Problem With Nano AAA Charger

[darkzero]

What does it mean when the red light is on with the Nano AAA charger? When I plug it in, light is green & measures 4.2v at the terminals. When I insert a 10180 for my Wee the light turn red & does not charge. It does this with both of my 10180s. They both measure at 3.3V when I put them in.

So just to try I put the 10180 in my WF-139 charger. It reads it fine & charges. I know it's not safe cause the battery is only rated for 90mah & the WF-139 charges at 450ma. In a few minutes the battery now reads 4.1v. Now that the battery is at 4V I tried it in the Nano charger again but the second I put it in the charger, the light turns red again.

I believe the light is supposed to be green when charging then turn off when fully charged. Is my charger bad?

 

[45/70]

Provided the nano is working properly, the light is red when charging, orange when close to charged, and green when fully charged. Also, I would think that even a nano would charge a bit fast for a 10180, maybe you can get away with it though.

Dave

 

[HighLight]

Provided the nano is working properly, the light is red when charging, orange when close to charged, and green when fully charged. Also, I would think that even a nano would charge a bit fast for a 10180, maybe you can get away with it though.

Dave

Yep same way with mine.

 

[darkzero]

Provided the nano is working properly, the light is red when charging, orange when close to charged, and green when fully charged. Also, I would think that even a nano would charge a bit fast for a 10180, maybe you can get away with it though.

Dave

That's weird. On mine, when the light is green I get 4.2v at the Nano's terminals. With the 10180 in place, light is red but the only reading I get is whatever the battery voltage is, in my case 3.3v at the time.

I put the battery in the charger before I went to sleep. Woke up & the light was still red. Left it in there, went to work & came home, light was still red. No way it should take that long to charge a little 10180. Battery was still at 3.3v.

What other charger options do I have? The Nano reads .45A on it which I did not bother to check before. My WF-139 says 450ma. So is it fine if I charge the 10180 at that rate?

The Nano is what is sold for the Lummi WEE. Thanks fellas.

 

[45/70]

A wild guess, your 10180 is not making proper contact in the nano. Check whatever you're using for a spacer, to see if it's really making good contact.

Yea, I'm with ya on what to use to charge a 10180. Fortunately, at this time (my, how things change though! ), the smallest Li-Ion batteries I charge, are 10440's. At that, I use a DSD and have to charge two at once so they don't get charged too fast. I haven't had good luck with the AAA nano's.

Dave

 

[darkzero]

A wild guess, your 10180 is not making proper contact in the nano. Check whatever you're using for a spacer, to see if it's really making good contact.

Yea, I'm with ya on what to use to charge a 10180. Fortunately, at this time (my, how things change though! ), the smallest Li-Ion batteries I charge, are 10440's. At that, I use a DSD and have to charge two at once so they don't get charged too fast. I haven't had good luck with the AAA nano's.

Dave

I'm using magnets as spacer at the negative end so for sure it's making good contact there. The posistive end of the battery doesn't have a very big "button" so it's questionable if it's making good contact on the Nano charger.

When I put the battery in, the light does change from green to red so I assume it's making good contact. I will try using a narrow spacer on the positive end too & see what happens.

Yeah, 450ma is definitely way to fast. At 3.3v I put the 10180 on the WF-139 & the light went from red to green in 2-3 mins. Read 4.1v off the charger.

 

[HighLight]

I put the battery in the charger before I went to sleep. Woke up & the light was still red. Left it in there, went to work & came home, light was still red.

Thats a very dangerous practice. If your using these unprotected Li Ion cells then you have a responsibility to know how to handle and use them safely. One of the areas where you have to be attentive is during the charging process and especially when using a basic charger such as the Nano. The fact that your having trouble charging the cell normally also compounds the risk. I don't mean to preach but I just don't want you to die via castastrophic venting with flame.

 

[1M1]

The charger I've been using for my Wee batteries (as well as my RAW NS batteries) is the Nano-Charger in cr123a size. No problems, so far, so I assume it is safe to do so.

Where are you getting the information as to the milli-amp rate for the chargers? Everywhere I've looked has been silent in that regard.

 

[darkzero]

The charger I've been using for my Wee batteries (as well as my RAW NS batteries) is the Nano-Charger in cr123a size. No problems, so far, so I assume it is safe to do so.

Where are you getting the information as to the milli-amp rate for the chargers? Everywhere I've looked has been silent in that regard.

I'm just going off what the manufacture is claiming. On the back of the charger mine says 4.2v .45A which I did not expect since my WF-139 is rated at the same 450ma.

 

[1M1]

I should have looked (neglecting the obvious).

My Nano-Charger says the same 4.2V, .45Amp.

It usually takes 2-3 hours to charge my batteries when I run the lights to the dimming point.

Not mentioned in the above discussion was the possibility of a faulty battery. I've gotten extras for both the Wee and RAW NS at Lighthound and they seem to work well.

Also possible is a faulty charger. Has this charger ever been used to successfully charge batteries before? Voltage is not an indicator of available charging current, after all; voltage readings just means you have voltage.

 

[Anders]

Hello.

My Nano charger says 200 mAh. (2006040)


Bought from AW to charge 320mAH 3.7V 10440 AAA batteries.
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=176237

0,62C in this case, 1,4C with your charger on these cells (10440), on AW:s 10180 ( 90mAh ) it is 2,2C, way too high.

Anders

 

[darkzero]

Hello.

My Nano charger says 200 mAh. (2006040)


Bought from AW to charge 320mAH 3.7V 10440 AAA batteries.
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=176237

0,62C in this case, 1,4C with your charger on these cells (10440), on AW:s 10180 ( 90mAh ) it is 2,2C, way too high.

Anders

That's strange. My Nano charger does look different from the one AW sells. Mine is P/N NBC-A001.

Sorry, I have no idea what 0,62C, 1,4C, & 2,2C is refering to?

On AW's post is says to use 10-20ma coin cell charger for 10180. Can anyone recommend a charger?

 

[Anders]

Hello darkzero.

Usually you charge Li-Ion cells with 0,8- 1,0 C to be safe, in your case with your 10180 ( 90mAh ) cell it is a charger that charge with 90mA in one hour for 1C.

If the charger charges twice that capacity =180 mA you would charge your 10180 cell with 2 C.


Anders

 

[darkzero]

Hello darkzero.

Usually you charge Li-Ion cells with 0,8- 1,0 C to be safe, in your case with your 10180 ( 90mAh ) cell it is a charger that charge with 90mA in one hour for 1C.

If the charger charges twice that capacity =180 mA you would charge your 10180 cell with 2 C.


Anders

What does "C" stand for?

 

[Anders]

Hello darkzero.

C is the nominal capacity in the cell/battery, it change depending which cell/battery we're talking about.

1 C is 90 mA when talking about AW:s 10180 cell.

If you charge your cell/battery in one hour you charge with 1C, if it take 2 hour you charge with 0,5 C.

Anders

 

[darkzero]

Hello darkzero.

C is the nominal capacity in the cell/battery, it change depending which cell/battery we're talking about.

1 C is 90 mA when talking about AW:s 10180 cell.

If you charge your cell/battery in one hour you charge with 1C, if it take 2 hour you charge with 0,5 C.

Anders

Now I understand. I just never the term C used before. I will ordere a coin cell battery charger as per AW's suggestion. The charge rate is 40ma. Thank you for you help Anders.

 

[Yapo]

i shoulda looked in here b4 starting my own thread on my rcr123 nano charger... the light goes red when i put my 3.6V rcr123 battery in but after 4-5hrs its still red and i decided to take it out n check the voltage...it was at 4.5V
...i tried charging a 2nd battery...this time i checked the voltage of the battery after a min in the charger and it went from 3V to 4V...i put it back in the charger for 4hrs and checked it again and it was at 4.6V
...i then tried charging another cell but this time i stopped it after 75mins and the voltage was at 4.2V and yet still no green light...

I stuck the 1st battery into a flashlight for a few mins till the voltage read 4.2V and i checked it a few mins later and it was dead...
the 2nd one i ran it in the flashlight till it was at 4.2V but still seems to be fine.
And the 3rd one still seems fine as well...