Can someone recommend me a charger that charges li-ion and nimh with lcd display voltage and capacity?
XTAR VC4 is a good one, can display the capacity of a discharged cell up until it is full. it can NOT discharge.
Theres alot of chargers out there.
What are you looking for exactly?
I second XTAR, the VC2 is also good - 2 cell charger
do you need discharge or any other features?
I’ve been happy with a VC4.
http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Xtar%20VC4%20UK.html
An incandescent flashlight bulb will work to discharge cells
I’ve also got an XTAR XP4c Charger coming; mtnelectronics has a good price.
why would I need a charger to discharge a cell? My lights would do that, no? Sorry, new to this things.
I think price will dictate what I would buy.
It’s better not to completely discharge (as a flashlight battery would do, drain it to zero)
A discharge function should (I don’t know exactly about any of these) take the charge down then recharge — to “condition” the cell, which is discussed many places.
Much discussed many places, e.g.
They recommend “batteryuniversity”
Batteries are the power. You will very soon want to be able to quantify and test batteries, capacity mainly, and do so in a controlled manner. A basic charger will not do that.
Discharging allows you to determine how much charge is in a battery. So you can work out the full capacity, and test how well the cell stores energy over time. Cells wear out, so knowing the capacity is useful. And manufacturers are not always reliable when it comes to specs.
Do you guys/gals discharged every time u charge your batteries?
I don’t. Surely that would wear out the batteries quicker.
You can cycle (charge-discharge) NiXX occasionally to keep them fresh. This is most useful for older non-LSD NiMh, especially if they’ve not been used much or in a long time.
Lithium should not routinely be cycled, that just contributes to wear and does nothing for performance. Checking them for capacity is an occasional task, or if something about the battery is of concern.
I use an Opus BT3100C which has that capability.
How much does that cost u?
I had mine now for over a year and its a great charger. It can charge nearly every size of LiIon and NiMH cells. I believe i got it on sale for $ 35 bucks. More info can be found here on it: > Review: Opus BT-C3100 ("dreamcharger!")
Ditto, great charger with a bajillion features. $33 currently. Pay for tracking if you do buy it!
I liked the BT3100 so much i bought a second one last summer. :bigsmile:
I’ve conditioned nimh batteries with my lacrosse but I don’t do
it on lithiums… the xtar brand has good
reviews as do the nitecore i2 and i4
I am considering the liitokala Lii-500.
It seems to charge lions very nicely and it also does nimh.
read this guy’s site—-he reviewed pretty much every charger out there
http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers%20UK.html