Firstly I would like to say that I was given this charger for free to review by MiBOXER but my review is as unbiased as I can make it.
This is a link to their website http://www.miboxer.com/eng/p1.html
This is my first charger review.
This appears to be this companies first venture into chargers (apparently more chargers are in the pipeline) but the charger already has some pedigree as it supplied to Olight.
For example it is the charger that comes with the Olight X7 Marauder bundle.
This is a 4 slot “smart” charger that automatically identifies cell chemistry & is compatible with the following
Compatible with: Li-ion（4.2V / 4.35V）/ LiFePO4（3.6V）battery.
Battery Specification:
10340/10350/10440/10500/12340/12500/12650/13450/13500
13650/14350/14430/14500/14650/16500/16340(RCR123)
16650/17350/17500/17650/17670/18350/18490/18500/18650
18700/20700/21700/22500/22650/25500/26500/26650
Compatible with: Ni-MH / Ni-Cd(1.48V)
Battery Specification: AA AAA AAAA C
It can charge Li-ions & LiFePO4 at 800ma or 350 ma across all 4 slots, NiMH & NiCd at 300ma or 150ma.
It can also re-set tripped Lithium PCB”s & “soft charge” deeply depleted cells.
Slot 4 only can be used for capacity testing & IR measurement.
So what do you get ?
The charger comes in a box with various printed information on the outside.
Front
Back
Inside the box is a plastic tray holding the charger, mains lead & instructions (in English).
The charger can also accept a 12v supply such as from a car cigarette lighter but no lead for this is supplied although a generic 12v lead will fit the standard connection.
So lets try charging some cells.
I popped in 4 protected Panasonic 18650 NCRB”s, so the charger will accommodate the longest of li-ions as these are just over 70mm.
When you turn the charger on you have the option, using the mode button, to select 350ma or 800ma charging across all 4 slots for Li-ions (default is 800ma).
I selected 800ma across all 4 slots.
The charger shows information for the selected slot (slots selected via the slot button) in terms of cell voltage, charge time, selected charging ma, cell chemistry & charging mode (CC) on the large display screen, which I like.
Plus charge bars flash for each slot during charging.
The screen backlight goes off after a few minutes so is not obtrusive.
During charging the cells barely got warm.
Once the cells show 4.20v on the display (more about this later) the charge rate slowly drops from the selected (or default) 800mah & changes from CC to CV.
At about 100ma CV charger rate the display changes to FUL & charging is complete
At this point I turned the charger off & removed the 4 cells.
I immediately checked each cell with my DMM & found that the cells were all showing 4.16v, less than the stated 4.20v on the charger display but within the accepted +/-.05v lithium charging tolerance.
I rechecked the cells after resting for an hour & they all showed 4.15v resting voltage.
With the same DMM (a pretty accurate, as far as I know, UNI-T) & using a Liitokala Lii-500 charger & the same cells I get readings of 4.19v immediately off the charger & resting voltage of 4.18v.
This charger gives identical results in terms of straight off the charger & resting voltage to my Nitecore D4, perfectly acceptable but a little lower than I personally would like.
Next I decided to try the capacity measuring function of the charger.
As mentioned this function is only available on slot 4 & with all chemistries discharges at 400ma or 200ma.
For this test I decided to use a Purple EFEST 18650 IMR 3100mah cell.
This cell has only seen a few cycles & recently showed a capacity of about 3,000ma when tested on a Lii-500.
For the capacity test the charger charges the cell fully, discharges it (I selected 400ma discharge rate) then fully charges the cell again.
I must say that I found it fiddly to select the capacity test function.
The start of the discharge test
The end of the discharge showing the capacity & the charger has gone back into charge mode
Again during the complete capacity test the cell barely got warm & the capacity figure of 2976mah closely matches my results with other analysing chargers for this cell.
I again used my DMM immediately on pulling the cell from the charger & saw 4.16v then 4.15v resting voltage an hour later.
I didn”t do any NiMH testing as really they are not cells that I use but based on my li-ion testing & the stated NiMH charge rates of 300ma max, 150ma low & 400ma & 200ma discharge rates for capacity testing I would assume that the charger would handle NiMH fine.
Conclusions:
Pros
This seems to be a well made & constructed multiple chemistry charger with reasonable specs.
It feels solid with nice rail tensions.
It has a nice large easy to view display.
It offers more functions than some chargers at a comparable price being able to do capacity testing & IR.
It is fairly competitively priced (I believe the RRP from a dealer is $29.99 or $33 direct from MiBOXER) against some chargers with less functions & lower charge rates.
Cons
Capacity function is fiddly to select (I found anyway but maybe that is just me as I have only used the function once).
Charge rate is a little low for today”s high powered 18650 cells & 26650”s meaning charging can take a long time.
Discharge rates are likewise low meaning capacity testing is a slow process.
Capacity & IR function is only available on one slot (slot 4).
Although end charge voltage is acceptable being within the +/- .05v recommended for Li-ions I would prefer to see cells coming off the charger at 4.20v.
That is just my preference though & I know that some people prefer their cells charged to slightly under 4.20v to increase cell life.
Finally would I buy this charger, well personally no.
There is nothing really wrong with the charger but myself I prefer higher charging & discharging rates to speed things up & capacity testing & IR testing on all 4 slots.
Having said the above it is certainly competitive against some other similarly priced chargers where it offers more features & slightly higher charge rates.
Again I would like to state that I was given this charger for free to review & believe I have been as unbiased in my appraisal of it as I can.