Heads Up on Phase One batteries/Watson Charger

[Paul2660]

I have used the 2 bay Watson charger on all my camera batteries where I there is a interchangeable tray available.

Last night after using a 1.5 to 2 year old Phase battery, 2900 milliamp. Black plastic, I went to charge it in the Watson charger. Luckily I did not go to bed for a while as I was working on some files. I started to smell a burned acidic smell After checking all the stuff I could think of I happened to go by the Watson charger. One cell was 100% and the other was at 90%, but the cell at 90% was where the smell was coming. I took the cell out and it was so hot to the touch I immediately dropped it. I wish I had checked the temp, but it was too hot to hold. It was also making a slight sound, high pitched before I took it off the charger. But I can assure you if I had not dropped the battery it would have burned my hand.

My point is that if this cell had stayed on much longer odds are it would have caught on fire and Lipo fires are some of the worst.

I checked the battery this am, (it was outside all night) and the case is defomed on the back side from the heat.

I just want to point this out, that its possibly not a good idea to leave a Phase One cell on a charger (at least the Watson) un attended. I quite using the old stock Phase charger made by Hahnel years ago as it failed on one side (2nd one for me) and the Watson was just a easier setup. The Phase cell is really nothing unique as it's just a rebranded Canon cell.

Note, I have used the Watson for at least 4 years now with no other batteries giving me any trouble. This is the 2nd Phase Black battery I have had get hot during a charge. The first one was a 3400 milliamp, which I still use as it was nowhere near the same temp as the old from last night.

Just wanted to pass this on for others using a Watson.

Paul C

 

[Jamgolf]

That's scary, Paul. Very glad you were able to pop it off before it caught fire.
Do you have a sense of whether it was the 2900mA battery's age or do you think its the Watson charger acting malfunctioning?

 

[RLB]

Paul,

Thanks for the heads up and reminder that Li batteries can be quite reactive and hazardous should things go wrong.

A few months ago I had issues with a Hahnel charger destroying brand new Canon OEM LP-06 "N" batteries. Essentially
what was happening was the charger pushing the battery a little harder voltage wise than it was happy with and the dead man IC chip
inside the battery rendered the battery a $65. paper weight. While the cells were still good the IC that controls the battery internally is a one time switch.

I like the Hahnel charger for two reasons: I can charge 2 batteries at once and when I travel with the Phase and Canon gear I only need
one charger with two adaptor plates. For the past 6 years I've charged the Canon batteries this way with zero issues. Apparently Canon
has changed something and lowered the values in their IC control chip inside the battery.

Bottom line, Hahnel sent me five of their LP-06 batteries which of course work fine on their chargers and have a bit more capacity then the
OEM Canon ones. So heads up...if you are buying new Canon batteries you might not want to charge them on third party chargers.


Robert B

 

[Paul2660]

That's scary, Paul. Very glad you were able to pop it off before it caught fire.
Do you have a sense of whether it was the 2900mA battery's age or do you think its the Watson charger acting malfunctioning?

I am slanting towards the older Phase battery. I keep them numbered and dated and this cell was used a lot in 2018, but has been idle for most of 2019. I had used it 2x before this issue.

I use the Watson for all my other batteries, Pentax, Fuji X and Nikon and it's never had any other problems.

LiPo charging is something I do a lot since I use DJI products. The Hahnel may have some sort of built in over ride for charging, but both of mine slowly died over the about 1 year of heavy use. I liked that they also had different trays and allowed non Phase/Canon batteries. The Watson is now about 4 years old, and I might just purchase a new one.

As the battery is long out of any warranty, I can't point to Phase or Watson, just will have to pay closer attention to them in the charger.

Paul C

 

[vjbelle]

I don't have any of the 2900ma batteries any more - all are 3400ma. Sure must have been a scare..... thanks for posting.

Victor