Test/Review of Charger LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500

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On the back mine says:

“Patents No.: 201320736605.8”

I’m very pleased with mine, though I continue to mostly use my Nitecore D4 for just charging. - Only really wanted the LiitoKala for it’s analyzing.

I have 3 or 4 other chargers too, so I really didn’t need this one - I just wanted it;) I say 3 or 4, because three are Xtar’s and I am waiting for the fourth to arrive The LiitoKala 100 - Too cute to pass up! :wink:

I can recommend the 500.

-Chuck

And have you noticed the same problem as HKJ with the Night termination?

I now have both this and the opus 3100 v2.2 and to reply to the usual Question…. I can say That… Not considering for a moment the pulsing stuff… and prefer the opus for many reasons over the lii500

And you can explain why?

Mine has the patent number on the back.

3100 has a far better explained manual, i normally don’t read manuals but in this case the Lii500 is by far more confused and usually contradictory sometimes in a line it says it detects capacity while charging sometimes it says in the following line it does discharging.
In the manual NOR test and QUICK test are explained as the same test, and usually lines are copy/paste even if they shouldn’t. Also never head of a charger having fever :stuck_out_tongue:
the 3100 manual it’s far more consistent and understendable even if there are some english errors.

Anyway, forgiving the manual

3100 has thermal sensors (clearly stated in the manual) and even the fan actuating temperature is described 40°C IIRC( more precise data is a plus for me, meaning they actually have numbers and have really thought about it while projecting)
3100 has a self restarting charging if VOltage drops
Lii500 has no clear discharging function
3100 always display mAh even live while charging/discharging

3100 IR test sadly has to be made manually while Lii500 has them automatically made upon 3sec of inserting the batery (but lii500 value are not stantdart Ohm values)
3100 has a fan which could be annoying if you charging in your room like me while watching tv, anyway i like it has it gives me a more safe feeling about temps
3100 has no Powerbank, even if i will not using it certainly having it is a plus, undoubtely
3100 has a more precise Voltmeter in my opinion and chargin is always Spot on I always found batteries at about 4.17-4.19V even after 30min pulled out of the charger
3100 has live ammeter (precise or not) if you set lets say 1000mA current you can see the current be 997mA or 1002 mA …just saying, also on termination you can see the current decresing lively…. 111mA, 99ma….etc… 22mA ……on lii500 there’s just a still symbol for the selected current
3100 can go down to 200mA in chargin current (yeah, pulsating :frowning: ) while lii has 300mA
3100 can go up to 2x 2A charging , lii500 can just do 4x1A
DIscharging currents are max 500mA x4 in lii500 while 3100 can do 2000mA x2. 3100 gives you a more wide selection of current in every situation
the 3100 UI is worse esthetically but far more easy to use IMHO

also being more manual in its charging/discharging phases I like it more….as it will give you more control, let’s say you just want to see the discharged capacity, the lii 500 has to go through one of those cycling tests

This list could contain errors as I’ve not tested in parallel trying to do the same thing at the same moment but so far it is what i remeber feel free to correct me

Ok, thank you for this complete response :slight_smile: .

I’ve red the HKJ tests and he said about Opus 3100 :
“the peak charge and discharge current for LiIon are a bit high, I would have preferred constant current, instead of the pulsing”

And as I’m not a specialist, I was afraid it was not good for the batteries :frowning: .

I should want to find the good charger and I don’t want to collect chargers as I can see with other men. I prefer to collect other objects as mountain bikes :wink: .

In the Opus 3100 v2.1 HKJ test, there is 1 A for AA battery. Is it automatic? Can we choice a lower level?

Thank you :slight_smile: .

yes. you can choose 200-500-700-1000-1500-2000mA (2A only if slot 1 AND/OR 4 are the only used) for liIon and NiMH

as i said, the minimum in the lii500 is 300mA but it is constant current not pulsating as the 3100

And is pulsating bad for batteries? Does it damage them?

for small batteries is not the nicest thing to do. But except AAA, Liion 10440 10180 and such smal batteries it should not be a big issue. To be honest i don’t think the constant 300mA charging current of the Lii500 is good either for small liions , for AAA no problem

Depends, A 2A pulse is not a big deal for a 18650 or AA cell, but might add some extra wear to a 16340 cell.

Ok, it’s not good for small batteries but correct for the other. That’s right? (Sorry, I’m not easy in English).

yes correct

Ok TheBo.

HKJ, as I’m not in a hurry, I use low current for my batteries. Then if I charge 18650 with 500 mA and perhaps 1 A, is the Opus interesting.

Otherwise, I shall wait you test new chargers to find a better charger :frowning: :wink: .

Basic Charging Methods:

Pulsed charge Pulsed chargers feed the charge current to the battery in pulses. The charging rate (based on the average current) can be precisely controlled by varying the width of the pulses, typically about one second._ During the charging process, short rest periods of 20 to 30 milliseconds, between pulses allow the chemical actions in the battery to stabilise by equalising the reaction throughout the bulk of the electrode before recommencing the charge. This enables the chemical reaction to keep pace with the rate of inputting the electrical energy. It is also claimed that this method can reduce unwanted chemical reactions at the electrode surface such as gas formation, crystal growth and passivation. _(See also Pulsed Charger below). If required, it is also possible to sample the open circuit voltage of the battery during the rest period.

Constant-current Constant-voltage (CC/CV) controlled charge system. Used for charging Lithium and some other batteries which may be vulnerable to damage if the upper voltage limit is exceeded. The manufacturers’ specified constant current charging rate is the maximum charging rate which the battery can tolerate without damaging the battery. Special precautions are needed to maximise the charging rate and to ensure that the battery is fully charged while at the same time avoiding overcharging. For this reason it is recommended that the charging method switches to constant voltage before the cell voltage reaches its upper limit. Note that this implies that chargers for Lithium Ion cells must be capable of controlling both the charging current and the battery voltage.
In order to mainain the specified constant current charging rate, the charging voltage must increase in unison with the cell voltage to overcome the back EMF of the cell as it charges up. This occurs quite rapidly during the constant current mode until the cell upper voltage limit of the cell is reached, after which point the charging voltage is maintained at that level, known as the float level, during the constant voltage mode. During this constant voltage period, the current decreases to a trickle charge as the charge approaches completion. Cut off occurs when a predetermined minimum current point, which indicates a full charge, has been reached

Another pulse-charging article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S03787753010

Abstract
The effects of a pulse charging technique on charge–discharge behavior and cycling characteristics of commercial lithium-ion batteries were investigated by comparison with the conventional direct current (dc) charging. The impedance spectra and cycling voltammograms of Li-ion batteries cycled by both protocols have been measured. The individual electrodes in the batteries have also been examined using XRD and SEM. The results show that pulse charging is helpful in eliminating concentration polarization, increasing the power transfer rate, and lowering charge time by removing the need for constant voltage charging in the conventional protocol. Pulse charging interrupts dc charging with short relaxation periods and short discharge pulses during charging, and also improves the active material utilization giving the battery higher discharge capacity and longer cycle life. Impedance measurements show that the magnitude of the interfacial resistance of the batteries cycled both by pulse charging and dc charging is small. However, at the same number of cycles, the interfacial resistance of the pulse charged battery is larger than that of dc charged. The batteries after 300 cycles charged by pulse charging show higher peak currents during both forward and reverse scans indicating higher reversibility of the electrodes. XRD and SEM studies of the individual electrodes indicate that pulse charging maintains the stability of the LiCoO2 cathode better than dc charging and inhibits the increase in the thickness of the passive film on the anode during cycling.

The pulsing used by our charges are not the same as the pulse charge described in the articles. With research it might also be only one type of cell that is investigated, not a broad selection of the available cells.

And last: Some research articles are done to sell a product/patent. One example is burp charging, the inventor can show some very good research papers, but nobody else has found any advantage with it.

I.e. just because a research paper shows something, it might not be generally correct.

Ok, as I said, I’m not very easy in English but it seems that pulsing is better, at least for Li-ion batteries.

I’m not a specialist but HKJ doesn’t like very much pulsing and tatasal gives us opposite arguments. I’m a little lost.

Edit : HKJ has responded in the same time. Thank you.

The consensus is that the lii-500 works very good at charging lions.

HKJ in his test found out that it didn’t work very well with nimh but that was with an earlier version of the charger.

The charger seems to have had revisions but i have not seen any reports that nimh or lion charging has changed.

I would like to know that because i am interested in this charger otherwise ibwill get the opus bt-c3100 that is know to do a good job dealing with the two chemistries.

As I don’t want to collect chargers, I should want to buy “the” good one. Now I have a LaCrosse RS1020 which charges only NimH batteries and HKJ wrote it’s not a very good charger. Then if I buy the Lii-500, it can’t replace well the RS-1020 because of the NimH problem if this problem was not solved.

Nevertheless, TheBo was not very enthusiast with the Lii-500 :~ .