Please note that this charger has big minus...
It can not charge protected cells... (that was not problem for me until now... But I got batch of 40 protected LG and Samsung cells)
They need to rework this charger...
I don't really get design engineers. Is so hard to make few mm longer charger? Dear God...
Just some tight tolerance maybe? Mine can charge all my extra long batteries - longest being 70mm Samsungs with thick circuit.
Anyone else worry about the 10ma trickle charge without monitoring on Li-Ions?
Not really, it does not have it.
Well I tried again and it is not just tight tolerance. It is few mm difference. It does not want to charge protected cells.
But who knows. Maybe you have newer and improved version. I got mine from first batch. It is perfect for unprotected cells but hell no for protected. Watch out before purchasing this charger.
Lots that claim to be this charger for sale from what claim to be different sources on eBay for $21 — are there different versions in fact? Or just variability in the length they’ll accommodate? Any evidence of fakery going on?
The Opus BT-C3100 does almost the same capacity tests on most types of cells.
i remember someone wanted to see the quality of the internals?? 8)
check out my gallery here: http://postimg.org/gallery/12l4jxlu6/
you should be able to make out most of the markings and if not i wrote them down in the titles.
feel free to download/copy/post them wherever.
and check my youtube video i linked prior for my thoughts of the internals.
Well, I took mine apart too. Also opened up both power supplies for Litokala and Opus C3100. The Litokala has far better build. The Opus PS is really built like a cheap junk.
The Opus one also had some bad AC leakage from the very beginning (hence why I opened them up). I don’t use it at all.
Not to mention the my Opus charger fan has gone kaput within a couple of months light use. I haven’t replaced it yet, but plan to use standard bigger fan.
Just to say, despite having less functions, this Litokala is the better charger quality-wise.
As I have both D battery flashlights and lanterns I recently bought the Maha charger HKJ mentioned. The charger is big as is the power brick for it but it can deliver 2 amps per battery to eight C or D NiMH batteries. A nice unit which so far I have used on the “soft charge” setting. There are a number of less expensive D battery capable chargers listed on Amazon and one I have used, and still have, is the Digital Treasures charger. Just ignore the claimed Alkaline battery recharge capability as it is a good way to get them to leak if used much.
I’m seeing inconsistent results on the display screen.
Some of my li-ions end up displaying “4.2v” and “Full”
Others end up displaying “Null” after charging completes.
Anyone know why?
Protected? Maybe the circuit cut off a little lower than the charger.
Just for the sake of those reading this thread - HKJ's review is here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/26318
Seems like the older AW cells that go to indicating “null” instead of “4.2v full” are charging OK.
It’s like they just disappear from the Liitokala’s detection — but they’re fine in the flashlight.
This means that you charger has a too high voltage and the over voltage protection in the batteries trips.
…THANK YOU!
I was looking for an answer as to why my protected batteries ended up with a “null” reading. They seem to have a full charge. Can I expect any long term problems from this?
The batteries are probably not completely full, a few percent is missing. It will not be a big problem for your protected batteries, but unprotected batteries will loose some lifetime due to the higher voltage.
I guess I’ll top them off in my WS1. I like that the Lii-260 keeps the data for review, but the WS1 doesn’t.
What’s the best charging rate for 14500 batteries, and would it make any difference in getting them closer to full?
And is there a protected 14500 that is known to accept a higher voltage?
> the over voltage protection in the batteries trips
But I take batteries off after charging, that show ‘null’ — and immediately, they work fine in a flashlight and show 4.2v on a multimeter — I thought that if the overvoltage protection tripped, the protection would keep the cells at zero until they were put back on a charger to reset the protection? Does it reset in some other way? Or do cells differ in how they reset? Sorry, I am not clear how this happens.
Up to 0.5A is fine for 14500 batteries. A lower termination current will stuff a bit more energy into the battery.
Over voltage protection will usual reset when the battery is removed from the charger. If they batteries have 4.2 volt when removed they where fully charged.