We live in a world where everything that we do or use requires some form of electricity, from our smartphones to our trimmers, everything needs some form of electricity to work, but only a couple of decades ago there was a time where people didn’t have access to energy as we do today, all the technology that we see and use today needed to be connected to some form of a power outlet, this allowed the machine to work and perform its task. But being connected to the power outlet meant that these electronic items were not portable and always needed to be connected to some form of the power grid to work.
That’s where the invention of batteries came into play, batteries provided a means of storing energy in such a way that it can be used without having to connect to a power grid. Initially, batteries were bulky and weren’t able to store a ton of energy, but as innovation grew and new types of batteries grew, the size of the batteries shrunk and the power output of those batteries grew exponentially.
Today we have batteries of every kind and size and depending on the power requirements different sizes and power output of batteries are available in the world. One of the most common types of battery is the lithium-ion battery and it is used in almost all electronic items, so today we are going to be taking a look at lithium-ion batteries and how you can charge them, so without further ado let’s get started.
What Are The Lithium-Ion Batteries?
Lithium-ion batteries are a type of batteries that are made up of solid cathodes and anodes that discharge energy from their core, there are multiple variations of lithium-ion batteries that are used in various commercial and household applications and their use solely depends on the consumption of that particular electronics. The most commonly used lithium batteries are the 18650 and the 26650 lithium-ion batteries. These are the most commonly used batteries as they have high energy density and low surface area and the best part about these batteries is that they can be recharged to be used for a very long time.
There are also lithium polymer batteries, which have a much smaller footprint and have a very high power output, these are mostly used in smartphones because of their low footprint. One drawback of using lithium batteries is that they don’t tend to last as long as lithium batteries.
How Do You Charge A 26650 Lithium-Ion Battery?
As you know there are multiple types of lithium-ion batteries and depending on their usage and their power specification, they need to be charged differently, but the good thing is that, since most electronics use lithium-ion batteries product manufactures have pre-built charging components into their products so you can simply just charge the battery by using product manufactures given recommendations.
There are other types of products that do not have a proper charging setup and require you to separately charge your 26650 batteries. In this case, you are going to need a separate battery charger for your batteries. There are many battery chargers available in the market and depending on your need you are going to have to choose the right one for you.
There are a couple of things that you have to take into account. First and the most important thing is that you need to match the output of the charger to the requirements of the specific battery. There are multiple types of batteries available and each of them has their specific charging voltage so pick the charger that matches your batteries requirements.
There are also universal chargers that have built-in circuitry, that allow the charger to monitor the requirements of the battery and charge accordingly. They are the best kind of chargers to charge your batteries as they constantly monitor your battery’s performance and change the charging voltages accordingly.
How Long Does It Take To Charge A Lithium-Ion Battery?
There are multiple types of batteries available in the market and each of them has a specific type of power specification, that’s why you cannot specifically say how long it is going to take to charge the battery, but generally, a battery is going to take around 3 to 6 hours to completely charge.
Another factor to consider when estimating the charge time of a battery is the charger itself, there are multiple types of charges, and depending on their power output, the charge time can significantly vary.
How Do You Test Your 26650 Lithium-Ion Battery?
There are multiple ways by which you can test out your batteries, and testing it out depends on the equipment that you have available, for instance, you can get a basic idea about your battery using a universal charger as they provide information about the battery while they are charging it. This is most useful when you have only a few batteries and you don’t mind waiting that long for checking your batteries.
The other and the more specific method of checking your batteries is by using something called a multimeter. A multimeter is a device that is used to measure different types of electric currents and voltages and amps in a circuit. Using the voltmeter setting in the multimeter you can check the voltage of the battery. If the voltage that comes into the multimeter is less than the written voltage on the battery then your battery is bad and you need to change it.
You can also get a specific battery tester and use it to test out your batteries if you have a lot of them.
Conclusion
The above article shows the specifics of lithium batteries and how you can check your batteries and charge them properly.
If you want more information about lithium-ion batteries or would like to get one you can head on to https://www.large.net/best-26650-lithium-ion-battery/.
