What charger for 2017?

It is ALL about preference! I like to see ALL 4 bays at once instead of data from One[1] channel at a time! No Thanks!

Charging at 500ma, I assume you mean for 18650”s & 26650”s may result in a few extra cycles out of the cell but Li-ion charging is recommended up to 1c or the capacity of the cell per hour.
500ma charging on a 3000mah 18650 will take around 6 hours to complete assuming the cell is pretty much fully depleted & around 10 hours with a fully depleted 5000mah 26650.
I generally charge 18650”s at 1A which is still only .33c of a 3000mah cell & at 2A on a 5000mah 26650 cell which is still only .4c.
I am still charging at less than .5c but it takes half the time you do & if I lose a few cycles compared to charging at 500ma so what.
If I had a 4 bay charger that charged at 1.5A across all 4 bays that is exactly what I would charge my 3000-3400mah 18650s at, which is still only about .5c, & given the option I would charge my 5000mah 26650”s at .5c or 2.5A rather than 2A :wink:
Good quality cells are cheap & life is to short to warrant really low charge rates just to get a few extra cycles in my opinion.
Good cells are only around $4-$6 each & even if I were to only get 100 cycles from my cells the way I charge them & charged them once a week that is still 2 years life from a $4-$6 cell.
Each to their own obviously & what is important to me charging wise may not be important to others as I know for instance that some people don”t like to charge their cells to 4.20v to help increase their life.
I am happy with the way I charge my cells & my cells life, & at the rates I charge at the cells stay cool so I doubt I am reducing their life by much.
Just my take on it The Miller :wink:

You actually do all that ‘The Miller’? Charging at 500ma? Why? Have you found “you” need it or are you just being very precautious?

My high capacity 18650’s do not even get warm at 2000ma charge…. much less the 26650’s.
And they have no “extra” cooling at all.

What brand & model charger are you using?
.
:slight_smile:

OK thanks
But in summer temps are a real concern here with 35°C
I feel both charger and cells get warmer at 1A charging over 500mA
The CPU heatsinks help but still iblike lower temps.
(When I feel a hotspot on a phone I usually take off the back cover and place it on a big CPU heatsink up side down (so the flat of the heatsink has max area of touch)

But if charging at 500mA is bad well I must not do that and charge in a cooler room/kitchen (but losing sitting next to it most of the time)

We only get a max of probably around 25-26C in my house here in the UK on the hottest of summer days & 18650”s charged at 1A & 26650”s charged at 2A barely get warm :slight_smile:
As I said I would happily charge high capacity 18650”s at 1.5A & 5000mah 26650”s like the Liitokala”s at 2.5A :wink:

40C days are not uncommon here in the summer…… :person_facepalming: … :weary:

But, I do not charge in the direct boiling sun either. I’ll charge in the garrage, where it might br a slight bit cooler; or on the kitchen table where the room temp is around 28C. (no, I do not like it cold indoors…. just a slight bit cool) :wink:

Charging the two type batteries mentioned above at 2000ma in either place mentioned, I can tell no difference in battery temp besides that of “room temlerature”.

I charge both 18650’s & 26650’s at 2000ma and never think twice about it…. because “heat” has not been an issue at all for me with the good cells mentioned.

I’ll go even high on charge rate when a reasonably priced charger is avaiable that offers that choice. (as long as heat remains a non-issue)

Can the Li500 have the capability to log output data (Current, Volts, time etc) out to an external file?

Not that I know of.

It can get very hot here also,Sometimes 95F/35C or higher.

It really makes no difference because the air conditioning is on! I keep the temp. ~ 74F/ 23C inside.

I have never changed my charging rate due to outside temps.

However, I do know this from visiting relatives in Italy…Not ALL of them had AC,that may be true in other European countries?

Oh to have weather warm enough to need AC.
Houses in the UK have lots of insulation (by law for new builds) double glazing throughout & central heating :person_facepalming:
My car has AC & I have never needed to use it :frowning:
Outside temp here at the moment is 6C/43F after having reached the dizzy heights of 10.5C/51F this afternoon :frowning:

One great thing about the NE USA is that we have 4 seasons! Right now it is 28F/-2C and going down to 12F/-11C tonight w/ a pending blizzard Monday Night into Tuesday w/ a potential of 12” to 18” of snow! CAPO will be very happy!!!

I regularly charge my 18650’s at 2A, if I’m willing to wait I sometimes drop to 1A. Even my normal rate cells like the Pana3400s or old Sanyo’s, no harm yet, although they do get warm to the touch.
I have 6+ year old cells that still take decent capacity if I have to use the crappy VC4 (my last resort charger when all the others are busy lol).

Well the main kitchen where I have my notebook and charger setup is first floor under roof, 4 meter at highest point
Roof is insulated, double glass in relative small windows inside 1 meter thick walls

We have the door to terras open so it warms up, temps of 30-35°C in shade are normal from June to September.
Had 24°C in shade yesterday

But I’ll just charge things somewhere in a lower area that stays much cooler. And use higher current for the 26650s

I’ll swap 2A charging for your climate :wink:

Gauss charging at .5c or below is not charging at high current :wink:

Thanks :slight_smile:

Gauss, are those the most relevant slides? I’m on mobile so adding them is a pain but it looks like from your source, a base of 1c is chosen in one test, if increased to 4c then you get a 4% increase in broken bonds, is that correct?

I can live with that, in fact bring on 12A charging :sunglasses:

It also seems to show that a greater cause of aging is leaving the cells in a high state of charge, much more so than higher charge rates, especially here, where no one in this thread gets even near 1c charging, let alone 2,3 or even 4c.

I’m probably reading that all wrong so feel free to correct me

No my reply was to you.
We had been talking about charging 18650”s at 1A & 26650”s at 2A as the Miller said that he had read that you should charge at 500ma because it was “best for the cells”.
You then posted that “Charging at high-current can greatly accelerate aging / degradation of Li-ion cells, and this is not only due to associated higher temperatures, e.g. see the slides below.
That is why I said that charging at .5c or below was not high current.

Batteries are cheap. These are how I have charged mine.

10440/16340/14500 @ .5A 18500,18650 1A [ICR] 26650 2A

The only one that may be over charged is the 10440,they were charged for 1 year at that rate[.5A],now that I have the Opus BT-C3100 I can charge @ 300mAh.

I have also charged my VTC5/6, 30Q’s, LG’s @ 2A from time to time 1C =3000mAh=3amps

We were all talking about under .5c charge rates not high charge rates when you posted “Charging at high-current can greatly accelerate aging / degradation of Li-ion cells” I assume in response to our discussion.
If it were not in response to our discussion what was the point of you post as it had no bearing on what we were talking about ?
I will politely decline to respond to you again in this thread thanks.