Hi guys, I am puzzled. This Li500 comes with a 0v activation right? However when I put a 0V (long discharged NiMH battery) into the charger, it does not “revive” the battery. I even put it overnight for more than 24hours. All it shows is “NULL” on the display.
Disappointed, I googled how to reactivate NiMH and found some guy on instructables (Credit to that particular person) who showed how to reactivate with a good NiMH battery by connecting in parallel with the dead battery for 30 secs. Guess what happened?
In 30 secs, the battery is recognised by the Li500 and it’s charging. Confused, thinking it’s a fluke, I connected the other battery (which was 0V) for 20 secs, it didnt work. But tried agian with 30 secs, voila, its awaken!
So question is, why in the world did the 0V activation feature not work for this case, is it because it was meant for Li ion batteries only…?
I’ve had such a cell. It’s possible the cell is damaged and having great self-discharge, not enough for the activation current to do anything. Such a cell with self-discharge in a day or two by itself.
If you put your problem NiMH cell into a dumb charger for a few hours you might be able to revive it enough to allow the Lii-500 to continue charging. However the cell is probably stuffed and due for retirement.
It’s odd, 10 years ago no one knew much about charging Lithium. Now lots of people seem to know nothing about NiMh.
Technically NiXX is harder to charge than lithium. But, if you screw up lithium is much less forgiving.
NiXX discharged to 0, may…or….may not……be a problem. Some smart chargers may…or….may not……be able to deal with it. As stated, put it in a dumb charger, that’s why you keep one around. Often all it needs is a couple minutes to take enough charge to get going in the smart charger. If it does NOT take an immediate charge this is forboding of more serious damage, especially if the cell is old or has been abused. You can zap/bridge the cell as you found, but that may only be a temporary solution for a bad cell on it’s way out.
The above is for single cells. Packs are a different matter.
I’ve had several Ikea NiMh LSD batteries that read 0v out-of-the pack. None of my smarter chargers (Accucel 6, Opus C3100, etc) wanted anything to do with them until I put them into a dumb charger for several minutes to get the voltage up. Then I was able to charge them in the other chargers.
Based on discharge tests done immediately after charging and several months afterwards (left some sitting around for 6 months after charging) they didn’t suffer any damage from being at 0v’s.
NiCads (single cells) can be stored (preferably) at zero volts. Not sure about NiMh, the ‘experts’ vary on that. I have found new/good cells that immediately bounce back with only a short charge from a dumb pack seem to be fine. If they need extra encouragement, the outlook may not be so good. These internet sites that indicate you can save/improve/revive your dead cells by zapping it don’t really know what’s going on I think.
PACKS should NEVER be drawn down much below 0.8-0.9v/cell, lest you court cell reversal and a dead pack.
It’s interesting how you can take a ‘dead’ NiMh, put it in a dumb charger for 1 minute and it will read 1.2-1.3v, clearly indicating how useless voltage readings are for determining capacity in a NiXX cell.
Looking for an batterycharger to household need and also to manage the li-ion-batteries intended for handheld-lasers and powerbanks.
and been trying to get an idea of the best budget charger that also gives some data about the filling-values of power, and perhaps the resistance, ewen thow it likely aint present in budget class or at least in an accurate way…
are an rokie on this subject and notice this charger can be optained for around 15US delivered (without AC 2A adapter, but most got them in bunches from old equipment like laptops) so thats fine, but unsure if it does manage 4.35v on those HV cells (it seems it doesnt)
I notice the 500 Engineer do got some age under its skin… Is it worth the 15bucks here as of 3q 2016, or better alternatives that make more sense in optaining?
The Opus C3100 V2.2 seems to be around 33US shipped, but doesnt seem to be sold without adapter inkl., so doubtfull if that worth more the double value.
NB got my answeers, will jump on the Li500, seems like an better deal, and under half the cost of Opus3100, and im literally no fan of fan-noise.
btw t can be optain to 20bucks inkl. AC adapter and perhaps it would be prefered to have an AC adapter from the same brandmaker… it seems there are different batches some labeled under Colaier and some Liitokala (should be same corp) and some is patended in the bottom and some aint, are there any info on upgrades, fakes, versions or anything down that line, that is worth having in mind.?
Is there any way to calibrate the voltage on a Lii-500.
Mine won’t charge or recognize a battery over 3.9v. because it reads it as 4.2v. plus.
Tomtop tells me to read the directions, learn something about li-ion batterys or take it to a “professional guy”.
Solutions?
Id like to know this too. Mine likes to overcharge cells to 4.25v
I know they are def over 4.2v because my vc4 doesnt even detect them. The vc4 wont detect cells over 4.2v
Just got my Lii-500 and want to test battery capacity. Will it make any difference to the final capacity number if I put in a fully charged battery or a battery already mostly discharged when I run the fast test?
I have a number of batteries that have been discharged through use and I held them aside to run a battery capacity test so I wouldn’t have to go through the full discharge process. But I am starting to think the battery capacity isn’t tested in the charge phase but rather in the discharge phase.
I would like to use the fast charge test, for all my lithium batteries protected, unprotected and IMR’s, because it takes less time . Rather than use the NOR test which goes through a longer cycle and I have read is only more accurate for Ni-mh batteries. What is the right answer? Thanks.
NOR test is more accurate is how it has been explained to me. And from the results I am seeing, I think that is correct.
State of battery charge does not matter when you do the NOR test or the Fast Test. NOR Test records discharged mAh / Does C <> D <> C … cycles Fast Test records charge mAh / Does D <> C … cycles
Mine tends to show 4.22-4.23v at the end of charge. Take them out and immediately check them with 2 different DVM and I get 4.15-4.17v. Then put them in my VC4 and they start charging.
It’s a $20-25 charger with a lot of features. I guess I’m surprised with people who are surprised they don’t get a perfect unit. I would imagine there is a fair amount of component substitution depending on what is available.
Teacher thanks for the reply. I have read the brochure which gives a brief description of how to run the process but it leaves a lot out. If I had no knowledge of how the capacity measurement process works, and I’m not far from that low level, I would just assume that the capacity level would be measured from the low of the discharge to the high point of the charge. But when I look at the different ways Fast and NOR approach the process it looks to me like the measure measurement is taken from the high charge point to the low discharge point, then the Lii recharges the battery just to leave a fully charged battery. I don’t think the charger has any real knowledge of the numbers but only how much it can drain the battery or push electricity into the battery. So if I put a partially discharged battery in the Fast mode it either won’t give me an accurate reading or it will fully charge the battery first to then discharge and get a reading.
No problem ‘Windsurf’, glad to try and help. And IMO the User Manual leaves a TREMENDOUS Amount out.
In Fast Test the battery is first:… fully discharged to 2.8V <> then it is fully charged ( capacity is measured on this charge cycle )
In NOR Test mode the battery is first:… fully charged <> then it is fully discharged ( capacity is measured on this discharge cycle ) <> then it is fully charged again.
In either Fast or NOR Test mode it makes no difference what charge or discharge state the battery is in when you begin.
( As long as you have not abused the battery, run it down to 0 V or below 2 V or something unconvential. If this has been done, I don’t know. )
Oh yeah, as said before; when END quits blinking…… the battery is fully charged. Not before.
As far as I’ve seen every single charger says it has a ± of .05 so if your battery charges to 4.15-4.25 its within tolerance limits. And actually if yours goes to below 4.2 the battery will get more charge and discharge cycles. Your talking like maybe 2% of battery capacity.
I have a nitenumen that its onboard charging undercharges but other people’s overcharge I think its just luck of the draw whether you get one that does below 4.2 or up to 4.25 I don’t believe I’ve ever had a charger stop at exactly 4.20 more like 4.19 or 4.21 etc. Doesn’t really bother me even st 4.25 its still within tolerance acceptable. Now if the charger is going to 4.3 on a 4.2 battery then that’s a problem. Cells are cheap bow I recycle once a year I go through and under performers go. Or if a 2600 battery only has 2200 left on a 1amp discharge in the bin it goes. 32 NCR b are $100 shipped now or 24 30q, 24 NCR ga etc. I’ll be getting one of these chargers soon. And I’ll check it and report back in this thread how my unit charges. I use like 4 batteries a day anyway. Vc2 goes 24/7 really need a 4 bay charger anyway
