Due to some technical difficulties I experienced with the charger, the review might be delayed for a while. But there’s hope: @TimMc got one as well and will continue what I started.
Update: I was able to solve the problem, so my review can continue.
After some trouble updating the firmware (mostly my fault because I tried to do it under Linux and serial port communication is highly non-standardized), I started actually using the charger. I’ve updated the review with some observation of battery compatibility and usability regarding inserting and removing batteries.
For the impatient people here. First measurement of charging a Li-ion battery. Will add that section with lots of details once I finished my Li-ion tests.
Absolutely! I can already tell you that it has CC/CV discharging: For example it discharges with 1A to 2.7V, then keeps the voltage and decreases the current until it reaches the set threshold. You can also disable it and just stop discharging when reaching the threshold.
Sounds good, but will it increase the discharge time a lot? I´m not sure about the meaning because 1A discharge should be cause voltage crushes, a cell have to be stable till empty cell
The possibility to disable this is welcome.
Hope you use also some NiMH, after the strange behavior of the Lii-600 (voltage crashes after discharging some mAh with 750mA while other chargers do fine with 1A) and NC2200 (discharge current will be decreased near end which causes much longer times and don´t show the voiltage stability) I´m a bit careful.
For now just some more graphs. I still have some issues with the reliability of my test setup as well as the charging of NiMH batteries.
Discharging Li-ion:
Discharging NiMH:
Charging NiMH:
With the old firmware it always stopped prematurely:
After explaining my issues to Enova, they have sent me a new firmware which slightly changes the termination algorithm. Still always terminates with 0dV, I can’t force it to use -dV/dt.
User interface and manual:
UI and manual aren’t finished yet, therefore I will delay the description of the UI and how to set up the modes for a while.
After some mail exchange with Enova they sent me a firmware that implements some of my suggestions, like more control over the termination algorithm for NiMH. With that firmware I was finally able to charge a NiMH with -dV/dt termination!
I think that I have done enough tests to update my review over the next week, if I find the time for it.
The hardware looks decent (minus the short and hard to reach slots and the battery terminals). Most other issues can be solved by updating the firmware, what Enova already did for me several times. What I received initially felt like a prototype, now it is much better.