Mini review of the Liitokala Lii-500 Analyzing Charger

low price found less then $16 for the bare charger NO power adapter

for all you numbers, formula, charts members the HKJ review is in
mine is more of a tinkerer, kick the tires, brass knuckles, thegreatfixer review
or to use the Vernacular

on my 1st cycle
i got about 3115mAh from ~3.35v - 4.21 with Sanyo NCR18650BF
all cells charge to 4.21v-4.22v (so far) BTW my DMM is different by .02v

battery orientation is different then most and i do not like it
in this charger the - side goes on the top and + is on the bottom also you slide it in by pushing the - tab up

the USB PORT works as power bank (BUT NOT AS A UPS) and a nice addition i hope it catches on
when i unplug the charger it activates the USB port BUT nothing can be plugged in at that time (if there is something plugged in it flashes and shuts down it must then be unplugged and replugged
so you have to plug in whatever ONLY after the power it out hence NO UPS function (too bad as some Power Banks do the UPS thing) its specs say 1 amp i tested a dimmable led light @0.80a that brought the voltage from 5.02 down to 4.80

mR matters (internal resistance) in terms of the time to charge clearly on my laptop pulls (good ones) the lower the mR the faster the charge even at the same rate

the charger gets a little warm and warms the cells a bit but never hot seems normal for good measure i keep a extra laptop cooler on top of it just like a have been doing with my Nitecore i4 V2 which also warms up

HOW TO SET ALL BANKS TO THE SAME SETTING AT ONCE
with all cells in the charger UNPLUG the power and plug it back in THEN within a second SET 1 bank to the feature and current you want the rest will be set to the same setting IF ITS DONE WITHIN A SECOND OR SO

there is no space problem
will fit protected 18650 with room to spare

“i just noticed a new low price NOW $20.69 or 2pcs for 18.83 or LE$$ on their app 7.68€ 71% OFF|LiitoKala Lii 500 Lii 600 Lii S8 Lii PD4 Lii PD2 LCD 3,7 V/1,2 V 18650/26650/16340/14500/18500 Batterie Ladegerät mit bildschirm|battery charger with screen|liitokala lii-500 lcdbattery charger - AliExpress

or here for $20.99 GREAT PRICES for a great charger BTW i am in no way connected to any store and receive no benefit other then street cred here

poster AKA thegreatfixer

ok after just a few hours i see just how long it takes to go through a testing cycle and i went to sleep
that is a testimony to the power inside these Sanyo 3400mAh cells

on my 1st cycle
i got about 3115mAh from ~3.35v - 4.21 with Sanyo NCR18650BF and an mR of16 (internal resistance) NEED MORE CYCLES
BTW these were Sanyo NCR18650BF i bought on Ali E. for ~$4.30 each in a 12 pack
all cells charge to 4.21v-4.22v (so far) BTW my DMM is different by .02v

battery orientation is different then most
in this charger the - side goes on the top and + is on the bottom also you slide it in by pushing the - tab up

the USB PORT works as power bank (BUT NOT AS A UPS) and a nice addition i hope it catches on
when i unplug the charger it activates the USB port BUT nothing can be plugged in at that time (if there is something plugged in it flashes and shuts down it must then be unplugged and replugged
so you have to plug in whatever ONLY after the power it out hence NO UPS function (too bad as some Power Banks do the UPS thing) its specs say 1 amp i tested a dimmable led light @0.80a that brought the voltage from 5.02 down to 4.80 in my case no ability to use that very convenient USB port for a cooling fan as i do

mR matters (internal resistance) in terms of the time to charge clearly on my laptop pulls (good ones) the lower the mR the faster the charge even at the same rate

the charger gets a little warm and warms the cells a bit but never hot seems normal for good measure i keep a extra laptop cooler on top of it just like a have been doing with my Nitecore i4 V2 which also warms up

update 3rd week in
HOW TO SET ALL 4 BANKS TO THE SAME SETTING
if you have all 4 cells in the charger
UNPLUG the power and plug it back in THEN within a second SET 1 bank to the feature and current you want the rest will be set to the same setting IF ITS DONE WITHIN A SECOND OR SO

there is no space problem
will fit protected 18650 with room to spare

You honestly have a problem with pushing the battery the other way around in?
You can send this “crappy” charger to me for free, if you don’t want it :wink:

The other “problem”… well, it surely would be nice to have all 4 capacities shown at the same time - but to be honest - how often do you use this feature? Once per cell per year?

I use it on my Opus charger every time I charge. :nerd_face:

You charge, discharge and recharge your cells every time?
Or do you mean the function that it shows you, how much mAh the charger pumped into the cell?

I test my cells and write the mAh and Month/Year on the cell - that’s it.

it took a 2nd look i really tried this many times and i can say with out a doubt
the lii-500 discharges to 2.82v exactly every time and then goes into a charge cycle
so i will (should) not see 3400mAh with my Sanyo NCR18650BF displayed when its done charging as it only started at 2.82v and not the 2.50v that the 3400mAh rating is based on

My 500 draws down to 2.86 then will charge up to 4.22

Just how much went into each cell. Wouldn’t really need to do a full test unless I saw something unusual or they cells were getting old. It’s convenient to see all the cells at the same time, that’s all.

try doing it in 300ma it will give you more time to catch it i tried it at 1amp and missed it a few times

the reason i went through such a test is i sourced these Sanyo NCR18650BF from Ali Express
and then they CO$T me $4.30 each (in a 12pack) almost 1/2 the of BG i hope to see BG LOWER their prices as i really like them
i will be testing all of my cells new and used like this at least once so i know what to keep and what give away

well the 1st round of testing is in and for this test
i had 2x new Sanyo NCR18650BF and 1 Panasonic NCR18650B with 3 cycles

all started at 2.82v
Sanyo #1…… 3217mAh 4.22v 3:34 1amp (SLOT #1)
Sanyo #2…… 3220mAh 4.22v 6:50 500ma (SLOT #3)
Panasonic #1 3275mAh 4.22v 5:06 700ma (SLOT #2)

Thanks for starting this thread, Poster!

I’m sort of up in the air about which analyzing charge to get, the Opus or this one, and this thread is a big help to me.

I don’t really care for the Pulse charging of the Opus, and this one uses Constant Current, is that correct?

If this thing is as good as it seems to be, I would really like to see this little company get a bit more exposure.

I’d bet if you ask the average guy on the BLF street what they thought about it, you’d get a: Huh?

Would really like to see some more posts of experiences with this.

Thanks again!
-Chuck

Me again Poster,

May I make a suggestion that you change the name of your review to something like:

Mini review of the Liitokala Lii-500 18650 Analyzing Charger ?

I'm afraid that people are just skimming over it and thinking not to click on it because it is nothing that they recognize and haven't a clue as to what it is.

I have a Nitecore D4 right now and while it is a good charger, it tells me little about whether or not a cell may be Fake. - Lots of Fakes going around, ya know:-(

Just an Idea - Thanks again for posting your review!

-Chuck

well i think some of you on the side lines should wait for the main even here from HKJ it should be what everyone is waiting for in the meantime i will report my findings

i have seen it tossed around before and i can totally say that mR AKA IR (internal resistance) matters in terms of the time to charge clearly on my laptop pulls (good ones) the lower the mR the faster the charge even at the same rate

2nd week in and i have only nice thing to say about it at ~$24 compared to to others its a bargain (never tried the OPUS just a little rich for my taste) and the Nitecore i4 V2 is now way to slow with only 500mAh MAX per cell and with quality cells like we have today even laptop pulls i have no problem charging at 1amp (let in be known i use a laptop cooling pad on ALL my chargers imo the Lii-500 runs cooler at 1 amp then the Nitecore does at 500mAh need more cycles)

BTW can i upload pictures here or only links to some other image host

Poster said: “…the lower the mR the faster the charge”

This really makes sense to me.

Say the charger is running at 1A - It could put 1A into the battery at Zero resistance…Anything over zero resistance makes Heat.

So perhaps (just for illustration) 90% in and 10% “resistance” that makes Heat. - Cells with higher resistance take longer to charge And get hotter.

I’m retired and have already blew the Flashlight budget for this month. - I get ‘paid’ on the 26th and will at that time be ordering a 500.

I’d like to see this charger become more widely known. - Seems like a great value to me!

Thanks,
-Chuck

Nice info to know on the charger, I’ve been deciding on the opus and this LL500 for a minute now. $24 for it seems like a crazy good deal and I may have to jump on it before full reviews come out. Would you care to give out the link of the AliExpress vendor? Thanks.

Things I like about this (not perfect) charger.

  1. it does not have a fan to make noise or go bad!!!
  2. it does have an mR function (admittedly) technically not an iR function but for me it does seem to give useful info.
  3. if I prop it up (cable up in the air a bit) it does run cooler.
  4. true it does not give info on multiple cells concurrently, all you have to do is push one button for the cell of intrest and all the info is there, (not a big deal in my book)
  5. low cost

agreed the fire cells are typically 1.5 –2 x the mR of my used good laptop pulls, and about 5x more then my new good cells.

I think you might be right, at higher amp settings the volts due jump up faster.

Hi all,

I ‘spoke’ with HKJ today in another thread (off topic to boot), on another forum… you know the one; the one that’s in an alternate universe? :ghost:

Anyhow, this is what was said:

.

ME: “Sorry, OT but I have to ask: Do you have a review planned for the new Liitokala Lii-500 charger? - I think that I’m going to have to get one.”

HKJ: “Yes, it has been on the test bench for two weeks now, but it needs a week more before the test is finished.”

.

So there you have the latest:-)

Stay tuned!
-Chuck

1st of all Ali E. is not for everyone but i am old pro been with then for 5 years and had ups & downs but for the most part (~80% perfect)

btw i have NO connection to this seller or any other seller on Ali E.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2015-New-Liitokala-lii500-LCD-Charger-for-3-7V-18650-26650-18500-Cylindrical-Lithium-Batteries-1/32363869902.html

i paid $0.20 more from another seller

as an old pro i can tell you that if you are looking for the LOWE$T price you need to look for the Lii500 and not the Lii-500 you can save $0.21 Ali E. is funny like that

enjoy poster