2 battery wall charger and decent 18650 batteries?

Hello
im looking for recommendations for a plug in (not USB) 2 battery charger and some long lasting 18650 batteries for a fenix or foxfury light.

i was looking at the nitecore i2 charger but it seems to have some bad reviews on Amazon. For reference I'm not looking to spend more than $20 for the charger, and similar budget for the 2 batteries.. the batteries are much more confusing to me since I didn't realize there was so much variance.

thanks

For cheap (ie: under $20) I'd get an Xtar WP2h for $10.99 on Ebay. It runs off of 12vdc but comes with the AC and car adapter. It will also do the 4.35v lithium ion batteries. Just make sure you put the side switch in the right location for your 4.20v batteries. As far as batteries go get yourself some Panasonic/Sanyo NCR18650GA (3500mAh) non-protected batteries. http://www.ebay.com/itm/121655067899?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Charge them to 4.20v. I know they will fit your Fenix. I don't know anything about the Foxfury light. As far as non-protected vs protected lithium ion batteries go, I've tested a few of the Fenix 18650 lights, and once the battery voltage gets down to 3.0v, you will know it if trying to run the higher modes on the light and it just won't do it..........so definitely time to recharge. With lithium ion you do not want to get below 2.50v because you can ruin your batteries. The protection circuit built into those batteries that have them just turns the battery off once the voltage reaches 2.50v. But they are more money and if you will feel safer having that type, then I'd go for the Panasonic/Sanyo NCR18650B (3400mAh) protected repackaged by a number of companies like Keeppower, because once you put the protection circuit on the batteries, the GA batteries are fatter than the "B" version and I've seen that be a little too fat for some of my lights. I haven't had a problem with the unprotected GA cells though.

first check whichever light you want these cells in if they can take flat top unprotected cells. Most Fenix lights will as they either have springs at both ends of the battery tube or say a spring at one end and a slightly raised contact point at the other. Secondly the 3500mah GA cell as mentioned above can be had both protected and unprotected. Being paranoid about how dangerous these high capacity lithium ion cells can be I have always gone protected up until I got my Zebralight SC600 MkIII HI which requires a flat top cell due to the lights super tight tolerances that make the light as short as it is. This particular Zebralight already has all the necessary protection circuits built into the light itself.

Dont know much about Foxfury. As for a plug in quality charger for cheap I highly suggest the Xtar VP2 charger. Very well made, no USB stuff going on it just plugs into the wall and is very accurate. You can also choose between 3 charging settings with the VP2. 0.25amp, 0.50amp and a full 1.00 amp. The 0.50 setting is the most ideal for cell longevity and the full 1 amp setting charges the fastest. I have two of these. It also has a switch on the back of it that allows you to charge higher voltage 4.35v cells. But for everything else leave that switch in the middle for charging the most common cells to their 4.20v limit. The VP2 charges protected and unprotected flat top cells just fine. For the majority of high output LED lights I still go protected. Orbtronic 3500mah 10 amp GA and Keeppower 3500mah 10amp GA. The core cells are the same it is the protection circuits that are different. They both still do their job protecting against overcharge, overdischarge and overheating.

So I picked up the two 18650 batteries linked in the second post as welll as the xstar charger. I kept the voltage thing on the side in the middle position and did the amps at .50. I charged them overnight. One was green and the other battery was still red. Is it normal to take over 8 hours to fully charge these? If so I think I may need more than 2.

hardrock said:

So I picked up the two 18650 batteries linked in the second post as welll as the xstar charger. I kept the voltage thing on the side in the middle position and did the amps at .50. I charged them overnight. One was green and the other battery was still red. Is it normal to take over 8 hours to fully charge these? If so I think I may need more than 2.

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Well, the NCR-GA cells have about 3300mAh-3500mAh of capacity. If you've depleted them down to ~3.0v, with a 500mA charge rate and ~7 hours could be reasonable.

You can charge them up at 1A and cut that time in half, with nary a problem.

I always like to rotate my cells, slightly, while they're charging in the cradles, to break up any contact resistance that might stall the charge termination, slightly.

I do that with all my NiMH and li-ion chargers.

Chris

hardrock said:

...........Is it normal to take over 8 hours to fully charge these? If so I think I may need more than 2.

Click to expand...

One of the batteries may have been more depleted than the other. Greater than 8 hours at a charge rate of 500mA for a 3500mAh battery that is fairly depleted would be about right. The charge indicator will not go off until the current drops to 1/10th of the original charge rate. Note the graph as shown on HKJ's review:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar WP2h UK.html

You will note that the CC (constant current) charge phase took 275 minutes on his 3100mAh battery and another 110 minutes before it said it was done. The majority of the recharge is done in the first 275 minutes with the top off process the remaining 100 minutes. So that is over 6 hours. My guess is that you were probably close to being done at 8 hours with your 3500mAh battery. Note this battery. Try it in the other socket next time. Mix things up. See if you have an issue. I kind of doubt it though. Hope you are happy with your purchase. It was about the best option I could think of with your budget .

hiuintahs said:

One of the batteries may have been more depleted than the other. Greater than 8 hours at a charge rate of 500mA for a 3500mAh battery that is fairly depleted would be about right. The charge indicator will not go off until the current drops to 1/10th of the original charge rate. Note the graph as shown on HKJ's review:

http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review Charger Xtar WP2h UK.html

You will note that the CC (constant current) charge phase took 275 minutes on his 3100mAh battery and another 110 minutes before it said it was done. The majority of the recharge is done in the first 275 minutes with the top off process the remaining 100 minutes. So that is over 6 hours. My guess is that you were probably close to being done at 8 hours with your 3500mAh battery. Note this battery. Try it in the other socket next time. Mix things up. See if you have an issue. I kind of doubt it though. Hope you are happy with your purchase. It was about the best option I could think of with your budget .

Click to expand...

Thanks,
I am very happy with the purchases minus the fact that the charger on ebay didnt ship until I emailed them a week later asking for tracking info. Batteries came half charged, I think, so I was able to test out the flashlight. Looking forward to using it in the field.