Joyetech eGo battery question

[Revealed]

The instruction manual states that the LED light will flash while I am using it, to indicate that the battery needs to be recharged. So, I was attempting to recharge the battery before this happens, so that I don't run out while I am away from home. I've used this for about a day so far, powered off the battery and hooked it up to recharge. When I did so, the LED on the charger was a solid green and not red (which is supposed to indicate that it is charging). So does this mean that the charger will not charge the battery at all, until it flashes on and off? This doesn't seem right. I would want to be able to "top off" the battery to full, instead of having to wait until it is almost completely drained and then having to charge it up for 3-4 hours. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, as I would hate to run out of battery life while I am out for the night.

 

[Sicarius]

Is this one of those 5 click to turn on/off units and does it need to be turned on to charge. Just an idea.

 

[DaveP]

That shouldn't have happened if you used the battery all day. It should have been green before you put the battery on to charge and should have turned red when you screwed it on and stayed red until it was through charging. What I think is that the battery didn't make contact. Maybe it needs another fraction of a turn to make contact. Either that, or you have a bad charger, broken internal contacts in the charger, or the center post in the battery has been pushed back when you installed an atty. In the latter case, you can grab the center post with some small needle nose pliers and gently work it up a little bit.

Yes, you can top off a battery and usually if you use it for an hour or so and pop it on the charger it will charge red for a while and then turn green.

 

[DaveP]

Is this one of those 5 click to turn on/off units and does it need to be turned on to charge. Just an idea.

Good thought. I went and turned off one of my 1000mah batts and installed it on the charger. It blinked 5 times and then turned red. Sometimes it helps to know what it isn't.

 

[Revealed]

Yes!! it is one of the 5 click turn on/off units. That is a great point, I turned it off before attaching it to the charger, was I supposed to leave it on before attempting to charge?

 

[Sicarius]

Good thought. I went and turned off one of my 1000mah batts and installed it on the charger. It blinked 5 times and then turned red. Sometimes it helps to know what it isn't.

Had my Ego for a week before the five click stopped working

 

[Revealed]

Also, I don't know if this helps or not, but I first screwed on the battery, which was turned off, onto the charger first and then plugged the usb charger into my pc...

 

[Revealed]

Sicarius, uh oh that's disheartening to hear. Wasn't it covered by the warranty?

 

[Revealed]

Just to update, I got it working now following your advice DaveP. I first plugged the charger onto my pc, which showed a greed LED light on the charger. Then I screwed on the battery which was turned off first, then the charger's LED light turned to red.

 

[stephpd]

Just know that all USB ports aren't created equal. While they all rated at 5 volts not all of them can deliver the 500 mAh that's needed on a charger.

 

[Revealed]

Oh ok, thanks for your input stephpd. In your opinion then, is it just better to utilize the charger with the wall adapter? ie will that make it recharge faster?

 

[stephpd]

It really depends on how well built the USB ports are built on the computer. Laptops are notorious for being underpowered. There are also reports from folks here about frying motherboards by trying to pull to much amperage through the USB port. Safest way is with the wall outlet and they're definitely designed to provide the maximum amperage for your batteries.

I have used the USB ports on my computer and know the risks. YMMV

 

[Revealed]

Oooo good point on the possibility of frying motherboards, I might as well just use a standard wall plug instead of risking something like that. Thanks again for your input!

 

[swedishfish]

Don't screw the battery into the charger too tight. Just until it makes contact and lights.

 

[Revealed]

Does it damage or hurt the battery at all, if I unplug it while it is still being charged? I only ask, b/c I would like to get it plugged in to the wall ASAP.