Charging the Vislero 1300

[SubCapt]

On my first charger, years ago, the LED didn't come on so I just guessed how long to leave plugged in and eventually one battery over heated and was trashed. I now have a new charger and two Vislero 1300 batteries. When I attach a battery to the charger the LED turns green and when I then plug it into the 110 outlet the LED turns red. Does the charger stop charging when the battery is fully charged and what color will it be if that is the case? Thanks in advance for any help.

Don

[trout]

I believe it is red charging, green done.

[Alberto Bassi]

Hello,

I would like to basically ask the same question as the one originally posted:

Months ago I purchased two Vislero 1300mAh 7.4V 2S batteries. They came with a 8.4V, 1A Li-ion charger with only a charging connector, but no balance cable to plug the batteries into; there is only an indicator light on the chargers' casing (there are no instructions attached either).
Has anyone used or is using these units on a regular basis?
Is this charger safe for the batteries, or would it be better to purchase a "smart" charger?

Thanks,

Alberto.

[greenman407]

It would be best to use a smart charger with Lipo batterys, that way the charger monitors charging rate and varies it according to need. Also it balances the cells so that you have the same voltage in all the cells, keeps things even.
You mentioned a Li-ion charger. Its been my experience that a Li-ion charger should only be used on Li-ion batterys. I believe that the Vislero batterys are Lithium-polymer.....a totally different type of battery.

[Kazzer]

According to Mr. Merriman, the charger you have is more than adequate to charge these Vislero batteries. They do not need to be balanced for high performance because submarines don't use their fuel the same way aircraft do.
HWSNBN is swamped at the moment, so probably won't reply for a few days.

[Alberto Bassi]

Aha! Thanks for the answers to both of you.

[Alberto Bassi]

Hello again,

I would like to ask how to monitor the charge of the 1300mAh 7.4V Vislero batt's with this standard charger supplied with them?

I will tell you what I know so far: The battery I plugged had an initial voltage of 7V, and as you know the charger puts out 8.4V (so this is the approx. voltage I was expecting to see in my meter if the LED turn green for full a charge). But what happened was that after 40 minutes, the charge was at 8V (so far so good), but all of a sudden it started jumping between 9 and 10 volts ..the LED was red all the time, never went green. So I decided to unplug the unit.
Is the LED suppose to turn green at any point or, is there any other way to know when the batts are at full charge? Li-po's are expensive, so I don't want to fry them so early...better to ask first.

@ Greenman407: Thanks for pointing out the difference between the charger and the batteries. The charger was supplied together with them, as a combo. However, I found an interesting article about the naming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery

Cheers,

Alberto.

[Alberto Bassi]

Hello there again,

Does the LED on the charger change from red to green at full charge? How to properly monitor the charging process?

I tried charging one of the batteries: This is what happened: It had 7.2 volts when plugged in . After 40 minutes of charge, voltage had steadily climbed to 8 volts (the charger's output is 8.4V), but after a moment, the voltage started changing rapidly from 9 to 11 volts and back to 9 and so on...the LED was red, never went green...afraid of frying my new Li-po, I unplugged it.

@ Greenman407: Thanks for pointing out the difference between the charger and the batteries. Your comment encouraged me to do some reading; Kasser is right, Li-ion charger and Li-po batt's are compatible. Lithium polymer batteries belong to the same family as Lithium ion's. In the case of my Visleros, they came together with the charger as a combo from the Sub-driver's store.

Cheers,

Alberto.

[trout]

I thought it did change to green, if not then the red LED turns off. Just plug it in and leave it alone. I have used my charger many times to charge my LiPo batteries (I assume you bought the two together (charger and LiPo and that they sent you the correct charger - if in doubt call them). Including when I have over discharged them and my smart charger will not charge them. The benefit of a smart charger is keeping the cells in balance or discharging them for storage. That being said, the one that comes with the Vislero works. I believe that is pretty much all Mr. Merriman uses.

Also, use a charging bag, just in case.

[vital.spark]

Like Tom (Trout), I've found that if I have over discharged a battery and the Smart Charger refused to charge them, the simple charger that came withe the Vislero will bring them back. After this, the smart charger can be used again. The thing with the smart charger is there is a charge that is used for storage which is somewhere less than a full charge. Some of my Batteries are over 6 years old and still in great shape!

[Alberto Bassi]

Thanks.
Any hint on how long it will take to charge a 1300mAh, 7.4V?

[Alberto Bassi]

Hello all,

I charged each battery using the supplied charger with no trouble at all; time of charge for each one was approx 2.5 hrs.

Notes: When the charger (alone) is plugged into a 120V supply, the LED turns green; when the discharged battery is connected, it changes to red. It changes back to green when the charge is at max voltage (8.4V) and current has dropped to a minimum (50 mA). Neither charger or battery got warm, but rather stayed cool to the touch the whole time.

Thanks for your earlier support.

Alberto.