LiitoKala Lii-S1, successor of the revered Lii-100

That was a quick sale then.
But congrats to the people who were able to get the deal.

The store’s sale item page still falsely lists them for $2.80, but clicking on the link to the item page reveals the regular $7.99 price.

The listing also indicates that just over 200 orders have been placed since January 15th, and there are still 1500+ available.

Whatever quantity they were willing to sell for $2.80, it wasn’t many.

Add the convoluted way this store does its listings, and how the AE site operates in general, it’s definitely caveat emptor.

To add confusion, Liitokala apparently operates several “official” store fronts on AE?

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1823237
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/bigsale/217753_224021.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/1045132

Or are these all resellers claiming to be official? Guess we’ll never know…

Yeah, I noticed that earlier in the week.

Liitokala’s own site links to “https://liitokala.aliexpress.com/” which is the “Liitokala Official Flagship Store” I’ve also seen one with Hong Kong in the URL.

I’ve read that the best way to ID, if not necessarily discern between different stores is to look at the store ID number, but it wouldn’t surprise me if sellers operate multiple stores. In buying other stuff from AE, I’ve long suspected that is the case, without even considering the amount of image/listing stealing that occurs.

It all seems kinda sketchy, but it comes with the territory I suppose. Cheap stuff is hard to resist sometimes, but the risk is there.

I just wonder why, even if for their own sanity, why the sellers don’t just create a single listing for each product, instead of multiple listings, some crammed with entirely disparate items, resulting in lots of duplicates and potential confusion for shoppers.

I had a couple of the S1s in my cart, but entirely forgot about the timing of the sale. I wouldn’t have minded getting a couple to play with at that price, but as a consumer, I no longer feel the need to play games to save a few bucks, and these kinds of tactics on the part of LK don’t encourage me to look to them again in the future. I’d rather deal with someone like Simon at Convoy, who is still saddled with the same deficiencies of AE’s site, but at least operates in an upstanding manner.

Back to your regularly scheduled program…

as far as i can tell, this morning while they’re still at sale for 2.80$ i spotted only 125 items for sale in stock…since all 125 pieces were sold, sale is ended…it’s typical for many ae sellers, only small batch is actually for sale…

Mine came today and I’m charging my first battery. So far it seems to work well. Right now the built in display reads 10mv lower than my Fluke 189. I’ll check the voltage when it terminates.

Glen,
Did you get it for the cheaper price?
I need one for my Brother but missed the sale.

No, I paid $6.99 from Banggood. Definitely worth the price IMO.

[FANFARE]

Hear ye, hear ye!

HKJ’s review is up:

Off to read it now :slight_smile:

That’s still a good price for a nice charger.
Might have to order a couple.

That’s quite disappointing. Let’s hope they are not all like that.

I hear ya. My first cell is still charging at the 1 amp setting. It’s up to 4.16 volts. I’ll measure the cell when it terminates.

Once it’s done, let us know how long it took. Was it a fairly depleted cell to begin with?

No, it was at 3.88 volts. Next time I’ll use a depleted cell and use my USB analyzer to check the input current draw.

Not sure how helpful that would be since you’ll be monitoring incoming current at 5V instead of outgoing current to the cell at whatever voltage the cell is at a given point in the charging process. I guess one could calculate this out, based on some efficiency factor.

Well, I’ve just come back from reading HKJ’s review, and yes, LiitoKala have disappointed me as well.

I’ll be breaking my Lii-S1 chargers up for parts when they arrive, and sticking with my trusty Lii-100 chargers instead.

So true, but it’s the best I can do without putting the battery in series with a with my Fluke or current clamp while charging. I’ll rig it up when I have time.

Final battery voltage right after termination was 4.2246 Volts

Yup. Simple enough to do. I made a little tab from a piece of PCB and I soldered two short pieces of wire to it so that I can connect a DMM with aligator clips to it. Not pretty, but it works. :slight_smile:

I have to order some circuit board material. It’s funny because in my early days I worked for a circuit board manufacturer. My company used to buy all sorts of grades from G10, FR4, teflon, etc in 4 x 8 feet sheets. I took home scraps back in the 70’s. I gave away some to my electronic buddies, the rest got lost in the shuffle after I moved. It kills me that I have to buy some now… lol

Just sent this telling-off email to sales@liitokala.com.cn:

Hello,
Regarding my previous inquiry:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/49693/86
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/50712 HKJ's review.
Charger DOES NOT DISPLAYS REAL TIME STATUS OF CURRENT FLOW via sense resistor voltage drop measurement and conversion (as you claimed previously in your answer).
It also has some issues, like a very dim top-off charge for li-ion cells (detrimental) and maybe too early current tapering. On top of this, seems like it's not very robust.
Hope this is of service to you.
Best regards,
Salvador Barqueros
Cheers