Which good charger for Rcr123 3V / 3V LiFePO4? need help!!!

[toby_pra]

Hello! 🙄

I used the Ultrafire charger previously for me 3.0V Rcr123 or LiFePO4
rechargeables. But i am afraid this charger does not work properly.

All of my (6) Soshine 3.0V Rcr123 will be fully charged in less than 5minutes
and when i use them afterwards they are empty after 1minute...:thumbsdow

Now, what can be wrong? I suppose the charger, or?

 

[BVH]

If I'm reading this right, it sounds as though you might be trying to charge the Lithium Ions (4.2 Volts max) on the LifeP04 (3.6 or 3.7 max) setting? IIRC, there is a little recessed switch to change between the two different charging Voltages.

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=125353 Is this the charger you have? Check the switch setting.

Or if I did not understand your post, if you have a voltmeter, what readings are you getting when charging?

 

[toby_pra]

If I'm reading this right, it sounds as though you are trying to charge the Lithium Ions (4.2 Volts max) on the LifeP04 (3.6 or 3.7 max) setting. IIRC, there is a little recessed switch to change between the two different charging Voltages.

Of course i have change the switch to 3.0V before.
And you are rights thats the charger.

The problem is that the charger charges only about 5mins and then
he stops and the led shows green for "fully charged".
But the battery's are empty after 1minute and ready to charge again.

Perhaps the Soshine's does not have a good quality...:candle:

 

[45/70]

toby_pra, the charger you have (WF-138) is for LiFe cells (when set to 3.0 Volts and actually charges to 3.6-3.8 Volts). Your Soshine cells are not LiFe cells, they are LiCo cells with diodes built in to reduce the voltage. The Soshine cells will barely charge at all with a LiFe charger. If you set the WF-138 to 3.6 Volts, it will charge your cells to about 40%. The proper charger for the Soshine cells charges at a higher voltage (4.4-4.5 Volts) than a regular LiCo charger (4.2 Volts), so as to overcome the effect of the diodes. You really should only charge them with a proper charger.

Warning Do not try to charge regular 4.2 Volt LiCo cells with a charger meant for 3.0 Volt LiCo cells! The higher voltage of the 3 Volt LiCo charger could cause a regular LiCo cell to go

Hope this helps. 🙂

Dave

 

[toby_pra]

Does that mean that i should charge the 3.0V Soshine's with a
WF-139 at 4.2V for example, like my normal AW's 3.7V?

Is that right?

 

[45/70]

Added a warning to my previous post.

Does that mean that i should charge the 3.0V Soshine's with a
WF-139 at 4.2V for example, like my normal AW's 3.7V?

Is that right?

No, it wouldn't do any better than the WF-138 set to 3.6 Volts. You really need a charger specifically for those cells.

Dave

 

[toby_pra]

I thuoght that i could charge a 3.0V Soshine only with a 3.0V charger.

What charger would you recommend??????

Can i charge 3.0V and 3.7V battery's with the same input voltage?

 

[45/70]

I thuoght that i could charge a 3.0V Soshine only with a 3.0V charger.

Yes, that is correct. What you don't understand is that there are two different kinds of 3.0 Volt Li-Ion cells. There are voltage corrected lithium cobalt oxide cells, that have diodes incorporated into the cell, to reduce the voltage under load to ~ 3 Volts. These are what your Soshine cells are. There are also 3 Volt lithium iron phosphate cells that are ~3 Volts by chemistry.

These two kinds of 3 Volt cells, use different chargers. The 3 Volt LiCo cells use a 4.4-4.5 Volt charger, which is what you need. The LiFe chemistry cells use a 3.6-3.8 Volt charger. Both of these special chargers are different from a regular LiCo charger, which charges at 4.2 Volts.

Chargers like what you need are hard to find. Powerizer (batteryspace) used to have one, but now they only sell the cells. I think part of the reason why dealers do not carry them anymore, is because of the danger if someone tries to charge a regular LiCo cell in one.

They are around. I will look tomorrow. If I find one, I'll post here. 🙂

Dave

 

[winston]

You want a 4.4V charger. I got one years ago from e-lectronics.net that still gets some use. I can't find it on the website now, except as part of a cell/charger combo.
-Winston

 

[toby_pra]

This is the charger that soshine provides for the 3.0V battery's...

Charger

Without switch this one should charges both cell LiIo 3.0V and also 3.7V LiIo.

Does that work?😕

 

[45/70]

I do not think that charger will properly charge 3 Volt LiCo cells. By it's own specifications, on the back of the charger, it does not provide enough voltage to charge a LiCo cell with diodes. Also, I do not see anywhere on the charger, or it's packaging, where it says it will charge 3 Volt cells. I think that DX has the description wrong for this charger. It is just a regular 4.2 Volt Li-Ion charger.

As I said before, a regular LiCo charger, will charge a 3 Volt LiCo cell, but only to about 40% capacity (3.8 Volts with diodes active).

I'll look around a bit and see if I can find a proper charger.

Dave

 

[45/70]

Well toby_pra, I looked around for what, in my opinion, is the proper charger for your cells.

Batteryspace does still sell the charger like I have, but it only comes with cells. Here is the charger .pdf. Battery Junction however, seems to have the identical charger, sans cells.

What I do not understand, is that the Soshine charger seems to be identical to the above two chargers, with the exception that on the back it says "4.2 Volts" and they claim it can charge both 3 and 3.6 Volt cells. This does not seem possible. My two Powerizer chargers clearly state "4.5 Volts" on the back. As I said before, it would seem to me that a 4.2 Volt charger could only charge a LiCo 3 Volt cell to 40% capacity. Maybe Soshine could care less?

Here is a post by Yenster, in this thread started by Turbo DV8, that you may, or may not find helpful. 🙂

This is all making me glad that I am converting over to LiFe cells for my 3 Volt applications!

Dave

 

[toby_pra]

Many thanks my friend for your useful help! :thumbsup: