LiitoKala lii-500S - New HIT or ...?

Jerommel · December 22, 2019, 9:43pm

Oh, i didn’t even know that…
Are you sure?

leftdisconnected · December 22, 2019, 9:54pm

Yes. The Lii-500 amd Lii-500S support only li-ion (4.2V) and NiMH (1.48V).

Jerommel · December 22, 2019, 9:59pm

Well, so be it then.
I have 4 of those big 32650 / 32700 LiFePo cells coming my way, and i was hoping to be able to test the capacity with my lii-500.
I’ll have to think of another way to do that then.

leftdisconnected · December 22, 2019, 10:09pm

Thanks for the report. I don’t know what’s wrong with your charger, but I agree that it’s utterly useless if it won’t shut off properly, as even $0.21 TP4056 modules will properly terminate.

Forever · December 22, 2019, 10:23pm

Sounds like a bad unit, I’m not seeing this behavior with mine.

Barkuti · December 22, 2019, 11:45pm

Get a proper testing device, there's an affordable electronic load / battery tester which can be had for little money:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32856429623.html ZKE Tech EBD-M05.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32664964301.html ZKE Tech four wire holder.

Features PC software which plots discharge graphs. I have one right here still untested, waiting for my holder.

More information here: ZKE Tech EBD-M05 help

Rayoui · December 23, 2019, 2:13am

Indeed, my unit was defective. Strange that it worked fine a couple of times before it started acting up.

Failing to terminate charging is a pretty dangerous failure mode. It’s certainly something to watch out for if you use this charger.

leftdisconnected · December 23, 2019, 8:32am

Ah, I remember coming across that before and thinking that someone should let the store know that their name has a rather unfortunate connotation in the U.S. I didn’t .

LTC · December 23, 2019, 8:53am

Rayoui:

I picked up this charger a few months ago because there was a sale going on and it was cheap. I used it a couple times to successfully charge some 21700 and 18650 cells. When a cell completes charging the indicator for that bank turns green and the charger beeps. A couple of weeks ago I was using this charger to top up a 30Q and I felt like it was taking an unreasonable amount of time. I checked on the charger and the light was still red and the screen indicated that it was still charging, but the voltage reading was 4.20. I took the cell off the charger and measured it with a multimeter at 4.27v.

I thought it might have been a weird quirk but didn’t use the charger again for a couple of weeks because I didn’t really trust it. I decided to try it again today and put a Sanyo GA in the charger. I watched it closely and when it reached 4.20v it did not chime and the light remained red. I waited another 10 minutes and took the cell off the charger. When I measured it with a multimeter it was at 4.23v. I decided I didn’t want to keep a charger around that I can’t trust not to overcharge my cells if I don’t babysit it. I unplugged it and tossed it directly in the bin.

Oh no… That’s sh*tty to hear that. Will be receiving mine in a day or 2. :person_facepalming:

Barkuti · December 23, 2019, 9:57am

This charger lacks any trustful review worth reading yet. Additionally, two out of the latest three LiitoKala chargers reviewed by HKJ (Lii-S2 and Lii-S1) have been found using nonsensical, harmful trickle charge on lithium ion cells. Now, without being explicitly judgmental with LiitoKala here, just tell me what you think, please. I'll judge from there on, just don't want to binge. O:)

Vendeur · December 24, 2019, 2:37am

Guys… I think some workers and their bosses in LiitoKala are really braindeads…

http://www.liitokala.com.cn/productView.asp?id=484

and look at this picture…:

Are they really puting a microSD card into USB slot…

phouton · December 24, 2019, 5:07am

omg LOL nice catch

Vendeur · December 24, 2019, 2:25pm

I got reply from Henrik K. Jensen from LYGTE: “The 500S review is ready, but not published yet.”

LTC · December 24, 2019, 2:57pm

Great to hear that. Just received mine and charging up some cells…

Kevin_Z · December 24, 2019, 3:02pm

It might be one of them usb powered led boards

leftdisconnected · December 25, 2019, 5:31am

Yes, but these are the graphics people over in Marketing and this sort of junk is quite common among Chinese consumer brands. I have no faith in LiitoKala, but you’ll find similarly worthless graphics on 90% of the products at Banggood, AliExpress, eBay, etc. They seem to believe that filling the page with very-high-resolution graphics that make vague or inaccurate claims in poor English will help them sell more units and, to be honest, it might actually work. They certainly keep doing it .

Pete7874 · December 25, 2019, 2:49pm

Yup. People who create these images most likely get paid peanuts and have no knowledge of what this charger actually does. They are just being asked to create some flashy images and are given 60 seconds to do it before they have to move onto the next image/product.

NorthernHarrier · December 25, 2019, 10:56pm

Rayoui:

I picked up this charger a few months ago because there was a sale going on and it was cheap. I used it a couple times to successfully charge some 21700 and 18650 cells. When a cell completes charging the indicator for that bank turns green and the charger beeps. A couple of weeks ago I was using this charger to top up a 30Q and I felt like it was taking an unreasonable amount of time. I checked on the charger and the light was still red and the screen indicated that it was still charging, but the voltage reading was 4.20. I took the cell off the charger and measured it with a multimeter at 4.27v.

I thought it might have been a weird quirk but didn’t use the charger again for a couple of weeks because I didn’t really trust it. I decided to try it again today and put a Sanyo GA in the charger. I watched it closely and when it reached 4.20v it did not chime and the light remained red. I waited another 10 minutes and took the cell off the charger. When I measured it with a multimeter it was at 4.23v. I decided I didn’t want to keep a charger around that I can’t trust not to overcharge my cells if I don’t babysit it. I unplugged it and tossed it directly in the bin.

Sorry to see this. I just tried topping off a 18650 cell, and it terminated charging at the correct voltage. Seems that your unit is defective. I hope mine proves to be ok over time, and with more cells.

d_t_a · December 27, 2019, 10:11am

I think most analyzing chargers only do capacity (discharge) testing of regular Li-Ion and NiMh batteries.

Aside from the SkyRC MC3000 which supports almost all battery types, and other “hobby-type” chargers, are there other analyzing chargers that can test capacity of LiFePO4 (3.60-3.65v full voltage) and LiHV (4.35v full voltage). Just wondering, what’s the usual cut-off voltage when testing capacity for LiFePO4 and LiHV?

Do the battery holders fit unprotected 21700 batteries?
Are there battery holders that also fit protected 21700 batteries (would like to do some capacity testing on them sometime)…

Barkuti · December 27, 2019, 10:35am

The above mentioned inexpensive ZKE Tech battery holder is designed for 65 mm long batteries, no more. It may be possible to squeeze a few extra millimeters if the cathode wires, soldered to the back of the connector aiming to the cell, are desoldered and resoldered inserting them straight from above. But if an unprotected 21700 fits, its going to be a really tight fit.