Using Ego fast charger for 18650/18350 batteries using cheap modified wall charger...

[Kiolbassa]

Hello All! I'm new here and in my 2nd month of vaping and it instantly became a hobby and I haven't bought a pack of smokes since I started! Anywho, I might catch a lot of hell for this, but it seems to be working so far. Have already charged one 18650 and one 18350. I just received my first mod and the battery kit it came with was junk. The charger was only charging batteries to 3.9v and when I would put a discharged battery on it, it would say it was already charged. Instead of ordering a new charger and waiting for it to come in and keeping me from using my new mod, I went ahead and took apart the charger, pulled out the wall socket prongs, drilled a hole into the side of it just big enough to squeeze the threaded part of one of my old broken ego batteries. Soldered a wire to the + and one to the - and put it back together. Slapped it together in about 15min. Came inside and checked the output on the voltmeter and seemed like it would be okay. I started with an 18350 and just kept an eye on it and checking to make sure nothing was getting hot. In about 1.5hrs the light turned green and I checked the voltage @4.19v. Threw it in my VAMO and voila, back to vaping. I figured what hell and charged an 18650 which took about 2.5hrs to charge to 4.19v from 3.8v. All in all it seems to be functioning ok, but I don't know much about these batteries just from what I've read on the web and figured as long as it doesn't charge past 4.25v, it would be alright. I've added an attachment, let me know if I should stop, or if it should be ok until I get a new charger. Thanks!

 

[cskent]

I don't know if it's safe or not, but it sounds like something I'd try in a pinch too. If it's not overcharging it's probably doing ok. I'd still get my hands on another charger, or preferably two, as soon as possible.

 

[Scot Thomas]

MacGyver wasn't cancelled.. He just started vaping.

 

[yzer]

This should work fine until you get your new charger. Nice idea! You have converted a defective single cell wall charger into a battery holder and hooked that up to the output of another charger.

Recommended: Trustfire TR-001 two cell charger or XTAR WP-6II six cell charger.

I got a bunch of YL-103A single cell chargers well over a year ago at little more than $4 apiece. These are nice multi-stage chargers that terminate somewhere around 4.15V-4.19V.

 

[supertrunker]

i'd charge it in a bag like the battery bags you can get from Amazon. It's my considered opinion that saving a few dollars on battery chargers is a false economy compared to painting and the grief i get from the wife when this kind of thing happens.

T

 

[nartnailuj]

this should work fine until you get your new charger. Nice idea! You have converted a defective single cell wall charger into a battery holder and hooked that up to the output of another charger.

Recommended: Trustfire tr-001 two cell charger or xtar wp-6ii six cell charger.

I got a bunch of yl-103a single cell chargers well over a year ago at little more than $4 apiece. These are nice multi-stage chargers that terminate somewhere around 4.15v-4.19v.

that looks crazy!!

 

[yzer]

I opt for no charge bag, myself. Charging in a bag means accumulation of waste heat. In the long run I think charging safety and battery life are better served with good air circulation to the charging battery.

 

[yzer]

that looks crazy!!

But it works and has great air circulation. The chargers are connected with cube taps from Ace hardware. I bought the lighted models with green LEDs for a little bling. These cube taps are rated 15 amps. With seven chargers connected I need to use a little support to keep it from drooping in the wall socket. I can also set it up for two, three, four or five battery configuration easily. At the time I bought this set-up it cost significantly less than a XTAR WP-6II.

 

[Kiolbassa]

So far so good. I've charged about 4 batteries 18650/18350 so far just making sure I pull them when that little light turns green. This makes me wonder if I could fit a PCB or even use the original eGo PCB to regulate the output once it is charged. I'm unsure if the charger terminates or if the eGo PCB does. I may even experiment some more perfecting it and spend more than 15 minutes at 4am making one, lol. Yeah, I could buy a new charger(but I'm broke right now) but people can buy mods, too. Some opt to build their own. Not sure of the "cool" factor involving building your own cheesy battery charger though haha but it's fun to tinker with.

 

[yzer]

At this point you are guessing that the eGo charger you are using was optimized for ICR, IMR or LiPo batteries. Maybe it handled all types? Without knowledge of the battery it was intended for or the charger circuit particulars you are in the dark. If you want to use IMR batteries in your Vamo (which should be IMR only) then get the right charger, as mentioned in Post #4.

edit: The YL-103A chargers I mentioned handle both ICR and IMR Li-ion batteries nicely.

Most chargers on the market today terminate charging at a set battery voltage. There is no need to remove the battery from the charger immediately after the charging light turns green.

 

[Kiolbassa]

I figured lithium was lithium as long as it doesn't pass 4.2v and not over-amped, that they'd be fine. The joye is 4.2v 420mA which seems favorable even for an 800mah. Probably going to order the Xtar WP2 II. Having both 18650 and 18350 batteries seems being able to choose amperage between the two would come in handy. I don't know about that usb thing. Maybe I can use it to charge my Egos