Soshine SC-S1 Max(V3.0) Fast Charger 4000mAh Output Current questions

4A is a pretty high charge current, and the rule of thumb is about 0.5C of the battery’s capacity, which would be about 1-1.5A for most 18650 cells. Check out some other chargers, such as the intellicharger i4.

Ok. Good thing i asked before i bought :slight_smile: But could it harm the battery?

Yeah, i was looking at the Intellicharger4 first. Maybe ill go for that instead. How long would it take to charge 4 empty batteries?
And that the output current is 375mA x 4 / 750mA x 2 means it charges the batteries with 375mA when its 4, and 750mA when its 2 batteries in it? So its a 3A (750mA*4) charger in total? Would the chargingtime then be 3A/13600(3400mAh*4) = 4,53 hours?

Check i4 V2 review for actual charge times.
http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20SysMax%20i4%20V2%20UK.html

Thanks :slight_smile:

But still, i just wonder why the other charger is no good. Could it harm the batteries, or could something get on fire or something?

Yes it will shorten the life of the batteries but the bigger concern is such high charge currents will greatly increase your risk of the battery venting toxic gas & chemicals all over… plus shoot fire. Seriously they can emit a jet of fire.
A lot of people charge their batteries in a “li-po bag”. Fire resistant fiberglass pouch. Ebay lipo bag. Toxic gas will still vent into the area tho. Can’t be a totally sealed container since the venting gas will just blow it open.

An appropriate & safe charger is kinda of important. :bigsmile:

The Soshine doesn’t do 4000mA to each battery !

It does 1000mA in each slot.

Sysmax Intellicharger i4 does 750 mA in each slot, so is slower to charge.

And from the Sysmax instructions:
*Precautions:

  1. When charging a single battery in the I4, the charging current can reach as high as 750mA, which exceeds the current many Ni-MH/Ni-Cd AAA and 10440 Li-ion batteries can withstand. For this reason, under no circumstances should a single AAA or 10440 battery be charged on it’s own, as potential overheating, damage or even explosion may occur.
  2. Due to the aforementioned reasons, it is recommended that a minimum of two (2) AAA or 10440 rechargeable batteries are placed in the charging slots together. When charging two batteries in the I4, be sure to always place them in either slot 1 and 3 or slot 2 and 4.*

Yea, thats much more likely. lol. I just have trouble trusting any charger from dx… Never know when they might change suppliers & give you a counterfeit charger / firebomb.

Fasttech has some nice chargers & a tp4056 board from ebay is a quality chip for ultra cheap.

Thats weird, placing batteries in 1/3 or 2/4 means that each battery will get 750mA in pulses, as much as I understand from HKJ’s review and that means that theres no difference whether you charge one battery in any of the ports or two batteries in ports 1/3 or 2/4.
That means you should charge AAA and 10440 batteries in pair in slots 1/2 or 3/4, so each cell will get 375mA, right?

Oh and another thing - what about 1/4 and 2/3 - how much each port will give out to battery?

I have both the Soshine and the Sysmax.

I did not buy them from DX.

I prefer the Soshine. It’s faster and the batteries are easier to insert and remove.
The Sysmax has good reviews but the spring slides are tough and not smooth.

Im thinking either the Soshine or I4. The problem is that i also have some 14500 and 1,2V batteries laying around here, and the Soshine does not support those.

On the other hand, 750mA split on to 4 slots charging 3400mAh batteries would take forever to charge comparing to the Soshine which has 1000mA to each slot.

I have to choose, either fast charge or able to charge all batteries :stuck_out_tongue:

10440 and 14500 ability is exactly why I ended up buying the Sysmax i4 as well !

Most of my use is 18650s so the Soshine is used more often.

How much time do you use to charge your 18650’s with the Soshine charger, and what kind of 18650’s?

Protected Panasonic 3100s and unprotected laptop pulls.
Depends on how much use they’ve had.
I don’t normally time them, but that’s an idea - of the 4 18650s in the Skyray King I could do 2 in each charger and time them.
The Sysmax is noticeably slower .

Aha. Thats some good batteries :slight_smile: Im going for the Panasonic 3400 when im finished with my studies and could afford som real batteries. For now im thinking of the Trustfire Flames 3000mAh (2600mAh) Half the price and a pretty good energystorage :wink:

That would be interesting! I’ll be waiting for the results :smiley:

Ok, so the Sysmax is noticeably slower. That pushes me further towards the Soshine. The Soshine also comes with a car-adapter, and i was thinking when im travelling distances, it would be good to have a fast charger for my batteries so i could charge as much as possible between places :slight_smile:

Besides, i hate waiting! :stuck_out_tongue:

If you’re on a budget the ML-102 is a good single cell charger.
Good luck with those Trustfire flames !
I assume you’ve done some research.

OK, here are the results of one quick sample:

4 Green LG 18650 2600mAh from a Dell laptop.

Cells were all at 4.06V when taken out of the Skyray King, so hardly used.

At 7:57pm - I put 2 in the Soshine S1-max V3, and 2 in the Sysmax Intellicharger i4 V2.

At 8:38 the 2 in the Soshine were finished, and measured 4.20V
At 9:12 the 2 in the Sysmax were finished and measured 4.19V

So, the Sysmax will do 10440 and 14500 as well as 18650 but is slower.
The Soshine is faster and easier to get cells in and out of, but about $3 more.

And yes, I know you should not use unprotected in multi cell lights !

The King runs it’s cells in parallel, has a lockout and I’m only testing :expressionless:

Thanks for the test Suncoaster :slight_smile:

The Soshine was about twice as fast. Your test made me make up my mind. It also made me sure about my choice. Thank you :slight_smile:

Despite what it says on the box the Sysmax is not actually appropriate for 10440. 750mA pulses does not truly equal 375mA. Also one of the pair will often finish before the other & the slower one now gets un-pulsed 750mA for the end of it cycle.
Will it most likely be ok? Sure, people often charge 10440 too high since it hard to find chargers preset to 200-300mA.
Still reducing battery capacity & life span. With 10440s tiny capacity I like to keep as much as possible.
Still higher risk of vent with flame. 10440 does have less volume to vent tho.

A modified $1.65 tp4056 charger board will be happy to do any current you set. 200mA to 1A.
Not saying Sysmax isn’t a good charger for other batteries, just for ~$2 you can mod a tp4056 for 200mA & its a quality CC/CV chip for ultra cheap.

I was looking at the Fenix store site the other day, and they sell a 2 slot charger that has 1000mA each slot. They recommend this charger for their batteries (2600mAh).
It could not be too dangerous when they sell and recommend a 1000mA per slot charger, and the box TK75 comes with its own room for the charger…