cheapish charger for 26650?

[psychbeat]

I did a search but still am a little unsure-
do they all have alligator clips?
Im new to this battery having only used 18650 and rcr123s

also, do i want to order the cells with the tab or the button?
its going to go in a Fivemega d36 host with a nailbender sst50

I dont want to buy the wrong thing :thinking:

thanks! and sorry if this has been asked a bunch already.
I did do a search tho

 

[Benson]

I did a search but still am a little unsure-
do they all have alligator clips?

I'm unaware of any bay-type charger designed for 26650s, they all have alligator clips, bare wires, or coaxial power jacks. However, I've had great success with a 2-bay 1A 18650 charger from dealextreme; the design of the bays and the contacts allows a single 26650 or 26700 button-top to fit and make good contact. To charge at 2A, I just jam a penny in to parallel the two 1A channels.

also, do i want to order the cells with the tab or the button?

The tab is only for soldering multiple cells together into a pack. You want button-top for normal flashlight usage.

 

[psychbeat]

ooooh nice!!!
Ive got a two bay "dsd" charger from batt junc thats for 18650s or 16340s
maybe I can use it with the penny trick?

with the hobby charger how do you attatch the clips to the
button top batts?

thanks!!

 

[fivemega]

I did a search but still am a little unsure-
do they all have alligator clips?
Im new to this battery having only used 18650 and rcr123s

also, do i want to order the cells with the tab or the button?
its going to go in a Fivemega d36 host with a nailbender sst50

I dont want to buy the wrong thing :thinking:

thanks! and sorry if this has been asked a bunch already.
I did do a search tho

[size=+1]See here or here but use D size battery holder instead of C[/size]

 

[psychbeat]

^^^^perfect.
thanks!
Ill be sending in my order for a 1x26650 host later this week!

 

[Benson]

ooooh nice!!!
Ive got a two bay "dsd" charger from batt junc thats for 18650s or 16340s
maybe I can use it with the penny trick?

Nope. The DSD is a single-channel charger, so it charges two cells at half the rate it charges a single cell. It's also pathetically slow for large cells, but if you can live with that, should be fine.

with the hobby charger how do you attatch the clips to the
button top batts?

All sorts of options, but the simplest is neodymium magnets. If you've got alligator clips, grab a magnet in the clips. If you've got bare wires, a quick job with a hot iron will solder the wires to the magnet with negligible loss of magnetism; you can search for various people's tips, tricks, and laments about this difficult task, but it's really pretty easy.

 

[kramer5150]

heres a charge cradle I made for bigchelis... Its the third one I have made, so I've managed to work the bugs out.

My personal one is similar, but set up with a hobby charger.

bus-bar close up.

They'll charge all kinds of cells... protected or not, button or flat top.

There is a current / charge rate limit on these cheap cradles though. I personally have had mine up to about 1.8A per cell with no problems. They start getting warm to the touch around ~1.5A. Others have reported melt downs at ~1A with the rat shack cradles. The springs used can only pass so much before they start to heat up.

For charge rates higher than ~1.5A I have other cradles with the -B springs removed (note I don't actually charge my 18650s at 1.5A, this is just a pic).

 

[ptolemy]

[SIZE=+1]See here or here but use D size battery holder instead of C[/SIZE]

Hi FM

the d cell holder is too small for the 26650's