MiBoxer C4 V3

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
1

After reading the positive recommendations for the MiBoxer C4, I was browsing through the Amazon deals thread and found a coupon code that made it too good of a deal to pass up. I got this to replace my Xtar WP2 and LaCrosse BC700. Yes it has been a few years and things keep changing.

I hope that someone with more tools, knowledge, and experience than I have will review the V3 MiBoxer C4. From what I can see this is quite a different charger than the one recommended. I think that is a good thing. From what I see this appears to be a very good charger. MiBoxer appears to be making a number of changes that I think make the charger better but I am not qualified to make that judgement. FWIW, here are some observations after a few days of using it:

Three significant changes from things mentioned in the reviews.

  1. The no termination issue appears to be fixed. Goes to 0 when full.

2. They have removed the battery test feature from slot 4.

3. Choice of charging currents is much larger, going all the way to 1.5 amps.

I have mostly just used the charger in automatic mode at this point. I am impressed. It appears to constantly monitor the battery and adjust the current accordingly. Some cells charge noticeably faster than my experience and some noticeably slower. Seems to depend on internal resistance.

I noticed, the last time I charged 4 of my LADA AAs in the LaCrosse, that one of them terminated very early. Didn’t think that much of it just pulled the cell and put it back in again and it appeared to finish charging with a total charge of about what I was expecting. When I put that same set in the C4, I noticed that one cell had a much higher internal resistance (something I haven’t measured before) and was getting a charge current much less than the others. In the end they all took about the same mAh but one cell took a lot longer to get there.

NiMh “leakage”? I was used to drained LADA 2450s taking 2.6 to 2.8 Ah to charge. Running a battery test would give a figure closer to 2.45. Attributed the rest to “leakage” as the cells were charging. Dissipated as heat actually. The V3 removed the test function and the manual simply tells you to fully drain the cell first then charging it will give you the capacity of the cell. In automatic mode this appears to be a reasonable test. Perhaps because of the way the charger adjusts the current there just isn’t as much heat dissipated therefore reducing the “leakage”? Seems to me like I can get a reasonably good measurement of a cells capacity this way. Think it might be quite a bit better for the batteries as well if they are getting a full charge with out excess current.

Nearly every 18650 I have is far less than what it is supposed to be. I kind of already knew this but the Xtar had no read out so this just confirmed what I kind of already knew. The red ultra fires that came with a headlamp a friend got cheap on ebay hold a wapping 300 mAh under their 3,000 mAh wrapper. Strangely enough they have good internal resistance readings. One of these days I am going to try the cell lottery again as I know that there are good cells out there today and I hope to get some.

Looking forward to learning more about this from someone with the necessary knowledge and tools.

2

You choose this because of the price with the coupon?

Or…

What made you choose this over the C4-Plus?

I’m currently looking at the C4-Plus that can load 4 26650s and charge at 2.5A per slot independently.

Don’t seems to hear from any that bought the C4-Plus.

3

First I chose because the Miboxer C4 was highly recommended here. The coupon just made it happen now due to price. Didn’t realize there were so many versions of the “C4”.

It looks to me like Miboxer pays attention to what customers / reviewers / technical capabilities are doing. They seem to be continually revising the product. Clearly the V3 is a different product from the version that was reviewed and recommended. Looks like the plus and the 12 are also different products based around the C4.

From what I can see the biggest difference between the plus and the regular C4 is the 2.5A charge capacity. I don’t have any cells that I want to push that hard so the plus would have no value to me.

I hope someone from Miboxer is monitoring this thread. Hope they send HJK a V3 for review as I believe they have addressed the concerns he had with the original. Also hope they send him the plus and the 12. From my perspective they are making very good value products and I would like to see the data from a HJK review.

4

That explained. Thanks.

Me too, hope Miboxer is reading this. They have confused many others with their model. Now the C4 is a V3, C4-12 V2 or V3?

I only know there is only 1 version of C4-Plus.

And yes, hopefully HKJ can review the Plus and the latest 12.

5

I have the Miboxer C4 Upgrade which it says is V3 on the box. I like it a lot. There are a bunch of versions of the C4, but my understanding is that if you want to be able to handle the longer cells (ie:21700), you need to get the C4 Upgrade, the C4-12 Upgrade or the C8. But the C8 has about 0.150” less space for the 21700 cell than the C4 Upgrade. So unless you need to charge more than 4 cells at once, I think the C4 Upgrade is a better and less expensive choice than the C8.

The C4-12 Upgrade provides more charging current plus temperature readout. To me this one seems to be the top of the line charger from Miboxer…………but I have yet to get that one.

I can’t get into Miboxer’s website at the moment to verify but there was something about the C4-Plus that just didn’t suit me.

I’ve tried to snag a deal but the coupon never works for me. On Amazon with the price at $29.99 minus the $5.00 coupon is still a good price for the C4-Upgrade V3. Every time I see a really good deal I try to snag another simply because its the charger that I would recommend to friends and family members…………not too expensive and lots of capability. I like how you can use either 120vac or an external 12vdc power source.

6

I read about and compare the C4 upgrade(V3) and the C4-Plus in Miboxer site.

The 2 differences I notice as of now is the C4 upgrade 1.0A X 4 while the C4-Plus is 2.5A X 4. Size and weight are huge difference too. The C4-Plus can take 4 X 26650 together at one time. Not sure if the C4 upgrade able to.

As for the C4-12 upgrade, the 2 differences with the C4-Plus is the C4-12 with temperature you mentioned and @3.0A X 4. The C4 upgrade and the C4-12 are about same size and weight and probably won’t take 4 X 26650.

And I saw in some reviews that the C4-Plus slot looks like at least 78mm.

The C4-Plus currently selling at Aliexpress at around $23.00….

7

I think the problem I had with the C4-Plus was that it only had an AC power input to it. If only having one input power source, I prefer 12vdc so that its compatible with solar and vehicle. Straighten me out if I’m wrong.

8

Oh yes, C4-Plus only has AC input. Probably due to the more than double the weight of C4 and C4-12. Much bigger in size hence not for carrying around design.

9

The C4-Plus does 2.5A in only two slots.

10

http://www.miboxer.com/eng/c4p.html

11

The c4 upgrade is 45 bucks on Amazon and is also listed as fastest charger for some Reason. I and a few others have had the miboxer issue with the error slots as well. It does well charging though.

12

Perhaps this has been covered elsewhere but I am curious if anyone knows if these “smart” chargers are any good? From what I recall of the reviews they just mention that you can leave it alone and it will charge automatically. Then they go on to talk about selecting the charging current you want. As I have been out of charger shopping for several years this seems like a significant development to me.

Using the C4 in automatic or “smart” mode I see things that I have not observed before with any charger that I have. Batteries with higher internal resistance get charged much slower than ones with lower internal resistance. Seem to be able to deliver similar capacities but with different charge times. This seems to me like it would be much better for the batteries than just selecting a current that is typically a good charge rate. Batteries get charged without much heat and that has to be a good thing — right?

Is a “smart” charger the way to go today for most people who can’t measure internal resistance and don’t know how to adjust the charge current accordingly? Does it matter? Are the algorithms that handle this in the C4 actually good?

13

http://www.miboxer.com/eng/C4P-c.html

14

You have to realize your product managers have failed when your target market of enthusiasts have a hard time telling the difference between products.

15

I haven’t tried the C4 or C4-Plus, but have tested the C4-12 (original version) and C4-12 (2-button updated version).

From what I understand, the original C4 has capacity test on the 4th slot. It’s supposed to have lower max charger current.
The C4-Plus I think supports 4x1.5A or 2x2.5A (could be mistaken).
The C4-12 (original) supports up to 4x3.0A (and the width can take in charging 4x26650 simultaneously), accommodates unprotected 21700.
The C4-12 (updated 2-button version) still supports 4x 3.0A, but has longer slots (accommodates long protected 21700), added support for LiFePO4 and LiHV 4.35v chemistry).

I’m interested though in a Miboxer that can do capacity test (I think only the C2-4000 or was it C2-6000 has that feature for 2 slots, but that model has been discontinued…)

16

C2-3000 - charger only, goes from 0.1A-1.5A, Li-Ion and NiMH, internal resistance
C2-4000 - same as 3000, charger and analyzer, LiFePO, discharges up to 1.5A which is much faster than other analyzers (Liitokala 500 goes up to 500mA and Opus BT-C3100 goes up to 1.0A)
C2-6000 - same as 3000, goes up to 3.0A, with powerbank function (5V,1A)

Too bad it’s discontinued. I managed to grab a C2-4000 off ebay.

17

C4 - Charger and analyzer (4th slot only), Li-Ion, LiFePO, Ni-MH, may not fit larger batteries, charges up to 800mA, discharges up to 400mA

C4 Plus - Charger only, Li-Ion, LiFePO, Ni-MH, fits larger batteries, max (2.5A*2 / 2A*3 / 1.5A*4)

C4 Upgrade (v3) - Charger only, Li-Ion, LiFePO, Ni-MH, fits larger batteries, max (1.5A*2 / 1.3A*3 / 1.0A*4)

C4-12 - Charger and Powerbank (slot 4 only, no usb out when plugged in), Li-Ion and Ni-MH, fits largest batteries, up to 3.0A for all slots, temperature display

C4-12 Upgrade - same as above, no powerbank, LiFePO compatible, Celcius/Farenheit temp display

All have IR reading and 100mA charging

18

So the c4 v3 aka c4 upgrade - does it measure battery capacity or not? Seems like it lost earlier version discharge-charge measure function. What is the mAh shown in the display?

This is about $24 right now so probably good deal but version differences hard to sort out.

19

That shows the charging capacity. If you want a true accurate reading you need the discharge capacity.

20

Any update on if this company will make a unit with discharger function ?