Nano Charger Output ?

[chorlton]

Rob, The Nano Charger I recieved from you along with my Beautiful Raw NS 100/200 and Wee 50 warm:twothumbs, has an output rating on the sticker 0f 0.45amps or 450ma.In this thread: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=201676. you say that the Nano charger charges the 10180 cells at 80ma. Is it variable current output?

 

[chorlton]

 

[orb]

From my own tests the nano charger we supply (CR123 model) will only deliver about 80 Ma to the 10180 cell. You can check this as it will take over 1 hour + to charge this particular cell if near to discharged.
Also the 14250 cell will take a good 3 hours + from discharged state.
I know on the label it says 450 Ma but there is no way the nano delivers that current to the two cells referred to.
I hope this helps.

 

[chorlton]

Rob, you are the man:bow:

This has cleared up a lot of concern, you can read a fair amount of scary literature by folk who take the label too literally and don't actually test these devices to get a true reading.

Lovin my Raw NS, so solid and performance is jawdropping every time I turn it on....outguns my 6D Mag

Still working on the wife:hairpull:, trying to sort myself out with a Raw Ti for Christmas:santa:

Thanks again Rob......be in touch soon

 

[BVH]

I just discharged one of AW's rcr123 cells down to 2.9V and placed it into the longer battery style Nano. Initially, the charger put out about 300 mah then within a minute, settled down to about 200 to 210 mah. Same test with the shorter cell Nano resulted in the same results.

 

[wapkil]

I just discharged one of AW's rcr123 cells down to 2.9V and placed it into the longer battery style Nano. Initially, the charger put out about 300 mah then within a minute, settled down to about 200 to 210 mah. Same test with the shorter cell Nano resulted in the same results.

FYI, there is a second thread on the topic here.

For those not familiar with the subject - Li-Ion cells are tolerant to abuse, nevertheless there are some limits. Current limits are usually expressed in the terms of the "C" current value, where C has the same numerical value as the cell capacity. If it is for example an 10180 cell with 90mAh capacity, the C value would be 90mA.

1C (90mA in the example) is considered the maximum current that can be used if we expect the cell to live longer than a few charges. 2C (ex. 180mA) is the limit where people usually start to worry not only about the cells longevity but also whether or not they will explode during charging. 3C (ex. 270mA) is the overcurrent charge used for the best cells (i.e. probably none of the cells used by most of us in our flashlights) in the UL and BAJ safety tests. The cells are expected not to explode or catch fire during the 3C ovecurrent test but of course they can be dead afterwards.

I think that a 10180 cell would probably have higher internal resistance than an RCR123 cell so the current would be lower than tested by BVH, not much lower though. It is really amazing for me how much Li-Ion cells can tolerate - judging by some CPF posts many people regularly charge their cells with 2C, 3C sometimes even 4C and, except shorter cells life, usually nothing bad happens.

 

[Blades]

Question about the Nano charger:
What 123 battery would be recommended to use with the Nano charger? Any specfic brand? Does it matter what lights they will be used in? I have a Ra Clicky and a Fenix P1 that I want to put rechargables in, and my son has the Nano charger that came with his Lummi lights.
Thanks for the help.


Jason