Orbtronic 18650 batteries and charger

[Verndog]

I would look at the pictures, and description of that particular product.

Last year Orbtronic were selling other brands (like Soshine batteries) until quality, and power was "discovered".

Now Orbtronic is selling its own brand with Panasonic 3100, and 3400mAh cells inside.

Now it's making more sense. Good to know they realized the errors in their ways and did something about it.

What is weird though, is the link that is 1 1/2 years old goes to the "updated battery", and that is why I was thrown off. I would think they would kill the old URL and make a new one with the updated battery.

Now I just need to make sure the light I'm looking at won't take this battery down past 2.5v, and I can go unprotected Panasonic 3100 since I'll be charging these on a $179.00 Checkpoint charger.

 

[space-cowboy]

Now it's making more sense. Good to know they realized the errors in their ways and did something about it.

What is weird though, is the link that is 1 1/2 years old goes to the "updated battery", and that is why I was thrown off. I would think they would kill the old URL and make a new one with the updated battery.

Now I just need to make sure the light I'm looking at won't take this battery down past 2.5v, and I can go unprotected Panasonic 3100 since I'll be charging these on a $179.00 Checkpoint charger.

Owner of those links is Amazon (not Orbtronic), so updating would be pretty hard.

As long as you charge them to 4.2V (not more) with CC/CV algorithm, you will be OK.

 

[Verndog]

Owner of those links is Amazon (not Orbtronic), so updating would be pretty hard.

As long as you charge them to 4.2V (not more) with CC/CV algorithm, you will be OK.

Yes, the charger has a cc/cv profile for Li-ion 1 cell @ 4.2 so no problem there. 1c charge rate seems high so I'll prob. charge @ 1amp so it will be 3-4 hour charge on discharged battery. Sound like a safe charge rate??

Thanks for your help BTW.:twothumbs

 

[space-cowboy]

Yes, the charger has a cc/cv profile for Li-ion 1 cell @ 4.2 so no problem there. 1c charge rate seems high so I'll prob. charge @ 1amp so it will be 3-4 hour charge on discharged battery. Sound like a safe charge rate??

Thanks for your help BTW.:twothumbs

Yes, 1C is too high.

1A is perfect.

No problem, at CPF you can find bunch of useful info, just use that search box.

 

[eugenedbrooksiii]

I am posting this in response to requests for an independent review of the Soshine four slot charger sold by Orbtronic. I bought my charger in the middle of December, 2012. I have no business relationship with Soshine or Orbtronic.


The charger has four completely independent charge circuits fed by the 12 volt source that can be either the wall wart or the car adapter. I confirmed this by opening it up and finding four independent switched power conversion and charge control circuits, and I also checked that adding batteries did not influence the current to the battery circuit under test.

The sliding contacts in the charger can handle a battery as short as 50 mm, but I have only tried it with 18650 batteries.


The charger has a soft start with the charge current measuring 0.47 amps while the battery is under 3 volts. When 3 volts is reached the current bumps up to the 1 amp specification, measuring at 0.985 amps on my multimeter. When the battery exceeds 3.7 volts or so the charge current begins to taper off. The charge current is about 0.5 amps at 3.9 volts. The indicator light switches from red to blinking green at a battery voltage of 4.25 volts. The voltage has dropped to 4.2 volts when the charger shows a solid green light.


The charger does a fine job on high capacity 18650 batteries. It will green light a completely discharged 3400 ma-hr Panasonic battery in about three hours and 45 minutes. The electronics in the charger can get warm when charging four completely discharged batteries and might benefit from ventilation slots or holes to let the heat out.