Hi, i’m looking for a 2 bay charger for NiMh batteries. No more than 30€. I would like with a display and protection like over charge, temperature, something like that if it’s possible. And compatible with 18650 just in case. It would be nice if it doesn’t have Trickle Charge that, for what i read is bad. I think Lii 202 or Lii S2 have that Trickle Charge.
I’ve been looking the Nitecore UMS2, LiitoKala Lii 300 and Miboxer C2 4000.
What would be the max charge it’s convenient to charge a NiMh? I want a fast charger but i read it’s not good for the battery life.
I've just ordered a Xtar VC2S, im not sure what they are worth where you are but it was approx. $45 (Australia), it fit the bill for my desires for something that will display, capacity, voltage and internal resistance.
I was looking this with the Plus Master version. I think i prefer i could charge with micro-usb. But reading reviews i found this comment.
“As a result of using several months,I can call this charger an AAA Ni-Mh killer. If you take a new AAA LADDA 900mAh, then the charger shows a low internal resistance of 40mOhm and sets a charge current of 2A for one inserted cell. I have about 10 new AAA LADDA from IKEA, and all of them set a charging current of 2A. There is only one way out – to put 2 cells on charge at the same time, then a current of 1A is applied to each, which is also a lot.”
Is this true. I will use it mainly for NiMh batteries. Can you manually change the charge current?
My current favorite, which seems not well known, is the Allmaybe TC2, also made by Xtar. It has a small trickle charge, which I realize is contrary to your list of desired characteristics, but it can capably charge either NiMH or Lion, including one of each at the same time, and it capably tests cell capacity by running through a charge-discharge-charge cycle where it reads the actual delivered capacity during discharge. Henrik reviewed it, it’s worth looking at, although it has a small 25 ma trickle at the end which means you should take the cell out not too long after the end of charge. Amazon seems to have 1 left and it seems out at gearbest and banggood. If I had realized it was end-of-life I probably wouldn’t have started this paragraph… (just looked now)
"As usual Xtar chargers are very good at LiIon charging, it did also do a good job on eneloop cells, but I do not like that it missed a termination on the older powerex cell.....The final result must be that it is a good charger for LiIon cells, but you have to watch out for some NiMH batteries."
Other options would include the Nitecore D2 or i2, or even the UMS2. I looked at all of these, and they also have the LiFePo4 compatibility that the Xtar doesn't have, but you lose the internal resistance measurement (D2 and i2) or is more expensive (UMS2).
Finally i put as a filter the fact that is Analyzer. I like if it has usb imput but mainly is better if it’s analyzer. I will use mainly white Eneloops or Laddas so seems the VC2S is not my option. It doesn’t inspire me confidence. Plus Master, Giolisi i2 and UMS2 seems to be best options in USB 2 bay chagers
·LiitoKala Lii 260: I’m surprised is the best or that seems according the list of the 2-bay analyzer options. ·Miboxer C2 4000: I liked this a lot but is hard to buy. ·Allmaybe TC2: Analyzer and USB imput, seems the best options for me. But can’t change manually the current charge. ·LiitoKala Lii 300: Seems more known but according to the list is not that good comparing with the ones above.
Trickle Charge issue is bad, but well, i will try to take the cell out once is fully charged.
I would like to suggest the AllMaybe (Xtar) TC2 — someone already mentioned it above.
I find it nice for most purposes. As mentioned above, there is a ~25mA trickle charge, according to HKJ’s reviews.
The charging current is not manually adjustable (based on battery length): AAA/AA NiMh automatically get 0.5Amp charging, while C/D NiMh get 1A or 2A (depending on which slot and how many batteries).
However, in other respects, it appears to be a good charger and good analyzer (although a bit slow at 300mA discharge current only).
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Another comment: The Lii-260 is only for Li-Ion batteries, and won’t work for NiMh batteries. The Lii-300 Engr works for both Li-Ion & NiMh (but check HKJ’s reviews).
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I’d like to check out the Miboxer C2-4000 (it has a fairly high discharge current of 1.5A that reduces current lower when battery nearly discharged, according to HKJ’s reviews). Unfortuantely this model appears to be discontinued. Hoping Miboxer will make an updated model of this one…