I read all this stuff about charging the solo but i find it hard to believe that Arizer didn't put in an over charge protection circuit in the solo or charger when they designed it?
Of course they put a charge controller in Solo, batteries of this type (Li-ion) literally self destruct otherwise. Well, self destruct it not really right since it's the abusive overcharge that did it, but they are destroyed anyway. The question is 'where to stop the charge'.
Like almost any maker he opts for the highest possible voltage (without blowing up) since that means longer run times and run times sell products. Customers tend to be kind of shallow sometimes, flash some numbers at them and they base their decisions there as often as not (since they understand numbers?).
So the guys that make the charge controllers know this, without even having to ask, if they make say a 4.1 Volt per cell controller and their competitor makes a 4.2 they know they'll never sell any in a world where '10% more capacity' will always boost sales. This means that basically all the charge controllers you can buy are programed this way (maximum safe voltage), meaning they expect the battery to last between 300 and 600 cycles (recharges). They're OK with that, enough for warranty, and they will be ready to sell you a new battery or better still a replacement unit for the Solo you enjoy.
This is exactly what Solo is doing, I know because I measured several (as have others). The built in charge controller terminates charge (LED goes solid) at 4.15 to 4.20 Volts, just as intended.
The military, who also knows the score, specifies 3.97 Volts typically (about 20% lower capacity per charge) since they know that will give much longer battery life, that is they can effectively avoid replacement for a much longer period in the field. That's the trade off we're looking for here.
If you 'read all the stuff' did you not understand the discussion in the Battery University article? I really think they do a better job of explaining it than I do, but sometimes other words help......
I saw the 'dome' screens mentioned.
1. Is it domed so the dome is facing up towards you as you look down the stem or facing down towards the oven and 'going with the bowl' ?
2. How do you get it down the curved stem? haha
First off, it goes in the short end (where the herb is) so the bent part doesn't matter. The dome part (the part that sticks up) goes in facing the load, that is the edge of the screen seats against the glass plate with the hole with an 'air space' between screen and plate. It does two things, reduces the volume of the load and prevents the screen from quickly fouling over the holes in the glass plate.
Make more sense?
OF
