Help with 15270 batteries

[shelley cerata]

I recently got a Sweet vape Mini VvF (same as this one: Mini Sweet Vape variable voltage feeder) The seller gave me lots, and lots of batteries for it. Only a few of them were the correct size to put in two together without needing spacers, random pieces of copper wire, etc. to fit. The ones that fit perfectly are marked as such: UltraFire 15270 600mAh 3.7V Protected Circuit. Problem is, these have been cycled a lot and don't hold their charge well. The seller also passed along a charger for this - it seems pretty rickety and is an UltraFire, which I seem to remember I've read bad things about?

Anyway, I'd like to buy more batteries for this but am totally unclear on which batteries will fit. It seems like the CR2s are the same size? Does the voltage matter since the charger has a switch for both 3 and 3.7? So confused. I can't even find these exact batteries, and I know that UltraFires are lousy and that if I could find better ones I'd want them anyway. I'd prefer to buy whatever the safest choice is and if they could be charged in my Nitecore IntelliCharger i4, even better (I'm fine with using a spacer in the charger as I never charge unattended and that charger isn't quite as close to my face as the mod is!)

Thanks so much for any help!

Edited to add: The other sizes they sent me were EH 15270 3.7V 400 mAh (which they used coiled copper wire for as a spacer) and Li-ion 14250 300 mAh 3.7v (which they used a magnet as a spacer for). Am I just being dumb about the spacers? They included them both in the package they sent me...

 

[shelley cerata]

Bumping in the hopes that there is some battery expert out there who only goes on the forum on weekends!!

 

[Ryedan]

Hi shelley. I don't know CR2 batteries, but I know the bigger Li-ion batteries and chargers pretty well. Maybe other people who have seen your post are in the same boat. In any case I thought I would give you some thoughts and see if that might help you out.

CR2 is as best I can tell a battery size designation. You can get them in non-rechargeable cells, rechargeable 3 volt cells which use LiFePO4 chemistry (lithium iron phosphate) or 3.7 volt which are either ICR or IMR chemistry. Do not use ICR in a e-cig. These are the batteries that burn when they vent. This is more important in a 2 cell (stacked) setup like yours. They should theoretically all be the same length, but there are variations in battery sizes and IMR tend to be on the short end of the scale because there is no protection circuit adding length.

I followed your link to the Mini Sweet Vape. Very nice looking mod . They recommend IMR batteries which are always 3.7V. From that website I found the regulator is a Dimension engineering SWADJ-3. The spec sheet for that regulator lists 5 - 35 volt input as acceptable, so two 3.7V nominal batteries in series making 8.4V when fully charged is perfect and that confirms that 3.7V batteries are correct.

I do not like any batteries or chargers that have the word 'fire' in their name. There are just way too many counterfeits with these names out there and because of this you never know for sure what they really are. I suggest you ditch those. I strongly suspect the Ultrafire protected is an ICR cell because IMR are rarely protected.

Using wire battery spacers is something I would not do. Seems too easy for that wire to find its way somewhere it should not be. Small magnets between batteries in a wood mod is IMO much better and something I would do myself if needed.

I found the EH 15270 3.7V 400 mAh at Madvapes. These are IMR. If you've got a couple of these I would try them out and see how well they hold a charge. They're only $3.59 to replace if you feel like it or need to.

I have no idea about the 'Li-ion 14250 300 mAh 3.7v'. The mAh is low which is indicative of IMR as opposed to ICR, but without more information on them I can't say for sure.

For chargers, you can use any Li-ion charger that outputs low enough amps for these batteries and makes contact with both sides of the battery. The max amperage I would use is 0.4 amps, or 400 mA, if they are 400 mAh IMR batteries or higher. That would be lower for ICR batteries. Some chargers come with spacers which can be used for smaller batteries. Check out what amps your Intelicharger charges at and if that's low enough if you can fit these batteries in it. It takes pretty small batteries and a couple of magnets on the negative end wouldn't hurt.

I found one charger that would do the job, the Xtar MP2. RTD Vapor has them for $15. There's a review of it here. At 1/4A it's going to be easy on your batteries. The review is pretty good. Skip down to the conclusion if you're not into the tech specs. The comment 'no charging at low voltages might give problems activating a tripped protection' is for cells that have gone below 1.5V. That's really low and hopefully will not happen to you.

I'm not getting much when searching for CR2 Li-ion batteries. Also not many chargers that accommodate these small batteries. I'll look around a bit more and if I find anything else I'll update here.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[shelley cerata]

RYEDAN!!!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!! I actually wound up placing an order from Madvapes for the wrong batteries after I gave up hope of getting any response - I emailed them and hopefully they'll be willing to switch them out for the IMRs, given that they haven't shipped yet and that the IMRs are more expensive anyway. I also ordered the charger you suggested from RTD - just eyeballing it, I'd need so many magnets to secure these teeny batteries in the Nitecore that that didn't make any sense to me.

I will definitely need to get some magnets to use as spacers. I had one of the tiny ones that happened to be a perfect fit (I think it's a rare earth - is it a huge problem if it isn't?) that I'm using in the mod right now with the 3.7v 15270s that the seller included. It seems to be working fine and the batteries aren't heating up at all. Are there preferred kinds of magnets/spacers that I should be using? And what's the best size - all things being equal, the depth is what is making the magnet fit in the mod, does the surface area between the cells make a difference?

Thank you again for all your help - I tried to research this for hours and was getting nothing!

 

[Ryedan]

You're very welcome shelley . I agree about the charger. No point in jury rigging something up that could get messy.

For magnets, put them under the negative end of the battery, not the positive end and not in between two batteries. I measured a couple of mine and found there is always a bit more than 10mm diameter inside the plastic sheath. If yours turn out to be the same I would buy these '20-Pack 10mm x 1mm'. They are brittle, so be careful not to let them snap together or they will crack. I try to push one off the pack sideways instead of wedging something in between 2 of them. I checked Madvapes and they don't carry any.

If 10mm turns out a bit big for your batteries they also have 8mm. I'm assuming you have a spring in the mod that pushes against the negative end of a battery. You want the magnet to be as big as possible so that spring does not slide off sideways, or go right past the magnet.

Good luck with it and let us know how you make out

 

[Kemosabe]

You're very welcome shelley . I agree about the charger. No point in jury rigging something up that could get messy.

For magnets, put them under the negative end of the battery, not the positive end and not in between two batteries. I measured a couple of mine and found there is always a bit more than 10mm diameter inside the plastic sheath. If yours turn out to be the same I would buy these '20-Pack 10mm x 1mm'. They are brittle, so be careful not to let them snap together or they will crack. I try to push one off the pack sideways instead of wedging something in between 2 of them. I checked Madvapes and they don't carry any.

If 10mm turns out a bit big for your batteries they also have 8mm. I'm assuming you have a spring in the mod that pushes against the negative end of a battery. You want the magnet to be as big as possible so that spring does not slide off sideways, or go right past the magnet.

Good luck with it and let us know how you make out

ive been using a tiny super strong magnet on top of the pos side of my 18650s i use in my chi you clone. should i start putting the magnet on the neg side?

 

[Ryedan]

ive been using a tiny super strong magnet on top of the pos side of my 18650s i use in my chi you clone. should i start putting the magnet on the neg side?

In a metal mod, if a positive end magnet moves sideways and touches the inside of the mod tube or the outer half of the 510 connector both of which are negative and the top of the battery at the same time, it will hard short when you hit the button. With the magnet at the negative end if it touches the inside of the tube and the battery at the same time the mod will auto-fire but not short. You've basically bypassed the switch.

I would put it on the negative end.

 

[Kemosabe]

In a metal mod, if a positive end magnet moves sideways and touches the inside of the mod tube or the outer half of the 510 connector both of which are negative and the top of the battery at the same time, it will hard short when you hit the button. With the magnet at the negative end if it touches the inside of the tube and the battery at the same time the mod will auto-fire but not short. You've basically bypassed the switch.

I would put it on the negative end.

Thank you. I appreciate you sharing knowledge on the way electricity flows. Great to know. This whole time I've had it backwards.