How to Reset 18650 Battery-Degradation, Resetting and Buying

The 18650 battery is a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, properly known as '18650 cell' that has a voltage of 3.7v and an amperage range of 1800 mAh and 3500 mAh (mili-amp-hours). The 18650 battery is of two types, namely, the protected and the unprotected. The charge time of this battery is approximately 4 hours. However, the charge time differs with the voltage and amperage of the charger used and also the type of battery that is being charged. Here we are going to be talking about resetting, bring to life and a few other things about the 18650 battery.

The recharge cycles of a battery differ and aren't so long. The battery is likened to a bucket when the bucket begins to get filled with things it has little or no space for other things. When a battery is recharged or reused, the battery oxidizes and undergoes electrochemical degradation. This phenomenon subjected to any rechargeable battery like 26650, 14500, 18650, 21700, AAA, AA as well as a car battery. These batteries have a limited amount of times that they can be recharge. But the 18650 cells can be recharged as much as 2000 times and this makes them unique.

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How Do You Bring 18650 Cell Back to Life

When a battery is dead, it won't charge when placed in a charger or a digital charger (Turnigy RC). This is because the voltage of the dead battery is way too low for these chargers to recognize it. And when the cell is not recognized, it is said to be a dead cell or an extremely low voltage cell but you can bring the battery back to its normal capacity using this quick method termed "jump-start method" Get a new 18650 battery or a good cell and connect the good cell with the old cell in parallel, which involves connecting using a wire, positive (red wire) to positive from the new cell to the dead cell and negative (black wire) to negative from the good cell to the dead cell. Allow the connection of both cells to be on average of 30 seconds and when the connection is done, disconnect the cells and the dead cell will be a little warm. That is an indication of the cell been revive then you can charge the cell with your charger. Although several things cause a cell to die and this due to the life of a battery is impacted by how and the ways you recharge it. If you can draw up a measurement, you can actually deplete the battery from 3.7 volts down to about 3 volts before recharging it. But when you aren't sure about the measurement then use the battery until it shows that it needs to be recharge. When you are using a flashlight run it till the light isn't bright enough or when the light completely go out. As you charge your battery a good charger will indicate the battery voltage, so that you can grasp the life of the battery in different devices. When a battery is charged too consistently, the life of the battery is used up without being able to return. Some battery users don't allow their battery to run below 3.3v. Different brands of the 18650 batteries have several maximum cycles, but be cognisant that the 18650 battery can drop below 2.5v and this may lock the device then it won't be used anymore.

How Do Know if 18650 battery Bad

Many multi-cell LED Flashlights use batteries like 26650 or 18650 or the rechargeable CR123. The percentage of a flashlight that uses such battery types are big. The batteries are said to have 500 cycles or more recharge time capability but there certain factors that indicate that a cell is getting to the end of its shelf life. There are several signs and ways you can use to tell that your 18650 battery bad, these are:

• The battery begins to lose its charge on the shelf much quicker than normal. It loses its entire charge overnight or a couple of days after being charged.

• When you are charging the battery it gets hot or when the battery is discharging it gets warmer than normal.
  

• when the battery can't hold more than 80% of its original capacity.
  

• The battery now takes time to get charge and this abnormal.
  

• There could be physical cracking or deformation on the battery.
  

• The battery can't be revived anymore
  

• The battery doesn't hold any charge when placed in a device, it doesn't power the device.
  

The aforementioned are indications to know that your 18650 is bad and it is time to get a new cell. It could pose a threat to you, if you ignore those warning indications. The battery could burst into flames or even explode while it is being recharged.

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How to Know When to Buy a New Battery

Before the drop in performance of a standard lithium-ion 18650 battery, it is known to have between 300 to 500 cycles (recharged cycle). The recharge cycle is a wide range but when these batteries eventually get to the point that they aren't as effective as when it was new. When charging the battery to 4.1v-4.2v and it is discharging to 2.5v-3.0v. This occurs when a battery is getting aging and its capacity begins to diminish as years go by. An indication that you need to get a new battery is that the cell performance drops steadily and very quickly. It is generally recommended for the Li-ion cells to be recycled if the charge capacity has fallen below 80 percent of the initial cell capacity. More often than not, observable changes are often seen when battery is at the end of their shelf life, these include longer charging time, once it is fully charged it doesn't hold for long, it could act in a bad way due to internal resistance, when check with a meter and the battery voltage is below 3, etc. Storing a battery in a cold environment or directly from sunlight can be detrimental to the battery capacity.