Charging the Battery

[jsummit]

I have a Panasonic Li-Ion 18650 3.7V 3400mAh PCB Protected Rechargeable Battery

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Pa...tery-P853.aspx

What is the recommended time for charging it?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

That will depend on the charger you're using, and how much current it ouputs.

[jsummit]

Using this one:

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/37...plug-P890.aspx

[darth_chasm]

The indicator should turn from red to green when fully charged. Usually a few hours for that battery.

[jsummit]

Cool, thanks. Yea, I had a mishap with it where the positive wire broke from its contact and I had to re-solder it. It probably lost it's charge in the process. Can that happen? I don't recall, but I may have also done a big "no-no" and cut both wires at the same time, thereby connecting the circuit briefly. If so, can the battery still be recharged or does the protection circuit shut it all down?

[darth_chasm]

Either of those instances sound like they have the potential to trip the protection circuit. Admittedly, I am much more adept at saber design and the mechanical process, so I am not certain.

What is your specific issue? Maybe someone more knowledgeable in the electronics aspect can help.

[jsummit]

Yea, probably tripped the circuit. I checked with Tim and he said it most likely just needs to charge and reset the protection circuit.

[Silver Serpent]

The battery won't discharge just because a wire broke loose. If you tripped the protection circuit, it'll reset itself shortly afterwards, or the next time you attempt to charge the battery.

That charger puts out 500mA of current. A little bit of napkin math states that it'll take 3400mAh / 500mA = 6.8 hours to charge. Sounds a little high, and I'm not sure if that's exactly how it works... Those batteries do take several hours to recharge if they're dead, so plan accordingly.

[jsummit]

Tim said the charger starts out red and turns green when fully charged. I'll still keep an eye on it though.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I have found a formula on another battery site that has a formula for figuring the charge time of a cell: Charge time = (Ah rate of the pack x 1.5) / 0.5A charge current <--(this depends on the charger's output and changes with that). Based on this formula, the 3400mAh pack would be: (3.4Ah x 1.5)/0.5A= 10.2 hours. That seems a little high, but that may be the long end of the charge spectrum, I haven't put it to the test myself yet.