I occasionally read the chargers tests done by HKJ and I thank him very much for his work .
I’ve some questions about the LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500. It’s OK for Li-ion batteries but HKJ says the termination is too quick for NimH batteries. What is the good termination for a NimH battery? If it stops at 1.45 V instead of 1.52 V (for example), do I lost a lot of power or just a little : 2400 instead of 2500 mAh for example?
2 years ago, I bought a Lacrosse RS-1020 before HKJ did a test. I was a little disappointed because it seems it’s not a good charger (too much current after termination). When I charge AA Eneloop Pro XX at 200 mA (the most convenient, I’ve nothing to do and I’m not in a hurry), it never exceed 1.49 V (I have the same tension with my multimeter) and when it stops, the tension is 1.46~1.47 V while the RS-1020 climbs to 1.52 V with 1 A on HKJ’s tests.
With AA Tronics (Lidl), when it stops, the tension is about 1.44 V.
It seems to be similar with the LiitoKala when it charges an Eneloop at 300 mAh.
What do you think? Can we hope a correction for this new charger? I don’t use a lot of electrical devices which use batteries. Then I should want to avoid to buy a lot of chargers .
You cannot terminate a NiMH charger on voltage, if you want a full battery. Some chargers cheats a bit and do a top-off charge after they terminate, that way it is much more likely you get a full battery.
Another way to terminate charging on NiMH is -dv/dt, this looks for a small voltage drop, before terminating. This will fill the batteries, but can miss termination in some cases (Especially with low charge current).
In my reviews I look at the temperature, when it starts raising the cell is full. A charger could also do that, but it can be a bit tricky to make reliable.
Ok, I know a little how do a charger but it’s not very easy to control it and I’ve red that the voltage decrease when the battery is full, that’s why I control it on the screen and I’ve seen it on my RS-1020.
Then how can I know the battery is well filled?
Does the LiitoKala misses a lot the termination : 10, 20…?
Ok. I didn’t explain well what I should want to know : when you said the LiitoKala ended too quick for an Eneloop (~2000 mA), how much does it fill it : 1500? 1800? 1900 mA…?
I’m very pleased with mine, though I continue to mostly use my Nitecore D4 for just charging. - Only really wanted the LiitoKala for it’s analyzing.
I have 3 or 4 other chargers too, so I really didn’t need this one - I just wanted it;) I say 3 or 4, because three are Xtar’s and I am waiting for the fourth to arrive The LiitoKala 100 - Too cute to pass up!
I now have both this and the opus 3100 v2.2 and to reply to the usual Question…. I can say That… Not considering for a moment the pulsing stuff… and prefer the opus for many reasons over the lii500
3100 has a far better explained manual, i normally don’t read manuals but in this case the Lii500 is by far more confused and usually contradictory sometimes in a line it says it detects capacity while charging sometimes it says in the following line it does discharging.
In the manual NOR test and QUICK test are explained as the same test, and usually lines are copy/paste even if they shouldn’t. Also never head of a charger having fever
the 3100 manual it’s far more consistent and understendable even if there are some english errors.
Anyway, forgiving the manual
3100 has thermal sensors (clearly stated in the manual) and even the fan actuating temperature is described 40°C IIRC( more precise data is a plus for me, meaning they actually have numbers and have really thought about it while projecting)
3100 has a self restarting charging if VOltage drops
Lii500 has no clear discharging function
3100 always display mAh even live while charging/discharging
3100 IR test sadly has to be made manually while Lii500 has them automatically made upon 3sec of inserting the batery (but lii500 value are not stantdart Ohm values)
3100 has a fan which could be annoying if you charging in your room like me while watching tv, anyway i like it has it gives me a more safe feeling about temps
3100 has no Powerbank, even if i will not using it certainly having it is a plus, undoubtely
3100 has a more precise Voltmeter in my opinion and chargin is always Spot on I always found batteries at about 4.17-4.19V even after 30min pulled out of the charger
3100 has live ammeter (precise or not) if you set lets say 1000mA current you can see the current be 997mA or 1002 mA …just saying, also on termination you can see the current decresing lively…. 111mA, 99ma….etc… 22mA ……on lii500 there’s just a still symbol for the selected current
3100 can go down to 200mA in chargin current (yeah, pulsating ) while lii has 300mA
3100 can go up to 2x 2A charging , lii500 can just do 4x1A
DIscharging currents are max 500mA x4 in lii500 while 3100 can do 2000mA x2. 3100 gives you a more wide selection of current in every situation
the 3100 UI is worse esthetically but far more easy to use IMHO
also being more manual in its charging/discharging phases I like it more….as it will give you more control, let’s say you just want to see the discharged capacity, the lii 500 has to go through one of those cycling tests
This list could contain errors as I’ve not tested in parallel trying to do the same thing at the same moment but so far it is what i remeber feel free to correct me
I’ve red the HKJ tests and he said about Opus 3100 :
“the peak charge and discharge current for LiIon are a bit high, I would have preferred constant current, instead of the pulsing”
And as I’m not a specialist, I was afraid it was not good for the batteries .
I should want to find the good charger and I don’t want to collect chargers as I can see with other men. I prefer to collect other objects as mountain bikes .
In the Opus 3100 v2.1 HKJ test, there is 1 A for AA battery. Is it automatic? Can we choice a lower level?
for small batteries is not the nicest thing to do. But except AAA, Liion 10440 10180 and such smal batteries it should not be a big issue. To be honest i don’t think the constant 300mA charging current of the Lii500 is good either for small liions , for AAA no problem
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? HKJ ?