Is there more than ONE UltraFire WF-138??

[REDLINEVUE]

I was wondering if I could use AW's 10440's and 14500's with my WF-138 so before I Just went and made a new post, I figured I'd do a search.... but after searching, it only became more confusing.... It seems the posts I found refer to using jumpers and alligator clips for these chargers (138 & 139).... and the pictures I have seen all show a longer black charger where mine is a square white charger??? whats the difference? and can I use my charger (pictured below) to charge up AW's cells? :shrug:

.... also when I went to aw's sales thread, I found this chart which also seems to suggest I need to use "adapters":

----------------------------- Nano-123 --- Nano-AAA --- DSD ---------- UF WF-138 --- UF WF-139
- 10440 ( 320 mAH ) AAA------ yes(2) ----- yes -------- no(4) -------- yes(2) ------ no(4)
- 14500 ( 700mAH ) ---------- yes(2) ----- yes(2) ----- yes(1) ------- yes(2) ------ yes
Notes:
(1) yes, with spacer
(2) yes, with adaptor (such as wires with alligator clips)

Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[darkzero]

The charger you have pictured is the WF-138. I'm assuming the "longer black charger" you are referring to is the dark gray WF-139. I don't know of any other similar Ultrafire chargers that are long & black.

Your white WF-138 has a switch so it can charge 3.0v & 3.7v li-ions. The WF-139 can only charge 3.7v but has the ability to charge different sizes of li-ions.

 

[REDLINEVUE]

Thanks... but Im still a little confused.... so can I buy and use AW's 10440's 14500's with the charger I have....

1) is that "safe"
2) will my charger "know" how to charge the AW cells?

Thanks again

 

[Tohuwabohu]

I was wondering if I could use AW's 10440's and 14500's with my WF-138 so before I Just went and made a new post, I figured I'd do a search.... but after searching, it only became more confusing.... It seems the posts I found refer to using jumpers and alligator clips for these chargers (138 & 139).... and the pictures I have seen all show a longer black charger where mine is a square white charger??? whats the difference? and can I use my charger (pictured below) to charge up AW's cells? :shrug:

Yes, there are two versions of the WF-138, the one you have and another one for RCR123 batteries. Search for SKU 1238 at dealextreme to see the other version. The 3.0V / 3.6V switch mentioned by darkzero is only on the RCR123 version.
You can use your version of the WF-138 to charge your 10440's and 14500's directly, you don't need any alligator clips.

1) is that "safe"

It should be safe. But I recommend not to leave the charger unattended while charging and to take the cells out of the charger when the green LED turns on.

2) will my charger "know" how to charge the AW cells?

The AW cells are charged just like any other 3.6V lithium ion cells.

 

[REDLINEVUE]

Perfect! Thank you for clearing that up! :thumbsup:

 

[Al Combs]

I was wondering if I could use AW's 10440's and 14500's with my WF-138 so before I Just went and made a new post, I figured I'd do a search.... but after searching, it only became more confusing.... It seems the posts I found refer to using jumpers and alligator clips for these chargers (138 & 139).... and the pictures I have seen all show a longer black charger where mine is a square white charger??? whats the difference? and can I use my charger (pictured below) to charge up AW's cells? :shrug:

.... also when I went to aw's sales thread, I found this chart which also seems to suggest I need to use "adapters":

Tohuwabohu is correct, there are 2 versions of the WF-138. And since I happen to own both... The one on the right is for 16340's.

The WF-139 has a charge current of 450ma and is too powerful for the 10440's (beyond 1C). That was actually my reason for getting both versions of the WF-138 instead of the WF-139. I was using AW 10440's in a Fenix L0D-Q4.

Tohuwabohu is probably right about something else. You should pull the batteries as soon as the green light comes on. Just to be on the safe side. When I charge my AW 16340's in the dual voltage WF-138 with the switch set to 3.6 volts, I get a charge current of 273 ma. A 750 mAh battery should take several hours to charge. I have read (BatteryUniversity.com?) that between 70 & 80% of the charge is put on in constant current mode in 30% of the full charge time. The bulk of the charge cycle is in constant voltage mode which my batteries never seem to reach.

Even in cases where the protection circuit turned my flashlight off (completely dead), I have never seen it take longer than 1 hour and 20 minutes for the green light come on. It's usually much less. When the green LED does come on, the battery terminals read 5.0 volts. That's with the battery still in the charger. Which seems to indicate the battery's protection circuit terminated the charge instead of the charger. I am unable to monitor a charge with my DMM since it has auto power off. The 16340's come off the charger reading 4.13 volts. The 10440's on the other WF-138 read 4.17 volts fresh off the charger. Since the 10440's have no protection circuit, that is a true charger shutdown. I have heard 4.2 volts to be the number where a battery is overcharged. But they are two separate chargers. I don't have any unprotected 16340's.

As I said, I have no real way to monitor the flow of current when the charge is done. With a 10440 it's a good idea to pull it when the light turns green. I don't own any 14500's, so I don't know if the battery protection circuit would terminate the charge in that case. I have seen the local battery mavens here say terminating a charge at a lower voltage will give more cycles from a battery. So perhaps it's a good thing my WF-138 doesn't work as well as it should. At least with batteries that have good protection circuits.

 

[Lite_me]

Post Edited:

Tohuwabohu is correct, there are 2 versions of the WF-138. And since I happen to own both... The one on the right is for 16340's.

Tohuwabohu is probably right about something else. You should pull the batteries as soon as the green light comes on. Just to be on the safe side. When I charge my AW 16340's in the dual voltage WF-138 with the switch set to 3.6 volts, I get a charge current of 273 ma.

Now I'm confused.:thinking: I have a WF-138 like the one on the right (my bottom reads just like that) but I have no switch to choose between 3.0v and 3.7v. Are you saying yours has a switch?

 

[Tohuwabohu]

@Al Combs
There is lots of information on different chargers including the WF-138 on this japanese page (is it japanese?): http://www.kansai-event.com/kinomayoi/chg/Li_CHG_W.html

Judging from the graphs shown on that page the WF-138 charges with the full current untill the end and there is no constant voltage mode. The voltage measurement is done in short breaks of the charging. Charging is terminated when the off load voltage reaches 4.2V. During the charging period the voltage rises above 4.2V and with some cells the protection circuit will activate.

I have the RCR123 version of the charger and 4 of AW's protected RCR123. 3 will charge normally with the charger terminating the charge. The 3 cells will have between 4.16V and 4.18V when taken from the charger, the 4th cell with the activated prottection circuit will read only 4.11V to 4.13V. It must have a higher impedance or the protection circuit is more sensitive.

@Lite_me
There is a small sliding switch on one of the sides of my charger.
When holding the charger with the mains connector pointing away from me the swich is on the right side.

 

[Lite_me]

@Lite_me
There is a small sliding switch on one of the sides of my charger.
When holding the charger with the mains connector pointing away from me the swich is on the right side.

Hmmm... well, thanks. But mine has no switch. :thinking: :shrug: Guess it won't do 3.0v then.

 

[Al Combs]

Now I'm confused.:thinking: I have a WF-138 like the one on the right (my bottom reads just like that) but I have no switch to choose between 3.0v and 3.7v. Are you saying yours has a switch?

Yes a small switch on the side of the RCR123A charger to choose between Li-Ion & LiFePO4 batteries.

 

[Al Combs]

Now I'm confused.:thinking: I have a WF-138 like the one on the right (my bottom reads just like that) but I have no switch to choose between 3.0v and 3.7v. Are you saying yours has a switch?

I forgot to ask, do you have the 14500/10440 (AA-AAA Li-Ion) charger or the one for RCR123A's? Only the 16340 charger has the switch. Perhaps they stuck the wrong label on yours by mistake.

 

[Lite_me]

I forgot to ask, do you have the 14500/10440 (AA-AAA Li-Ion) charger or the one for RCR123A's? Only the 16340 charger has the switch. Perhaps they stuck the wrong label on yours by mistake.

I have this charger... 14500/10440 http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2463
Of course it won't do 16340's, but it has the same bottom sticker as the one on the right above. It must be the wrong sticker and that's what's throwing me off. No way it should do 3v. Duh!