Choosing a 9V Charger : LiitoKala Lii-ND4 or HTRC CH4

I want to upgrade to a smart NIMH charger (my current charger is outdated and unreliable, there is no clear status indication and it gets really hot).
I've been searching for a 9V/AA/AAA NI-MH charger for batteries (IKEA LADDA, JCB)
that I bought for very low discharge applications (remote control, computer mouse, smoke alarm).
I expect to use the charger about once per month, less than 4 batteries each time.

Unfortunately the most popular chargers lack 9V support.
The most attractive options I found (sub USD $20) until now are:

- LiitoKala Lii-ND4

LiitoKala Lii-ND4 NiMH/Cd charger aa aaa charger LCD Display and Test battery capacity For 1.2V aa aaa and 9V batteries.

Input: DC 12V/1.5A

Output: DC 1.48V (300mA\500mA\700mA\1000mA) / 9V (30mA)

USB output: 5V/1A

Suitable batteries: NiMH/Cd AA, AAA, 9V, battery.

*Professional settings for NiMH battery characteristics.

* Added -dV/dt charging function.

* There are 4 working modes: CHARGE, DISCHARGE, REFRESH, TEST.

* There are 4 charging current options.

* LCD screen to display battery status in real time.

- HTRC CH4

4 Slots Multi-function Battery Charger Li-ion Li-fe Ni-MH Ni-CD Smart Charger for AA/AAA/18650/26650/6F22/16340/9V Battery

Input voltage :Type-C / Micro USB, DC 5V 2A

Output Voltage :4.35±0.1%/4.2V±0.1%/1.48V±0.1% 9V(6F22)±0.1%

Output Current: Li-ion:1000mA*2(High)/500mA*4(Low)

Ni-MH/Ni-Cd:1000mA*2(High)/500mA*4(Low)

9V(6F22):100mA*3

Compatible with:

Li-ion/IMR/INR/ICR/LiFePO4

NI-MH/Ni-Cd: AA, AAA, AAAA, C 9V(6F22)

Which of these would you recommend?
Does anyone here own a 9V charger that he could recommend?

Don’t bother. 9v NiMh frankly are lousy batteries. Not LSD, very low capacity, high discharge……just awful. Really, I cannot emphasize that too much. Dead end. Don’t go there. If you have……run away.

Recycled all of mine when I discovered 9v (8.4v really, 2S) Li-On. WAY better. No comparison. Decent capacity, hold a charge for a long time, have decent output if required. Seem to have a pretty good life-span too, at least the ones I have. I even use them in smoke alarms, but I do have to stay on top of the charge, about every 6 months.

What liion 9v you use? I recently bought a few for my electric bass guitar and the batteries are noisy garbage for my audio needs.
OKCell and PKCell is noisy pwm buzz
Doublepow seems fine and quiet but they feel uncomfortably warm to charge with their internal micro usb charger

Thanks for sharing guys.
Could you please suggest specific brands/models of 9V liion batteries
and also the brand/model of a suitable charger?

First, a history note. Both brands came to me as discards from an Aquarium I volunteer for. They go through a LOT of batteries for all kinds of stuff and tend to replace them routinely.

2 brands:

  1. iPowerUS, 9v 520mAh, Professional. Note on the battery that says [No noise, Stable, Safety] Charge with iPowerUS Charger ONLY!
    I have some of these that are 10 years old. No telling how many times they’ve been cycled. Likely a LOT. Since they are used by a rotating staff the use/abuse was likely significant.
    I charge them with a hobby charger and a 9v adapter I modified. Any showing below 400mAh were recycled. The one in front of me is from 2013, and still has a verified 500mAh @ 0.1A draw. They will easily put out 0.5A, but I don’t use them that way.
    They do have an over volt protection circuit that does seem to kick in when I’ve deliberately used a 9v ‘dumb charger’ on them. I DO NOT routinely charge them that way.

2. EBL 6F22 9V, 600mAh.
These do not have a date code on them so I don’t know how old they are. I am pretty sure they are newer than the iPowerUS based on the brand and how they look. They are likely less expensive replacements for iPowerUS or maybe more easily available via Amazon.
The Amazon listing has a lot more people that are not happy with them. I personally do not find them nearly as good. Even likely being newer, many of them showed less than 400mAh when tested. Remember, these are used with an unknown history.
I’m pretty sure these would have ‘noise’.

Here’s some reviews of all 3 varieties of 9v: Battery test-review 9V comparator

Do not use 9V nimh batteries in a smoke alarm.
Last week i replaced a 9V alkaline battery in a smoke alarm because it gave a low battery warning (short beep every few minutes), the voltage of the “used” 9V battery was 8,68V.
The nominal voltage of 9V nimh battery is only 8,4V, that is even lower than the low battery warning voltage of the smoke detector.
I replaced the 9V alkaline with a 9V Lithium-thionylchloride (Li-SOCl2) battery to try out if it will last longer than the 8 months with the alkaline battery.
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32779884127.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dSE4nH0

I think your particular brand of smoke alarm requires a high voltage. I’ve used alkaline in my first alerts for a couple years. I also just had one beeping low voltage at me with a Heavy Duty 9v in there that tested over 9v on a DVM, but is fine with the 9v Li-on at under 8.4v. Those alarms seem to be fine down to about 7.6v before they notify low voltage. Don’t know what the problem with the HD 9v was.

Addendum- The smoke alarm I was having problems with turned out to be a malfunctioning unit. The batteries were working properly. Smoke alarm discarded….only 3 years old.

The batteries comparator ( Battery test-review 9V comparator) shows clearly the differences between 9V Li-Ion, NiMh and Alkaline in terms of capacity/discharge. Great tool.
iPowerUS 9v 520mAh seems excellent for a premium price. Since the requirements aren’t high, EBL 6F22 9V 600mAh could be enough and budget friendly. Looking at the batteries comparator that you shared, Soshine 9V LiIon 650mAh seems to be a good alternative as well.
Thank you very much.

Now I can’t consider the charger “LiitoKala Lii-ND4” anymore because it doesn’t support Li-Ion.

I don’t have extensive experience, but I have inherited exactly those 2 batteries, and they did get extensive use. The iPowerUS obviously held up. EBL, not as well.
So….kind of like Eneloops vs cheap (Chinese) NiMh. If you want a really good NiMh AA you buy Japanese Eneloops.
What’s your budget, what’s your likely use, and over what time frame?

The NiMh AA ( IKEA LADDA 2450mAh ) and NiMh AAA ( IKEA LADDA 900mAh ) batteries I currently have are enough,
they hold the charge for months in devices that use very low current (TV remote control, computer mouse).

The two NiMh 9V ( JCB 200mAh ) batteries I bought for smoke alarms are new, I don’t expect them to last long.
I’ll keep monitoring them and I plan to upgrade them to Li-ion in the future (most likely to the “Soshine 9V LiIon 650mAh ”).

It’s ok to charge them every 3 to 6 months (instead of throwing alkaline batteries away).

First I want to buy a charger that supports Li-ion and NiMh 9V / AA / AAA,
with built in protection to automatically stop charging (for safety).
My budget for the charger is maximum USD $30.

I’ve been happy with the EBL 600mah Lion “9V”. I got the 5 pack here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072ND49S9/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It’s nice to know that they are less likely to bleed acid into your $300 Multimeter or whatever….but I’m still concerned about it.

Did you get one? I’m looking at the Dlyfull A4 too with two 9V bays. The last Dlyfull charger HKJ tested with 9V charging only showed when it was charging and done charging, and I’d like one that has analyzing capabilities for 9V. It does nimh and li-on. It’s nearly $40 on Amazon though.

I also see the BTY-V407 that has three 9V bays. It looks like it’s a CH4 with a different shell and without the button.

The Liitokala Lii-ND4 also lacks 9V analyzing features, and doesn’t do li-on.

Even the expensive AccuPower IQ338XL lacks 9V analyzing.

Opus BT-C900 is another option, but it’s not available on Amazon right now. It looks like the only one with 9V analyzing. HKJ didn’t like how it handled li-on. I’ve had two Opus chargers fail, and I’m only considering it because I’d be using nimh batteries with it, so it probably won’t burn down my house if it’s my third Opus charger to fail.

Alternatively, if you have time and soldering skills, you could use a hobby charger. That’s what I’m using right now, but I like the convenience of a multi bay charger that still has analyzing capabilities.

Screw it. Ordered the Opus.

re: 9v battery charger.

The Liitokala Lii-S8 also has 2 9v-battery charger bays, although there’s no display for the 9v charging (only green/red to indicate “still charging” or “finish charging”). Lii-S8 is an 8-bay Li-Ion/NiMh charger. I don’t know how well the Lii-S8 charges 9v batteries though…

How have the LSD Tenergy 9V batteries been?