Test/review of Charger LiitoKala LiitoKala Lii-500S

Thanks for the review. They are very helpful.

With the Failed High Voltage test and the Inability to Discharge at 1amp[1000mAh], I am happy to stick with my Opus BT-C3100 2.2. :smiley:

Thank you for the review!

Will it be safe to use the old Lii-500 power supply, if not charging cells with the 2A option?

It is LiIon charging you have to be careful with. My guess is that a total of 4A LiIon charge current will be safe with a 2A plug pack.

Nice, then I will replace the new power supply with the old Lii-500 one, and use the new charger as usual.

Thank you for the review. I have a Lii-500S, and it seems to be terminating charging of my Li-ion cells at 4.2 volts and otherwise working fine. I’ve also charged quite a few Eneloop and Fujistsu NiMH cells, which have not felt warm to the touch at termination of charging.

I’ve used this charger maybe 15 times in 230 volt with the original power adaptor. Can this have damaged the charger, in a way there could now be a weakness inside that may once escalate into something serious danger? And even if I now start to use the old Lii-500 power supply?

Don’t see why since the power supply is a universal one (100-240VAC 50/60Hz) and the charger itself only sees 12 volts.

Most likely not. The risk with a failed high voltage test is not the charger, but anyone touching the metal on the charger, but the high voltage test/requirement includes a lot of safety compare to normal domestic power. If you lives near some large factories or have a lot of lighting strikes in the area the risk is greater.

In 2020 I would say that this is not a good charger either for Lion or Nimh.

With so many good choices out there we have to start to be more critical of newer devices and this one based on HJK review should fall under the no buy category.

HJK work is important because most of us do not have equipment to see what the charger is actually doing.
In the end these chargers end up charging the batteries and they tell us what they charged but without the equipment we dont know if it handled the cells properly and/or actually charged the cells correctly.

Thanks for the review HKJ.
Very good work. :slight_smile:
I have this charger. Hhmm. But the good thing, i have another charger to use Xtar Sv2 Rocket :slight_smile:
Is there anyone who can recommend a power supply for the Liitokala 500S charger with eu plug.
Thanks in advance.

It’s probably a ‘standard size’ plug, at least the one on the older Lii-500 is. I’ve found 3-5A/12v PS in local computer/electronics recycle stores for like $2-3. Work great. Many of my chargers are now powered by these ‘upgrades’.
Just take the charger with you to check for sure and glasses if you need them to read the fine print for output.

I agree with @hammerJoe. There would seem to be better chargers available. It’s not awful, but after reading HKJ review I wouldn’t buy it.

Thanks for the answer flydiver. :wink:
I have your solution in my mind.
The solution for me was easier than I thought. Uses the Xtar power supply. The plug fits nicely and even if it only gives 2A it will work fine. I don’t charge the batteries so hard.

Excellent review as always, thanks for your hard work

@HKJ
Thanks for the review!
The display backlight turns off after 30 seconds but when you press one of the channel buttons for a few seconds it will stay on.
Perhaps you could add that to the list.

Thank You HKJ for that review. That was very deep/detailed, clear presentation.
I was going to buy this charger later this year.
But now I will get another Opus BT-C3100 2.2 instead. :+1:

You mention that there are better alternatives - would you mind giving an example of other chargers that have the same functionality - can charge 21700 Li-ion, as well as NiMH and act as a power bank.

Vapcell S4 Plus

As well as ScyRC MC3000, XTAR Dragon VP4 Plus.

HJK, isn’t it a concern that Lii-500S charges batteries above 4.2v? I have two of those and the batteries get off them with 4.23v - 4.25v (tested by DMM) while Lii-500S still displays it as “4.20v”. Doesn’t it damage the batteries in the long term if they are constantly charged above 4.2v?