Hot charger (for eGo batt)

[Briar]

Hi, everyone,

I mostly lurk and read a lot around here, but something's been bugging me, so, considering things I've read lately about batts blowing up (yes, even eGo batts), I thought I'd better ask.

I recently got a set of two three-way eGos. Like them. Cool lights an' all.

But, I noticed that when I recharge them, the wall-to-usb adapter and the usb dongle (both came with these batts) are getting quite seriously hot. The end of the batt that's connected to the charger is also hot - but since it's metal, it could be picking it up from the charger, not the batt itself. The main body of the batt is covered with a rubbery material, which probably insulates quite well, so there is no way to tell what's going on under there, temp-wise. The .... end of the battery is cool though.

Now - is this something to be concerned about?

Just for fullness of the picture, the setup is: the batt is plugged into the usb dongle, the dongle is plugged into the adapter (both came with these batts), the adapter is plugged into the extension cord, and the extension cord is plugged into the surge-protected power strip.

The two batts with this setup are less than a month old, and otherwise work well. I haven't used anything lower than 2.4 ohms on them.

So - am I being paranoid for nothing, or is this a problem?

Thanks in advance,
Briar.

 

[Switched]

Power cords are known to provide resistance. Try using the wall adapter directly in the wall and see if that makes a difference.

 

[hoogie76]

Hi Briar, we see this problem if the AC adapter is under-rated. The eGo chargers output 420ma and some of the wall adapters that some manufacturers or middle men ship are 500ma output or less. This tends to stress the entire charging setup and will eventually cause it to fail. A standard AC to usb adapter for like an mp3 player is only 300ma. Make sure that the AC adapter you have is at least 1000ma output. Even a 500ma out AC adapter is pushing it with the overhead of the charger..

hoog

 

[Briar]

Thanks, guys. That's gotta be it. I looked at the adapter, and it's rated for 500 mA... I guess I'll go look me for a new adapter.

The dongle is rated at 450 mA. I supposed I ought to be looking for a different one of those as well?

And one other question:

The batt has three levels, 3.2V, 3.7V and 4.2V. I don't have a voltmeter (another thing I should probably invest in), so I don't know what the actual voltages are, but that's what it says in the description of this batt. The output voltage of the adapter is 5V, while the output voltage of the usb dongle is 4.2.

When I recharge the batt, it's usually at the middle setting. Can this have anything to do with the dongle heating up? Would it make any difference if I set the batt at the lowest setting?

I know these batts are fairly new, so they probably haven't blown up on anyone yet (aren't I an optimist? ), but it doesn't hurt to be paranoid (she says as she feverishly shops for a couple of lipo bags after reading the thread on the eGo-T acting like a flamethrower).

Thanks again.