It arrived in today’s mail, and I put it immediately into use.
Threw in a 21700 and an 18650 both mostly at a relatively full charge.
The 21700 is a Molicel P42A, 4200mAh 45A battery, and the 18650 is a Li-ion Wholesale branded 3400 mAh .
In the charger, I was under the impression that the display would tell me the capacity (mAh). Instead, the 21700 at 100% charged right now, I see 743 mAh. (Image taken at 99% and reading 729mAh)
The 18650 at 88% full is reading 252mAh and 250mA.
The capacity can only be measured by fully discharging/recharging the cell (this charger has an extra mode for that). What the Vapcell showed you in Charge mode is how much it put into the cell in this particular charge cycle.
Are you aware that it switches from mAh to mA. The first being cumulative energy put into the cell and the second the rate of charge or current in use to charge it. The current will go down as the cell get closer to full charge. This has caused me to sort of double take on a few occasions… until I look more closely. Make sense?
Yes, I noticed that. That’s why I provided 2 images. One has mA, and the other mAh.
Next question. I got done charging the 18650. It seemed stuck at 92% for a long, long time. Then it jumped instantly to 97%. I kind of figured it would have gone 92, 93, 94, etc.
Also, do these chargers come with some sort of thermal grease under the temperature sensor in each slot? I surely hope so, as after the 18650 was done, I found some white goo all over the battery where it was sitting on the temp sensor . I’m hoping that it was thermal paste of some sort, and not a leaky battery.
Personally, I pay very little attention to those percentages. They are a guess at best. It is difficult to calculate cell capacity in LiIon cells without a full charge/discharge cycle. I would prefer they just displayed cell voltage. IOW, don’t worry about it.
Check resting voltage of the cells maybe half an hour after the charge completes. (I have no idea what most of the now popular charges stop recording the voltage of the cells after charge termination…just stupid, stupid behavior)
Do a few charge discharge cycles to check capacity. If these measurements seem close to what they should be and are consistent. Learn to just put your cells in , check initial conditions, and let them charge. Spot check the results occasionally, and you will be good.
