Test/Review of Charger Fenix ARE-X1

[HKJ]

[size=+3]Charger Fenix ARE-X1[/size]

Fenix makes flashlights, but also has chargers and batteries. This is a very simple charger and power bank for 26650/18650 cells.



The charger comes in a blister pack. The specifications on the back of the pack are not very good, everything about the power bank is close to misleading (The purpose of a power back is not to discharge cells and it do not deliver 4.2 volt).

The pack contained the charger, a usb cable and a instruction sheet.

The micro usb power input connector and the usb power output connector.

The led is the only user interface on the charger.
The led is red while charging and green when finished.
While usb output is loaded it will flash red.

The plus connection is slightly raised, this makes it possible to use the charger with flat top batteries. The minus connection is a spring, this limits the battery length to between 65mm and 71mm, this means just about all 18650 and 26650 batteries. Some other sizes can be charged with a spacer.

The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.



[size=+2]Measurements on charger[/size]

• Batteries will be discharged with 0.06mA when power is off.
• Batteries will be charged with 0.2mA when power is on.
• Below 0.5 volt the charger will charge with about 4mA.
• Below 2.9 volt the charger will charge with 300mA.
• Above 2.9 volt charging will be with full current.
• Charge current is never fully turned off and will keep the battery voltage high.

The charger curve is CC/CV, but something is wrong with the termination. The charger do not turn the current completely off, but trickle chargers. This is not recommended with LiIon.
It looks like the charger uses a switching converter, but it only do any good at the start of the charge.

Because the charger begins reducing current at a fairly low voltage, this cell is in the "CV" phase during the full charge, making it slower.

No problems with this cell.

Again the early "CV" phase and a long charge time.

M1: 36,6°C, M2: 36,1°C, HS1: 52,0°C
The cell and charger are fairly cool, but the regulator in the charger is heated.

The charger needs about 1 second to start up.




[size=+2]Usb output/Power bank[/size]

• Output is 5 volt, not 4.2 volt as the specifications says.
• Usb output is coded as usb charger (DCP)
• Usb output turns off after 5 second with a load below 56mA

The output voltage is 5 volt and it can deliver about 1.1A, before it starts to drop.

Using it as a ups do not look good, the output voltage is too low for that.

Nice stable output voltage at 0.5A load.

At 1A load it do not look very good, it can maintain stable output for 15 minutes, before the voltage starts dropping.

The noise is 9mV rms and 105mVpp, this is very good.

At 1A as long as the output voltage is stable the noise is 14mV rms and 108mVpp, again very good.



[size=+2]Conclusion[/size]

The charger works, but is not that good. It is a good idea to remove batteries when it shows done.
The usb output works fine at 0.5A, but is not strong enough for 1A.

The charger is acceptable.



[size=+3]Notes[/size]

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger

 

[Labrador72]

Thanks for this great review!
Any plans to review the Fenix ARE-X2 in the near future?

 

[HKJ]

Any plans to review the Fenix ARE-X2 in the near future?

Not in the near future. The when will depend on what other chargers I have to review and if I buy it myself or a dealer send it to me (Stuff from dealers/manufacturers get usual reviewed first).

 

[docdb]

Any suggestions for a 18650 battery bank to charge an iPhone in camping situations
Don

 

[Labrador72]

Any suggestions for a 18650 battery bank to charge an iPhone in camping situations
Don

You could try the Fenix ARE-X1+. No reviews available yet but the + line is supposed to be the higher end Fenix chargers: hopefully this time if it says power bank it will work as one!

 

[sll]

Hello,
I'm a newbie and just got my intro posted. If you read it you'll see we have an application that requires using a flashlight several hours each workday and we do not want to keep feeding CR123As. To improve the versatility of the flashlight (spot and beam) I ordered a Fenix FD41. I also ordered 4 of their 18650, 3500s and an ARE-X1 since we just need a simple charger. My thought is to load the "older" spare each day, put the used cell in the charger, and make the fresh charged cell the "newer" spare. Basically just keep them in a rotation. I had given some thought to the Xtar VC-2 or 2 plus and a few more protected batteries but I'm thinking this setup may be sufficient. Whew! Now the questions:

So now I have found this topic and was wondering how critical it is to get a battery out of the charger once it turns green? Would we be better off with a different charger?

Is there anything wrong with placing the "used" 18650 into the charger without knowing its current charge?

Also how long will an 18650 maintain its charge? If we don't need it for a week or so will everything be OK to resume the rotation?

Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Sll,

Welcome to CPF.

It is "safer" to attend to charging and take the cell out when the light turns green. Most of the time there are no adverse incidents when putting the cell on the charger and walking away, but sometimes things go wrong. If you are going to leave the charging unattended be sure to charge in an area that is heat and fire resistant. Also understand that the fumes from a fire are dangerous and if an incident occurs you need to ventilate before others in the area are exposed.

One thing you can do is to do a test to see how long an "average" charge takes. You can then put the charger on a timer that shuts off after a period of time and set that time to a little more than the max time needed to charge.

There is no problem charging a partially discharged cell.

Self discharge is something like 0.5% per month. Leaving the cell for a week shouldn't be a problem.

This brings up the concept of storage. Optimum storage is at around 50% charged but that doesn't give you much run time when you grab the cell to use. I keep cells at about 4.0 volts when they are in storage. If the cells are constantly being used, full charge is fine but you may not get the maximum number of cycles from the cell.

Even with less that optimal storage you should find that good quality Li-Ion cells are less expensive in everyday use than primary cells.

Tom

 

[sll]

Thanks Tom!

My first "real" post and your reply is why I joined the forum. I did a search and found "How-to-charge-batteries". I've subscribed to that thread so I can read through it more leisurely but it is 4 years old and I'm thinking technology may have changed, or I guess I should say it has changed. I also subscribed to the thread "18650's Care and Maintenance" which started nearly 7 years ago but there are recent post ongoing. So to get through the near term need until I can read up some more I do have a couple more questions if I may, but first I should explain the specific application which may help in some answers. My son is a cave tour guide. It's typically a simple walking tour. They are required to carry flashlights for the obvious reason, in case of power failure. But the daily use is intermittently for highlighting points of interest. Although he hasn't tried it yet, that's why I bought him the FD41 for a wide-area, close-up flood and the spot for more specific interest. He's currently using an Olight M20S eating a set of CR123As about every other day. Unfortunately they seem to be dying on the second day in the middle of a tour so he's loading up a new set every morning. I'm hoping the FD41 with a charged 18650 at the beginning of each day will work wonders. That is why I'm thinking there really isn't a storage period for these. In addition to a spare 18650, just in case, I also was going to have him take a set of CR123As as emergency backup especially in case of power failure. Those should be good for a few years with no worry. So:

Although the charger might turn green, how do you know if the battery is really charged? I'm starting to think it is a simple voltage measurement. If so, where might I find a chart?

Please excuse what may be obvious, but to check a cell's voltage do you just simply use a VOM with no resistance or load applied?

You stated it but just to clarify, folks don't leave charging cells unattended, or at least shouldn't? Also, I have no idea what a failed battery would look like...what would be an example of an area that is heat and fire resistant?

Should I get a better charger with the "time remaining" or voltage indications?

Thanks again and I look forward to comments and recommendations.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Sll,

I am sure you are aware of this, but caves suck the light out of flashlights quickly...

If you are going through a set of primary cells every other day you should be find using secondary cells that are charged every day. You can do some testing to see how long a charge will last and may be able to set up a more complex charging schedule that involves charging every other day, but usually simpler is better and charging every day is simple.

In general you can measure the voltage of a cell that has rested for about an hour after being fully charged and it should be around 4.2 volts or a little less. This is a simple voltage measurement with no additional load.

As your cells wear out plan on recycling them when your resting voltage measurement drops much below 4.0 or 3.95 volts.

I don't recommend charging Li-Ion chemistry unattended. You can look in the Smoke and Fire section of the forum to find pictures of cells that have been damaged. A visual inspection will reveal dents to the case. Monitoring temperature by touching the cell during charging will alert you to hot cells. If you see damage or heat more than warm, recycle and replace the cell.

Concrete or a ceramic tile are more heat and fire resistant than a wood table.

The "geek" in me thinks you should have 10 chargers for every cell and you should wear your cells out testing them with use being a secondary consideration. :devil: The practical side suggests starting with what you have and if it meets your needs you are golden.

Tom

 

[sll]

Thanks again. The mail lady just ran and it looks like the Fenix batteries and charger have arrived. I'm thinking charging in the middle of the garage floor or on the front porch should do nicely. Maybe over on the neighbor's porch? LOL Thanks for the voltages ranges for how to check full charge and what to look for as cells wear out. That was much easier than me searching and Googlin'.

Best regards

 

[sll]

Regarding the rest time after charging before checking the voltage, I'm seeing after resting 4.18v to 4.22v on the first time charge for my four Fenix 18650, 3500 mAh batteries. I made better observations on the last battery today and it was 4.21v & 4.23v (2 different DVM) when I first took it out. After about 50 minutes the voltage dropped a few hundredths to 4.18v & 4.20v. Just wondering does this sound right and should I only be primarily concerned with the "after resting" voltage as long as they don't come off charge <4.25v?

Thanks

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Sll,

Sounds good to me...

Tom

 

[sll]

Just wondering about the slight differences in fully charged voltages between batteries. All mine are newly purchased Fenix 18650, 3500 mAh. Are these slight differences a function of the charger or the battery's manufacturing tolerances/composition, or perhaps both? Other than checking them charged to 4.20+/-.05 Vdc, I haven't kept up with individual batteries but I guess I could do that to see if each one consistently charges to the same voltage. I now have a xtar VP2 and just plugged it up for the first time with two new Fenix 3500 mAh 18650s. I guess I can compare how these two do.

 

[HKJ]

Just wondering about the slight differences in fully charged voltages between batteries. All mine are newly purchased Fenix 18650, 3500 mAh. Are these slight differences a function of the charger or the battery's manufacturing tolerances/composition, or perhaps both? Other than checking them charged to 4.20+/-.05 Vdc, I haven't kept up with individual batteries but I guess I could do that to see if each one consistently charges to the same voltage. I now have a xtar VP2 and just plugged it up for the first time with two new Fenix 3500 mAh 18650s. I guess I can compare how these two do.

As long as the batteries are new, the reason are probably the charger, but after a bit of use the batteries will also affect the result.

Have have done a test on battery termination here: http://lygte-info.dk/info/batteryChargeTerminationTest UK.html

 

[greatbluewhite]

Thanks for the review, HKJ. It looks like there is a new version, the ARE x1+. Any chance you have access to the X1+ and will be reviewing it soon?

 

[HKJ]

Thanks for the review, HKJ. It looks like there is a new version, the ARE x1+. Any chance you have access to the X1+ and will be reviewing it soon?

I will look for it.

 

[Offgridled]

Great review once again!!