Wondering. Page @ mv says charges at 1.2 and 4.2 ... don't really want to be pouring 4.2 into a 3.0v battery I think.
Will AG-126 work with 3.0v batteries?
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Nope. You sure don't want to charge a 3.0v batt with a 4.2v charger. The 3.0v charger is this one.
EDIT: This one is also good for lifep04 3.0v batts. It has a 3 position switch for voltage choice and one of those positions is 3.6v (the 3.0v batts actually charge to about 3.5v so it is appropriate). The HG1210W is a versatile charger, and though I've only used the feature twice, it also comes with a car adapter. -- I've never charged my 3.0v batts on it because I have the Hoaba charger, but I probably will eventually if I take my 6.0v set up with me for a weekend trip. Being able to charge in the car is a good feature.
EDIT: This one is also good for lifep04 3.0v batts. It has a 3 position switch for voltage choice and one of those positions is 3.6v (the 3.0v batts actually charge to about 3.5v so it is appropriate). The HG1210W is a versatile charger, and though I've only used the feature twice, it also comes with a car adapter. -- I've never charged my 3.0v batts on it because I have the Hoaba charger, but I probably will eventually if I take my 6.0v set up with me for a weekend trip. Being able to charge in the car is a good feature.
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Just got one of the HG1210W and charged some lifep04 at the 3.6 position works great, I also have the hoaba charger but wanted other for the car.I have charged lion batts on it too already at the 4.2 position and worked great as well
3.0 or LiFePO4 Batts should be charged at 3.0,,, not 3.6 you want to charge them slow and ya they will come off the charger anywhere from 3.4-3.5v this wold be a good charger for 3.0 Batts = UltraFire 3.0V/3.6V 2*CR123A Charger WF-138
What's up Matt,so you are saying do not charge the lifep04 batts on this charger HG1210W at 3.6 pos. because thats what MV site suggest?Understand you saying these should be charged slowly why?Only 2 positions on charger is 3.6 or 4.2.Thanks for feedback.
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I can answer the "why charge them slow" but I'm going to disagree about not charging them at 3.6.
The chemical reaction required in the electrolyte to create positive charge doesn't happen instantly. Pumping electricity in to any battery too fast doesn't lend itself to creating a dense charge because the charged electrolyte needs to move away from the electrode surface to transfer charge to the rest of the electrolyte in the battery. That's called diffusion (or some electronics books call it "mass transport"). The slower you charge a battery, the denser the charge becomes (the more total electrolyte has the chance to accept positive charge).
Lifep04 chemistry happens to be a little slower to have full diffusion than other chemistry batts (well, a little slower than li-on anyway).
The other thing that happens during charging is called "surface charge". The electrolyte develops resistance while it is being excited (while it is accepting positive charge). Surface charge will trigger the chargers shut off long before diffusion is complete if you charge too fast. The battery you are charging might develop three or four tenths of a volt worth of surface charge when the battery is only two thirds of the way through diffusion (just a hypothetical sort of example - but actually probably close to many real world scenarios). So, in that example, only 2/3 of the electrolyte is fully excited when the true charge plus surface charge reach the number that maximum charge is supposed to be and the charger thinks it can't put any more electricity in so it stops. Where a charger stops pumping in electricity is called the "termination voltage". It's just a max voltage cut off - and the faster the charger is, the more important having an accurate cut off is.
I do disagree about not charging lifep04 batts on a 3.6v charger. It might shorten their useful life span a little, but I don't believe it is dangerous or problematic. The couple of grams of excitable material in something the size of a 123a can transfer/diffuse rapidly. If the battery was 10 or 20 times the size, it would be a different story entirely.
EDIT/ADD:
Though this article doesn't seem to get in to surface charge (or if it does, I missed it), I think it's worth a read. I only noticed one thing that I think they don't explain well and that's about trickle charging. Trickle, Slow, Quick, and Fast are all different things. They tell you clearly that Slow, Quick, and Fast are all different but then they tell you about trickle not being appropriate for ni-mh etc and don't explain that trickle is different than slow... That's all I noticed on that page that isn't explained well.
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Thanks Six,so you don't see anything wrong with charging the lifep04 batts on this charger at 3.6 position right?
I sure don't. At least not 123a sized lifep04 batteries. If they were physically larger, I would change that answer.
My multimeter puts my hoaba charger producing 3.55. In the 3.6v position, my HG 1210W reads 3.58.
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