I bought my Lii-260s from the same seller on the bay, was able to get two of them for $15.50/ea after throwing him an offer :) They make good companion chargers to my i4s.
One puzzle — an Xtar 123A (600 mAh) protected cell is recognized on the Lii-260, displays the voltage increasing while charging, and ends up displaying 4.2v and the word “Full” after the cell finishes charging.
A couple of EVV 26650 (4000 mAh, protected), and EVV and AW 14500s (protected) are recognized, show voltage while charging, but end up displaying “Null” after they’ve been 4.2v for a while.
EDIT: also some 18650 protected cells show “Null” after charging up to 4.2v.;
EDIT: my one UNprotected cell is a 17650 (narrow, no-name, came with a Ra Twisty battery tube, long ago) — it charges fully and then displays “4.2v” and “Full”
so I haven’t found any pattern to this yet.
The little info sheet says ‘Null’ appears when there’s no battery, or a bad battery has been inserted, but says nothing about it saying “Null” after charging.
(The EVV 26650 cells just barely fit into the Lii-260, inserted carefully with the ends parallel so they slide in between the contacts, it’s snug but doesn’t have to be forced.)
Could it be that the charger is charging with to high voltage and trips the protection in some batteries?
> Could it be that the charger is charging with to high voltage and trips the protection in some batteries?
If protection got tripped wouldn’t the battery then show zero volts when I take it out?
— because when I take the batteries out of the charger, they work fine (and are charged as expected).
Or can protection reset itself?
But it has something to do with the protection strip, I guess — I haven’t seen this with unprotected cells.
I’ll keep going through the cells I have, as you said
> It can also be used to sort batteries into good (Lowest mR value), average, old (Highest mR value).
so I’m labeling each cell as i check it. So far I’ve found 18650s with 53mR to 59mR out of an old battery pack
So, just to get this straight:
This is a good charger for the value for people like me who want to know the rough capacity of their cells.
18$ isn’t that much and I have a fake Xiaomi 10400 Bat Pack here I would love to test.
OK, I put a fully charged EVV 14500 cell in (protected)
The screen lights up and shows very briefly “4.3v” — that changes to 4.2v
Then it says charging for about a second, then it says “null”
I put the same EVV cell in again and hold the button down to get it to say “DisCharge”
it shows discharging for about a second then it says “null”
EDIT — so I put this cell in a flashlight and ran it down a bit, then
put it back in the charger, and it’s recognized with no problem.
So maybe the charger is confused when a fully charged EVV cell is put into it?
(I’ll see if it stays recognized through another discharge and charge)
— NOPE, it’s back to “Null” a few minutes after it showed charging to 4.2v
Switching to a slightly used Xtar 14500 cell (protected)
Same — screen lights up and briefly shows “4.3v” then changes to 4.2v, then 4.1v
It will start charging and keeps charging, fairly quickly changes to showing 4.2v (still charging)
I hold the button down to get it to discharge.
It switches to DisCharge and continues to discharge
Took the Xtar 14500 discharge down to 3.9v, then took it out, put it back in
Got the same “4.3v” changing to “4.2v” and charging
And it charged successfully and now shows “Full”
So — ?? — something peculiar about the AW and EVV cells?
OK, I’ve been using the “500” level on everything so far.
Now, I have the Xtar still in place in the right side slot, still showing Full.
The EVV is in the left slot showing “null”
I remove the EVV, and put it back in.
The display shows “4.3” then changes to “4.2”
I hold the button down until it shows “DisCharge” at the 1000 level setting
(that would mean it discharges at 500, then would charge at the 1000 level, if I understand the description right — that it always discharges at 500)
It starts to discharge.
A few seconds later the display blinks, and both windows show “null”
Then both windows go blank.
I unplug the power and plug it back in.
Now the left side (EVV) shows 4.3, then 4.2, then charging,
and the right side (Xtar) shows “null”
The EVV charges for a few seconds then says “null” as well.
Both windows say “null”
Well, I”ll stop here and wait on advice.
I can’t tell if this is more or less normal behavior, or if I have a defective charger.
I hope others who have the same charger will report what theirs do in similar setups.
Has anyone collected resistance measurements taken from this charger?
I’m seeing quite a lot of variation.
Before I got the LiitoKala, I’d bought some Xtar 14450 cells recently — one out of the original three failed to charge,
and as replacements I got two duds in a row before getting another good one.
Checking those on the LiitoKala, the Xtars are in the range of 137mR to 158mR
(The Xtars also do complete charging on the LiitoKala, and then show “4.2 Full” on the screen)
(I can start a separate thread to ask others to contribute to collecting these numbers if HKJ would prefer
I’m guessing the results will be peculiar to the LiitoKala charger and so might as well stay under this heading)
EDIT — I’ll add the mR values I come across here, thanks to HKJ for more info in the following reply about what to expect.
When I repeat tests I’ll show that with a / between numbers.
14450s Xtars — 136, 137, 159/166 (two measurements) mR (new retail purchase November 2014; also got a couple of duds from the same batch, maybe old stock?)
14450 AW — 107 mR, 108 mR (quite a few years old, used a lot)
14450 EVV — 115 mR, 193 mR (the one showing 193 started at 3.4v, it may have been run down in a flashlight over time via parasitic drain)
14450 Orbtronic — 110 mR, 110 mR,
18650s — 53mR, 57 mR, 57 mR, 59mR (Samsung 26C, taken out of an old battery pack)
I believe it is fine to post the numbers here.
You will get higher numbers with small batteries and old batteries.
The lowest numbers will be from high current batteries.
I have just tested 2 new Xtar protected 16340’s at 110to120mR.The first try is high,then repetitive tries get a more stable reading,though the odd one up to 238mR and down to 87mR.I did about 20 tries on each cell.I recently charged some 18650,my 2 X6’s had arrived.2 Acebeam LG HE2’s gave 19-20mR,Panasonic PF’s 29-30mR,Sanyo UR18650FM unprotected from the FT batch that had solder tab marks,around 90mR,got warm during charging and would only get to about 4.16volts.With medium pressure on the slider,I’ve just got a regular 62-65mR from an Efest 16340IMR and a steady 112-115mR from the Xtar’s.Hope this helps
Curious to verify if anyone else sees these things on a LiitoKala 260 charger.
— when any battery is inserted the display very briefly shows “4.3v” for half a second
I’m puzzled — if you see this,
Would this charger recognize a cell intended to be charged at 4.3v? Has anyone seen docs or tried a 4.3v cell?
Or is there any other reason for this number to ever appear?
— continuing, erratically, some cells charge then I get “null” displayed, other times I get “4.2v full” displayed
— this is intermittent and I can’t say I am sure there’s any pattern yet.
— immediate “null” more likely if the cell is close to fully charged when inserted, I think
— only some kinds of protected cell (AW and EVV but [doesn’t show ‘null’ on the 14450 ] Xtar)
I’ll stop and watch and hope to hear whether others see the same sort of thing happen.
Have you checked the charged cells with a voltmeter?
If a protected cell shows "null" when it is about fully charger I would suspect that the charger is using to high voltage.
I was recently charging cells for 2 X6’s so using both the Littokala and Xtar VP2,known for its precision voltage reading.The Litto finished 0.01 to 0.025 volts below the VP2 and I transferred the cells to the Xtar to finish.So,undercharging or larger tolerance?
Anyone else?
Testing, I’ll add to this with later edits
EDIT: Using a little 3-digit (3-wire led) (9v power) I consistently get 4.16v on cells fully charged. That’s what I used throughout this particular response
BUT, another meter (still cheap, RadioShack multimeter) gives 4.22v or 4.21v on the same fully charged cells. I’ll start a fresh response using that meter.
_
Two EVVA 18650s (these, I think, are Panasonic under the wrap) (3400 mAh)
both started charging with the display at 4.1v, indicated “4.2 full” and the (cheap little 3-digit) voltmeter says 4.16v for both of them.
Put them back in, both indicated charging 4.2v for a few minutes, then “4.2 full” and the voltmeter still indicates 4.16v for both.
Put both of them into the Intellicharger I4, and it immediately gives 3 steady LEDs, meaning it sees them as fully charged.
_
Two AW 18650s (older)(2200 mAh)
One started at 3.88v, LiitoKala reads 4.0v and 80 mR, then “4.2v” charging … still charging … still charging and feeling slightly warm
One started at 4.1v, LiitoKala reads 4.2v and 61 mR, then charging — finished with “null” — voltmeter says 4.16v;
put into Intellicharger i4, which got 2 solid and one blinking lights and is continuing to charge … still charging … finished; voltmeter says 4.16v
One Panasonic (salvage) unprotected Samsung ICR18650-26C), 456 mR
Charged yesterday; Resting since yesterday; the voltmeter shows as 4.16v
Put into the LiitoKala — it shows 4.3v briefly, then “4.2v Charge” — finished with “4.2v full” — voltmeter says 4.16v. Put into Intellicharger i4,immediately gives 3 solid LEDs meaning fully charged
and shows 4.16v.
One noname cell that came in a flashlight years ago, protected “LIR 17650 1500 mAh 3.6v (168S)
voltmeter shows 3.96v.
Put into LiitoKala, screen shows 4.1v briefly, changes to 4.0v, then back to ”4.1v charge” — 90mR
Took a LONG LONG Time in the LiitoKala, ended showing “4.2 full”
and on the Radio Shack meter it shows 4.2v
Put it into the Intellicharger I4 and it gets 2 solid and one blinking LED, so it’s taking more charge there.
OK, switched voltmeters. From here on using a RadioShack multimeter (which is giving 4.1/4.2v consistently on cells the previous little LED meter showed as 4.16v)
Second AW 18650 cell finished charging on the LiitoKala showing “null”
Shows 4.19v on the RadioShack meter
Shows 4.12v on the 3-led meter
Put it back in the LiitoKala, it shows 4.2v charge — and finished “null”
ON the RS meter it shows 4.18v (yes, lower than the first time)
On the 3-led meter it still shows 4.12v
Put into the Intellicharger i4, gets 2 solid and one blinking LED so it’s trying to charge further (same as the first AW)
Xtar protected — yesterday it showed 140mR,
today I ran it down a while in a flashlight, and
it shows 9.1v on the RS meter.
put into the LiitoKala it shows 88 mR.
Put into the LiitoKala; shows “4.0v charge” and finishes showing “4.2 full”
Radio Shack voltmeter shows 4.18v
Put into the Intellicharger i4, 2 solid and one blinking LED, charging, finished
RS voltmeter shows 4.19v
Tried putting that back into the LiitoKala
Shows “4.3v” briefly then changes to “4.2v charge” then quickly to “4.2v full”
So — all I can conclude is the LiitoKala displays 4.3v briefly (why?) when the cell put in is about as full as it can manage.
And it’s back to showing higher — 149 mR — like it did yesterday, up from the 88 mR it showed first thing this morning after resting overnight.
Still have two cells — the AW and the noname 17650 — in the Intellicharger, still charging (this is after the LiitoKala thought they were full).
I’ll note whether their voltage actually goes up when I get it.
OK, the Intellicharger is done — and both of these show as 4.21v on the RadioShack meter.
Putting them back on the LiitoKala to see what it ddoes
The 17650 shows “4.2v charge” followed by “4.2v full” immediately.
The AW shows “4.3” then “4.2v charge” then “null”
HKJ, have you had a chance to look at the Lii-300? I’m considering getting it as it is supposed to be able to take longer cells.
I would love to order that one, but the 300 isn’t available via the normal way (Ali, ebay, BG, etc.) yet.
I ordered the 260 yesterday.
I will have a lot of fun with that thing.
It will be very interesting, how much capacity my old TrustFire 2400mAh Flame bats have left (the oldest ones are ~7 years old) and will help me to sort them by capacity and mR
Also I am very interested in the cells in my faked Xiaomi 10400 Powerbank … over 1000 or less 
Not yet, I have it on order and it will probably arrive early in January. At the current time I do not have that many chargers in queue that has to be published first, i.e. the review will probably be posted soon after I has tested it. That will probably be late January or February.
If I receive some chargers from somewhere, the above schedule will probably change.
There was some recent interest in this Charger, and someone posted the Ebay Seller Link. I went ahead and put in a bid for 2@ 32 dollar, and he accepted. I haven’t played too much with them, but I was impressed for the price. The review is here, if interested.