A good charger and good cells should work, it´s the combination. And I´m not sure whether most of these manufacturers really manufacture chargers and cells or just buy from another and lable it
I have chargers which have problems with a lot of cells and (cheap) cells which cause problems in every charger.
Thanks. Looks like years of work went into making that list.
There was a theory someone told me decade ago that manufacturers of chargers use default algorithm that is not optimal causing batteries to wear out sooner. Don’t know if it is a part of collusion for planned obsolescence.
The “algorithm” is typically some fixed current like 1A and then trickle charge to full. More advanced chargers can track the battery temperature to make sure it doesn’t go above some value (like 40C). You don’t need anything more fancy than that.
If you want to just minimize the wear of your battery, then charge at something like 0.1A but it will take forever. Most people will never get close to the cycle life of their battery for usage in flashlights so I wouldn’t worry about it.
Sounds kinda like one of those ‘old men’s tales’, eh? :person_facepalming:
How the hell did they know? What was their information source? Did they do ANYTHING to check it out?
Maybe women gossip, but men just bullshit themselves a lot. I think it’s the sapiens equivalent of chest thumping.
I charge just about everything (You name the cell & chemistry) with Nitecore chargers. Been doing it for about a decade and never had an issue. I don’t buy cells that come with a charger or cells with built-in charging capabilities. Hopefully that gives you some insight to others experiences.
They’re saying Capacity divided by three = charge rate. So a hypothetical 3000mAh li-ion cell should have an initial charge rate (the setting you put the charger on) of 1000ma.
Second point is one I also agree with, often the clamshell packages of cells and charger you buy in stores includes a cheap charger which isn’t very good.
I thought you meant charging battery to 1000mAh capacity out of its 3000mAh capacity initially. So it’s charge rate 1000mAh and not maximum charged capacity? I know in cellphones its the opposite. They are charged at normal rate but slow down after around 90%.
Can even be charged using quick charge technology that is so much marketed these days but in itself introduces heat that affects battery longevity.
Do Nitecore, LaCrosse and BT chargers detect lithium battery automatically and set C/3 preset or I set it manually?
18650 don’t ‘automatically’ have built-in overcharging protection. It has to be added after the raw cell or pack is made.
Some chargers automatically set the charge rate, but not by capacity. Its usually by testing the internal resistance. There is no way it can figure out capacity in a short electronic ‘probe’.
Some people like that feature-put it in and let it go. You usually CAN over ride it if you want.
I dislike it. I want control.
All properly designed Li-Ion chargers will automatically and gradually reduce charging rate toward the end of the charge cycle when they switch from Constant Current (CC) phase to Constant Voltage (CV) phase. This is to prevent over-voltage situations.
All EVs, like Tesla, also do this. Charging up to about 80% is fairly quick. The last 20% takes a long time. Plus, it’s actually bad to charge li-ion cells all the way to 100% - high voltage puts extra stress on the cell. I typically charge my cells to about 70-80, including my phone, unless I just really have to have 100 capacity available to me.
This one I bought for several euros almost a decade ago but it was a standalone charger. Is it similar to chargers that come in clamshell packages with included batteries?
It takes almost half of a day to charge batteries. It acts strange sometimes because some channels have indicator that either does not turn on. Or turns on but emits a dim light. When I rotate the battery the light turns on fully. You can see it in this video: https://streamable.com/zhj7nv