How long to 18650 batteries take to charge?

[xs2man]

A long time, that's for sure.

When I got my Vamo through the post the other day (about 15:30), I put the battery straight on charge.  7 hours later, the thing still hadn't fully charged and the light was still yellow / orange.  I couldn't wait to try the Vamo though, so I cracked on and whipped it on, and started vaping.

Anyway, that was Thursday.  Battery was still good last night, but I decided to fire the battery on charge last night, as I wanted to make sure I could use it all day today.  So I put it on around 01:30.  Now it's 09:20 and the light is still red.  It's a trustfire charger I'm using btw, incase that makes any difference.

Unfortunately, I currently only have the one battery.  I have another 6 on order from Fasttech though (2 x 18650 and 4 x 18350).  They may take a week or so still to get here though.

Anyway.  Is this normal?  Can't recharge them with a normal sleep (circa 7-8 hours)?  It's a big battery, sure.  But that's a LOOONGGGG time.  I will be fine once by new batts arrive I'm sure, but until then, hmmmmmm.

[Karma]

That is a long time!

You really shouldn't be charging these batteries overnight unattended. It's very rare for things to go wrong but better safe than sorry!

[Roscopecotrain]

Mine take about 4 hours from being dead. Maybe the cheap trustfire charger me thinks. Do you have a link to the charger so we can have a look as it seems it is trickle charging them.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

[zeldamum]

Xs2man I have been waiting for a charger to arrive from Fasttech since 28/6. Shipping says left Hong Kong on the 6th July. So expect them to take upto about a month to arrive, normally alot quicker.

[Yorkshireman]

Ditto Karma,batteries should not be left overnight

[xs2man]

It's a Trustfire TR001 charger bought from Charlies Vape Shop as part of my Vamo kit : charliesvapeshop.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=78_80&product_id=166

Is there a better one I could buy then? This is taking ages. I can buy from Fasttech as I'm waiting on my batts anyway (they were only shipped yesterday), or if there is a decent source in the UK, I am happy to use them too.

EDITED TO ADD:  Also it is this cheap battery : charliesvapeshop.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=78_80&product_id=181  I have ordered Panasonic 18650's and Ultrafire 18350's

[Roscopecotrain]

I have one of these www.ukecigcabin.com/product/nitecore-charger charges normal rechargable aa batteries as well but there is a 2 slot one www.ukecigcabin.com/product/nitecore-intelligent-i2-battery-charger and i am pretty sure fasttech do the 4 slot one.

[Roscopecotrain]

From what i am reading online it seems it is just because itt is a cheap charger, normal charging times seem to be around 8-10 hours on a 18650 battery.

[Roscopecotrain]

Fasttech have i2 and i4 chargers www.fasttech.com/search?nitecore%20i4

[oldsmokey]

It will depend on the mah rating of the battery and the charger's charging rate (also in mah). For example my AW 18350 batteries are rated at 700 mah. They charge quite quickly on my charger (which charges at max 600 mah). My Panasonic 18650s are rated at 3,400 mah - they take a lot longer to charge on the same charger.

I think that if you buy 18650 batteries with a really high mah rating (approx 3,000 to 4000 mah) then you will need a charger that is capable of significant output. I think I remember reading that to calculate charging time in hours the formula is;

(Battery rating in mah divided by charger output in mah) multiplied by 1.5

With a trickle charger and, say, a 3.400 mah battery charging is going to take a long time!

[Deleted]

My Trustfire charger took an eternity to charge 18650's too. After about 4 hours take one and check the volts using your Vamo, if it's about 4.2 volts it's pretty much charged. I believe the way the chargers work is they "throw" charge into it while the battery is empty, but "trickle" it when nearly fully charged. I reckoned the built in "nearly-full-o-meter" was a bit off calibration and wasn't changing to fully charged status until the very last ickle bit was in it.

No such problems with the Nitecore I2 charger which came from Fasttech with my second Vamo tho, it changes to "charged" after about 4 hours as expected. (BTW the Trustfire is now my spare charger). I'd suggest getting a Nitecore - the I2 has two charging bays, the I4 has four so might be worth getting the big one if you have a few batteries on the go.

[Deleted]

Jul 20, 2013 9:05:30 GMT Roscopecotrain said:

Fasttech have i2 and i4 chargers www.fasttech.com/search?nitecore%20i4

^^^^ this link is currently inactive

[Roscopecotrain]

Jul 20, 2013 9:26:39 GMT @tall said:

Jul 20, 2013 9:05:30 GMT Roscopecotrain said:

Fasttech have i2 and i4 chargers www.fasttech.com/search?nitecore%20i4

^^^^ this link is currently inactive

Thanks tall

i4 www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001638/1119502-nitecore-i4-v2-li-ion-ni-mh-ni-cd-smart-battery-ch

i2 www.fasttech.com/products/0/10001638/1119500-nitecore-i2-lithium-li-ion-ni-mh-ni-cd-smart-batte

[raid2506]

I picked up one of these chargers and it's getting the job done, no complaints.

[djs]

My 3400 takes 8-9 hours. Hardly surprising given I am charging it at 420mAh per hour.

What I need is a faster charger..

off to look.....


(apparently, the one I have in the waiting basket is 500mAh, so even that's going to take a long time).