Vamo Charger Flashing Red & Green

[Underwhelmed]

Are you talking about the Helix hot Spring here, or the one that came with it?
Does the Helix one fit without any modification to the spring? Also, does it not put to much pressure on the positive connector board like you mentioned trying to avoid?

I was talking about the cheap .59 large battery spring from madvapes being too big. It's not a hot spring and is not very maleable, even when using pliers to try and adjust it. It's not optimal for this mod.


The Helix spring works fine, is a hot spring and can be adjusted with just my fingers. The large bottom part of the spring is a bit smaller than the inside of the cap, so just uncoiling the bottom just a bit makes it fit nice and snug in the cap.

Now that my batteries have a more secure ground contact they seem to be lasting longer, but that could just be my imagination justifying the purchase of these springs.

 

[Gummy Bare]

I was talking about the cheap .59 large battery spring from MadVapes being too big. It's not a hot spring and is not very maleable, even when using pliers to try and adjust it. It's not optimal for this mod.


The Helix spring works fine, is a hot spring and can be adjusted with just my fingers. The large bottom part of the spring is a bit smaller than the inside of the cap, so just uncoiling the bottom just a bit makes it fit nice and snug in the cap.

Now that my batteries have a more secure ground contact they seem to be lasting longer, but that could just be my imagination justifying the purchase of these springs.

It will still work good without uncoiling the bottom to make it snug right? The spring will just fall out everytime you replace the batteries?

 

[Underwhelmed]

Most likely, yes.

The Helix springs are soft, I didn't totally uncoil it, just pulled it out a bit.

 

[Gummy Bare]

Cool, thanks for the info. I think I'll pick up a few of them.

 

[scabbytattoo]

OK did we ever come to a conclusion on the charging light? The first time I charge with the exact same charger I got a solid green last night it was going back and forth so I unplugged it right away (not easy thing at 2 am) nothing was hot and I am using sub-par batts as some would think but still why would it need solid the first time.e out then (trickle) after I try to charge again?

 

[Gummy Bare]

OK did we ever come to a conclusion on the charging light? The first time I charge with the exact same charger I got a solid green last night it was going back and forth so I unplugged it right away (not easy thing at 2 am) nothing was hot and I am using sub-par batts as some would think but still why would it need solid the first time.e out then (trickle) after I try to charge again?

I've found it to work like this; when you place the batteries into the charger, the light will be read. Once they start getting a charge, the light will start flashing back and forward from red to green. The more charged it gets, the slower the flashing will be. You will start to notice that its staying green for a longer amount of time before it flashes red again.

I will basictly wait until the green light stays on for 10 seconds before flashing red, at that point they are charged. I've yet to see the light get to a point were it stays solid green and never flashes red.

 

[scabbytattoo]

OK good to know. I just check the volts on my batts and one got to 4.3 volts not sure if that's good or not haven't seen them get above 4.2 yet I might just be paranoid.

 

[xpen]

that's not good, of course provided the voltmeter of the vamo is accurate... maximum voltage should be around 4.2V (4.21/4.22V), which the vamo should round - with its single decimal figure - to 4.2; if it reads 4.3V, most likely the battery has been charged up at or beyond 4.25V.

that may seem a negligibile difference, but puts the battery out of its specs/optimal range, so in the least it will get a shorter lifespan; it'd be better to doublecheck the battery voltage with a multimeter, if you happen to have one.

frankly the reported workings of the kit charger leave a lot of room for overcharging errors; if I were you, I'd do myself a favor and invest a few more bucks in a better charger, for instance a trustfire TR-001 (15$) or far better in my opinion an XTAR WP2 II (20$).

I understand that the way to variable voltage/power devices may seem to be paved with money, especially for people starting with them from scratch, but anything keeping us away from real cigarettes should be regarded as an excellent investment, IMO.

OK good to know. I just check the volts on my batts and one got to 4.3 volts not sure if that's good or not haven't seen them get above 4.2 yet I might just be paranoid.

 

[Gummy Bare]

that's not good, of course provided the voltmeter of the vamo is accurate... maximum voltage should be around 4.2V (4.21/4.22V), which the vamo should round - with its single decimal figure - to 4.2; if it reads 4.3V, most likely the battery has been charged up at or beyond 4.25V.

that may seem a negligibile difference, but puts the battery out of its specs/optimal range, so in the least it will get a shorter lifespan; it'd be better to doublecheck the battery voltage with a multimeter, if you happen to have one.

frankly the reported workings of the kit charger leave a lot of room for overcharging errors; if I were you, I'd do myself a favor and invest a few more bucks in a better charger, for instance a trustfire TR-001 (15$) or far better in my opinion an XTAR WP2 II (20$).

I understand that the way to variable voltage/power devices may seem to be paved with money, especially for people starting with them from scratch, but anything keeping us away from real cigarettes should be regarded as an excellent investment, IMO.

Yea, I think your right about getting a new charger. I might get one today from the place I got my better battery from. The first time I charged by batteries wile I was blowing you guys up in the thread asking a million questions I ended up charging it to much as well. Got the same 4.3 reading that scabbytattoo did. After charging them a few times I found the 8-10 second flashing mark got them charged up to 4.2, but not over.

But… with the wacky way this charger works, 10 seconds of green might be good for me but a little over for someone else. I wish I had a real multi-meter so I could tell if the Vamo’s reading is accurate or not. Maybe the charger has something that insures the batteries don’t over charge, but the Vamo’s reading is incorrect.

 

[tnt56]

First don't depend on the Vamo battery level indicatior to be accurate. Get a decent meter to measure it with. My Provari and Vamo will show up to 0.4 volts different between the two of them.

 

[xpen]

most kit/cheap chargers don't actually stop charging the batteries until you remove them from the charger; the TR-001 and XTAR WP2 II (and the Pila, and some even more expensive others) do stop when done.

last but not least, they have no blinking led madness to be interpreted: solid red = charging, solid green = ready

 

[xpen]

that would be the best option, but it's another 10/20 bucks... if I had to make a choice, I'd go for a better charger now and maybe a multimeter sometimes in the future.

strange as it may sound to me, most people can actually live without a multimeter

First don't depend on the Vamo battery level indicatior to be accurate. Get a decent meter to measure it with. My Provari and Vamo will show up to 0.4 volts different between the two of them.

 

[Gummy Bare]

Picked up a TR-001 yesterday, thanks for the advice. I feel much safer now with this one.

I'm so glad we finally have a good e-cig shop in town that has the good stuff. I was recommended better bateries in this thread, and the shop had them. I was recommended a better charger, and the shop had that too. No need to order from the net and wait.

 

[Gummy Bare]

How long does it take to chagre a efest 18650 2000mAh batterie? I picked up a trust fire TR-001 charger, and the red light hasn't turned green yet... its been charging for 6+ hours.

Not sure if I got another problem even though I picked up brand name batteries and brand name charger... or if this batterie just takes a super long time to charge.

Sent From The Gummy Palace

 

[xpen]

a few hours, definitely... on my XTAR WP2 at 1A charging it takes 2.5+ hours, and IIRC the TR-001 charges at 0.5A.

6+ hours seems a bit long, I'd have expected 4/5hrs, but I've noticed that Efest IMR's take longer to charge than AW's of the same capacity (possibly due to higher internal resistance), on my charger at least.

 

[Gummy Bare]

a few hours, definitely... on my XTAR WP2 at 1A charging it takes 2.5+ hours, and IIRC the TR-001 charges at 0.5A.

6+ hours seems a bit long, I'd have expected 4/5hrs, but I've noticed that Efest IMR's take longer to charge than AW's of the same capacity (possibly due to higher internal resistance), on my charger at least.

Thanks for the info, the light finally turned green. Prob took about 8 hours or so. 6 last night, then I unplugged it for safty reasons when I went to bed. Then plugged it back in when I woke up (and posted this ?) and charged it for 2 or so more. Came back from walking the dog and it was finally green.

I don't know if the power in my appartment is weeker than it should be, but everything I charge seems to take longer than people say. Even the 650mah eGo batteries I got in my first starter kit.

Sent With Android From The Gummy Palace

 

[kiwivap]

TR-001 take longer to charge. Your charger sounds fine to me. It will take longer than an Xstar or Pila. I have a couple of TR-001s and they can take several hours to go green. They are noted for being slow.

 

[Ictinike]

TR-001 take longer to charge. Your charger sounds fine to me. It will take longer than an Xstar or Pila. I have a couple of TR-001s and they can take several hours to go green. They are noted for being slow.

Agreed.. charging my 350's in pairs (since I keep both stacked and charge/discharge them at the same time; never swap) it takes them about 3-4 hours to charge fully it seems (at least 5-8 cycles now) and the Panny hybrids @ 2200mah take 7-9 hours it seems on a TR-001. It's slow but when green they come off fine around 4.2v.

 

[Gummy Bare]

That makes me feel better, thought I was going crazy there for a min.

But I tested the batterie with the vamo and the tr-001 didn't over charge them like the crappy generic one that came with the kit did.

I was reading some scary reviews of the tr-001 yesterday, like people having it shoot out sparks and blow the plug out of the back of it. But all these reviews were from sites selling the tr-001 that is white. I have the black one, hopping its an updated modle or something. Its definatly a tr-001 though.

 

[xpen]

The TR-001 is a perfectly fine charger, white or black , just a tad slower than some other chargers.

Note: many people prefer to charge their batteries at 0.5A anyway, even with chargers supporting faster charging rates, because it's supposed to help with the battery lifespan.

I still have a TR-001 as a backup to my XTAR, and the only complaint I may have is that it 'hisses' a bit during the initial phase of charging. Other than that, A-OK.

That makes me feel better, thought I was going crazy there for a min.

But I tested the batterie with the vamo and the tr-001 didn't over charge them like the crappy generic one that came with the kit did.

I was reading some scary reviews of the tr-001 yesterday, like people having it shoot out sparks and blow the plug out of the back of it. But all these reviews were from sites selling the tr-001 that is white. I have the black one, hopping its an updated modle or something. Its definatly a tr-001 though.