As to the chip, I did take it apart and couldn't find anything identifiable in there. I was going to adapt the MCP73831 chip to one of the existing boards, but the parts alone are more expensive than this entire charger. Sure, it's a bit slower but really not too bad. The faster solution is still the LM2596 buck board, but this works with no adjustment and no external power supply.
Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend cheap AC powered chargers sold direct from china. :~ Often they just don’t obey any laws or regulations concerning safety.
There is a usb powered 4.35v external battery charger for the Samsung Galaxy S3. Its $6 but it doesn’t carry the danger of cheap chinese AC powered devices. Wouldn’t need to go through the adjustment of the LM2596 boards. With a usb charger like this Galaxy S3 one or a MCP73831/2 you can add a tp4065 or other usb charger in parallel to boost its current. One of cottenpicker’s chargers does the same, using a 4.2 chip in parallel with a 4.35v chip.
Good idea RMM. When I started looking at the 4.35v cells I got hung up on the fact that there must be charging ICs for use within phones which use 4.35v cells. A retrofit with an MCP73831 was all I could think of, cost made me give it up. External chargers never crossed my mind!
For more current, maybe we should try the Yiboyuan SS-1 AC, which states 600mA. Yiboyuan has at least 3 different 600mA 4.35v chargers, but the SS-1 seemed least expensive.
I’ve seen others doing that charger swap you mention to speed things up, but I wonder what effect it has. It seems to me that doing a complete CC/CV charge to 4.2v and then starting over with CC/CV to 4.35v might do something undesirable?
I’ve never fully understood exactly what makes a CC/CV charge cycle so good in the first place, so I wasn’t sure.
Is it simply that the CC phase protects the cell from overcurrent and CV kicks in once we reach the maximum voltage for the cell? Would a pure CV charger result in anything undesirable other than a slow charge?
All CV would give a faster charge - too fast. Say you start with a resting voltage of 3.6v, if you apply the full charge voltage across it at that point, the cell will accept many many amps. The CC phase is required to limit the current until the difference between the actual cell voltage and desired finish voltage are closer together. Less spread between actual & desired self-limits the current to a safe range, so holding a constant voltage just a tad over the desired full charge voltage until it finishes is fine.
When I manually charge the 4.3v cells starting from 4.2v as they come off the hobby charger, it's all CV as that difference between 4.2 and 4.3 is small enough that limiting the current isn't needed to stay in a 'safe' range. It limits the current on its own.
Duh, brain fart. First I write that CC clamps the current to protect the cell from overcurrent, then I suggest that CV only would be slow…. clearly a lack of thought. Thanks!
Will have to try one of those next :) Just wanted you to know that this has been the best one so far (I've tried a few others). I have used Yiboyuan phone battery chargers for years with my Droid X and now HTC Rezound, no problems with them whatsoever.
FYI:
More small flashlight holsters in stock, along with the butterfly style XM-L emitter spacers.
About the charger, no it isn't the most eloquent solution, but it works great and has been reliable. Besides, this is budget light forum, right? I have been testing it all week long to make sure that it was good to go before announcing it here. None of the other solutions I've tried or looked at up until this were going to be cheap enough to be worth it, to me at least.
Not as easy as that, emitter hole will have to be opened up. I will be doing this in the next couple of weeks, have a project going on to compare apples to apples in a Cree Trifecta using Convoy C8’s as the hosts.
Hey! Been super busy with all the orders and holiday events these past few days, but here are some updates (are either currently up on the site, or will be there in a few hours):
New:
Bare XM-L2 1A LEDs
Bare XM-L2 1D LEDs
Bare XP-G2 R5 3C LEDs
Bare XP-G2 R4 5A1 LEDs (for you warm tint afficionados!)
14mm XM-L2 3C (aluminum star)
XM-L2 T3 7A3 on 16mm and 20mm Noctigon
P60 Bare Dropins - Orange Peel & Smooth Reflectors
20, 24, & 26 AWG Silicone Wire
Arctic Alumina Thermal Compound (14g)
Convoy S3-like host (identical except it doesn't say "Convoy")
Restock:
20mm & 42mm AR Lens
qlite drivers
Plastic 3M Emitter Insulating Gaskets - XP and XM
XP-E2 R4 1C on 16mm Noctigon
XM-L2 T6 3C on 16mm & 20mm Noctigon
XM-L2 T4 5B1 on 16mm & 20mm Noctigon
Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting right now, but that's most of it!