Need Some Help For A Friend: Nitecore New i2 Charger IMPORTANT

[Climb14er]

Had a friend come down last month from Oregon to Denver to visit and she inquired about a personal flashlight for herself, around the house, powerful, lightweight, self defense, etc. I recommended the ZL SC64Hi, she ordered from Zebralight along with two Sanyo NCR18650GA 3500's and two Sony US18650VTC6 3000's.

She contacted LiIon and they sent her a Nitecore New i2 charger.

I had to help her set it up via phone to charge one of the Sony batteries that was 3.52 on her multi meter and for the life of me, remember, I wasn't there, it was over the phone... we were both confused as to the 1A charge rate on top of the lights with the 4.20 as 80% and 4.35 as 100%

I didn't know if the charger automatically adjusts and stops charging at 4.20 for the Sony Battery even though that's the 80% 'level'. So I had her set the manual charge to 4.20 She monitored the charging and after almost three hours, the green light stopped at 4.20 but kept on going to the 4.35 level I told her to remove the battery from the charger.

The multi meter reading was 4.43! WHOA! What the heck happened? Perhaps she messed up setting the manual 4.20 charge limit.

Here's my important question...

If she places one 18650 battery in the left slot and turns it on, will the charger automatically charge to 4.20 and then stop there?

This is important as we're dealing with unprotected batteries, she's a newbie and I want to make sure for her, she's safe and does it correctly.

Please advise if you have experience with the charger?

 

[Climb14er]

Spoke to and received email from the very helpful LiIon Wholesale. They agreed, instructions, 4.20 at 80% and 4.35 at 100%, and instructions for manual setting... ALL CONFUSING. She will charge via default and double check via MM to make sure charger is OK.

 

[skid00skid00]

https://www.18650batterystore.com/Sony-18650-p/sony-vtc6.htm
Sony | Murata VTC6 18650
Nominal Voltage: 3.6V <-----what you should see ~12 hours(?) after a full charge (voltage will stay high for a while after charging).
Discharge End Voltage: 2.5V
"Charging Voltage: 4.20+-0.05V"


https://www.illumn.com/batteries-chargers-and-powerpax-carriers/18650-sanyo-ncr18650ga-3500mah-high-discharge-flat-top.html
18650 Sanyo NCR18650GA 3500mAh High Discharge Flat Top
Nominal Voltage: 3.6V
Discharge End Voltage: 2.5V
Charging Voltage: 4.20+-0.05V

 

[Climb14er]

Default settings on charger worked well... 4.20 on second battery as a test charge. She ran the Zebralight an hour on medium setting to discharge the first cell from 4.43 down to 4.21 She'll charge two of the Sanyo batteries on a dual charge, .5A default setting later, tomorrow or this weekend. Once this gets done, the Nitecore will have passed the tests. Motto of the lesson... avoid the manual setting, especially for newbies! Nitecore needs to rewrite their instructions... too confusing.

 

[lightfooted]

Or y'know, make a charger that isn't designed to exceed the typical rated capacity of the type of cells it's meant to charge. I own an older i2 charger from Nitecore and verified that it works fine...but still I would return it and find something else.

 

[Climb14er]

The two Sanyo cells last night I was told were auto, default charged at .5A to 4.17 and 4.16, close enough in my book. She is on her way to becoming a Rockstar Flashaholic. In the future, I recommended she charges her cells at default 1A one at a time.

 

[Climb14er]

Or y'know, make a charger that isn't designed to exceed the typical rated capacity of the type of cells it's meant to charge. I own an older i2 charger from Nitecore and verified that it works fine...but still I would return it and find something else.

I got started, quite a few years ago on a Pila two slot charger, that defaults to 4.20. I don't use it much as the BT-3400 replaced it for my 18650 and 14500 cells, but the Pila was the ideal charger for me, using it for quite a few years, getting started.

 

[lightfooted]

I got started, quite a few years ago on a Pila two slot charger, that defaults to 4.20. I don't use it much as the BT-3400 replaced it for my 18650 and 14500 cells, but the Pila was the ideal charger for me, using it for quite a few years, getting started.

Good that you managed to get it down to a more reasonable charge. Hope it stays that way for ya.

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

I'd maybe consider not using that cell which was charged to 4.43v. That's getting rather high. It's probably okay, since cells can be driven out-of-spec a bit. 4.3v is likely fine. But over 4.4v, that's pushing it.

At the very least, charge it to 4.20v and let it sit for a week or two. If it holds its voltage (after an initial drop during the first few hours), then at least there's no short in it right now. (Store it somewhere safe while doing that.)

 

[Climb14er]

She's been using the light off and on, getting used to it, the ZL is running well, so is the 18650... had her last check the voltage, at 3.97... told her to keep on using it, paying attention to safety, she'll take the light down to two flashes, check voltage, then safely charge on auto, then check voltage. She's learning about cells, lights, voltage, and most of all... safety.