Hi all,
First post so be gentle.
I just bought a vapecell S4 after using cheapo plug in chargers for many years.
I don’t understand some of the numbers. Does this sound right? Brand new EBL 2800mAh AA batteries. We’re 22% before charge. Fully charged mAh is really low, less than half?
Also I’ve never had discharge, capacity test or repair function before. When would I use these modes?
The charger shows the amount of energy it managed to put in a battery. Some of that energy where converted into heat so actual usefull stored energy is even less.
I haven’t dealt with NiMH yet so don’t know how accurately chargers can read state of charge of this type of batteries. Maybe actual battery’s remaining capacity were higher than 22% therefore the charger was able to put only 790 mAhs into it. Or these batteries are fake and have much lower capacity.
Well, excactly in situations like this one.
You can run capacity test to check the actual capacity of the battery.
Capacity test fully charges battery, then runs discharge test, then again charges the battery.
Discharge test only discharges the battery. It is usefull if you want to dispose your batteries.
Repair - brings your batteries back to life after deep discharge (Li-Ion), in case of NiMH gravelmonkey provided a better explanation.
Capacity test would be useful if you want to know the capacity of the cell. It takes a while.
Repair charges and discharges cell a few times, I personally wouldn’t bother with it as it’s a waste of time and energy.
Note I talk about time, general consensus is it is best practice to monitor cells while charging, I get bored waiting for cells to charge for more than 2hr, capacity tests can be loooong.
the percentage shown initially when putting in NiMH batteries in principle is very inaccurate … it’s just a very rough first estimation of the remaining energy in the battery based on its resting voltage, which is significantly lower than at the end of the last charging …
during the further charging the charger then can adjust the percentage score …
the EBL 2800 reached different capacities in tests, whereas in a test elsewhere they reached a very good capacity, someone in our german forum measured just 2000 mAh …
may be sometime they changed the cell under the wrapper …
the loaded mAh are not an exact indicator of the capacity that fitted into the battery, as it was said before, there are losses during charging in form of heat, that the chargers try to compensate by correction factors … a more exact measurement of the principle capacity of a battery can only be done by discharge, which is applied in the capacity test function …
Thanks all. I was under the impression that value was the total battery capacity not what was put on the battery during charge. Makes sense now.
What’s the best way to check a battery of it’s current charge?
Check out the oficial page, they have good informations…
And watch some reviews on YouTube, so you can understand what this charger i capable to… !
I have the Vapcell S4 Plus V3.0 for over a year now and im very pleased with it !
Thanks Tarataracerberus.
Nothing at all, have a good one !
If you have still any questions, hit us again !?
This is actually a more difficult question than it would appear, but a good question.
If you look at NiMh discharge curves, you’ll see a (reasonably) flat curve followed by a sharp drop- measuring the voltage will give you an extremely approximate idea but due to the flat curve, you cannot be sure how far along the graph you are (and therefore how empty the battery is).
Rechargeable lithium cells (okay, not LifePO4), have a bit better voltage:remaining capacity relationship, so it’s easier to estimate charge remaining - voltage display is available on some flashlights, for example the “batt check” function on e-switch lights (Anduril etc).
Ultimately, it’s sort of a moot point as rechargables can just be topped up as and when required.
Oh, also, I would reccomend you don’t use the USB powerbank feature .
This e happened on V2, the V3 works perfectly in powerbank function !
Do the resistance- and mah numbers often/always flash on the S4+ WHEN CHARGING like they do on my BL4? I am asking cause I don’t know why they do that. They stop flashing after some time.
On Vapcell S4 Plus V3.0 no it doesn’t flashing anything like that, the only flashing is at the first 5 seconds so you can select mode, or the current - mh if you are staying in charging mode !
Probably is better to ask a member that has the same charger, or try to find a video on YouTube that undress that issue… !?
