Battery wrapping companies are using more and more cells manufactured in China instead of from Samsung, Murata/Sony, LG, and Panasonic/Sanyo. In this video I take a look at the good things and the bad things that are a result of this.
Minding Your mAhs – Ep11 – China Manufactured Li-Ion Batteries – The Good & The Bad
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I'm enjoying your videos, Mooch. 18650 QC is important to me. I recently ordered 4 Sony VTC6's from one of the big three online battery sellers and 3 of the 4 track within a few hundredths of a volt on my LUC 4 (2018 model) charger. The 4th cell is a maverick that lags significantly behind the other three when charged from a 3.2v/3.5v cutoff point. It's probably not a big deal, but if three of the four match coming out of the mod within a .1 volt variance in charge and discharge and the 4th is several tenths behind all the way to 4.15-4.2 cutoff, although it finally makes it to 4.15 a little while after the other 3. Should I be concerned?
Maybe I'm being too ticky, but these are used in rotation in a dual 18650 mod. I'm used to much closer tracking during multiple charge with new cells that come out of a multiple battery mod. I've been able to match and marry the cells closely in the past, but that one cell in the last batch of 4 is a lacky!
Am I being to critical? Should I call the seller and ask for a replacement or is the cell within spec?
Maybe I'm being too ticky, but these are used in rotation in a dual 18650 mod. I'm used to much closer tracking during multiple charge with new cells that come out of a multiple battery mod. I've been able to match and marry the cells closely in the past, but that one cell in the last batch of 4 is a lacky!
Am I being to critical? Should I call the seller and ask for a replacement or is the cell within spec?
Nice video, cleared up a few questions I had bubbling in my noggin.
Congrats of 22k subs as well, onwards and upwards.
Congrats of 22k subs as well, onwards and upwards.
Out of curiousity, have you checked the date codes on those cells to see if they are all the same? Is it possible that the "maverick" is different than the other three?
They are all the same date, but I was surprised to see that they were manufactured 10 months ago. I guess production, warehousing, shipment, and wholesaler to final seller and buyer take time. Three charge in unison and the 4th one is at a lower discharge voltage when I remove them from the mod and lags behind the other three during charge, but ends up at 4.15v at about the same time as the others. Go figure.
Production date is Wed Sep 27 2017
I'll watch them as they go through several conditioning charge cycles and see if the chemistry optimizes. I've only charged them once since receipt, so they haven't had time to stabilize. I just haven't seen that kind of slight charge performance difference before.
Thanks for the video, Mooch. Your knowledge, experience, and insight into the battery industry helps many of us to understand the in's and out's of choosing batteries available to our community. Keep up the good work, it is greatly appreciated.
PS: I always look forward to your next Minding Your Mahs. I find them extremely informative and helpful as an aid to assisting with answering battery questions on the forum.
PS: I always look forward to your next Minding Your Mahs. I find them extremely informative and helpful as an aid to assisting with answering battery questions on the forum.
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Are you saying it will only charge to 4.15V in the LUC 4? I have an LG that only charges to 4.15V in a Xtar MC1 Plus, but my Xtar VP4 puts it right at 4.25v.. Actually using it for a Flashlight but I ordered 3 originally for a Mod, noticed the last two letters of the serial number was different from the other two.
I wondered about that at the time, can’t remember if all 3 discharged/charged equally..
Sorry, I don’t know. You’d have to run internal resistance and capacity checks on them.
We usually don’t, if ever, get cells from the manufacturers. They’re bought on the secondary markets as overstock and excess inventory a lot of the time. They can be sitting around for a year or two.
All four go to 4.20v before cutoff, but one of my newly purchased 4 cells doesn't match the others in charge rate. Right out of the mod one of the four comes out lower in voltage and maintains the lower reading throughout charge.
Last night, it made me out a liar. After lagging most of the way through the charging cycle it finished first and reached cutoff before the "good" one of the pair I was using in my Innokin Proton mod. It lagged behind until it was almost charged and then surged ahead.
Maybe conditioning by discharging and charging is bringing it back in line. I'm just used to parallel voltage readings in discharge and charge rates.
I'm probably being too critical at this point. After all, it's just a battery and other than the non linear readings on one of the 4 that I received all is well and it hits hard and vapes fine.
Hmm. This interests me.All four go to 4.20v before cutoff, but one of my newly purchased 4 cells doesn't match the others in charge rate. Right out of the mod one of the four comes out lower in voltage and maintains the lower reading throughout charge.
Last night, it made me out a liar. After lagging most of the way through the charging cycle it finished first and reached cutoff before the "good" one of the pair I was using in my Innokin Proton mod. It lagged behind until it was almost charged and then surged ahead.
Maybe conditioning by discharging and charging is bringing it back in line. I'm just used to parallel voltage readings in discharge and charge rates.
I'm probably being too critical at this point. After all, it's just a battery and other than the non linear readings on one of the 4 that I received all is well and it hits hard and vapes fine.
I own a Luc 4 (not certain if it's the 2018 version) and when I throw 4 cells in they all charge to different rates, but always to at least 4.15v. I'm never worried as I've owned so many brands of chargers and they all have different behaviors with charge speed, and voltage they cutoff at, but when you tell me each cell you pull after complete charge reads 4.15v, then I'm wondering why mine doesn't. One of four might read 4.16v,another all the way up to 4.2v. Always between 4.15v to 4.2v and all four will always be different voltages.
Oh well, probably nothing. Maybe my luc 4 is an older model. I bought it from IMR a while ago on sale so they were probably rotating out the older stock and making room for the newer model.
Thanks a lot! Now that I know mine is most likely an older model, I'm coveting your "better'' and" shinier" version, Lmao!
Just clean the contacts and make sure the batteries are securely in place. Most of the time I rotate the cells a bit after inserting them, to make sure the voltmeter gets a correct reading.
After that, the Luc should charge the cells all the way up to exactly 4.2V. If it doesn't though, replace the cells, because they're trash.
After that, the Luc should charge the cells all the way up to exactly 4.2V. If it doesn't though, replace the cells, because they're trash.
Okay, I see(I think).All four go to 4.20v before cutoff, but one of my newly purchased 4 cells doesn't match the others in charge rate. Right out of the mod one of the four comes out lower in voltage and maintains the lower reading throughout charge.
Last night, it made me out a liar. After lagging most of the way through the charging cycle it finished first and reached cutoff before the "good" one of the pair I was using in my Innokin Proton mod. It lagged behind until it was almost charged and then surged ahead.
Maybe conditioning by discharging and charging is bringing it back in line. I'm just used to parallel voltage readings in discharge and charge rates.
I'm probably being too critical at this point. After all, it's just a battery and other than the non linear readings on one of the 4 that I received all is well and it hits hard and vapes fine.
I used to have a similar problem with new Married batteries in certain mods like the Cuboid, but I always rotated them and after a certain amount of discharges and charges they would eventually drain equally in the mod.
As for Charging, the batteries never got to the exact 4.2v at times but they always got close to 4.2v and were equal with each other.
I’m a bit OCD so that kinda of thing worried me as well. Especially with the Cuboid as the Battery Charge Indicator Lines would show a quarter or more difference in length. Lol
I thought the Mod was defective and did not pull equally from both batteries.
Are the 4 cells random or married when you charge them?
Depending on the usage, age, how they are discharged and charged(as in not letting them cool down for a few hours before charging them and cool down again before using them) etc. it can be common if they don’t equal eachother, especially if they are not married.
If they are being charged randomly as in not married then it’s not uncommon.
If they are married and are far from eachother in voltage it could be the cells or charger.
Are you using the charger or a voltage meter to get the final charge rate?
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The one I'm using now is referred to as the 2018 version. I just bought it recently when my years old LUC 4 broke a bay spring. I was just using 4.15v as the point at which one reached that and the fourth cell lagged behind the others quite a bit despite both being discharged to the same 3.5v point. Out of the four there are 3 cells that match very well during charge and discharge from the same voltage point, but the 3rd was lagging back and charging slower. These are new and have only been used through several cycles in a mod.
The only external difference I see in the new LUC 4 compared to the old one is that the new one displays 2 digits to the right of the decimal and the older one shows a single tenths digit. My old one still works fine on three bays and is in backup status now.
This morning when I put the suspect cell on the charger along with a "good" one, the suspect cell finished charging a minute or two before the good one. Those were paired in an Eleaf Invoke before charging. Several charges seem to be evening them out. Time will tell.
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