eGo and Similar Battery Charger Question

[69CamaroSS]

Hi all. I posted this in the eGo forum as well but thought that you battery gurus (Baditude, JeremyR... you out there?) may better know the answer. I've recently purchased a 1300mAh eGo-C Twist as well as a 1500mAh Saturn 7 Twist. I purchased a charger separately and it is an eGo style that outputs the normal 420mA and has a little light on it that blinks red and green while charging. My question is this: is it normal for it to take well over 12 hours to fully charge either of these batteries at which time the little light on the charger will finally​ stay green? Not terribly familiar with the elec math involved but it would seem that at 420mA, it should be able to fully charge a 1500 mAh in roughly 3.5-4 hours. Sometimes, I plug it in around 6PM and it's STILL not showing the constant green light the next morning at 8 or 9 AM!! I'm plugging it into either an Energizer wall adaptor at 450mA or an iPad wall adaptor rated at 1A. Definitely don't want any "indoor fireworks" especially if I'm leaving it plugged in while asleep...plus the eGo adaptor is regulating it down to 420mA at 4.3V anyway according to my Fluke DMM. WTH? TIA

 

[ScottChensoda]

From memory my 1100mAh eGos used to take 3-4 hours using bona-fide Joye battery and charger and I would say that you may well have bought a 'Shenzhen special' with your charger and that spells danger. No way would I consider charging a battery on kosher equipment overnight, never mind a Roman Candle waiting to go off. I'd resist connecting the charger into an anything outputting more than twice its given rating and look at backing the charger and ask for a genuine one.

 

[69CamaroSS]

My thoughts exactly on the China Syndrome Charger! Never would've imagined that the Energizer wall plug would output 12V and was using it due to it being rate at 450mA. I was afraid of trying an iPad AC plug since mine are either 1A or 2.4A. Who would think that a plug with nothing but a USB output would be outputting 12V!?! I've just placed an order for 2 genuine Joye units!

 

[69CamaroSS]

C'mon ECF peeps!! Well over 120 views on this thread and only one person nice enough to offer any advice for a fellow vaper?!?! Thank you ScottChensoda!

 

[69CamaroSS]

Please help eGo users...or anyone that has battery/charger knowledge! This thread is approaching 200 views....somebody must have an idea or advice. Thanks

 

[Rickajho]

My thoughts exactly on the China Syndrome Charger! Never would've imagined that the Energizer wall plug would output 12V and was using it due to it being rate at 450mA. I was afraid of trying an iPad AC plug since mine are either 1A or 2.4A. Who would think that a plug with nothing but a USB output would be outputting 12V!?! I've just placed an order for 2 genuine Joye units!
View attachment 336848

You actually conected the eGo charger dongle to a 12 volt power source? I'm amazed the eGo charger is still working at all.

You read the one part of the charger specs for output. Why did you ignore the input specifications? DC 5 volts, 500 mA. Anything more than 500 mA is fine - it just means the AC to USB adapter is capable of providng more current than the eGo charger would every draw from it. But less than 500 mA is unacceptable and subjects you to weird charger behavior - like taking 12 hours to charge or never completing the cycle at all.

Lose the 12 volt 450 mA supply immediately.

 

[JeremyR]

Back in my ego days I ordered a new ego charger and it took forever to charge a 650 bat like 8 hours instead of the normal 1 hour. Contacted vendor and they sent me a new one it charged in one hour... Your charger is bad... Also most that I've seen are red when charging green when done. Not alternating

 

[Baditude]

Not anywhere near an expert on Ego batteries. (I skipped that step, moving from cigalikes to mods.)

From what I do know is it should not take 12 hours to charge any eGo battery; more like 3 1/2 hours at most. When it comes to purchasing eGo gear from China, stick to recognized reputable name brands like Joytech, Vision, & Evod. Everything else are knockoffs, and the quality will be hit or miss (most likely miss).

 

[ChurchMouse]

Back in my ego days I ordered a new ego charger and it took forever to charge a 650 bat like 8 hours instead of the normal 1 hour. Contacted vendor and they sent me a new one it charged in one hour... Your charger is bad... Also most that I've seen are red when charging green when done. Not alternating

Some batteries will normally start out red when charging then alternate between red and green before settling on green. My vision spinners do this. My kangertech batteries do not, using the same chargers. (Yes, all verified authentic)

It should never take 12 hours though. My vision 1300's take about 3 hours or a little more tops (if I don't charge before they stop firing), my kanger 650's about an hour.

 

[Hermit]

Don't panic about the 12V aspect - it's a combination of a mains to cigarette socket, and then a cig socket to USB converter. (link).

 

[69CamaroSS]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I found another wall adaptor that is exactly what the eGo calls for....and yes, my bad on the 12V thing....it is in fact the combo AC/car DC unit that Hermit posted exactly and was only outputting about 4.3V. Thing that confuses me is that when I probe the eGo adaptor with my Fluke while it's plugged in, it shows (the correct?) 4.3V coming out. Can't figure out why it's taking so dang long to charge my batts....yes they are 1300 and 1500mAh but still....over 12 hours just can't be right!! I've ordered two more eGo chargers from a different source. We'll see how those pan out.

 

[JeremyR]

My efest soda charger alternates red/green at the final stage of the charge where it trickles' to finish it off when it gets to 4.1. Sounds like the charger was only trickle charging it, short pulses of charge, never going into full charge mode.

 

[69CamaroSS]

I contacted the guy that I ordered it from and he was nice enough to send me another one out today at no charge and isn't even asking me to return to faulty one for proof! I've also already ordered two more from a clearance sale....I have three coming now! Sure is refreshing to see good customer service in the vaping industry (especially after getting shafted and ignored by eLiquid-USA who left stuff out of my order that I was charged for and has been ignoring me for months!!!).