Overcharged 18650.

[divine]

I was charging some 18650's yesterday, and I had about 6 I needed to charge, so I was using my Pila charger and since I had a Wolf-Eyes charger I've never used, I decided to use that.

I put two blue Trustfire 2500mAh's in the Wolf-Eyes. One went green pretty quick, I checked it with a DMM and was 3.7 volts. So I pulled it out and put another in figuring I'd just put it on the Pila after it got done.

I left it for about an hour... came back and it was still charging, the one that was on the whole time was hot, I took it out and read the voltage of above 4.5 volts. :sick: After resting it's reading 4.4 something.

What do I do with this thing? Will it be safe to discharge some before I get rid of it?

 

[rockz4532]

I was charging some 18650's yesterday, and I had about 6 I needed to charge, so I was using my Pila charger and since I had a Wolf-Eyes charger I've never used, I decided to use that.

I put two blue Trustfire 2500mAh's in the Wolf-Eyes. One went green pretty quick, I checked it with a DMM and was 3.7 volts. So I pulled it out and put another in figuring I'd just put it on the Pila after it got done.

I left it for about an hour... came back and it was still charging, the one that was on the whole time was hot, I took it out and read the voltage of above 4.5 volts. :sick: After resting it's reading 4.4 something.

What do I do with this thing? Will it be safe to discharge some before I get rid of it?

I say get rid of it, even if you do discharge it, its going to be a junk cell afterwards.

 

[divine]

Yeah, I know that, but isn't it more dangerous if it is charged with excess energy? Don't you want to have them mostly discharged when you get rid of them?

I guess the problem is I've never seen a Li-CO disposal thread.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Divine,

You have damaged your cell, but it may still have some use left in it.

If it doesn't exhibit any signs of physical damage, you want to use it in a single cell application to get the voltage below 4.2 volts as quickly as possible. Once it is below 4.2 volts, use it as a normal cell.

The next time you go to charge it, pay close attention to it. If it gets hot, stop the charge and dispose of it. If it charges normally, and ends up with a resting voltage over 4.0 volts, you should be able to get a few cycles out of it.

The Wolf Eyes chargers use the protection circuit in protected cells to terminate the charge. They will over charge cells that don't have protection circuits.

If your cell is supposed to be protected, you may have just tripped the over charge protection circuit. You can run it in a single cell light for about 30 seconds and then measure the voltage again. If it drops back to below 4.2 volts, your cell should be OK, and you just tripped the over charge protection circuit.

Tom

 

[mdocod]

The Wolf Eyes chargers use the protection circuit in protected cells to terminate the charge. They will over charge cells that don't have protection circuits.

Tom

+++ MUST READ ^

Don't use WE chargers for anything but WE or protected AW cells.

 

[Owen]

Assuming the WE is the same as the old Pila charger, it overcharged my AW protected cells, too. I still have it, but only use the Pila IBC charger for anything bigger than R123s now. Think it went 4.23-4.25V with the AWs(as did a DSD and WF-139), while the IBC stops at 4.19-4.2V with larger cells, and 4.17-4.18V with R123s.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Never done that, but I would run it in a low current draw light to bring down the voltage, then monitor, monitor, monitor, that cell for awhile. Mark it with a felt pen so you know which one it is. I have had some unprotected Li-Ioins under discharge and have monitored them closely, marking them for ID.

Bill

 

[recDNA]

"If your cell is supposed to be protected, you may have just tripped the over charge protection circuit. You can run it in a single cell light for about 30 seconds and then measure the voltage again. If it drops back to below 4.2 volts, your cell should be OK, and you just tripped the over charge protection circuit."

I don't understand. The circuit tripped but the battery continued charging? If it didn't why did it read an overcharge on the meter?