Excellent battery life!

[Jethead]

We all know batteries are key performers in our APV's. There are and will always be those who are looking for the cheapest and those who want the best performers.

I did a little research on batteries before buying, happy with my decision to buy from Electronicstic and get the AW IMR 18650's with 2000 mAh capacity.

I also purchased a Nitecore Intellicharger i2 from Electronicstix and I believe buying a quality charger is just as important as buying quality batteries. If you're charging at rates that are not good for the battery, overcharging or undercharging you might be asking for trouble. My only regret with this purchase is that I got the 2 bay charger and not the 4 bay....

OK, so on to the performance. I've had these batteries and charger since early March of 2013. I have a Zenesis Ash II and a Vamo II. I'm running a 400 mesh SS wick with a 3/4 wrap on the Zenesis and Boge Laser punched 2.8 ohm cartomizer's in a VVV carto tank on the Vamo. With the Vamo I'm getting at least 2, 8-10 hour days of vaping before the battery reads 3.6 v on the Vamo. In the Zenesis I'm getting 3-4, 3-6 hour days on a full charge before I notice that the flavor and vapor production falls off. Usually when I notice this I take out the battery and put it in the Vamo to check it's v and it falls somewhere between 3.6 and 3.7 v. FYI, the Vamo goes everywhere with me, work, play anything I do outside my home, The Zenisis is my go to mod when I'm at home.

I'm VERY HAPPY with this kind of performance from these batteries/charger.

I do not just randomly take out batteries and charge them. You get roughly 500 charge "cycles" out of a quality rechargeable battery. If you charge when the battery still has life in it, you're still counting a cycle and repeating this may shorten the overall number of cycles you get out of the life of the battery. Same holds true if you repeatedly drain the batteries to low before recharging.

With these kind of results I simply do not feel the need to save $2 - $3 or even more per battery for bargain brands. These batteries cost me $14.99 each. Very consistent discharge and very long discharge rates, quick and easy to charge with the NiteCore and it does not matter how long I leave them on, as it defaults to a trickle mode.

Discuss.....

 

[Kemosabe]

im glad youre happy with your batt life. its our vaping life blood (or woudl that be the juice lol?)

its debatable whether shallow charges affect the "memory" of lithium batts. Battery University and Apple's lithium battery care webpage state the opposite of what you state. im not saying youre wrong, but the issue is certainly debatable.

Apple says that charging your battery twice from 50% life = 1 charge cycle, not 2.

Batt Univ even goes so far as to say that shallow charges are better than full discharges and encourages you to charge your lithium batts at 50% for best overall lifetime of the batt.

differing reports state that lithium batts do indeed suffer from teh old nickel batt woes of the past (where most people learned that shallow charges are bad, and apply this knowledge [incorrectly, most say] to lithium batts).

the jury is presumably still out. that being said, i typically charge my batts at 3.4v. however sometimes i will charge them with much more batt life left.

from what i have experienced, its not the voltage you charge at that matters all that much. i have noticed the easiest way to kill a batt is by overcharging. i have a buddy that until recently, would leave his batts charging until he needed them. needless to say, he rendered two AW 18490 batts completely useless in just a few months time.

i have never overcharged my batts for more than say half an hour and ive got AWs from last august that perform like new.

YMMV.

 

[Rat2chat2]

Good to know. I have been letting mine tell me when to charge. Thanks for the information.

 

[Oktyabr]

What ohms are your RBA reading? You know that the vamo will read below 1.2 ohms even if it won't fire it, right?

I run Panny CGR18650CH 2250mah in a vamo and a couple of mechs. I have Efest IMR 18350s too but don't use them enough to track how long they last. I also have a Nitecore 4 bay and love it. I usually swap out for a fresh battery each morning whether it needs it or not. The removed batteries go on the charger, so one 6-8 day before it gets recharged (only 6-8 hours because I tend to swap mods throughout the day).

SLR vaping on a mech sometimes dictates that I swap sooner, depending on the atty and how much I'm using it. Usually I can "taste" when it's starting to hit a bit on the weak side. I used to toss them in the vamo to check and it's always been 3.6-3.8 volts, which I'm happy with. My vamo seems to last longer on a single battery, I could probably get two days out of one but recharge them sooner anyway, for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[Jethead]

Well i didn't mean to imply that batteries develop a memory but after reading my op again I guess i did. Thanks for all the other useful info Kemosabe.

Oktyabr, don't know the ohm reading on my Zenesis as I've never checked it. It's a 400 mesh SS wrapped almost to 1/8" and a 3/4 wrap with 28 gauge Kanthall....