How do you charge li-ion batteries?

[thewise1]

Alright, so say you have a li-ion battery that only has to cables coming out of it, + and - leads. Example

So how to you wire something like this to a dc charge jack for charging? Aren't the leads only output?

[bacteria]

No.

Wire the positive from the battery to the middle pin and the negative to either of the others (both are negative). On the male plug, wire to your charger (+ to +, - to -). Doesn't matter in the pic the wires are the wrong colours, as long as they are wired fine! Use 3amp wires.

[thewise1]

I was actually asking if the 2 leads coming from the battery cell were input and output. Like wiring the charger to the battery in parallel with the console. Or would I have to put a switch on it?

[thewise1]

Here, which one is right to charge batteries. ( number 2 I would have to have the system off to charge , tell me if there is any other way)

[bacteria]

Best to charge system whilst portable is off. You can therefore do either in your diagrams, option 1 is fine - similar to what I do - keeps it easy.

[thewise1]

Great, I didn't know you could just charge batteries that way. I though because it was dc current, the charge wouldn't go into the cell. Question answered Thnx.

But just out of curiosity, why is it best to charge the system when it's off?

[bacteria]

I have no idea if it damages them or not, or has any impact on their charging ability by charging when the system is running (others will know, I am sure); however logically, if say you are using batteries at 4amps and your portable takes 1.5amps; and let's say for discussion that your recharger recharges at 2amps, then your batteries aren't going to charge any time quickly. It's easy enough to leave the portable charging overnight or when not being used anyway.

[thewise1]

Yeah, I'll just go with the safer solution. OOOO, and it looks like you've started the turbo gfx, got to check that out. Thanks again bacteria

[Rekarp]

You should be able to safely play your system while charging as long as the amperage provided by the charger is higher then the current draw of your portable. If your portable is over expect a melting charger.

[thewise1]

The smart charger I've got my eyes on only gives 1.5 amps, and it's going to be for an n64, so yeah. I have to charge it while it's off.

[XCVG]

At the risk of sounding stupid, what powers the console? The charger? Or a separate power adaptor?

[Rekarp]

A charger is basically a powersupply that cuts off at a certain voltage.

[bacteria]

You should be able to safely play your system while charging as long as the amperage provided by the charger is higher then the current draw of your portable. If your portable is over expect a melting charger.

Good advice.

I looked on my charger I use for my Canon camcorder cells, 1amp. That definitely means unsafe to play and charge at the same time!

[timmeh87]

that battery has some kind of protection circuit board on it right?

You can carefully use a bench power supply thats set to 4.1v multiplied the number of cells. if you go over 4.3v per cell they start to asplode. They take about a day to charge like this. It is unsafe.

[thewise1]

I decided to use some info lithiums instead, with the stock charger. But if I did use some cells from battery space then yeah I would get one with a protection circuit. I did some studying before messing around with batteries.