eGo battery overcharge

[Nishi]

Greetings!

I left an eGo 1000 to charge for about 11-12 hours by mistake. I'd read that one should not overcharge e-cig batteries.
Is it dangerous or does it just shorten battery life? Thanks.

 

[eyerhere]

You should be fine. Ego chargers shut themselbves down when you reach max charge. If it failed your battery would have vented on the charger. As long as you took it off the charger and let it sit a bit, vape TIME.

 

[Kent C]

With most (at least branded) eGos, both the charger and battery have charge protection, so if the one is blown the other still works. That said, with as much battery charging that is done, the probabilities of them both going, while slim, is not non-existent. Which is why most here will recommend never leaving a battery charging when you leave the house or even when you go to sleep. But your choice I "do my rounds" for my and my wife's chargers before I hit the sack and put the batts back on the chargers when I awake.

 

[Trailz]

I've seen some pretty misguided info in e-cig battery FAQs

1. "Remove the battery from the charger as soon as it's fully charged"

- as Kent mentioned, both the batteries and chargers have overcharge protection. I plug mine in before bed and put them back in service the next morning. I charge them as I would my mobile phone. Kent's charging practices are safest, I'd go that route.

2. "Charge batteries for 8 hrs prior to initial use"

- maybe if we were dealing with NiCad batteries, not necessary for Li-Ion

3. "Charge when they get to 50%"

- may increase life a bit but I figure I'll want a new battery way before my current batteries give up the ghost. Also, they cut off when they hit 3.2V, I believe below 3.0V (maybe lower) can damage Li-Ion. So if they're cutting the device off at 3.2, it's well above the range that will damage the battery.

You'll be fine, no harm done. I wouldn't want to leave one on longer than 10/12 hrs and if I walk by and see it's fully charged I disconnect it. Look at the amount of time our laptop batteries are plugged into a power source.

 

[nicetucu]

You'll be fine..... If the battery doesn't show signs of damage it is fine. I had joyetech ego batteries, I do worry about cheap imitations though. Happy vaping.

 

[Nishi]

Thanks everyone. It's the 1st time that I forgot to take the battery off the charger before hitting the bed.
I use the Joyetech eGo-T and eGo VV (have 2 of each for rotation) - they're the best available here in India in the eGo type.

 

[Kent C]

3. "Charge when they get to 50%"

- may increase life a bit but I figure I'll want a new battery way before my current batteries give up the ghost. Also, they cut off when they hit 3.2V, I believe below 3.0V (maybe lower) can damage Li-Ion. So if they're cutting the device off at 3.2, it's well above the range that will damage the battery.

On this one, the eGo-c upgrades that I have go from white light to light blue (at about 40% charge left) to a bit darker blue then the dark blue. The 'battery university' data says lithium batts like (will have a longer life) being recharged before fully discharged. So when I'm at home, IF I have a charger open And I'm at the second blue stage, I'll switch it out. When I'm out, I'll vape to dark blue Most of my Joye eGos have a lifetime of between 2 and 2 and 1/2 years. And I don't intend to 'upgrade' to another battery until they stop selling Joye eGos... which may not be far off. They've quit manufacturing the 900mAh batt. And the Joyes aren't featured like they use to be. But for me and my flavors, they work well. And I've got a stash of them

I've had a few Visions but none lasted more than 6 months and the cutoff is too quick for me - blurbed at 10 seconds and the ones I had were more like 7 seconds and I do a double draw I don't care for the placement of the button on the Kanger batts, but if I never had an eGo type, then that probably wouldn't be a problem.

 

[JimmyDB]

Good points all around...

2. "Charge batteries for 8 hrs prior to initial use"

- maybe if we were dealing with NiCad batteries, not necessary for Li-Ion

Very true... it's actually contradictory instructions to the first statement you made since I haven't found an eGo style that charged slow enough to go from shutoff to full and require 8 hours. Most of the time you are lucky if you have a 2000 mAh battery... and all of the chargers I have seen are pushing about 400mAh+... so, 5 hours would be the MAX before rule #1 comes in to play. Normally the batteries are between 650mAh and 1300mAh, so charge time drops to 2-3 hours MAX.

You can also get fireproof bags for charging devices inside of as well... pretty cheap insurance for the off-chance occurrence of catastrophic failure.

 

[Trailz]

On this one, the eGo-c upgrades that I have go from white light to light blue (at about 40% charge left) to a bit darker blue then the dark blue. The 'battery university' data says lithium batts like (will have a longer life) being recharged before fully discharged. So when I'm at home, IF I have a charger open And I'm at the second blue stage, I'll switch it out. When I'm out, I'll vape to dark blue Most of my Joye eGos have a lifetime of between 2 and 2 and 1/2 years. And I don't intend to 'upgrade' to another battery until they stop selling Joye eGos... which may not be far off. They've quit manufacturing the 900mAh batt. And the Joyes aren't featured like they use to be. But for me and my flavors, they work well. And I've got a stash of them

I've had a few Visions but none lasted more than 6 months and the cutoff is too quick for me - blurbed at 10 seconds and the ones I had were more like 7 seconds and I do a double draw I don't care for the placement of the button on the Kanger batts, but if I never had an eGo type, then that probably wouldn't be a problem.

This is not misinformation but the way it was worded folks may worry if they let their batts go below 50%. How many people always recharge their cell phones at 50%? Yes, Li-Ion cells do not like deep discharges and frequently doing this may reduce cell life (how much? dunno). Again, by the time that happens I'll probably have replaced them with a newer model. Additionally, the PCB in the cells prevent overdischarge to the point of damaging the battery. The whole point of a battery is to run it all day and not worry about charging.

I like the car analogy. Go slow and with less wear and tear or get there faster with more wear and tear. I try to recharge my cell phones when they hit around 20% but unfortunately its not always possible and I've not suffered reduced life that I can see.

It is a matter of preference but there's no harm in letting them go down to shutoff from time to time.

You wanna talk about dangerous? Back in 2007 I purchased a flashlight that used 18650 Li-Ion cells. At this time the protected 18650s were just starting to hit the market (AW used to sell his cells through a thread in the CPF market place. You'd post what you wanted and paypal him the money. He'd respond to your post and indicate that the cells were on the way). Glad to see they're one of the better batteries on the market (they were pretty much the best back then) and available at major online stores.

Anyway, I had a couple TrustFire non-protected button top 18650s and a WF-139 charger. No PCBs on these cells. I remember sitting there with a volt meter and cutting the charge off when it hit 4.2V. I think I did that about 5 times and finally purchased some PCB cells.

 

[Kent C]

This is not misinformation but the way it was worded folks may worry if they let their batts go below 50%.

The information on how lithium batts have longer lives by recharging before total discharge is a well known fact around here. What people do with that fact is up to them. The OP was 'worried about' shortened battery life. Frequent recharging is one way to lengthen battery life.

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

As far as - may reduce cell life (how much? dunno) ... see table 2. It's quite a bit.

 

[Nishi]

The information on how lithium batts have longer lives by recharging before total discharge is a well known fact around here. What people do with that fact is up to them. The OP was 'worried about' shortened battery life. Frequent recharging is one way to lengthen battery life.

How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries - Battery University

As far as - may reduce cell life (how much? dunno) ... see table 2. It's quite a bit.

Thanks for the informative piece.
It says in the above linked article - //Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life, other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery once in a while.//
I was misinformed by the vendor to initially charge the battery for longer duration (a few hours extra) for the battery memory.

 

[Kent C]

Thanks for the informative piece.
It says in the above linked article - //Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life, other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery once in a while.//
I was misinformed by the vendor to initially charge the battery for longer duration (a few hours extra) for the battery memory.

It happens In fact, many of the manuals for lithium batts say the same thing. Battery university has it right and the reason why it is right.