Question about LiitoKala Li-500 testing modes

This charger has FAST and NOR (normal) test modes for measuring capacity, which one shall I use for NiMH batteries, and why? From what I’ve read, FAST mode discharges and then charges the batteries, measuring the charged capacity. NOR mode, on the other hard, charges, discharges and recharges the batteries, measuring the discharge capacity.

NOR.
Charge capacity testing is highly unreliable for NiMh. Early or late termination can mess it up significantly, plus due to the termination mechanism it’s not inherently accurate anyway.

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But if the termination is to early (like mostly with Xtar VC4SL) the discharge test will also show a low capacity

What I do don´t like with NOR-tests is that many chragers only show the dischareg and not the charge capacity

If the battery has poor current support it will appear to terminate early on discharge. In reality it’s a lousy battery. If it terminates early on charge, that could be the battery (high IR maybe), the charger, or some kind of compatibility problem.

I don’t know of any charger that will give you both charge and discharge capacity on NOR type tests. The only one that really matters is discharge from full. Having different current draws can be important, and that’s where most of them seriously fall down, usually only doing 0.5A to maybe 1A. (The 500 is only 0.5A)

You can always do a discharge, then a charge to full if that’s important to you.

Also note that the current selection will discharge at 250mA at 300/500mA options and 500mA at 700/1000mA

I mostly use charge/discharge instead of NOR/Test if the charger supports this (Zanflare C4 can NOR but not discharge, Xtar VC4SL, IQ338XL also)

The Accupower IQ338XL shows after NOR the discharge and the charger (after discharge), maybe it´s similar with LiitoKala, I think both chargers very similar.