Hello guys,
Don’t consider this as review because someone more experienced has to yet review that charger.
My verdict is that this is very good charger.
I am playing with this charger for whole week now and I will only bring + & - sides of this charger.
PLUS:
- Battery voltage detection
- Battery internal resistance detection called mR (I guess this should be mΩ?)
- Battery capacity detector
- Battery charging/discharging time
- Dual completely independent charging channels
- Dual independent displays
- Real time data reading (display instantly shows how charger charging/discharging) progression
- It can simultaneously charge in one channel while discharging in other
- Heat dissipation from charger is excellent.
- You can chose 0,5A-1A charging/discharging current selection
- Easy to use
- Very nice blue led display
- Very safe… You can go to sleep if no sign of stormy weather.
MINUS:
- Display does not give 100% accuracy in readings(more like 90% of accuracy) so readings from this charger should be considered as approximately readings which are still good for one cheap charger.
- It doesn’t fully charge battery to 4,2V (4,15-4,18)
- It discharges battery only to 3,0V
How does charging work?
Very simple… So you put battery in and it will automatically start in a charge mode. 500 mah will blink for few seconds on display… In blink mode you can press “mode”switch which will turn on 1000mah charging current mode. If you don’t touch anything it will start charging in default 500mah mode.
It is very safe… When charging process is over it will write “FULL”,“charge end” on display and it will instantly terminate charging process leaving you all relevant data on display.
After I tested it several times leaving batteries for more than 2 days on the charger I can say that I completely thrust to this charger and I can finally go to sleep… When charging process is finished charger will instantly cool down.
However charging it is not perfect… Charger can not charge to 4,2V… (It will show you 4,2 on displays but multimeter will say something like 4,17 or less if you are charging ultracrappyfire brands)
Battery internal resistance, voltage detection, charging time, charging current, mah readings while charging/discharging
This is all showed on 2 completely independent displays at real time, and you can reach any data in any time while charging/discharging without any fear you will mess something.
How does discharging/capacity testing works?
Very simple… Once you fully charged your battery(4,2V) put it in desired channel and wait few seconds… When 500mah charge blinking display appears press and hold mode button for 3-4 seconds, and then it will go to “discharge 500mah blinking mode” in which with one more click you can turn to 1000mah discharge mode.
It will start discharging in selected current mode, and it will give you real time readings.
The most interesting part here is when it discharges battery it will instantly start charging process again. What that means? That means that you can put freshly charged battery in and charger will discharge/test cell capacity and it will automatically charge it.
So put your 18650 battery in discharge mode and go to sleep and in the morning you will have freshly charged battery with tested capacity.
Well discharging is also not perfect since it discharges battery only to 3V(most batteries can be discharged to 2,5V 2,75V)
For example I got this readings:
new Panasonic NCR18650PF 2900 mah: –2750 mah, 35 mR internal resistance
used Sanyo UR18650FM 2600mah: - 2290 mah, 46 mR internal resistance
I hate crappy fires but I did test so…
Blue Ultrafire 18650 rated at 2600mah: 720mah, 157 mR internal resistance
Red Ultrafire rated at 3800mah: 740mah, 150mR internal resistance
(discharging - charging was very fast with this cells and that is prof how crappy they are)
As you can see this are not perfect readings but they are very good approx readings(just add 10% and panasonic really has 2900 mah, and used sanyo around 2500 mah)
So is this smartest charger on the market? It seems like it is… But someone should seriously test it.