Ego adapter for charging

[Jules22871]

I ordered a couple of batteries and a cone and forgot to order the charger. I know that you can use a regular 510 charger if you have an adapter. What kind of adapter and where can I get it? Can I just use a USB charger and not need an adapter?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Vaporologist]

I'm not really sure that you can charge Ego/Tornado batteries without an adapter to a standard 510 charger. Mine came with the whole set from Totally Wicked and it takes about 5-6 hours to charge the battery. If you get the actual Ego USB charger, your batteries will charge in less than 2 hours. I know that TW sells both, the USB charger (I strongly recommend it) and the adapter. Hope this helps.

 

[Upinthehills]

You can charge it with a regular 510 charger, but it takes forever. Cignot has the fast USB chargers for $8.00. Cignot your Midwest Electronic Cigarette store.

I use one of those with a USB>AC adaptor as I don't like charging from my USB on my computer.

 

[aphlaque_duck]

Never charge lithium batteries except with the correct charger. It's much more than just an issue of the size of the battery vs speed of the charger, and without seeing detailed specs for the batteries in question it is NOT possible to say that the eGo would be safe on a conventional 510 charger, even if you were willing to wait 6 hours. Charging these is much more complicated than any other battery chemistry (nicd, nimh etc) and their failure mode is FIRE. The fact that it didn't explode the first time you tried it doesn't mean it will survive that alternate charging curve over an extended number of cycles.

 

[Kirssstens]

I charge my eGo on a 510 charger with adapter, @5hrs.

Adapters:

Totally Wicked
cignot
healthcabin
litecigusa
Janty or Madvapes may be others, tho haven't personally seen

 

[doots]

Never charge lithium batteries except with the correct charger. It's much more than just an issue of the size of the battery vs speed of the charger, and without seeing detailed specs for the batteries in question it is NOT possible to say that the eGo would be safe on a conventional 510 charger, even if you were willing to wait 6 hours. Charging these is much more complicated than any other battery chemistry (nicd, nimh etc) and their failure mode is FIRE. The fact that it didn't explode the first time you tried it doesn't mean it will survive that alternate charging curve over an extended number of cycles.

I agree. for the small amount the chargers cost why risk it??

 

[Jules22871]

Got the right charger coming now. Thanks for all the answers.

 

[stubear62]

Never charge lithium batteries except with the correct charger. It's much more than just an issue of the size of the battery vs speed of the charger, and without seeing detailed specs for the batteries in question it is NOT possible to say that the eGo would be safe on a conventional 510 charger, even if you were willing to wait 6 hours. Charging these is much more complicated than any other battery chemistry (nicd, nimh etc) and their failure mode is FIRE. The fact that it didn't explode the first time you tried it doesn't mean it will survive that alternate charging curve over an extended number of cycles.

Hi duck,
I believe you have this mixed up between the eGo and Reg 510 batts.
You CAN charge the eGo, Reg 510 Batteries on the charger for the 510 batts..
This will take longer to do.
The "Rapid" charger that was made for the eGo, is just for the eGo and NOT the Reg 510 batt.
If you put the 510 batt on the Rapid charger this may cause serious injury and or personal damage. The Reg 510 batts cannot take the higher mah from the Rapid charger of the eGo.

 

[aphlaque_duck]

Hi duck,
I believe you have this mixed up between the eGo and Reg 510 batts.
You CAN charge the eGo, Reg 510 Batteries on the charger for the 510 batts..
This will take longer to do.
The "Rapid" charger that was made for the eGo, is just for the eGo and NOT the Reg 510 batt.
If you put the 510 batt on the Rapid charger this may cause serious injury and or personal damage. The Reg 510 batts cannot take the higher mah from the Rapid charger of the eGo.

As I was saying, with Lithium batteries there is generally more to it than the simple mAH rate that you may be familiar with when using lead-acid, NiMH or NiCD chargers. Obviously I realize the eGo is a larger battery that will accept a higher charge current than the 510, and that a slower charge is far less dangerous than charging too fast.

However from one cell to the next there will be differences in the relationship between open circuit voltage vs % of charge, and the appropriate voltage and current to be applied for the topping charge. There are also possibilities such as a plating effect that can take place at too-slow charge rates, which would reduce the lifespan of the battery.

So if _forced_ to choose between charging too slow or charging too fast, I'd charge too slow. But I would not advise either without very carefully reviewing the design specifications for both the cells and the chargers.

 

[Drozd]

hey duck...
the tornado (same thing as the eGo) is sold from TW with a standard 510 mains adapter and an adapter...
so it's fine to do just takes like 6 hours...the manufacturer has pretty much indicated this by marketing the kits to suppliers like this....
standard mains charger has an output of 150mA
eGo fast charger has an output of 420mA

obviously the standard 510 battery is 180mAh
mega 280mAh
ego 650mAh

they dont give the max charge rate on any of those stock batteries... but given that the output rate of the fast charger exceeds the mAh of the standard and mega batteries by so much and the output rate of their native charger...it's not a far jump to conclude that it'd exceed the max charge rate of those batteries..

heck we could probably even assume that the max charge rate is somewhat the same as the max drain rate of the batteries....give that we can assume that unless otherwise specified Li-Ion have a discharge rate of 1C....the max discharge rate of a standard battery would be .18A or 180mA....which would make sense that the mains charger outputs 150mA...

to answer the OP...not that it matters at this point....the thing is the eGo needs the adapter because the shape of the battery won't allow the eGo battery to fit into the mains charger housing without it... (stacked adapters ie..510 to 901 + 901 to 510 would work in a pinch)...or a 510 charger that doesn't have all that housing to get around (ie a regular 510 usb charger (I've got the one from RMV for example, and it's identical to the fast USB charger except for it's output rating) and it fits

 

[aphlaque_duck]

hey duck...
the tornado (same thing as the eGo) is sold from TW with a standard 510 mains adapter and an adapter...
so it's fine to do just takes like 6 hours...the manufacturer has pretty much indicated this by marketing the kits to suppliers like this....

OK, it doesn't surprise me that they are compatible. I was just talking in general as to why you can't assume so just because the connector fits or the battery is whatever physical size, be it bigger or smaller.

If the manufacturer sells them as such then fine. On the other hand, these guys can't even seem to get a simple USB PT to work reliably so I don't trust their engineering acumen any farther than I can chuck a dead battery.

 

[Drozd]

OK, it doesn't surprise me that they are compatible. I was just talking in general as to why you can't assume so just because the connector fits or the battery is whatever physical size, be it bigger or smaller.

If the manufacturer sells them as such then fine. On the other hand, these guys can't even seem to get a simple USB PT to work reliably so I don't trust their engineering acumen any farther than I can chuck a dead battery.

yeah understandable...then again I don't trust the stock standard batteries either...by all accounts with the max drain rate of a stock 510 battery being .18A (or .65A on the eGo)...and the amp draw of a 510 atty at 3.1V is 1.35A....the overall engineering doesn't make much sense to me either...by it's very design and opperation we're overstressing the batteries something fierce...

 

[telsie]

Is the USB-to-battery portion of the eGo charger the same as a regular 510 USB charger? I have an issue with my eGo that I think may be charger-related and I'm wondering if I can simply stick my 510 USB charger into the eGo's AC wall adapter (to charge my eGo with) or would it only be safe to charge the eGo on the 510 USB charger by plugging it into my computer?

I don't meant to hijack this thread — I have a separate thread about my eGo charger issue but you guys seem to know about these things.

 

[Drozd]

Is the USB-to-battery portion of the eGo charger the same as a regular 510 USB charger? I have an issue with my eGo that I think may be charger-related and I'm wondering if I can simply stick my 510 USB charger into the eGo's AC wall adapter (to charge my eGo with) or would it only be safe to charge the eGo on the 510 USB charger by plugging it into my computer?

I don't meant to hijack this thread — I have a separate thread about my eGo charger issue but you guys seem to know about these things.

no it's not...the AC adapter part of the eGo charger has a rated output of 500mA...the USB cable part of the charger has an output of 420mA... the standard 510 chargers (mains and USB) have an output of 150mA...
So it'd work to charge the battery..it'd just be slow (like the mains 510 charger) but you could use it on the AC adapter or via your computer....

 

[aphlaque_duck]

Is the USB-to-battery portion of the eGo charger the same as a regular 510 USB charger? I have an issue with my eGo that I think may be charger-related and I'm wondering if I can simply stick my 510 USB charger into the eGo's AC wall adapter (to charge my eGo with) or would it only be safe to charge the eGo on the 510 USB charger by plugging it into my computer?

I don't meant to hijack this thread —.I have a separate thread about my eGo charger issue but you guys seem to know about these things.

The adaptors that go from 110VAC to 5VDC (on a USB connector) are generally interchangeable. In this case, a higher current rating is OK (preferred, in fact) because the current limiting that controls the charging rate is done by the USB->battery adaptor.

So you can plug that USB charging cable into anything with a USB plug, be it a PC, a powered hub, a 110V->USB adaptor, or even a car adaptor. An iPhone wall wart would probably work, for example.

The only exception to this that I have found is my kindle, which only wants to charge from its included AC adaptor - there may be some data communication going on there, I don't know. However, it is still safe to try since any USB plug must be 5V by definition.

 

[Orph]

If you put the 510 batt on the Rapid charger this may cause serious injury and or personal damage. The Reg 510 batts cannot take the higher mah from the Rapid charger of the eGo.

Sorry for dredging up an old thread, just wanted to thank you for answering a question that I had.
I was considering using a USB wall charger (2A for an iPad) and a USB straight passthrough to run my 510 atty's n carto's. I'll be making the PT shortly when more supplies arrive.
I was curious to know if I could then make a double ended atty connector, attach it to the PT and use it to charge my Riva batteries, thankfully I found this thread and a few others through Google otherwise I might have had a fire on my hands right?
* mental note* buy fire extinguisher if playing with Li-ion batteries!