After over 3 years at all this flashlight stuff, I still know very little. I consider myself to be just an ‘end user’. I have picked up a bit of knowledge just by being around
I was charging up (4) 18650 cells. They are 2000 mAh. It is a Trustfire charger that charges at 500mA. The cells were at about 3.2V They were on the charger last night for several hours and when I checked them they were at 3.6V!!! Wow, this takes a long time. I think I recall them taking at least 5 hours to charge last time. Is this normal? Are there chargers that charge faster? This charger gets fairly hot while charging also. It is a Trustfire TR-003P4. It’s cheap but I think they get a fair review.
Sometimes it’s not the charger but the cells. The cheapest and worst cells I own (Ultrafire) have very high internal resistance and take significantly longer to charge in comparison to my good cells.
Which cells are you charging (brand, type) and how old are they?
Hi. Couldn’t tell you. I think they were some laptop pulls I bought from someone here on the Forum. They say ‘CLICR 18650’ on them with a navy blue wrapping. They have a solder blob on them. Perhaps it’s time for an upgrade. It’s hard for me to upgrade, however, when these work just fine. I think I may be purchasing an Olight M3XS UT this week and it comes with a couple of Olight cells, 2600 mAh … so there is my upgrade It also comes with a Nitecore I4 charger … double upgrade. I’ll be all set.
Depending on voltage when put in the charger, resistance of the particular cells and true output of the charger, it may take from 4 hours, to 16 hours. I have an I4 and if I put 4 cells in it, it takes a long, long time. Usually, it takes upwards of 8 hours to 12 hours, for 4 cells, if the cells are at around 3 volts, to 3.2 volts.
Now, if I only did two, or just one, it takes less time. That tells me the charger is putting out less per zone, when four zones are full, which is the way many chargers are. The only reason I like the I4 is because I can charge, Li-ion and NiMH cells in it. Other than that, I don't care for the length of time to charge of any of my Li-ion chargers. Most of my cells are in the 2200mAh to 3400mAh range.
appreciate your reply O.L. I don’t feel like something is ‘wrong’ now. That is a long time to charge those cells! I have a couple other chargers so next time I will split the cells up and it will go faster. Thanks.