Though I have never bought any of their other products, I’ve read numerous accounts of their batteries being mislabeled or unable to meet their rated capacity/current specifications. They also seem to have a habit of wrapping and labeling their cells in a manner designed to deceive uninformed customers into believing they are Samsung/LG/Sony/etc cells.
Unfortunately, my only experience with their products proved my apprehension to be founded. I understand that others may have had a better experience, but since I only purchase name-brand cells and I am willing to pay a little more for a higher quality charger, I don’t think I will purchase any more LiitoKala products.
Same old dramatic story which happens to many. They come looking for information about a brand of products, and for some reason they only seem able to search and focus on the bad reviews. Close to 4 years ago, when LiitoKala launched their blue INR26650-50A cells and a little later with their first chargers, it was all cheers to them. It was not until somewhat later that they grew and in some aspects their vibrations got more questionable, along with a lot more people buying their stuff. And they went downhill a bit, not really much in my opinion. Lots of their chargers and at least many of their cells are great (with typical, deceiving chinese marketing though). And while not all their products have been thoroughly reviewed, this is sort of inconsequential anyway. This is because of the (probably shocking to some) fact that we create our reality with what we choose to believe. Thus, if we choose to feed from low vibrational, judgmental opinions when learning about something our experience will likely end up being bad, as we put our own energy into the equation, resonating with the bad side of the stuff. Of course, I do not mean to say that LiitoKala does not own their own responsibility over this. They do, and they should or must fix their mishaps.
I, for example, know what to buy and what not to from them, and I'm happy to receive well functioning products.
So, am I saying that because Rayoui formed in himself some sort of bad opinion and belief about LiitoKala, he got a defective charger…?
I also understand that many find unavoidable or quite hard to overcome their inclinations, though. It takes some mastery to start fixing our minds and bodies. I know very well…
Don’t exaggerate what I’ve said here. There was no drama involved and it wasn’t my intention to make a big deal out of it. I purchased a defective product and now I have chosen not to buy any more of their products. This is a decision that many people would make after receiving a product with a dangerous defect.
My prior opinion of the company was not based solely on the opinions of others. One can just navigate to LiitoKala’s own website and look at the dozens of fake cells they produce and form an opinion based on that alone. I am capable of making decisions on my own.
Their official site is the one I was referring to. Indeed, I have noticed that many Chinese brands seem likely to sell counterfeit products on the open market. Seems like the indifference to trademarks is just cultural.
Just to be clear, LiitoKala doesn’t make batteries. They buy bulk cells from Chinese factories and put their label on them. This is why certain cells from them are quite good and others are not so good.
Also keep in mind that Aliexpress is similar to Ebay in that it’s a diverse group of private stores that all sell under the Aliexpress banner and rules. So some of these little stores sell all kinds of junk including counterfeit cells. It’s also pretty hard to tell which store is which. Your in the US, so I would always stick to known US stores for batteries. I know certain stores, like Banggood, sale legit cells. It really is more about the store than the battery when it comes to getting the real deal. So many little stores sell counterfeit cells it’s sometimes not worth the risk to save a few bucks.
To be sure, there are charlatans in the US that get away with selling crap cells. I’m sure there are many vape shops that don’t know anything about li-ion batteries and recommended cheap crap. Or maybe they know it’s crap and sell it anyway because it has such good profit margins. So I don’t think it’s a cultural thing.
What I was saying before is that there are certain companies, in this case in the US, that are known to only sell genuine cells. There are reputable sellers all over the world, you just have to know who they are. If your new to batteries you probably dont know which stores are reputable and which aren’t. Luckily we have forums like BLF that can tell us such things.
I would like to give my own observations on Liitokala chargers that I have personally checked, specifically end charging voltage.
In most cases, I “test” the Liitokala charger’s end-charge voltage by charging a fairly low resistance 18650 - usually a Sony VTC5/VTC6.
My observations:
(I measure the battery voltage with a relatively accurate DMM (Fluke 117), almost right after the charging indicator turns “green” or indicates “full”)
- Lii-100 = tends to overcharge slightly, end voltage ~4.23-4.25v
- Lii-202 = the left slot always charges to a lower voltage than the right slot ;
left slot ~ 4.17v ; right slot ~ 4.21-4.22v
- Lii-402 = fairly consistent end charge voltage across all 4 slots ~ 4.21-4.22v
- Lii-500 Engr = fairly consistent end charge voltage across all 4 slots ~ 4.20-4.22v
- Lii-500S = charges to around 4.23-4.24v
- Lii-S1 = charges to around 4.23-4.25v
Lii-S6 = charges to around 4.21-4.23v
summary:
Lii-100 will overcharge somewhat higher (4.25v is just within the +/- 0.05v tolerance)
Lii-S1 also seems to slightly overcharge similarly to the Lii-100.
Lii-500S charges a bit high too (4.24v)
Lii-500 Engr & Lii-402 seems to give a good end-charge voltage (just +/- 0.02v)
Lii-202 left slot and right slot has a difference of about 0.05v (left slot charges lower than the right slot)
I don’t have enough samples so one unit may vary from another (I notice Liitokala has not that high consistency with regards to end-charge voltage, compared to for instance Miboxer)
For comparison, I’ve checked Miboxer C4-12, Miboxer C4-12v2, Miboxer C8 = and doing the same “end-charge” voltage testing.
I find that these Miboxer tends to have a much more consistent end-charge voltage (always 4.19-4.21v for all the slots).
It’s a fair question and I suspect that it’s impossible to tell the difference .
If humans see the world as a zero-sum game, then it is . They, themselves, make it so, but don’t realize their role. Culture is evolutionary and cannot easily be distinguished from prevailing economic beliefs.
After the well made and succesful Lii-500 Engineer this Lii-500S is, in my honest opinion, sort of a letdown. The Lii-500 is way more accurate at measuring capacity and as far as we know power supply safe (and in my experience, I am happy with the way it terminates Ni-MH). Maybe the reason for the Lii-500S to overestimate capacity is the complainer crowd in AliExpress, now that LiitoKala itself is selling chinese OEM cells rewrapped with falsehood. Can't condone with that, not while using wraps and model markings which spuriously look like what they're not.
But well, you can charge at 2 amps in the outer slots with the Lii-500S. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It’s not in Test mode so it’s not a measurement.
Looks like you just dropped in 2 cells of which we don’t know how much they were discharged and this is what it says when charging has finished (for channel 4).
If you want to measure capacity you’ll have to use Test mode. This discharges and charges it for a couple of cycles and gives you the capacity of the cell.
Takes a loooong time though.
The thing is, you CAN’T tell if these cells get overcharged or not because your meter simply isn’t accurate enough.
The specs for the Fluke 117 are:
DC volts Range/resolution
6.000 V / 0.001 V
60.00 V / 0.01 V
600.00 V / 0.1 V
Accuracy: ±([% of reading] + [counts]): 0.5% + 2
Let’s say your meter measures 4.200V
This means it may also be:
4.200 + 0.5% = 4.221 + 2 counts = 4.223V
or
4.200 - 0.5% = 4.179 - 2 counts = 4.177V
Now look at the highest tolerance you mention, 4.250V
When your meter measures 4.250V, it may as well be
(4.250 + 0.5% = 4.271 + 2 counts =) 4.273V
or
(4.250 - 0.5% = 4.229 - 2 counts =) 4.227V
So you see, when working with critical tolerances like this it makes no sense to use such a meter. When considering 4.25V as the absolute maximum voltage for a LiIon battery you really need the equipment to accurately measure it. It’s no good when a meter measures 4.25V when in reality it means it can be anything between 4.23V and 4.27V
At least you still have a decent meter, but I see people using cheap meters with unknown accuracy measuring their cells to check how their chargers are performing.
It totally makes no sense!
It's the way of the Chinese people… :facepalm: 
.
. They, themselves, make it so, but don’t realize their role. Culture is evolutionary and cannot easily be distinguished from prevailing economic beliefs.
