I just bought a brand new acebeam k30gt that came with the batteries. The dates on the batteries are from 2020 and I am getting wild readings from my chargers. Most of the time they are high resistance. 150-200. Sometimes if I reseat them they will show a low resistance but then show the battery as being a higher charge.
These are my first protected batteries so I really don’t know what to expect compared to non protected. Are these batteries supposed to be pretty high resistance? I know being protected they will be higher but how much is acceptable? Are these 4 year old batters a concern?
The protection circuit will add…some…resistance. But, that part should stay constant.
Sounds like you are using a charger with sliders for IR testing. These are well known for being pretty variable when used for IR. Some brand/models are more problematic than others.
Does it do the same kind of variability with unprotected cells, if you have them?
Yes they can vary on unprotected cells. I guess I’m looking for what the typical resistance should be on a protected cell. They charge at the lowest rate at 250ma. Is that on par for these?
What chargers are you using?
It seems like I have seen protected cells with 150 to 180 mOhms internal resistance. But I am not sure if there is a typical range. It probably varies based on the circuit they use as well as how they are assembled. Most of that resistance is the protection.
BTW, that compares to maybe 15 to 50 mO for new healthy non-protected cells.
As to why your chargers only charge them at 250 mA… Well that is why I asked about your charger. I charge the ones I have at from 1 to 1.5 A depending on the capacity. But I set that manually.
I have two. The recent vc8s and the vapcel s4 plus. Off the top of my head I do know I can manually set the s4 so I’ll do that just wasn’t sure if that was safe.
250 is probably what the charger comes up with based on the resistance it senses. That won’t hurt anything, just takes a long time.
No problem at all charging 500-1k mAh. If they are high capacity you can push it higher if you want. I’d stay 2A or lower.
The general rule is max charge is 0.5 C (Half of the cell capacity in Amps). So, for instance, a 3000 mAh cell can be charged at 1.5 amps. Your cells are rated at 3100 mAh. You should be fine up to 1.5 A. 1 amp if you are not in a hurry and want to be gentle with them. Some cells will list a faster charge rate in their data sheets. But in general, slower charging is better for the cells long term health.
I don’t trust the automatic charge rate selection on my chargers. I always do the calculations and set it manually. When I am bored, I will find the data sheet and see what the manufacturer says… But I always use manual settings.
