Good day BLF.
This time i'll post a review of a nice little charger for li-ion.
The charger is made to use a USB host (also good with car adapters and AC/USB). No problem charging protected and unprotected 18650 and 18700 (XTAR own thing) tried all variations. It would probably take many other li-ion cells with a DIY adapters as charging current is "safe" for many at 500mA.
The charger charges around 4-5h on a normal usb pc port (unprotected sony 18650 2200mAh from a HP laptop battery pack). This beauty apparently does (not tested) revive almost dead protected li-ion's by charging them (when under the level of discharge protection) by applying a very small current and when above 3V starts charging normally. I've seen that behavior on a unintentionally hard discharged unprotected at 2,66V. It does follow CC/CV technique and terminates exactly at 4.2V. 5h later the cell was still at 4.2V, that looks good to me! Strangely the charger doesen't want to top cells if they are above 4V. You have to discharge it to 3,99V to top it. Presumably the charger do that by himself when the cell goes below 4V (that could take some months to test). The cells i tested doesen't go above room temp. It is a bit strange because my "oem" dx charger does warm up them a bit (higher current indeed but not that much).
All in all is a decent performar and good looking!
http://www.qualitychinagoods.com/xtar-charger-14650176701865018700-battery-p-1785.html Probably cheaper elsewhere.
I have not bought it there however. It was a one shot deal and it doesent really metter. Glad i did it.
PROS:
- Termiantes properly!
- Slow charge rate (for those who care)
- Can revive dead cells (not verified)
- Can charge long 18650 cells and 18700
- USB host powered, charging possibilities are plentifull
- Cute and small sized with sturdy well made plastic.
CONS:
- Doesen't charge the cells untill below 4V
- Charging current limited to 500mA (for those who want faster charging)
- Limited availability (currently) i bleive it's a new product.
Verdict:
It's really all i ever wanted from a 18650 charger compared to the cheap junk DX,KD... sells for similar money.