So this should stop charging the unprotected batteries before they explode as long as the internal protection works. Is there any way to test that before I start charging?
a lot of these 4 x 18650 boxes use a tp4056 chip which does follow a CC/CV protocol. Check yours and if it does have one you should be ok to charge using a USB wall wart. It will be slow however as 1 amp is the max charge current (—> 250ma per 18650).
The one I ordered that looked like one of those did not. Another option would be to just get a ML-02 charger and carry around a few spares. I can vouch for it as I EDC it daily along with a spare 18650 stored in a L2P. ;)
I cracked it open last night, and if you click the link below my original post it takes you to the ebay page with a picture of the internals visible. Ill look again when I get home, but I didn’t see a chip with any distinct lettering. Just the “100”, whatever that means.
I already looked at the one on ebay and I can't make out the lettering on the chips since it is at a angle. There is one that could be the right one from the little bit I can see.
Hey I have a similar ordered last week from suntekstore but there is also a USB in for charging.
I am not sure why I need this but someday I would like to charge some batterie with a solar panel to transfer the daylight in the night or so.
Please describe your experience with this.
I wonder if I could just use a usb to usb cord, plug it into my iphone wall jack and charge it that way. From poking around on here Ive kind of learned that 18650’s can potentially be dangerous, and I dont want to charge it and come home to my town house burned to the ground. Mostly because of all the cool stuff I have, not because of the house itself. My goal is to be able to charge my iphone for as long as possible and doing it cheaply and safely. 4 of the unprotected batteries were $13, the charger was 5.50 and the box was 8.44, so if this works I should have a 10000mah battery pack for $27
EDIT: This doesn’t say what you have is unsafe. It says there are probably safer options to address the concern you raised about safety. Can’t know what you have under those wrappers . . . but personally I’m more comfortable with known oem cells, or even those from a good laptop pack.
I have a 4x18650 box bought with some panels from Cottonpickers at CPF Marketplace. There seem to be quite a few of these on ebay in various forms.
If your box has USB in (mini USB socket) then you can charge from any USB source including Solar. FYI, I have some of these panels from Intl-Outdoors and I can confirm that they put out the claimed 400mA each.
There is no blocking diode on these so you might like to check that your box doesn't discharge back through the panel if you leave it connected in low light.
I connected 2 of these panels in parallel for 800mA (in strong sunshine) but even at this rate it will take a long time to fully charge 4 drained good quality cells. Remember also, that solar panels drop off dramatically in efficiency when not angled directly to the sun; for best results you will have to keep re-aligning the panels periodically.
Keep in mind also that high states of charge + high heat is one of the big killers of Li-Ion cells. If you are charging via solar, try to find a way to keep the 18650 box out of the sun and as cool as possible.
Other than solar, your USB in for charging means you can use any USB source such as an AC supply, car adapter or PC to charge up the box. Many PCs continue to supply power to the USB ports even when switched off, so plugging in here is a convenient way to charge.
The circuitry in mine seems to cut the charge pretty reliably at 4.19V but yours may be different. Because of the strange warnings NOT to use PROTECTED cells in some of these boxes, you would be best to make sure you use only good quality cells such as Panasonics or Sanyos.
I installed the batteries in the portable battery charger, hit the activation button, put the case back on and now its charging my iphone. The charger for the charger still hasnt come yet.
Ics are grinded down so no chance of finding out what circuit
Also there is a button and three LEDs on the side which show you the battery status a red a green and a blue one.
Just for getting sure I put a protected cell in there for test.
Batteries are parallel so no chance the will get balanced, but just for playing around it should be ok. I would not put unprotected cells in it when I would only charge it through this device, if you have a cell which has lower capacity it will over discharge it. Not sure how CCCV will work with parallel cells?
I think the only difference is the lack of a miniusb. I installed the new unprotected batteries, hit the little button inside, closed it up, charged it using the wall wart I bought and took it off when the light went green. Seems to work great.
