Status for 2015

Status for 2015







I have been very busy this year with reviews and as usual I did not get around to review everything I wanted to review. Here are some highlights from the year, both good and bad.



To keep up to date on my reviews it is a good idea to check the “Last additions” section on my frontpage, it will list the last couple of reviews/test/articles I have done, just below it there might also be information about good offers, coupon codes, etc. for stuff I have just reviewed (When present it will be from the dealer that gave me the review item).







Batteries



I have reviewed about 130 batteries this year, this means I have more than 400 battery reviews on my websize.



Like last year I got a pile of batteries during the year, this preventing me from reviewing the new cells directly (A lot of the cells in that pile is based on the new cells).







The battery capacity did not increase this year, but 3500/3600mAh batteries are common now from many brands:











The high current cells has moved up in capacity and popularity, but usual the stated current drain is very optimistic, especially on the higher capacities. The capacity is from 2500 to 3500mAh, where the 2500/2600mAh can deliver very high current, higher capacity has more limited current.



















The 16650 cell has also moved up in capacity, but it is a 4.35V cell and the protection trips before 4.35V, i.e. it is impossible to use the full capacity. This do not make it a bad cell, even at 4.20 volt it has lot of capacity and can be used as a replacement for 2xCR123 in some cases:







In 26650 the 5000mAh+ cell is common now, but this size cell is not really good at high current:















Here is an example of a optimistic rated cell, it specifies 60A, but failed in my 30A test:







I have been testing/publishing a lot of NiMH tests, mostly they work well, but there are a few exceptions. The cell show below do not live up to its rating (As expected, about 2700mAh is maximum):







Duracell and a few other has some AA cells with ridicules low capacity (1300mAh), they are very useful when selling “high speed” chargers, due to the low capacity the charge time will be very short:







At long last I also got around to review a 1.5V LiIon battery (To fix the voltage difference it uses electronic):







In addition to the NiMH cells, I did also test some alkaline cells. All alkaline are very bad at high current, but looks good when current goes down. For some of them I did a 10mA (0.01A) discharge test. This current is in the same range as a DMM uses and most cells lasted between 13 and 15 days. Premium cells do not always look better than the regular cells.













I did get time to write a few articles during the year, one about charging NiMH:







And one about alkaline and discharging to very low voltages:







I did open some Ultrafire batteries:











Battery chargers



Last year I tested many chargers and it has been the same this year with about 50 chargers (Some of them for battery packs), this means I have nearly 150 battery charger reviews on my site. I have included some regular NiMH chargers and not only LiIon chargers.

The total list of charger can be found on my website.



Many of the big brands NiMH chargers are not very good, they charger cells in series, may have timer or no termination and sort of lies about charge speed.



This one is a rated as a 45minute charger, but needs 2½ hour to charge 4 2000mAh cells and the batteries are in series:







Again the batteries are in series and termination is on time, not when the cell is full:







Panasonic do make some good chargers (They do also make bad chargers):







Looking to more specialized brands and the charger is much better, here is individual charge control for each cell, correct termination and analyzing:







For analyzing LiIon the LiitoKala is fairly simple to use and works well:







When listing good chargers I must also include an Xtar. They have for a couple of years deliver very good LiIon chargers:







A charger/analyzer for 9 volt batteries did also arrive this year:









For very advanced chargers we got the Opus BT-C3100 last year, this year we got the SkyRC MC3000. This charger can do everything any other analyzing charger can do and then some, it handles just about any round cell size, its precision is way better than anything else, this also means that it is a rather expensive charger.











USB equipment for charging



This year I did not do much in powerbanks or usb meters, instead I tested and disassembled nearly 50 usb chargers, this brings the total number of USB chargers (Mains+Power banks) above 70. I made a index with some important parameters to make it easier to locate a good mains charger. For general usb equipment, I have another list on my website.



There where some unsafe ones (Arrow points to a spark):







And some safe with high output power and automatic adaption to any equipment:







And smaller travel chargers:







I did even check a few for car usage:







To make usb chargers faster there have been two upgrade: One is the official usb type-c connector with usb power delivery support, this standard is very complicated to implement, even the cables needs a chip in them. The other is Qualcomm QuickCharge V2.0 that will work on any usb cable. I have started on checking some chargers with QC support:











Led drivers



I tested very few led drivers this year.



This is a update of a driver I tested last year, but with significant improvements:











Anything else



In this category I checked a few interesting things.



For my own project I needed performance data on some cheap ebay converters, I did publish the results:







Some people that has home automation as hobby asked if I could do a check on a mains to 5 volt converter (Basically a usb power supply, without the usb part), it looks to be very nice for small hobby projects:











What to expect in 2016



I do not expect any major changed in 2016, but will probably reduce my publishing frequency (More than 4 articles each week is a bit too much). Like end of 2014 my backlog of batteries are mostly done and I can get around testing the new batteries.

I do plan on changing my LiIon battery test stations to use full 4 terminal testing and temperature sensing on the batteries. When I do that all new high current test will look better!

I have been testing a few 9V batteries and when I have made the script to generate charts I will start publishing them.

There will be some power bank reviews in 2016.



To discuss or ask questions about specific reviews they can usual be found on CPF, BLF and fonarevka (Not all reviews are posted everywhere).



Suggestions about what to test are welcome. When sending suggestion remember to include a link to a shop that ships to EU (Denmark). It is also possible to ask dealers/manufacturs if they will send stuff for review.

you are a great guy and a big enrichment for this community!

thanks for your work!

Yes thank you.
am sure your input is one ot the reasons BLF comes up real high in google searches.
I have entered BLF many times following links for your reviews and they are of excellent quality.

HKJ , You are and have been very , very helpful when

there were answers wanted and most needed ! You are

outstanding in sending out the info and keeping people

up to speed. Thank you and Happy New Year !! :crown:

your tests and reviews are really awesome! :party:
looking forward to your tests for the latest batteries, like 30Q, maybe some panasonics with >3000mah, and some more LG batteries.
I also hope you will test liitokala lii-100

Remarkable work you have been doing for all of us. Big thanks for all the great efforts to enlighten us. Really appreciated.

Thank you HKJ for all your hard work.
Happy New Year.

They will be done and the lii-100 is in the mail.

Huge thanks for your reviews and tests. I base many of my decisions around purchases on your work and I really appreciate it.

Happy New Year!

Thank youso much, you are a boss! :smiley:

A lot of peolple, me too, are curious about it. Decent for the price or just the crap one?
Thanx again from Italy!!!

Thank you very much HKJ! Your feedback has been very useful in personal decisionmaking and I learned a lot too! :slight_smile:

Your contribution to the hobby and well beyond the hobby is outstanding.

HJK, I think that you are one of the most fascinating and educational people on the internet, the amount of testing you do and information you create for us all is incredible.

Few people, me included, know anything about all these batteries and chargers and related electronic products, and you are the international go to source to give us a chance to know what is under the labels and packaging and to make smart purchases that are appropriate to our purposes, and to keep our homes from burning down as we adopt these new flashlights, tools, toys, the ever growing versions and types of chargers, and devices, that utilize these still new technologies.

I suggest you become more selective in what you review as I understand the reviews take a lot of time. Instead of reviewing so many rewraps of the same cell or reviewing obscure batteries like 16650, it would be much much more helpful to your readers if you reviewed relevant batteries like 30Q, HG2, GA, MJ1, etc.

I am not sure I agree with that for a couple of reasons:

1) The rewraps varies in quality, it is very interesting to pick the good ones.

2) My testing equipment can handle about two reviews each week, there are not enough original brands to keep my equipment busy.

The main problem this time around was that I got the rewraps, before I could buy the original cells and I could not really postpone the rewraps.

Thank you for being so productive!

HKJ, you have become an invaluable resource for not only this community but the internet at large.

I too hope you can bump to the top of your list the latest and hottest from LG, Samsung, Sanyo/Panasonic, Sony.

Also could it be possible that now you are considered an authority in batteries, some manufacturers or sellers might start sending you cherry picked cells?

I regularly check your posts. It is very useful to me and many others. thank you!

That is always a risk. The last time I ordered a charger I got an email asking if I wanted to review it, because then they would return the money and give it to me. I.e. some manufacturers/dealers know me, even if I have not written with them before.

With chargers like SkyRC MC3000 it will often be possible for other people to see if I got a better cell for review and then post a comment in the actual review thread.

Generally I believe it is very valuable when people post experience with a product in a review thread. Doing a review I usual only see one copy of the product and I do not have time to get any real user experience with it.

Thanks HKJ for doing a ton of work again this year, providing real data that help us buy good and safe products, and is an invaluable resource for planning and predicting my flashlight builds.

And thanks for this overview, you have tested much more stuff than I realized. :-)