VV and Battery Question

[RattlerX]

Ran across something unusual and would like advice.

I changed out my 18350's on the vv when the vape falls off. Since I was here next to the charger I put them in and 1 read 3.36v and the other did not read at all. I waited a few minutes and it started reading at 1.86v. This was my first battery swap on the vv and is it normal for the top battery to discharge that low.

Both batteries are charging fine but this worried me a bit.

Both batteries were new bought at same time and first use.

 

[Rickajho]

In my experience that's a bit extreme. I've got pretty good about not allowing my VV to drop into that zone where vapor production just falls off the cliff though. At that point you can bet at least one of the batteries is well below 3.2 volts. But so low the charger has to trickle charge to get up to 1.86 volts for one of them? Never seen that happen.

Had these been fully charged prior to this use? All I can think of is if you ran them out of the box without charging one of the two may have had a significantly higher partial charge than the other one.

Definitely monitor this one. And you will get better with time developing that ESP thing and pulling the batteries to charge before your vape starts pooping out.

 

[MamaTried]

i have observed this myself, several times. many of us make sure to alternate which we put on top after each charge.

others have done tests and have not found it to happen to them. perhaps they are in the habit of recharging when they drop to 3.6 or thereabouts like we like to do with the mechs, rather than let them drop to where the VV stops performing well.


and although i have a background in electronics, i don't really know why it happens. my theory is that even if buying batteries in pairs from the same batch, you may get two with slightly different specs. afaik, the only downside is that you will end up getting fewer charge cycles out of the ones that drop too low, and they will tend to drop a bit sooner. so i don't worry about it much.

 

[nerak]

I always pull my batteries before the VV REO shuts down. The top battery is always lower than the bottom.

I make it a point to check the voltage before putting them back into the REO. The higher volts goes on top.

I usually run two VV Woodvils at home and a VV Grand at work. Make sure I rotate all sets of batteries, they are numbered by set and lettered.

Before doing this process I lost a couple batteries. They discharged so low they would not read or accept a charge.

 

[RattlerX]

i have observed this myself, several times. many of us make sure to alternate which we put on top after each charge.

others have done tests and have not found it to happen to them. perhaps they are in the habit of recharging when they drop to 3.6 or thereabouts like we like to do with the mechs, rather than let them drop to where the VV stops performing well.


and although i have a background in electronics, i don't really know why it happens. my theory is that even if buying batteries in pairs from the same batch, you may get two with slightly different specs. afaik, the only downside is that you will end up getting fewer charge cycles out of the ones that drop too low, and they will tend to drop a bit sooner. so i don't worry about it much.

when I first ordered the VV I read for a few days and I saw that most people were marking the batteries so they could rotate top and bottom... so I did the same. I will rotate and see what happens on the next round with them.

thank you

 

[RattlerX]

In my experience that's a bit extreme. I've got pretty good about not allowing my VV to drop into that zone where vapor production just falls off the cliff though. At that point you can bet at least one of the batteries is well below 3.2 volts. But so low the charger has to trickle charge to get up to 1.86 volts for one of them? Never seen that happen.

Had these been fully charged prior to this use? All I can think of is if you ran them out of the box without charging one of the two may have had a significantly higher partial charge than the other one.

Definitely monitor this one. And you will get better with time developing that ESP thing and pulling the batteries to charge before your vape starts pooping out.

You are correct…I did not do an initial charge. …hmmmm will not do that again and I will watch it and see what happens.

 

[RattlerX]

I always pull my batteries before the VV REO shuts down. The top battery is always lower than the bottom.

I make it a point to check the voltage before putting them back into the REO. The higher volts goes on top.

I usually run two VV Woodvils at home and a VV Grand at work. Make sure I rotate all sets of batteries, they are numbered by set and lettered.

Before doing this process I lost a couple batteries. They discharged so low they would not read or accept a charge.

I am glad that this is not a new event. I will learn to change the batteries out before they get that low. Good advice to check them and put the highest volt on top.

 

[Rickajho]

Did you happen to get an Xtar VP1 charger? I'm kinda reading in to what you said about the charger behavior.

 

[RattlerX]

Did you happen to get an Xtar VP1 charger? I'm kinda reading in to what you said about the charger behavior.

Yep …that would be the one

It seems to work ok but not sure if there is anything better

 

[Rickajho]

In tests for performance it's right on par with a Pila. But the Pila doesn't have all that useful stuff like a display. IMO these are the best two chargers in the market right now. Keep track of that receipt - if you ever need service it's backed with a two year warranty.

 

[Ian444]

If you run the batteries, or a battery, too low, it causes a small loss of useful life, depending on how low it gets discharged. No two batteries are ever exactly equal in capacity so one will always go lower than the other, unless you just happen to have a perfectly matched pair. I cannot see why the top battery would have a consistently higher or consistently lower voltage than the lower battery, because exactly the same number of electrons flow through each to make the coil hot. One cannot supply any more electrons than the other, because the same electrons flow through both. When one runs out of electrons to supply, but the other is still going fine, that is when it all goes bad for the weaker one.