Efest IMR 18490 won't charge, dead?

[ap_bach]

Hey all, have been vaping for a little over 3 months after being a 1-2 pack per day smoker for 15 years. First, thanks for the great forum, I have been lurking since my first week of vaping with my ego/iclear16 and have gotten countless information to help me along my way. I've since moved along to a Sigelei Zmax V3 and rotate between a Protank II, Vivi, iClear 30 and a few Evods.

Anyway, my question has to do with a battery. I have (had) four Efest IMRs in my rotation (18650 flat top, 18490 flat top, 2x 18350 button tops), all of which were purchased about a month ago. I use an Intellicharger i4 (took less than a week using a Trustfire TR-001 to make the switch). I do not own a multimeter (yet). I have had no issues until yesterday. I usually swap out the battery in my Zmax when they are around between 3.4v-3.6v and am pretty OCD with scrolling through and checking the voltage every half hour or so. Yesterday I did not have the option to swap batteries at that level since I forgot to carry a spare with me and was stuck in traffic on my way home (was at 3.7v when I left the house, was only supposed to be gone an hour or so, figured it would get me to and from running my errands, aka buying beer and groceries). I drained the Efest 18490 until the Zmax showed the Low Vol code (3.0v according to their website). When I got home 20 minutes later I put the battery on the charger and now it won't charge. The charger won't recognize the battery. I put it on the Trustfire and same deal.

Should I just chalk it up to being a bad cell and toss the battery? Seems a little odd to be dead considering it's been through only 15 or so cycles (estimating). Battery was purchased through 101vape.com

Thanks in advance! (and yes, I use parentheses quite a bit)

 

[Mudflap]

Yeah, write it off as a defective cell and replace it.

 

[SirSteve]

It shouldn't be bad so soon. However if neither charger even attempted to charge it, then maybe it is defective. You could try cleaning the ends of the cell with something just to make sure it is making contact with the charger contacts. Could also try spinning it in the charger. Sounds silly, but make sure you are putting in the charger with the positive side towards the top of the charger.

Other than that I don't have any ideas. Odd about the Zmax, I have two Sigelei Zmaxes and both give the low vol warning in the 3.3 range.

 

[ap_bach]

Thanks Mud/Steve! What would be good to clean the ends of the cells with? Will rubbing alcohol suffice? Tried spinning it around with both chargers before posting and made sure positive side was the correct direction (this was my first thought when I noticed the charger failing to recognize the battery, figured I put it in backwards by accident).

Think you're right about the Zmax low vol warning around 3.3v as not too long before the warning I checked and was at 3.4v. Just checked their site again, one page for the unit said 3.0v, checked another page for the same device and it says 3.2v, and yet another says 3.4v.

 

[Baditude]

Yeah, I'm surprised the ZMax would allow the battery to drain down to 3.0 volts. Typically mods shut down once a battery reached 3.3 or 3.2 volts. My Provari shuts down at 3.4 volts.

Regardless, only certain chargers can recover dead batteries safely. Toss the dead Efest and get an AW. Seriously.

 

[Abbell]

low volt indicator usually goes off below 3.4 and above 3.0. It varies a bit because these are not high end multimeters and there is a bit of room for error.

Believe it or not.. a pencil eraser works great for cleaning contacts.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

This is the drawback to using regulated mods with variable wattage features. As the battery gets close to the end of its charge life, the energy demand placed on it has a higher chance of exhausting the cell and killing the battery. Thankfully, that was an Efest IMR and not some knockoff masquerading as a nice battery. It sounds like it died gracefully, just as it was supposed to do.

I personally love the VW feature of my Vamo, but you have to really be careful once the voltage drops to 3.5 or below.

 

[ap_bach]

This is the drawback to using regulated mods with variable wattage features. As the battery gets close to the end of its charge life, the energy demand placed on it has a higher chance of exhausting the cell and killing the battery. Thankfully, that was an Efest IMR and not some knockoff masquerading as a nice battery. It sounds like it died gracefully, just as it was supposed to do.

I personally love the VW feature of my Vamo, but you have to really be careful once the voltage drops to 3.5 or below.

That's great info to know since I am using it in VW mode the majority of the time! Thanks for the great info everyone! Was planning on placing an order for two AWs this afternoon anyway Baditude, so noted!

 

[SirSteve]

Glad you got some good advice from the others. Like Abbel said a Pencil erasuer works good. Like Bad said AW is a very good battery.

IBRC Media made a good point, be glad it died like it was supposed to, and not in a blaze of glory.

 

[jow350]

I wouldn't necessarily toss it, it may still be good... Once you have a volt meter, check it. If it's around 3V you may still be able to jump-start it by connecting it to a 9V for a few seconds at a time. That or get a charger that can recover batteries like this.... I had an eFest IMR 18350 go down to below 2.5V the other day, left it in a kicked mod and it somehow continued draining slowly. Tried it in my TrustFire TR-001 first just to see, it wouldn't charge it, but my eFest LUC did without issues. After it was charged, put the battery in my ZMax and it lasted as long as it should have.

 

[mikegun]

Strange I have an efest IMR 18350 that is about i.5 weeks old and it wont charge past 3.7, the second one I got with it is fine....also the poor battery seems to be slightly swollen , I had to remove the label to get it into my z max mini....any thoughts? thanks