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
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
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?
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
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.
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)
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!
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
Nice info to know on the charger, I’ve been deciding on the opus and this LL500 for a minute now. $24 for it seems like a crazy good deal and I may have to jump on it before full reviews come out. Would you care to give out the link of the AliExpress vendor? Thanks.
it does have an mR function (admittedly) technically not an iR function but for me it does seem to give useful info.
if I prop it up (cable up in the air a bit) it does run cooler.
true it does not give info on multiple cells concurrently, all you have to do is push one button for the cell of intrest and all the info is there, (not a big deal in my book)
as an old pro i can tell you that if you are looking for the LOWE$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