# Turnigy Accucell-6...Am I missing something?



## OCD (Sep 22, 2010)

I was reading the manual I found online for the Turnigy Accucell-6 charger and saw something that didn't make sense. Assuming Lilo = Li-ion, why is it saying they are 3.6V and only charging to 4.1V?

*Lilo*
voltage level:3.6V/cell
max.charge voltage:4.1V/cell
allowable fast charge current: 1C or less
min.discharge voltage cut off level:2.5V/cell or higher

*LiPo*
voltage level:3.7V/cell
max.charge voltage:4.2V/cell
allowable fast charge current: 1C or less
discharge voltage cut off level:3.0V/cell or higher

*LiFe*
voltage level:3.3V/cell
max.charge voltage:3.6V/cell
allowable fast charge current: 4C or less(e.g. A123M1)
discharge voltage cut off level:2.0V/cell or higher


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## 45/70 (Sep 22, 2010)

You are right, for the most part, OCD. It's actually "LiIo", however, not "Lilo". The reason I think they have a "LiIo" setting is because originally, LiCo cells were charged to only 4.10 Volts. Somewhere around the year 2000-2001 I believe, this changed to 4.20 Volts, the same as "LiPo" (which is lithium polymer *not* LiFePO4). Actually this setting can be quite useful however, as charging LiCo cells to only 4.10 Volts extends cell life considerably, at a cost of only 10% capacity.

Dave


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## OCD (Sep 22, 2010)

Thanks, 45/70. I am seriously considering this charger since I am undecided on what batteries I will be running in some Mag mods I will be doing. I haven't gotten any responses from my other post regarding batteries and chargers for said mods. I just have to do some research on making some different size battery holders to use with this charger for whatever battery type I decide to go with.


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## jasonck08 (Sep 22, 2010)

I'm using my Turnigy Accucell-6 to charge an IMR 26650 @ 3A right now. 

Just about my only complaint with this charger is the fan. It is terribly loud. My fan died recently, and I have not bothered to replace it yet...

I really like how I can charge just about any battery. NiCd, Ni-mh, LiCo, LiPo, IMR, Lifepo4, and Lead Acid (trickle charged my car battery over night a couple of times when it was dead).


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## pae77 (Sep 23, 2010)

OCD said:


> Thanks, 45/70. I am seriously considering this charger since I am undecided on what batteries I will be running in some Mag mods I will be doing. I haven't gotten any responses from my other post regarding batteries and chargers for said mods. I just have to do some research on making some different size battery holders to use with this charger for whatever battery type I decide to go with.


You don't even _have_ to make battery holders, unless you want to. It's very simple and easy to just use a few small rare earth magnets which stick to both the alligator clips at the end of the Accucell's stock charging cable as well as the battery terminals of cylindrical cells. So you can easily charge any size cell with just a couple of magnets plus the stock charging leads that come with the Accucell 6. I may get around to making some holders one day but for now since I only charge one or two cells at a time with the Accucell 6, so far I've been very satisfied with just using the magnets.


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## 45/70 (Sep 23, 2010)

jasonck08 said:


> Just about my only complaint with this charger is the fan. It is terribly loud. My fan died recently, and I have not bothered to replace it yet...



Heh, that's why after reading around on the R/C Forums I decided to go with a charger that didn't have a fan. That and the reports of the AC models switching PS's going south, convinced me to go with a DC only charger that had neither. With adequate heatsinking, a 50 Watt charger doesn't really need a fan anyway. These are power transistors, not CPU's. That said, the Accucell-6 and 8, both appear to be good chargers, from what everybody reports.

Dave


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## KiwiMark (Sep 24, 2010)

jasonck08 said:


> Just about my only complaint with this charger is the fan. It is terribly loud. My fan died recently, and I have not bothered to replace it yet...



My fan is fine - of course it wasn't not long after getting the charger, but by pulling it out and lubing it with some GOOD lube it has been fine ever since. I have done exactly the same thing with some computer fans. I bought some Nano-Oil from a member on these forums and it really seems to fix these noisy fans!


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## pae77 (Sep 24, 2010)

My Accucell 6 stays so cool (albeit with the fan running), I suspect that it doesn't even need a fan if only charging at modest current rates that don't really stress the charger. It always blows totally cool air out and the charger never even gets luke warm to the touch anywhere on the outside top, bottom or sides of the case. 

But so far, I have never tried charging with it at very high current rates.


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## hoongern (Sep 24, 2010)

pae77 said:


> You don't even _have_ to make battery holders, unless you want to. It's very simple and easy to just use a few small rare earth magnets which stick to both the alligator clips at the end of the Accucell's stock charging cable as well as the battery terminals of cylindrical cells. So you can easily charge any size cell with just a couple of magnets plus the stock charging leads that come with the Accucell 6. I may get around to making some holders one day but for now since I only charge one or two cells at a time with the Accucell 6, so far I've been very satisfied with just using the magnets.



Yup, I do exactly the same, I just use 2 tiny magnets and put them inside the charging alligator clips, and they just stick to the terminals of whatever cell I'm charging - easy as cake! 

I also have a cheapo plastic D cell holder which does my 10440s (with spacer), 16340s (with spacer), 14500s, 18500s, and 26500s completely fine. My 17670s and 18650s are too long, so I use the magnets for those. In fact, I use the magnets for pretty much all the cells these days - it's just easier.

Of course, if you want to charge multiple cells at the same time, you'll have to have more connectors & more magnets


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## pae77 (Sep 25, 2010)

For those who have never yet tried a hobby charger and may be wondering what's involved for charging the kind of li-ion cells flashaholics typically use, it can be done with very minimal equipment. I was initially hesitant to try one after seeing some of the very clever and fancy battery holders that some members have fabricated and shown previously in various threads in this forum. But it's really not necessary to fabricate anything fancy or special to start using a hobby charger.

So here's a few photos showing use of Accucell 6 with a very bare bones setup (stock cables that come with charger, power source is an old laptop power supply that plugs directly into this particular charger's stock power input jack, and a few small rare earth magnets from DX):







For those unfamiliar with the display on these chargers, I think the display in the above photo is showing: Li1S (LiPo charging, 1 cell in series), 0.2A (0.2A charge current at this point in the cycle), 4.20V (presently charging at 4.20 volts, which also means the charger is in the CV stage where the voltage remains constant at 4.20 while the charge current gradually decreases until it reaches 1/10th of whatever the starting charge current was), CHG (charging), 017:48 (17 minutes 48 seconds elapsed since charging started), 00084 (84 mA pushed to the battery so far). 

A pair of small DX rare earth magnets:





Fortunately the magnets stick to the alligator clips:






Close up of alligator clip attached to positive terminal of battery with 2 magnets:





For scale, battery in above photos is a 14500.

Here's a shot showing charging parallel charging of two 18350 batteries at the same time using some additional short home made alligator clip cables and a few more magnets:






When parallel charging as in the above photo, the charger just sees one big battery with the capacity of all cells added together. One could daisy chain even more than the two batteries shown in the photo together. The max voltage is unchanged (still 4.20V). So in this situation the only setting that needs to be adjusted is the starting charge current which should be increased by the user to accommodate the higher capacity of both batteries added together. The cells are self balancing when parallel charging.

Notes: 1. None of the magnets in the above photos have been soldered to anything. 2. For safety, it is preferable and recommended to not charge on flammable surfaces (although so far, all my li-ion cells and the charger have always stayed cool the touch throughout the charging process).


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## Quest4fire (Oct 7, 2010)

Great info! This is exactly the kind of setup I was considering for charging the 26650 cells that are powering my 5 and 6 D cell incan mag mods. I really like my Pila for pairs of 18650 or 16340 cells, but 6 26650's, two at a time (One in the box, one jumped via magnets and clip wires) takes a loooooong time! :goodjob:


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## biker1 (Oct 7, 2010)

@pae77,

Great pics :thumbsup:

I have been looking at this charger for a short while, and will be most likely be purchasing it in the very near future.
I was also looking at the Triton line of chargers.


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## sluflyer06 (Oct 7, 2010)

I was under the impression that the termination voltage was adjustable on this charger. Is it not the case? Just the initial current?


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## pae77 (Oct 7, 2010)

You are correct, the termination voltage is adjustable. It depends on the charge program selected, (e.g., iirc for LiIon you have the choice of LiPo, LiIo, LiFe), and whether one selects 1S, 2S, 3S etc. up to 6S. For example, LiPo 1S (1 cell in series) is 4.2 V by default (although if you dig deep into the menus, even that is adjustable by the user although ordinarily, one wouldn't mess with that setting), and 2S (2 cells in series) would be 2 x 4.2 V i.e., 8.4 V and so on up to the 6S limit of this particular charger.

However, it should be noted that although the charger may be set to terminate at 4.2 V (for Li1S, which is the normal way I charge), the actual voltage of the battery after completion of the charge cycle you will see on a DMM will vary depending on the health, age, quality, etc., of the particular battery being charged as well as the starting charge current selected by the user. I have noticed that generally higher ending voltages are obtained in a given battery if the starting charge current selected is lower e.g., .25 C rather than higher e.g. 1C. So even though the charger is set to terminate at 4.20 V, most of my batteries usually come of the charger reading about 4.15 V on a DMM.


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## biker1 (Oct 7, 2010)

sluflyer06 said:


> I was under the impression that the termination voltage was adjustable on this charger. Is it not the case? Just the initial current?



The termination voltage is adjustable, but I think there is a safety built in to the charger, whereas if you program it for Li-ion batteries, you won't be able to adjust the cut-off charge to be above 4.2V, which is a great feature.
This can be verified by someone else.


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## pae77 (Oct 7, 2010)

Btw, here's a photo of a quick and simple parallel charging rig for doing multiple Li-ion cells made from some more rare earth magnets and some hanger rod cut in two pieces (from Dept. store plastic and metal hanger):






Note: Again, nothing is soldered. The magnets hold everything together. IIRC, these magnets are sold in batches of 20 and/or 100 at DX. 100 of them cost about $5.50 including shipping.


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## sluflyer06 (Oct 7, 2010)

biker1 said:


> The termination voltage is adjustable, but I think there is a safety built in to the charger, whereas if you program it for Li-ion batteries, you won't be able to adjust the cut-off charge to be above 4.2V, which is a great feature.
> This can be verified by someone else.



My thinking was that if someone like myself having a good DMM like my Fluke 179 was noticing that the cells were not coming off the charger where they wanted them due to voltage inaccuracy of the charger you'd be able to adjust the termination voltage to end up at your desired final voltage.

IE. charger thinks its terminating at 4.2 but due to precision error your actually seeing ~4.15v on a calibrated meter so you choose to up the termination on the charger to maybe 4.23 to try to get it up closer to 4.2 if that's your goal.


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## pae77 (Oct 7, 2010)

You could do that (there is a special menu that allows the user to set the termination voltage for each of the charger's LiIon charge programs), but the charger also has a special calibration menu that allows you to calibrate it to a known voltage source, such as a battery thats voltage was measured with an accurate DMM.

However, even if the charger is calibrated and accurate, I suspect that one still wouldn't see many batteries coming off the charger at precisely 4.20 volts because the CC/CV algorithm simply doesn't necessarily result in a battery charged to precisely 4.20 volts.

Anyway, it is all these adjustable features and parameters (along with many other features such as proper termination and a true CC/CV algorithm and versatility) that make these hobby chargers so superior to the simple "consumer" cradle chargers that cannot easily be adjusted without changing out the parts or doing various modifications. Now that decent budget hobby chargers can be acquired for less than $40, they are, imo, very competitive with the other kinds of chargers that are available considering all that you get for your money.

Btw, one more photo, this one of the inside of the Accucell 6 I took while I had it open to lube the fan:


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## Mr Happy (Oct 7, 2010)

pae77 said:


> Note: Again, nothing is soldered. The magnets hold everything together. IIRC, these magnets are sold in batches of 20 and/or 100 at DX. 100 of them cost about $5.50 including shipping.


I note you have your magnets doubled up, which makes me wonder if those cheap magnets are not as strong as the more expensive kind? I have some neodymium magnets of the same size as your picture that are too strong to use. They near chop my fingers off if I let them get too close to each other, and one broke into pieces when I let it snap together without cushioning it. I find I therefore use much smaller magnets which are easier to control. For one thing you don't need to be Superman to separate them. :laughing:


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## pae77 (Oct 7, 2010)

Mr Happy said:


> I note you have your magnets doubled up, which makes me wonder if those cheap magnets are not as strong as the more expensive kind? I have some neodymium magnets of the same size as your picture that are too strong to use. They near chop my fingers off if I let them get too close to each other, and one broke into pieces when I let it snap together without cushioning it. I find I therefore use much smaller magnets which are easier to control. For one thing you don't need to be Superman to separate them. :laughing:


These might be the same diameter as your more expensive magnets, but are they the same thickness . . . ? The cheap one's I have are each only 1 mm thick. They are pretty strong and could be used singly but because they are so thin, I find I like to have the extra clearance as well as the added magnetic force that 2 together provide. But they do also get pretty powerful when two or more are combined together. One is very easy to deal with so they probably are less powerful than yours are and I suspect they are probably a bit thinner as well. So two of mine probably equals one of yours. :laughing:

I wonder whether there is any issue of added resistance I should be concerned about when using two or three instead of just one?


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## tre (Oct 7, 2010)

Would that metal hanger add a lot of resistance too? 

Also, I thought we are always extolling the virtues of independent charging channels. This can't do that unless you charge one battery at a time? Am I wrong?


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## pae77 (Oct 7, 2010)

tre said:


> Would that metal hanger add a lot of resistance too?
> 
> Yes, I suppose so.
> 
> Also, I thought we are always extolling the virtues of independent charging channels. This can't do that unless you charge one battery at a time? Am I wrong?


No, you are not wrong. . . it's still a charger with only one independent channel. However, *one way *of using one channel to charge multiple batteries together at one time is to do so by parallel charging as depicted in the photo posted earlier above. And, as I noted earlier above along with the first photo in this thread showing parallel charging of two batteries, *Li-ion cells are self balancing when charged in parallel* (so balancing leads are not needed with this particular method), and it works well and is quite safe as long as some simple precautions are observed. 

But that said, about 95% of the time, I simply charge one cell at a time with my hobby charger. I just wanted to point out that it is easy and pretty simple to charge more than one Li-ion cell at a time with a hobby charger for those who might be concerned about the limitation of only having one channel to work with.

If you want to find out more about parallel charging and the benefits and limitations, here are some good sources for further reading: How-To: Parallel Charging - TJinTech

About parallel charging of Lixx / PB packs. - RC Groups


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## irv_usc (Oct 7, 2010)

for multiple cells these chargers generally come with balancing circuits. you can build yourself a balance charger using the included leads.

btw i have a thunder AC6, which appears to be the same thing as a turnigy 6, except it has it's own built in power supply. if the supply goes out i can still power it using a laptop power brick.


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## pae77 (Oct 7, 2010)

irv_usc said:


> for multiple cells these chargers generally come with balancing circuits. you can build yourself a balance charger using the included leads.
> 
> Only required if charging in series. Not needed for parallel charging multiple individual Li-ion cells (as opposed to packs). The Accucell 6 unfortunately doesn't come with balancing leads although it has the ports and circuitry for them.
> 
> btw i have a thunder AC6, which appears to be the same thing as a turnigy 6, except it has it's own built in power supply. if the supply goes out i can still power it using a laptop power brick.


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## digitor (Oct 8, 2010)

pae77 said:


> No, you are not wrong. . . it's still a charger with only one independent channel.



The Accucell 6 has an inbuilt 6 cell balancer - 10 packs of leads with matching JST-XH connectors are available for a few dollars from the same popular online vendor that sells the majority of these chargers. Most R/C LiPo cells come with them already attached, so they plug straight into the charger without needing any other leads.

Cheers


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## ronkar (Oct 8, 2010)

I use a flat disk of copper sandwiched between two neodymium magnets, and attach the alligator clips to the copper. 

The disk was flattened with the help of a file and sandpaper. 

Hint. Pre-1982 pennies are copper. 1982's could be either copper or zinc, and later dates are all zinc.


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## KiwiMark (Oct 8, 2010)

If you get 100 of the 1mm x 6mm magnets from dealextreme then you have enough to use several between each cell to connect them, then you can use alligator clips or anything else that will attach to magnets on the end of each balance lead. Just have enough magnets between each cell and you can get your balance lead in there.


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## hank (Oct 14, 2010)

OK, looking back at your picture 

-- you're using LiPo setting (to get 4.2v), set at 0.2A, charging a Li-ion cell (is that a 14500 in the first picture? what capacity?)
-- the number on the screen in the lower right corner you say is "pushed ... so far" -- the manual says it's "charged capacity" but your description makes more sense since it counts up from zero. Is it actually measuring something at the battery?

My Accucell-6 just arrived. I'm starting with Li-Ion setting (4.1v), 0.1A (what, me hurry?) -- charging a new AW 18650 (2200 mah) that came at 3.93volts from a US reseller. I had run it down to 3.86v before I started charging.

After 30 minutes, it's showing 3.89 volts and a "00053" in the capacity corner.


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## pae77 (Oct 14, 2010)

hank said:


> OK, looking back at your picture
> 
> -- you're using LiPo setting (to get 4.2v), set at 0.2A, charging a Li-ion cell (is that a 14500 in the first picture? what capacity?) It's a 14500, actual (not stated) capacity is about 600 mAh. I did not set it a 0.2A. It's at 0.2A because it's in the CV stage of the cycle and the charge current is gradually declining to 1/10th of the initial charge rate (which in this case was 0.3A (or 300 mA).
> 
> ...


You are still in the CC part of the cycle. The current will stay at whatever you set it until the voltage hits 4.2 (if you use the proper LiPo setting) and then the current will start to gradually decrease until it has hit 1/10 of the initial charge rate and charged for a while at that rate.

Don't be afraid of using the LiPo setting to get a displayed voltage of 4.2. Even using that setting, your battery is going in all likelihood to come off the charger with a voltage a bit lower than 4.2V, probably something like 4.15-4.18 (although it could easily be even lower) which is just perfect, imo. A Trustfire red/black 2400 mAh 18650 just came off my Accucell 6 this morning at 4.16 V which is perfectly normal and appropriate, imo.


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## hank (Oct 14, 2010)

Ah, that's helpful. I interrupted and set it up to 0.6A, and am showing 4.04v and climbing.

I'm expecting to charge my batteries often, and have been looking at this advice:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

" better to charge lithium-ion battery at a slower charge rate .... A 0.5C charge and discharge would further improve this rating. ... If you have a spare lithium-ion battery, use one to the fullest and keep the other cool by placing it in the refrigerator. Do not freeze the battery. For best results, store the battery at 40% state-of-charge."
The do-and-don't list says "40% state-of-charge reads 3.75-3.80V/cell at open terminal."
__________________
"Oh, honey, I'll be cleaning out the stuff in the back of the refrigerator this week, I need to make a little some room for, er, other things ..."


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## pae77 (Oct 14, 2010)

.5C as recommended by BU is fine and there is nothing wrong with that, however, note that .5C of your 2200 mAh battery would be 1.1A which is almost twice the .6A I recommended earlier above. Imo, any charge rate between about .25C and .5C is good for getting extended life from your cells. But for Li-ion, I usually like to charge even a little more gently than .5 C. It's just my preference. You can, of course, choose any charge rate you like as long as you stick within the recommended guidelines. That's part of the appeal of these hobby chargers. You can select the rate you think will be best for your particular circumstances.

Also, note that the Accucell 6 has a convenient storage charge program that automatically charges (or discharges as may be necessary) to get Li-ion batteries to the optimal SOC to extend cell life when you are intending to store the cells unused for extended periods.


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## 45/70 (Oct 14, 2010)

hank said:


> ...... I interrupted and set it up to 0.6A, and am showing 4.04v and climbing.



I pretty much charge all of my Li-Ion cells at ~0.5C, anymore, unless I'm in a hurry.

Once upon a time (like 5 years ago), I read a theory that suggested that charging LiCo Li-Ion cells at too slow a rate produced similar results to trickle charging a fully charged cell (which is very bad). The idea was, as I remember, that when the charge rate approached the rate of self discharge, there was a risk of the plating out of metallic lithium on the anode of the cell. Therefore, very slow rates of charge such as less than 0.1C, were to be avoided. I never see this anymore, so it could be that the chemical composition has changed over the years, or something else has changed, and this no longer applies. At any rate, I just go with 0.5C for all chemistry of Li-Ion cells.

One thing to remember, is that very little to no heat is generated in the Li-Ion charging process, it is something like 99% efficient, so heat isn't much of an issue, as it is when charging NiCd/NiMH cells. Higher rates of charge have little disadvantage to slower rates, if any. Older Li-Ion cells would be the exception, but even they don't heat up much at a 0.5C rate.

Dave


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## pae77 (Oct 14, 2010)

I should just mention that the primary reason why I usually charge Li-ions at .25 to .5 C is because I find I usually manage to get a little more charge into the cells by charging them slower (as compared to charging at about 1C), and it really doesn't take very much longer than charging at a higher rate, so there is no real disadvantage to it that I am aware of.


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## KiwiMark (Oct 15, 2010)

For a 2200mAh cell I'd usually look at somewhere up to 1/2 C - so as much as 1.1A, I'd probably set the charger to 1A and call that good. 

The accucell will charge until the amps drop to 1/10 the amount you set, so charging at 1A will mean it charges at 1A until the voltage hits 4.2V then it will reduce the charging current while the voltage stays at 4.2V until the current has dropped to 0.1A. If you want to get more into the cell then you can just charge it again once it has finished - if you select 0.1V then it will charge the cell until the amps drop to 0.01A, the cell will be as charged as it can be without being over charged. I wouldn't bother with this though, you really wont get much more into the cell and it will take more time.


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## 45/70 (Oct 15, 2010)

Yeah, the biggest difference in how fully charged the cells end up, seems to be backing down in the range from 1C to 0.5C. Below that, the cells will still receive a fuller charge at lower currents, but it becomes a matter of diminishing returns.

Dave


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## Quest4fire (Oct 17, 2010)

[QUOTE=pae77;3553212 Btw, one more photo, this one of the inside of the Accucell 6 I took while I had it open to lube the fan:

After reading post on problematic fans on the Accucell-6 (I received mine in the mail the other day!) I opened the case and put a tiny drop of Breakfree (Cleaner/Lubricant/Protection) penetrating oil on the shaft. So far it run whisper-quiet.


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## pae77 (Oct 17, 2010)

Yes, lubing the fan is a very good idea. I'm sure there are many good products that can be used. Fwimbw, I used a product called "Tuf Glide" that comes with a needle applicator and goes on as a liquid but then dries leaving behind a micro bonding dry lubricant. Seemed to work well. I think if one keeps the fan's shaft appropriately lubricated, it will run quieter and be likely to last longer.


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## dizhu (Apr 30, 2011)

I just got one and tried to charge my depleted IMR 26500. The screen shows voltage too low and refuse to charge. Only I change to LiFe mode and it starts charging. But that only give me 3.6 charged. Any suggestion?


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## hellokitty[hk] (Apr 30, 2011)

Has anyone tried to calibrate the volt-meter to -.15v to trick the charger into charging the 4.35v Samsung ICD-18650-30a?


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## KiwiMark (Apr 30, 2011)

dizhu said:


> I just got one and tried to charge my depleted IMR 26500. The screen shows voltage too low and refuse to charge. Only I change to LiFe mode and it starts charging. But that only give me 3.6 charged. Any suggestion?


 
So, once you have brought it up to 3.6V then what happens when you try to charge it with the LiPo or LiIo setting?


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## KiwiMark (Apr 30, 2011)

hellokitty[hk] said:


> Has anyone tried to calibrate the volt-meter to -.15v to trick the charger into charging the 4.35v Samsung ICD-18650-30a?


 
Good idea, but the calibration doesn't let you change the voltage by that much, you'd be pushing to get as much as -0.05V with the calibration for a maximum of 4.25V.

Some chargers offer more settings - the iChargers can charge to 4.30V, so if you calibrated one of them to -0.05V out and then set the LiPo charge to 4.30V you would get 4.35V, you could then set the LiIo charge to 4.15Va and you would get 4.20V on that setting and you could set the LiFe charge to 3.55V and get 3.60V with that. That would work really well for all Li-ion cells.

On the Accucell, even if you could alter the calibration by -0.15V (which I am certain you can't), then your Li-Io setting would become 4.25V instead of 4.10V and your LiFe setting would give you 3.75V instead of 3.60V - so you'd need to recalibrate every time you charged a different type of battery.


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## hellokitty[hk] (Apr 30, 2011)

Then I assume the imax b6 and all those other bantam chargers are all too limited too...
Can I ask if there are an cheap (<$30 USD) that would accommodate 4.35v?


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## dizhu (Apr 30, 2011)

KiwiMark said:


> So, once you have brought it up to 3.6V then what happens when you try to charge it with the LiPo or LiIo setting?


 
Yeah, that is what I figured out. Have to change the program once the battery voltage is up.


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## dizhu (Apr 30, 2011)

hellokitty[hk] said:


> Has anyone tried to calibrate the volt-meter to -.15v to trick the charger into charging the 4.35v Samsung ICD-18650-30a?


 
How to bring up the calibration menu? I don't know how.


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## 45/70 (Apr 30, 2011)

dizhu said:


> I just got one and tried to charge my depleted IMR 26500. The screen shows voltage too low and refuse to charge. Only I change to LiFe mode and it starts charging. But that only give me 3.6 charged. Any suggestion?



My advice would be to pitch the cell. The reason the Accucel displays this warning, is because the cell has been discharged to too low a level, and thus has been damaged, and should not be charged. This feature that hobby chargers provide is there for a purpose, not just to annoy the user. Sure you may find a way to circumvent this warning, but you'd be better off just recycling the cell. This is especially true if the cell remained in the over discharged state for any length of time.

Just like LiCo cells, IMR (LiMn) cells (as well as LiFePO4 cells and all of the other Li-Ion chemistries) are damaged when subjected to over discharge. They may not "vent with flame" as easily as a LiCo cell might, when charged, but the danger is still there when cells have been abused. The IMR chemistry is "safer", not actually "safe", as many dealers and distributors like to call them. At any rate, over discharged Li-Ion cells of any chemistry have been damaged to some degree, and it's better to just replace and move on.

Dave


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## PapaLumen (Apr 30, 2011)

dizhu said:


> How to bring up the calibration menu? I don't know how.



Press and hold "<" and "start" together while powering on the charger, keep holding until calibration adjustment appears.


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## dizhu (Apr 30, 2011)

PapaLumen said:


> Press and hold "<" and "start" together while powering on the charger, keep holding until calibration adjustment appears.


 
Thanks. Adjusted to +20 now.


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## dizhu (Apr 30, 2011)

45/70 said:


> My advice would be to pitch the cell. The reason the Accucel displays this warning, is because the cell has been discharged to too low a level, and thus has been damaged, and should not be charged. This feature that hobby chargers provide is there for a purpose, not just to annoy the user. Sure you may find a way to circumvent this warning, but you'd be better off just recycling the cell. This is especially true if the cell remained in the over discharged state for any length of time.
> 
> Just like LiCo cells, IMR (LiMn) cells (as well as LiFePO4 cells and all of the other Li-Ion chemistries) are damaged when subjected to over discharge. They may not "vent with flame" as easily as a LiCo cell might, when charged, but the danger is still there when cells have been abused. The IMR chemistry is "safer", not actually "safe", as many dealers and distributors like to call them. At any rate, over discharged Li-Ion cells of any chemistry have been damaged to some degree, and it's better to just replace and move on.
> 
> Dave



Wow, my new IMR batteries all gone




The thing is that the flashlight cuts off when each battery reaches around 2.3 V. Before that it is hard to know how low it is. Is there way I can buy parts and add a protection circuit to my Mag 2C? Suggestion anyone?


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## 45/70 (Apr 30, 2011)

dizhu said:


> Wow, my new IMR batteries all gone
> 
> 
> 
> The thing is that the flashlight cuts off when each battery reaches around 2.3 V.



Well, don't panic yet. If the light cuts out when the cell voltage is 2.3 Volts under load, you may be OK. What is puzzling here though, is that when cells are used under all but light current loads, the cell's voltage should recover to a voltage level (typically 3.0 Volts, or more) after resting a bit, where your Accucel will charge it. The only condition where this wouldn't be the case, is when a cell is discharged at a low current rate. In this situation the cell may be discharged to an unacceptable level and the voltage may not recover.

This is a problem with cells that include an added protection circuit, as well. Unlike most laptops and other _consumer _devices that utilize Li-Ion battery packs, where the protection circuit is designed specifically for that device's usage habits, the protection circuits added to individual Li-Ion cells by distributors, cannot accurately predict how the cell will actually be used. In many cases, under low current usage, the protection circuit on protected cells will not trip in time either, to prevent over discharge.

If you think this may be your problem, what you might try, if you tend to use your light(s) at low output levels quite a bit, is occasionally bump the output up to max, during use. If, when you crank up the output, your light cuts off, you'll know that the cell is discharged. This may help over discharging the cells some, anyway. I do this with my Li-Ion powered lights, and it at least helps, in this situation. On the other hand, when I use a light, I usually want "light", so I don't normally use them at lower output levels very much, but rather use a light with less maximum output when needed for long periods, instead.

Dave


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## stoli67 (May 1, 2011)

I love my accucell 6. .... If only you could turn the speaker off! So loud.... One beep may have been enough

Is there a reason to charge in parallel over a serial setup like I have been using?


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## KiwiMark (May 1, 2011)

stoli67 said:


> I love my accucell 6. .... If only you could turn the speaker off! So loud.... One beep may have been enough


 
There is a setting - you CAN turn the speaker off.


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## stoli67 (May 1, 2011)

I will have to look harder obviously!


EDIT: Much better with the speaker off.....


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## HKJ (May 1, 2011)

stoli67 said:


> Is there a reason to charge in parallel over a serial setup like I have been using?



The parallel setup is usual faster with unbalanced cells (The balancing function is often only at a low current).
A more practical reason is that a parallel cradle can be used for any number of cells, up to capacity, without moving any wires.


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## Nisei (Feb 15, 2014)

I'm thinking about buying this not for charging but for measuring the capacity of my Li-ion batteries.
The LiPo mode charges to 4.2 which is correct for Li-ion but it discharges to 3.0V which is too low for my liking. Can the low voltage termination be set to 3.2V for this mode?


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## torukmakto4 (Feb 15, 2014)

I believe you can use NiMH Discharge and set the cutoff voltage to whatever you want. (WARNING: Risk of . Be careful to check settings and not accidentally use NiMH Charge or Cycle on the Li-ion cells after doing this!)

Also, what cells do you have? I would only worry about 3.0V/cell being stressful for straight LiCo cells with a stated 3.0V cutoff voltage in the datasheet.


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## Nisei (Feb 15, 2014)

Thanks for the response torukmakto4
I'm going to use it with my Sanyo UR14500P and Panasonic 18650B batteries.
I'm aware of the need to check the correct settings. I just didn't know for sure if there's a way to set the discharge low current cut off. If it's possible with this charger then it seems like it's what I'm looking for.


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## Nisei (Feb 16, 2014)

Oh by the way, has anyone tried this? I mean, when you set it to NiMH discharge mode it expects a voltage of around 1.2V
Connecting a Li-ion battery would be 3 times as much. It shouldn't make a difference for discharging but does the charger accept that voltage in NiMH mode?


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## torukmakto4 (Feb 16, 2014)

NiMH discharge is for packs. The charger is rated to charge and discharge 15 cell series packs. You can set the cutoff voltage for NiMH Discharge between 0.1V and 25V.

More here: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uploads/ACCUCEL_manual(2).pdf


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## Nisei (Feb 16, 2014)

Yup, saw that later on as well 
i was thinking 1-cell only but it can go up to 15 so my post made no sense. Thanks for responding.


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## Nisei (Mar 2, 2014)

Another question now that I've received it:
I want to test the Storage mode and have it set for Li-Ion (not Li-Po) giving a 3.75 cut off voltage. The battery I want to charge for storage was first discharged to 3.0V so there's no need for the program to discharge first.
The battery is 900mAh and I have set the charge rate to 0.4A. However, when I run the program it soon drops down to 0.1A charge rate which is way too low. It's been on for an hour and a half now and has only charged something in the 200mA range. Since it doesn't display the actual battery voltage in Storage mode I have no idea why it throttles down to such a low rate. Why does it drop down to 0.1A while I have it set for 0.4A?
And I was thinking: storage is best at around 50% capacity. However, the charger can only determine this by measuring the voltage. If you discharge a Li-Ion to 3V it will soon climb back up 3.6V or so. So how can the charger know how full the battery already is?


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## Witterings (Dec 18, 2015)

Resurrecting and o;d thread I came across the other night, hopefully some of the people may still be following it. 

I just tried the exact same set up as the 1st picture in post 10 here except using an icharger 306b and only 1 magnet each end not 2
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ng-something&p=3539368&viewfull=1#post3539368

When I looked at the voltage though it seemed to be instantly plummeting and when I tried to hit charge it said error .... I'm wondering if it took the batteries voltage straight down below what a lithium cell should be
Anybody any idea what I may have done wrong and why it'd cause the voltage to plummet????

the battery having disconnected it seems OK and the torch is working fine so I wonder if having removed it it's bounced but am loathe to try it again unless I know what may have caused it so I don't do any permanent damage to the battery.


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