I'm interested in a similar thing. Well it'll be my first charger but I've decided I'll prefer a more general charger for li-ion batteries in case I ever go 14500 or whatever.
The Shekor is currently my main choice, the CPF reviews/analysis sounds promising in particular terminating properly (rather then trickle charging that seems so common) and with a decent charging profile (at least as I understand it). They do seem to terminate low and average but as I remarked in the CPF thread I think better to terminate low then terminate high. May be a little high for 10440 however (well KD doesn't even suggest it for them) although from what I read in CPF there aren't many that are much lower. And as it lacks any sort of current selection it'll be slow with the 18650 batteries. This BTW appears (from the translation) to be one of the complaints in this Japanese review http://www.kansai-event.com/kinomayoi/chg/Li_CHG_Wp2.html . I see now the review has already been discussed somewhat in CPF. Another important thing from the review is modding it to reduce the spring resistance should help increase the termination voltage.
Something that does AA as well would be nice but I've been decidely unimpressed with everything I've seen so far in that area (many seem to have the tendency to blow up at 220-240V). But this is the first time I've seen the WF-188 and it looks interesting. Although I don't know if I'd ever use them, being able to charge LiFePo4 would be nice just in case and selecting the charging rate is something that I've been thinking would be good, that way I can charge 18650s resonably fast while not killing 14500s and the like. However haven't seen any reviews, it may be too new and I don't know if I can wait until they come in and I'm reluctant to be a guinea pig particular since I don't really have the equipement to test it anyway (multimeter that can't connect to a computer/log data is all I have). And of course it may be one of those that has a tendency to blow up at 240V.
I'm looking to spend $20 or less so hobby chargers are out of the question.
BTW do you remember the link to whatever Japanese forum or site analysing the OEM 2x18650 charger (aka HXY etc) you mentioned? I found the Japanese review for the Shekor while searching (only then to later find it was already linked on CPF :-P) but can't seem to find the HXY one. Unless you mean the review for the 1 channel variant. It's interesting because on CPF the HXY wasn't so highly rated http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=229923 although that's partially because of the lack of proper termination.
The HXY that i have i bought from shiningbeam, he actually recommended to me. It does its job and as for the 139 version that i have i have had no problems at all, i charge both protected and unprotected in both chargers with no issues and both cutoff at or around 4.17-4.18 which is good because even though the cells are not fully charged the cells well have a longer lifespan. And another thing you might want to consider is the cells, what brand and size are you going to be using, because some 14500's and 16340's might be too long for use in your device or light.
I use the WF-139 for 18650 and 16340. Tight fight for protected 18650, and have to use a spacer for 16340(protected or not)
For 10440 I use the WF-138. When charging protected 10440 batteries, have to use the 14500 slot with an extender. Unprotected cells fit just fine in the 10440 slots.
Ain't for sure a universal charger(2... lol), but an adviced purchase on CPF.
Never had a problem with these chargers.
You might want to just set your eyes on two chargers, you already have one for 18650's and just get one that will charge the rest of the size formats.
And some others, including Shekor, here:
http://www.kansai-event.com/kinomayoi/chg/Li_CHG_Wp2.html
Thanks guys, seems that I have a choice - buying a low current charger to charge 10440s and 16340s or trading for a Shekor.
Question is if the charging current of 400mA is not too big for a 10440 (seems to be 400mA from the graph in the Shekor thread).
EDIT:
OK, read the thread till the end and it seems that 400mA is not that bad for 10440.
Also read the japanese description of Sekor charger and it seems it's possible to limit the current by swapping a resistor... I will check when it arrives :)
in our website there also have some universal li-lon charger
TrustFire TR001 Lithium Battery Charger for 10440 14500 17670 18500 18650 a little cheaper than DX
TrustFire TR002 Lithium Battery Charger for 10440 14500 17670 18500 18650
Cool let us know how you like it.......would be nice to get another charger to add to my stable.
http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/13
Yeah that's the one I noticed but wasn't sure if it was the right thing as they are testing the 1 cell version not the two cell version. They do comment on the 2 cell version and if I understand the automatic translation correctly I think they are saying it may have a different charging profile from the 1 cell version. More importantly perhaps while I've seen several reports the 2 cell HXY does charge with CC/CV so it appears they did at one time, from reports on DX, CPF and even possibly the Japanese site (they say something about the charging current of the 2009 HXY being different although don't comment on the profile, that's the 1 cell version of course), it appears recent batches have been more dubious testings suggests they don't use CC/CV and some don't even appear to terminate properly.
Haven't yet seen any shots of the internals which may provide a clue why. One explaination would be they changed design to skimp on the quality or perhaps they are using some cheaper ICs which are poorly made but since HXY actually have a website, I wonder whether some of the recent batches are clones and not even made by HXY. Of course it could even be poor build quality or some other design changes leading to resistance and other such problems like with the Shekor which stop it charging properly even though the components are capable and you could correct it manually. At least it doesn't seem to die at 220-240V like some of the other ones though.
So yeah after a brief flirtation with the HXY I'm back with the Shekor I think. As I remarked in CPF if I understand the Japanese site correctly if you correct for the spring resistance defect it has a decent CC/CV profile (well at least the one they tested did).
Shiningbeam is an authorized dealer of the HXY.......he buys direct which is good so you already know that your not getting a copy. Just as long as you dont run your cells completely dry you should be good, with lithium unprotected you should not drain them to the point where the the light shuts off, bad for the cell.
Yeah but SB is in the US so it's expensive (for me) due to shipping. And I haven't really seen enough evidence either way that the recent HXYs on DX and other places are crap because they are copies so the SB ones may show the flaws of the recent DX etc HXY as well
Yes your right about that though, cosidering i dont have one from DX so i really cant compare. If you really want CC/CV then you might want to look at a Pila or hobby charger. The chargers that i have, i have been pleased with- i guess when i encounter a problem then i will just pull out my Duratrax charger and just start using that.
What kind of Duratrax charger do you have?
I have this one buddy...... http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTCK1&P=ML too big for my charging station though.
Nice to have an RC racing background, know what you want and get. This charger does not need a PS like all the others that are out there so it makes it simple to use when it comes to charging packs.
I just watched the video and it's a pretty cool charger for nimh and nicad's.
Yes it is man......what i like about it i can charge a pack at 1.5-2amps and my batt pack just gets warm, unlike the superbrain which misses termination a lot, still not a bad charger since its old just like me. lol
Well old just means that they are made better and tougher than these newer ones.
Nope, old is old...lol.
I'm not that desperate for CC/CV that I'm willing to pay for the Pila or a hobby charger but would prefer something close. Since some of the HXY were evidentally CC/CV I got interested for a while but based on my research it doesn't sound promising I'll get one which does do CC/CV so I'll probably just stick with the Shekor which seems to be close, particularly if you do the spring mod (well these ones could change too but the reports are from fairly recent batches and from KD ones so it looks more promising, what happens with next years batch probably won't matter to me). Hopefully I don't regret the 9 hours or so wait ;-)
Of course knowing my luck a few days after mine has shipped whatever I end up getting I'll read a report that the WF-188 is a super charger which does CC/CV for li-ion and LiFePO4 and with an excellent NiMH charging profile as well :-P
Anyway your hobby charger isn't old, it's a 'senior citizen'