In my latest large scale acquisition there was a box with a CR 14.4 volt 5200mAH battery, CR1 charger and associated wiring stuff. Took out the voltmeter and tested the battery…ZERO volts on the meter. Is it safe or advisable to attempt to charge the battery? If the battery is total dead, will it damage the CR1 charger?
Being as the manufacturer is gone, is there another source that I could turn to to ask for advice?
Disappointed that you are asking this question as I thought you already knew the answer to sleeping LiOns?
This post has been edited by: Rooster
Hook to the charger and monitor… if the charger does not display current, put an ammeter in series…
Watch the current and make sure it does not go over “C”…
I’d look up the specs on the charger to be sure.
If it is zero, good chance the protection circuit in the battery pack will not allow charging.
Greg
Though I have not tried this, there is this article on Battery University site - BU-808a: How to Awaken a Sleeping Li-ion, perhaps there are others.
Hi Bob, as a former Cordless Renovation dealer I would suggest you contact MTO Battery at 717-751-2705. MTO Battery now makes all my battery packs and they can revive Lithium packs. The CR 14.4v 5200 pack has a protection circuit module that will disable the pack if it detects a short. You cannot revive it with out replacing that circuit. However, the cells can still be good. The CR-1 charger LED will flash red/green or turn off if it cannot detect the battery.
Today MTO uses the resettable protective circuit module which eliminates returning the for service.
Remember safety first. I would call MTO to get their advice.
Don
Morning Don,
Great info! I went to the MTO site and could only find one size LI-ON battery, do they make other sizes?
Hi Ric, for the train batteries we are the exclusive dealers. We can have made special packs or you can see them at my web site. Add additional $25 for custom packs. We have over 25 styles. I only list the popular packs. Don
I can’t find the battery list on your website, Don.
Says “No items found”.
Hi John, I think some browsers block me. Here is the page.
Thanks Don, that is the advice/information I was looking for.
The CR1 Charger is a simple limited feature charger, claiming to be a SMART charger. No, you won’t hurt it or the battery as long as the battery in play is equipped with a protection circuit module.
As Don notes if the PCM is NOT resettable; the PCM will need to replaced.
The protection module is likely OPEN due to the battery realizing the VOLTAGE cut-out parameter value. Parasitic current draw and or self discharge characteristics of said battery given adequate time will damage unmonitored batteries/cells. If a single cells SoC degrades to less than 1.5V or so even for a short period of time the battery will be suspect. Cell degradation will result in a loss of capacity and in some cases internal shorting. Additionally this 4S2P 14.4V battery is comprised of two sets of four 2600mAh cells wired in series. The two four cell batteries are then wired together in parallel and wrapped together. If a single cell of either four cell battery is suspect, halve the battery capacity is lost even though the voltage is in range. These anomalies are realized with a full feature SMART charger capable of cycling batteries and providing acquired data for review.
Lithium cells typically last four years and or 500 cycles or so, the clock starts when the chemicals are combined, matters not if their sitting on the shelve, unused.
How much will it cost to have said aged battery serviced and brought back to life with its degraded performance curve, is it worth considering? Capacity typically degrades at a rate of 5% PER year initially and progressively gets worse. One with the pre-requisite set of skills could easily ascertain the condition of suspect batteries, and together with a SMART charger could cycle the battery/cells under load(s) to determine their capacity too.
I’ve repaired many batteries over the years, PCM’s are readily available with and without BALANCE charge features. I equip repaired batteries with balance charge pigtails to monitor individual cell performance while charging and or discharging. SMART chargers typically offer multiple charge regimens, CHARGE, DISCHARGE, CHARGE/DISCHARGE CYCLING, BALANCE CHARGE AND STORE CHARGE. Storing batteries for three months or better merits consideration for the STORGE charge regimen IMO. Storage charge voltage parameters are typically 40-50% of the batteries rated capacity or 3.8/9V per cell.
Michael
" Rooster " said:
Disappointed that you are asking this question as I thought you already knew the answer to sleeping LiOns?
This post has been edited by: Rooster
Question has been answered so may I bump for page 2?
Jeeze Rooster (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-yell.gif)
I found some GREAT information at Battery University that pertains to Lithium Ion batteries. The Li-Ion 18650 cells we generally use are a Cobalt-blended lithium.
See TABLE 2 at the link below, it clearly depicts the ramification’s of batteries stored charged and partially charged and what battery storage temperature has on battery life.
https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_store_batteries
Link below suggests how to prolong battery life with the correct charge regimens.
https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries
Michael
