Protected 18650 Rechargeable Battery Question

[CoffeeAchiever]

Yesterday I received my most recent package from LightHound (another Cheers! post is pending - thanks John!). In it were two protected 18650 2200mAh Li-ion rechargeable batteries - the wide body variety that many of us have been experimenting with.

These are my first 18XXX series batteries so my question my sound a bit naive to the more experienced hotwires on this forum. How long SHOULD it take to charge two of these batteries on a DSD smart charger?

Upon receiving the batteries yesterday afternoon, I popped them into the DSD smart charger that I keep on my desk and left them there until the end of my work day. The total charging time was approximately four hours. I removed the batteries from the charger before I left my office as I never let my Li-ion batteries charge unattended.

This morning when I arrived at my desk I put the two batteries back into the DSD charger. They have been in the charger for more than five hours today - over nine hours total charge time - and my DSD charger's light is still red. I took the batteries out of the charger for a couple of minutes and popped them back in to see if they may really be fully charged. This technique often works with both my protected RCR123a's and my unprotected LIR123a batteries, why I don't know.

I'm not familiar with 18XXX series Li-ions but they are going on ten hours of total charge time as I write this. Ten hours seems like an excessively long time to charge two 2200mAh batteries. My two protected 17670's are rated at 1600mAh each and a fully depleted pair takes approximately five hours to charge.

If you own and use 18XXX series batteries in your flashlights and change them using a DSD smart charger, how long does it take to charge your batteries?

 

[Ivanhoe]

I don't remember exactly, but with AW's 2200 mAh 18650's it's about 12-14 hrs
if charging 2 at a time. Many folks buy multilple chargers to cut down on this slow charge time with 18650's...

 

[jar3ds]

if i remember right if you charge one at a time on your DSD it'll charge faster... but these cells have huge capacity... just charge'em over night.... if it still is red just let'em go til noon or so... i got 18650 protected cells... they make my U2 very happy

 

[changsn]

If you check your power supply to the DSD, it probably indicates about 350 mah input. Divide that into the 4400 mah capacity of the two batts and you will need over 12 hrs of charging if they started out dead... If you are going to do this frequently, there is a Nokia charger which puts out around 800 mah and fits perfectly. This would put the charge cycle closer to what you are thinking. Check eBay for the Nokia ACP 12U (I think?)
Sam

 

[seattlite]

I thought the UN-protected cells used the DSD and the protected cells charged off the older PILA charger or equivalent.

 

[CoffeeAchiever]

Thanks for your input everyone. I guess that I'll just have to be more patient with my new rechargeables.

I thought the UN-protected cells used the DSD and the protected cells charged off the older PILA charger or equivalent.

By the way seattlite, I double-checked my email exchanges with LightHound and they verify that the DSD is indeed a smart charger. It is safe to use with both protected and unprotected 123, 17XXX and 18XXX series Li-ion rechargeables.

Twelve hours on the DSD charger and counting....

 

[CoffeeAchiever]

We have a green light!

Thirteen hours to fully charge a brand new pair of protected 18650 Li-ion batteries with a DSD Smart Charger.

 

[tracker870]

When I got mine from Lighthound (yesterday!), it took about 11 hrs to fully charge two 18650's, getting the green indicator. One thing I found cool, pardon the pun, was that the batteries stayed very cool. Very different from my NiMH ones in a NiMH charger.
The magnet tips work well with the 18650, but I wonder if those will shift around on the head yielding a faulty connection?

 

[Starlight]

That faulty connection is called a dead short, and leads to smoke, flames, and explosions. Find a way without magnets. Read the post in this forum about magnets and Li-ons.

 

[Flakey]

it leads to venting in UN protected batteries. the protection circut should cut off power in a dead short situation. ive found a rare earth magnet that is small enough so that it cant touch the body of the u2 and the head of the battery at the same time.

 

[tracker870]

That faulty connection is called a dead short, and leads to smoke, flames, and explosions. Find a way without magnets. Read the post in this forum about magnets and Li-ons.

thanks, I read up some more earlier, and plan to either try the spring or epoxy.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello CoffeeAchiever,

Keep in mind that the maximum charge rate (so far) is 1C. If you charge your 2200 mAh cells at 1C (2200 mA) it will take about 1.5 - 2 hours to fully charge.

If you charge at a rate less than 2200 mA, the charge time goes up.

Tom

 

[CoffeeAchiever]

Thanks again SilverFox. I'm in no hurry to charge my batteries. Now I know what to expect.

 

[jar3ds]

now that you got them charged up its pretty quick to 'top' them off...

 

[NoFair]

it leads to venting in UN protected batteries. the protection circut should cut off power in a dead short situation. ive found a rare earth magnet that is small enough so that it cant touch the body of the u2 and the head of the battery at the same time.

If you give the spring in the bezel a very slight pull and extend it a couple of mm there is no need for the magnet.....
I think this would be a better solution any way you look at it....

Sverre

 

[CoffeeAchiever]

NoFair's observation/recommendation about stretching the contact springs on lamp assemblies or tailcaps makes too much sense. I tried this myself and it really works - thanks for the tip NoFair!

I checked all of my rechargeable Li-ion batteries and discovered that none of them are truly flat on their positive ends. The exposed protection circuit strips on my 17XXX series batteries extend just far enough above blue plastic shrink wrap that they will make contact with the flat negative end of their neighboring battery provided that they are firmly pressed together. Stretching the contact springs on my lamp assemblies and tailcaps provided just enough pressure to do the trick.

No more rare earth spacer magnets for me!

 

[tracker870]

Spring stretch in the U2 works fine!