Search for “Charge NiMH”; there’s a bit that says: “The termination look like a voltage termination and without filling the cell completely. Generally it looks like the capacity display is a bit high for NiMH cells.”
Looking at the graphs, it seems to be falling short by about 10%. The charger shows about 1900mAh - 2000mAh, but HKJ’s equipment only shows about 1700 mAh - 1750mAh going into the cell. The effect appears to be consistent across all four slots.
In his conclusion, HKJ again mentions that: “The charger is very good at charging LiIon, but stops a bit early on NiMH.”
I’m wondering whether the person who wrote the charging algorithm forgot to account for the pauses while it’s measuring the cell voltage.
Now I understand why my Ikea Ladda AA 2450 mAh batteries last considerable shorter in my Logitech Mx Mouse, compared to using disposable batteries. Hope they fixed it with Lii-500S.
The Lii-500 uses multiple Ni-MH end of charge detection algorithms, including voltage termination. Modern Ni-MH cells are not overcharge tolerant, thus if the charger decides to use voltage termination for some cells or in some cases I concur with this.
I recently measured the capacity of 11 Turnigy sub-C 4200 cells from a dismantled drill battery pack whose owner left the battery without charge a full day or more after fully depleting it (something which caused one cell to get reversed, die and get shorted). Cells had less than 10 cycles. Each cell was tested 2 times in slots 1 and 4, 22 tests total. Final average capacity was 4189.27mAh. None of these got a voltage termination in any case, for sure.
Saying the Lii-500 undercharges Ni-MH cells is a fallacious generalization. And in any case, what I said above.
I am a little disappointed in the #8 “feature”. You can only use USB out if running on a/c power, not able to charge USB devices off of the cells in the charger.
The main problem of using external or removable cells to feed a power bank boost circuitry is additional cell contacts and slot resistance burden, causing voltage drop, lesser efficiency and overall making the boost engine's life harder. If slot rails were made tight, high quality and were to remain always clean the idea would make more sense. On top of this lesser drain and/or small cells cannot provide enough power output to make the power bank function work reliably. When you tally up all of this, plus general user's ignorance and easy availability of standard power banks, I can understand why the power bank function is dropped from the charger.
Received my Lii-500S today. I like it a lot, so far. The display is really nice, and it is easy to learn the user interface.
I know it will now be my go-to charger for Li-ions. Time will tell if it also will work well for me in charging NiMH cells. I will be interested in seeing a review by someone who can methodically test the ability of this charger to fill NiMH cells without overcharging them and post the results. I am optimistic, based on the reviews of the previous model, that the 500S will likely be kind to the cells and will not overcharge them.
The Lii-500S can also be bought in AliExpress at an even lower price than the current one in Bangbad Banggood, or bundled with a vehicle ashtray plug adapter. With “free” tracked shipping.
AE is where I purchased mine; the Liitokala website even links to their “official store” on AE for this charger. I ordered mine two days ago and according to the tracking number, it has already left China.
I can't say I like what you say. I like the classic internet of yesteryear when by default I could see dozens of items filling my screen. Now I have to use custom dpi settings, use reduced zoom (85%) in accessibility browser options and just say NO to @#$% auto-zoom options.
“The charger is not very suitable for charging AA and AAA Ni-Mh cells. There is a recharging of the cells and the triggering of the battery emergency valve. Tested on four AA NiMH manufactured by Duracell (2500 mAh) and two AAA manufactured by GP (1000 mAh), the charge was carried out with a current of 300 mA and pressure relief valves were activated on all of them. Charging 18650 batteries from various manufacturers is normal.”
AliExpress is a very broad market, this means there are lots of know jack shit lads. By default AliExpress does not list the latest reviews, looks like they pick the most convenient. I recommend changing the “Sort by default” into “Sort by latest” at the left side drop down as a general rule, when you feel like that, etc. Their translator engine sucks, by the way. I also recommend paying attention to any additional feedback, this is because many folks write reviews upon receipt, which is bad. I take my time, you can be sure. And spank ass via going dispute if required no matter the amount of time and resources. If you don't, you are allowing yourselves to be looted or spoiled, so be sure to hammer the stake.
