Test/review of Nitecore SC4

Thank you for the review. Guess I will have to use my SC4 as a backup charger in case I have much batteries to refuel… and for everyday use, stick to my trusty Xtars :slight_smile:

PS. few hours after your review someone on forums is selling SC4 :slight_smile:

G'Day HKJ,

Thank you VERY Much for a Superb review.

Btw, I bought 2 to charge my LiIon batteries from Banggood during their B'day sale for U$29.61 and

found them to be Very Good for my requirements, and their UI's operation is very intuitive.

Best Regards,

George

It’s sad really: Nitecore have great vision regarding new products, but then they cut corners and the final product wind up with flaws.

Thanks again HKJ!

Why would they not design this charger to support 2A current in all 4 slots simultaneously? Would it really add this much more to the cost? Or would there be heat issues that would require fan cooling that they were trying to avoid? Just wondering…

There are other chargers out there that support 2A x4 without a fan…

the only reason i still use li-ion single cell charger is because it’s simple and easy to use, and accurate
if i want to charge fast, i can just use my RC charger, with fancy screen and can go up to 6 cell*5A, and it’s just about nearly 30$ at my place(isdt sc-608)

After about 1 week of use my SC4 no longer works on slot 4 and the USB port works some of the time. It will stop sending power through the USB port after a minute or so. It will then reset the USB port automatically and then repeat the same thing losing power after about 1 minute, then resetting again. Slot 4 will do nothing when a battery is installed and it won’t even indicate that a battery is in slot 4. I don’t have slot priority turned on. Super annoying! BG is giving me the run around while I am trying to get a replacement or refund for the defective one that they sent me. Otherwise it worked well for the 1 week previous

Well that sucks. I really like the display. I guess my new charger gonna be become my back up charger. Back to the Xtar.
Thanks for the review HKJ. I should of waited before I bought one. Now I know for next time lol

I purchased my Xtar VP1’s, VP2’s, SV2’s, and the Litokala Lii500 based on HKJ’s reviews. I couldn’t be happier. To be honest, I never was a fan of Nitecore chargers. This review reinforces my opinion.

I have no idea.

Ths SC4 was interesting because of the high total current output, but that was false advertising, and for the looks and display. For 2 cells it does everything it’s expected, the ONE would do that with 4 cells, 4 truly independent channels that provide fast charging, and looks good in the process. It is better than the D4 I had before, but this detail would make or break a purchase decision.

At the moment seems more reliable for me continue using the Zanflare C4, ans some of the Xtar.

To be fair, it does specify 6A total charging current. So, it’s not false advertising. What is a bit misleading (or unclear) is how it manages that current.

Still, it’s an average of 1500mA across 4 slots. I think that’s reasonably fast, at least compared to many other chargers that have much lower charging current. Four Samsung 30Q cells charged in 2 hours. I’m okay with that.

Four independent charging channels would certainly be better. But if you want each of them to support the full 3A charging, then that might make for a much bigger (and noisier due to a fan) charger. If you still would be okay with a 6A total charge, then how do you manage sharing the current across 4 slots? You don’t want to charge cells in parallel, because they might be different capacities or different states of discharge.

A lot of chargers do time-sharing among slots. So I don’t think it’s fair to single out the SC4 as being especially bad in that regard.

I think this is The One: Test/review of Charger GyrFalcon All-44 (Enova)

The GyrFalcon All-44 by Enova, reviewed by HKJ. Charges everything, and up to 1 amp per slot simultaneously. Does it all except analyzing cells. I bought one from Mountain Electronics and have been very happy with it. Enova GYRFALCON ALL-44 4x Li-Ion + NiMH Charger

Supposedly the new MiBoxer C4-12 can do 3A x4, and it has no fan. Alas, I say ‘supposedly’ because no one has verified this yet. :slight_smile:

As I said in another post (or thread) I don’t dislike the charger, I like it a lot better than the D4 despite being about 30% larger, and the display is gorgeous and informative (would be dreamy if it’d show all info on the cells simultaneously), it’s the misleading advertisement that bothers me (a lot, actually). As some people already said, I think this charger was still a little expensive but fine with group buy price, wouldn’t recommend at full price.

Can you be more specific?

it says 4 independent channels, says 3 amp charge in the first slot. They are not truly independent (2 cells are on the connected channels it does not charge as fast) and it only does 3 amp charging when blocking the other connected channel

I think to be more clear they should have said “4 independent slots”. They are separately monitored and you can mix & match any kind of cell in any of the slots.

I think to most users, it doesn’t matter. They don’t really care whether time-sharing is used, or if it uses 4 distinct power channels. It does independently charge each cell.

However, I don’t like that you kind of have to figure this out for yourself. For 1 or 2 cells, it charges exactly how you think. But if you charge 4 cells at the same time, it takes twice as long as you think.

As it is now, I usually enter double the current if I’m charging 4 cells. For example, if I want to charge 4 cells at 1500mA, I’ll tell the charger to charge them at 3000mA. Time-sharing makes the average 1500mA. So I get what I want, but it isn’t intuitive.

This is currently my top favorite charger, and i will still recommend it to my customers after reading HKJ's report. I can't wait to compare it will MiBoxer C4-12 though.

The only complain that i have is that SC4 should display a reduction in charging current (like Lii-402) when 3rd cell is inserted into the bay.

To me, even that wouldn’t be accurate. Slot 3 is dependent on slot 1, and slot 4 is dependent on slot 2.

On that note, is it possible to charge a battery in slot 3 at 1200 mA while charging a battery in slot 1 at 800 mA? How would you program this?

Well, only in that the average charging current is halved if you have something in those additional slots. Other than that, all slots are completely independent.

Yes, I do this quite a bit (mixing 14500 cells with 18650 cells). You can even use different chemistries (lithium-ion and NiMH). The time-sharing allows the unit to change the current when it switches to power the opposite slot, back & forth every few seconds.

So, each slot gets whatever current you set it to, regardless whether it’s slot 1 & 3, or 1 & 2, or whatever.

It works out well in the end, but it’s a bit confusing until you figure out what it’s doing behind-the-scenes.