I'm using a trustfire right now, I know I should upgrade to a nitcore, but I was just wondering if it would charge my 18350's faster?
Will a better charger give me a faster charging time?
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Faster isn't always what's best for batteries. You could stick your batteries into a charger putting out 1500 milliamps that will run your 18350's up to 4.25 volts in an hour, but your batteries would get trashed even though they'd get charged right darn quick.
Just my two cents, brands being ignored, get a better charger and don't be too concerned about a half hour either way. Your batteries will thank you.
Just my two cents, brands being ignored, get a better charger and don't be too concerned about a half hour either way. Your batteries will thank you.
I've got 4, but I put today's battery on at 10:00. It's 2:00 now. Seems a little crazy. The battery is also only one day old, it's on it's second charge.
Yeah, I think that's a little nuts. I don't fully discharge my 18350's, but about two hours or so seems to be the norm for me (Efest IMR 18350's, Efest LUC charger).
They DID seem to take a bit longer when I was still using the el-cheapo charger I first bought.
Charging time depends on the output of the charger and the mah capacity of the battery. It's recommended to not exceed the battery's input when charging.
I love my Trustfire. Batteries are cheap. I have five and rotate them. Always have a few fully charged that way. Good luck and have fun!
I would be more concerned with Mah of the 18650's If you are talking 1600Mah then not to bad. With 2600 and higher capacity 2.5 hrs is way to fast and will eventually damage the batteries.
Also always let a battery you using FULLY cool down BEFORE placing in the charger. the battery should be near 100% stable before starting a charge.
Start with looking at the specs of the battery (what was the battery???) !?
That being said , (rounding the numbers a little) if the battery is 2500Mha , and it charges in 2.5 hours , then the charge current is 1Amp .
That is not excessive for AW IMR 18650 (2000mAh) , max charge rate of 2Amp .
This is true. However, a 1a charge rate is likely to damage a battery with a capacity less than 1000mAh by charging too quickly and possibly overcharging, depending on the quality of the charger. This is why the Nitecore (and other higher quality chargers) have max charge rates of 500ma per bay.
I did tailor both my posts to each individual battery , but I suppose I should have been clearer .
I have the Xtar Vp1 which has charge currents 250mA, 500mA, 1A , so me being spoiled in this also made me assume that other chargers feature this !!
Good point IBCR , assumptions make an ..... etc !
Charging li-ion batteries is kinda the reverse of discharging them in that a maximum 'C' rate should be observed.
C = capacity, in amp hours or milliamp hours (mAh). 1A = 1,000 milliamps. So, if you have a 1,000 mAh battery, discharging it at 1 C will empty it in 1 hour. For a 2,000 mAh battery discharging it at 1 C will empty it in 1 hour. The first battery will be discharging at 1 amp. The second will be discharging at 2A. Discharge the 2 mAh battery at 0.5 C and it will be drawing 1A and will last for 2 hours.
This is what they say at Battery University about charging these batts:
"The charge rate of a typical consumer Li-ion battery is between 0.5 and 1C in Stage 1, and the charge time is about three hours [note: for a completely discharged battery]. Manufacturers recommend charging the 18650 cell at 0.8C or less."
Charging these puppies is a two stage process. Stage 1 is at a constant current until the charger switches to stage 2. In stage 2 the current is reduced until full charge is reached. Voltage stays at 4.2. So, max charge rate for stage 1 is maximum 0.8C. After that you go to stage 2. I charge my 1,500 mAh batteries at 0.5A, which is 0.33C. I never discharge them anywhere near totally so it does not take four hours or more to charge them. My charge times are about 2 to 2 1/2 hours and I'm comfortable with that. I use a Xtar charger and can set charge rates. The next higher rate is 1A, which I feel is too high for these batteries. If I had batteries that were 2,500 mAh or more I would consider using 1A.
Again from Battery University:
"Some lower-cost consumer chargers may use the simplified “charge-and-run” method that charges a lithium-ion battery in one hour or less without going to the Stage 2 saturation charge. “Ready” appears when the battery reaches the voltage threshold at Stage 1. Since the state-of-charge (SoC) at this point is only about 85 percent, the user may complain of short runtime, not knowing that the charger is to blame. Many warranty batteries are being replaced for this reason, and this phenomenon is especially common in the cellular industry."
So a quick charger could be doing this. Or it could be charging way too fast for stage 1 and then doing stage 2. A charger that takes six hours is charging at a very reduced rate for stage 1 and who knows what it's doing for stage 2. The first scenario will reduce the life of your batteries and they may heat up because of the high charge rate. The second is charging really slow and again who knows what is really going on under the hood after that.
I think a good charger is a very good investment.
C = capacity, in amp hours or milliamp hours (mAh). 1A = 1,000 milliamps. So, if you have a 1,000 mAh battery, discharging it at 1 C will empty it in 1 hour. For a 2,000 mAh battery discharging it at 1 C will empty it in 1 hour. The first battery will be discharging at 1 amp. The second will be discharging at 2A. Discharge the 2 mAh battery at 0.5 C and it will be drawing 1A and will last for 2 hours.
This is what they say at Battery University about charging these batts:
"The charge rate of a typical consumer Li-ion battery is between 0.5 and 1C in Stage 1, and the charge time is about three hours [note: for a completely discharged battery]. Manufacturers recommend charging the 18650 cell at 0.8C or less."
Charging these puppies is a two stage process. Stage 1 is at a constant current until the charger switches to stage 2. In stage 2 the current is reduced until full charge is reached. Voltage stays at 4.2. So, max charge rate for stage 1 is maximum 0.8C. After that you go to stage 2. I charge my 1,500 mAh batteries at 0.5A, which is 0.33C. I never discharge them anywhere near totally so it does not take four hours or more to charge them. My charge times are about 2 to 2 1/2 hours and I'm comfortable with that. I use a Xtar charger and can set charge rates. The next higher rate is 1A, which I feel is too high for these batteries. If I had batteries that were 2,500 mAh or more I would consider using 1A.
Again from Battery University:
"Some lower-cost consumer chargers may use the simplified “charge-and-run” method that charges a lithium-ion battery in one hour or less without going to the Stage 2 saturation charge. “Ready” appears when the battery reaches the voltage threshold at Stage 1. Since the state-of-charge (SoC) at this point is only about 85 percent, the user may complain of short runtime, not knowing that the charger is to blame. Many warranty batteries are being replaced for this reason, and this phenomenon is especially common in the cellular industry."
So a quick charger could be doing this. Or it could be charging way too fast for stage 1 and then doing stage 2. A charger that takes six hours is charging at a very reduced rate for stage 1 and who knows what it's doing for stage 2. The first scenario will reduce the life of your batteries and they may heat up because of the high charge rate. The second is charging really slow and again who knows what is really going on under the hood after that.
I think a good charger is a very good investment.
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I go off the manufacturers specifications , not what "The University of Batteries" state .
I'd bet good money if you email them (Battery University) about legal responsibility of the content of their site , they will reply "always follow the manufacturers specifications" .
Given your research and insight, would you recommend the Trustfire charger? Just curious.
I also go off what the manufacturers say. That's why I use 0.33 to 0.5C as my safe max charge rate [with my own extra safety factor thrown in]. If you look at manufacturer battery specs you will find that all are higher than that as they say at Battery University.
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I've never had that charger and I've not researched it. It's been over a year since I bought mine. At that time I know Xtar and Pila were good. That's all I know, sorry.
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