V, 20V, 200V, and 600V. You want to set it to the mode thats the next step up from the batteries charge. So for a 3.7v battery the next step up is the 20V Setting. If you were testing a 1.5v AA battery, you'd use the 2V setting.

I'm not exactly acquainted with my multi meter yet but is this the 20 on the part where it says V with a line and three lines below it? It has 1000v, 200, 20, 2000m and 200m.

 

[MrWarspite]

thats the one you want to use, the 20

2000m is 2v, so thats the one you'd use to test AA,AAA batteries.

 

[Rickajho]

Yeah this thing is taking far too long I'm gonna have to scrounge the cash for a better charger.

I've heard that the TR001 can trickle charge, I have been testing the batteries regularly by pulling them off and using my Vamo or my multimeter. The one never turned red but showed 4.2v so not sure why it hadn't.

Quick edit: Went down to 4.1v after a few drags but still was about 12 hours total charging time.

You have discovered the problems with the TR001:

It can get a battery up to 4.1 volts in a fairly decent time frame, but that last jump from 4.1 to 4.2 volts is what takes forever. (Not the greatest math going on in chip used...)

It has a tendency to charge to over voltage. They don't shut down at 4.2 volts. This is not a good thing. Chances are if you let it complete the charge cycle the batteries would have metered 4.24 volts or higher.

Trickle charging is not good in a lithium charger. The charger should get the batteries to 4.2 volts and stop providing any charging current. Period. It's ok to monitor the batteries, and if the charger determines they have dropped below 4.2 volts bring them back up to 4.2 volts again. And stop again. But a good charger should not keep applying a low current trickle charge to lithium batteries "just because..."

Really don't like the TR001.

I see you ordered the WPII 2 - Yay! The WPII 2 doesn't do any of that "not good" stuff built into the TR001, along with getting you faster charge times. I wish I caught you before you did that though: It does come with 2 battery spacers in the kit. But you will need two per channel if you charge things like 16350's. Did you order extra spacers?

As MrWarspite already mentioned the WPII 2 has a selector switch labeled .5A (500 mA) or 1.0A (1,000 mA) - that sets the charging current used. And I have to say it again too - if your batteries are less than 1,000 mAh capacity you want to use the 500 mAh position. "The Rule" is you never put more charging current into a battery than it is designed to out put. With the xTar I just leave it in the .5A position and even then, those 2600 mAh batteries I put in it are charged in under 4 hours.

Know it put you over budget, but you got yourself a very good - and safe - charger. I read all the reviews when I got mine, and couldn't justify the huge difference in price between the WPII 2 and a Pila over a tiny difference in how they handle battery charging. IMO the WPII 2 gives you about 95% of the performance and features of a Pila.

 

[Fury83]

Like everyone else said...it's a good idea to up your charging game.

I have a Pila but an xtar or nitecore also does the trick.

 

[PhreakySTS9]

Yeah I had used the 001 ever since I bought my first Madvapes box mod, whenever that was. Since the housefire I recently purchased an Xtar WP2 and it rocks, charges a lot faster. I keep it on .5 though, the 1000mA option makes me nervous.

 

[dam718]

I have both a TR001 and a WP2II

I mainly have the TR001 as a backup, but I do use it if I need to charge more than two batteries at a time, or if I need to charge more than one 18350 at a time.

Lately that has been more often as I am conducting some testing with stacked 18350's in my Vamo...

As someone else already mentioned, get yourself 2 more spacers for your WP2II and you will be good to go.

When I have tested a fresh off the charger battery with my meter, coming from the TR001 they meter out around 4.22V. So not TOO horrible. Coming off the WP2II they meter out around 4.17V... So one is a little bit less than I would like, and one is a bit more than I would like... Can't be perfect, and I'm not sure which is better TBH... But, the WP2II is certainly faster, as the charging algorithm is a bit more linear. That, and the TR001 is fixed at .5A (500mA) while the WP2II has a 1A charge mode. Also, the AC/DC transformer is built in to the TR001, and the WP2II uses an external transformer. I like that a lot better as far as safety is concerned.

When you get the WP2II I would keep the TR001 around just in case... Mine has come in handy even as a "backup" device...

 

[Rickajho]

I have both a TR001 and a WP2II


When I have tested a fresh off the charger battery with my meter, coming from the TR001 they meter out around 4.22V. So not TOO horrible. Coming off the WP2II they meter out around 4.17V... So one is a little bit less than I would like, and one is a bit more than I would like... Can't be perfect, and I'm not sure which is better TBH... But, the WP2II is certainly faster, as the charging algorithm is a bit more linear. That, and the TR001 is fixed at .5A (500mA) while the WP2II has a 1A charge mode. Also, the AC/DC transformer is built in to the TR001, and the WP2II uses an external transformer. I like that a lot better as far as safety is concerned.

The problem with the TR001's is one charger might terminate at 4.22, another at 4.24, a third one maybe at 4.34... You really have to keep an eye on those chargers. And definitely check what's going on with the batteries the first time you use a TR001 to make sure it isn't grossly out of spec.

And as you have noticed, batteries coming off an xTar tend to be a tad low - but the WPII 2 chargers all seem to stop consistently at 4.17 volts. This guarantees the charger isn't doing "bad stuff" and ever putting the batteries over voltage. There is speculation that your batteries will last longer by stopping a bit short of the idealized 4.2 volts. It is known that chronic over charging can cause chemical changes/deterioration to the anode, creating potential for an unsafe battery. The lower voltage is definitely better.

The bottom line for me is I have detected no difference in run times on batteries coming off the WPII 2 at 4.17 volts versus other chargers terminating at a higher voltage.

I do like that the WPII 2 uses a separate wall wart for it's power supply. Not so much for safety, but I have had two of those "all in one" chargers with flip-out AC plugs crap out just from mechanical failure of the internal AC plug contacts. All that pushing and pulling and flipping... Sooner or later the mechanical contacts for the AC plug weaken. You can take the things apart and carefully bend the springs to get contact again. And that lasts about a month before you have to do it all over again. It's simply a non issue with the WPII 2 design.

 

[Wish]

thats the one you want to use, the 20

2000m is 2v, so thats the one you'd use to test AA,AAA batteries.

Not really sure if that gives me the battery's level. I checked 3 batteries and they gave me a display of 3.8 to around 4 volts. One of them I've been using since yesterday 11am casually as well as tests last night when I rebuilt my atomizer. This should be around mid range to low level by now.

 

[hoss1738]

Yes sometimes. Mine take 10 hours if dead u ok