Nano charger or Li-Ion battery problem?

[thecapper]

Hi Guys,

I just received my Nano charger and a pair of these Li-Ions from BatteryJunction.com:

Ultrafire 3.6V 880mah Protected Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery RCR123A

The first battery powered my Romisen RCN3 II for the requisite half hour of playtime, then quit. It charged for a good 6 hours before the Nano's light turned green. The second battery won't power the torch at all and yet the light stays green in the Nano. Did I get a bad cell...or is my Nano at fault?

Unfortunately I cant' check voltages (multimeter on the fritz), but would welcome any advice.

Thanks!

 

[andrewnewman]

The nano charger will show "green" when there is no cell in the charging bay. The second cell might be completely dead (if so you need to return it) or it may merely have it's protection circuit tripped. The latter would explain why the Nano shows a green light. A Li-Ion with tripped protection circuit produces no voltage and looks like an empty charger bay.

Without a (working) DVM you are pretty much flying blind here. If you can determine that the protection circuit tripped, take a good fully charged cell and the bad one and touch positive to positive and negative to negative with wires for about 4-5 seconds. That should reset the protection circuit. Then measure the voltage if it is around 3.5 volts then proceed to charge it. If it is lower, return it.

 

[thecapper]

That's awesome. Thanks andrewnewman!