So I take it the battery has at least proper discharge protection, right?
The batteries match the length of the ones tested by HKJ (some 68.5mm)
They also seem to have the same capacity: I get about 2 1/2 to 3 hours until my 1A flashlight drains them to 2.8V, so that’s about 2500mAh
Is this enough to deem them “legit”? By legit I mean, the same ones HKJ tested here
Also, a LiitoKala Lii 300 is on it’s way. In any case, I’m not recharging my batteries until it arrives
Pics of the circuitry of this crappy charger
Seriously, don’t get distracted into playing with the cell you already over-discharged.
Please.
If you must keep playing with it, remember — outdoors, on a fireproof surface, with eye protection, and if it vents, do not inhale.
This is not hypothetical.
https://www.google.com/search?q=lithium+ion+battery+charger+doctor+hydrogen+fluoride+lungs
Agree completely with that. The OP is pushing this experiment at his own risk. I think he just….finally……maybe, figured out what ‘protected cell’ actually means.
Would this be an AC powered / plug in charger? 
Wow, that PCB is so not safe for mains voltage…
Maybe a millimeter betweens high and low-voltage side
@OP A new charger doesn’t cost much, like the XTAR MC-1
Guys, thanks again for the great help.
The charger is already on it’s way to a better place, and hopefully that LiitoKala will arrive in a couple weeks.
As for the batteries, I have the one I over-discharged in a safe place, and the rest won’t be used for the time being. To be honest, it’s sort of frustrating cause I don’t even know where to start at this point. I thought testing my batteries was the best way to go but apparently I only managed to make things worse. The thing is, at this point I have no idea if or how I can be reasonably sure that my batteries are safe or how to check the ones that I got from GearBest. I mean, who’s to say those are not counterfeit samsungs & panasonics just like the xxx-fire?
Before charging new batteries always check the voltage. Brand new batteries from the factory should not come fully charged. If your “new” batteries arrive at or near 4.2v then you have to question if they are used or returned batteries.
Again I recommend Evva or keeppower protected batteries. Lowest cost for quality seiko protection on quality cells.
When I first got into LED Flashlights with LiIOn batteries I initially opted for a cheaper Ultrafire charger. Over time I better informed myself on the topic via forums like BLF and other sources and realised that it was worth spending a few $’s more for a decent brand name charger that has good performance. Good choice dazz in scrapping the suspect charger.
Most of the people that know what they are doing in this and similar forums have spent a LONG time accumulating information, AND appropriate tools. You have neither so don’t be surprised at less than optimal results. As long as learning experiences cause no harm, they are the best way to learn.
Right now you have questionable batteries and charger, plus a DVM, and a lot of questions. That is about 3 steps on a long journey. The DVM while a necessary tool is pretty basic. You would be FAR better off with a good analyzing charger if you really want to learn. If you simply want to charge batteries and use them safely then follow suggestions from people that have done the work for you. If you want to know these things for yourself, settle in, be prepared for some reading and some work, and be willing to spend a few bucks on appropriate tools. There’s a lot of difference between a basic safe charger and a good analyzing charger.
Would the Liitokala 300 I ordered fit the bill? Is it enough with the capacity meter and the internal resistance measurement to diagnose a battery?
Did you read the review?
http://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Engineer%20Lii-300%20UK.html
I went over it briefly. It looks to be a capable if not outstanding unit. The IR doesn’t seem to work great. OTOH that function is pretty questionable except at a gross level, for most inexpensive units. I have the Opus and was pretty excited about it at first but now don’t use it much. It can tell the difference between a good battery and a crap one. But the crap ones can still be useful in some applications.
Most useful (for me) is quantifying discharge. Then you can actually tell what the battery is capable of, at THAT current draw.
Yes, I read the review, I picked that charger based on the opinions here and that review, what I meant is if those features were enough to diagnose a battery.
I’ll let you guys know the discharge results for all four Trustfires when the charger arrives, and the Samsungs & Panasonic I ordered from Gearbest
In the mean time I’m doing some reading at http://batteryuniversity.com/
Not sure if it’s a good resource
Your charger is locked in to 0.5A discharge. Some will go 1.0A. Some hobby chargers will do even higher. The low discharge lets you know capacity, but will tell you almost nothing about performance. For low drain systems, no big deal. But you can put low performance battery into a high drain system and be very disappointed. Theoretically IR (internal resistance) can be useful there. Low IR > higher performance. High IR > lower performance. But the measurements with that charger seem variable and not highly accurate for IR as reported in the review.
Battery U. has pretty good basics. You have to have a foundation to integrate particular information into. Without it even reading HJK’s reviews is pretty daunting. Some folks here are far beyond where I am or will ever be. Just start assimilating info and keep at it. It’ll start to make sense after awhile.
In principle, all my batteries will be used in my flashlights exclusively. The highest current one will be a 2.8A Convoy S2+ that I ordered based on recommendations in these boards. I have a fan I can use to cool down the S2+, and Simon from Convoy told me it’s a constant current driver down to 3.5V, so I guess I can use that to test the batteries capacity @ 2.8A, then compare the results with the reviews. It should last some 45 minutes if I got it right.
The other flashlight is a 1.5 - 1A measured at the tail cap.
My main concern at this point is safety, so I’ll do my homework and will gather as much info as I can while I wait for the new charger to arrive.
I take it, even if it’s not too precise, the IR figure can help detect obvious degradation issues if it goes abnormally high, right?
Yes, IR is a generalized test mostly useful for testing a battery against itself over time.
Important - Be aware that temperature SIGNIFICANTLY changes IR. Put in a cold battery and you’ll get different results than the same battery pulled warm from charging or use.
Cut-off is a function of voltage. ‘Performance’ is a function of ability to sustain voltage. You can put a battery that ‘seems’ to test out OK in the low discharge of the charger into the high draw Convoy and have it quit in a very short order. If you then pull it and check the voltage you’ll find it almost full. Put that battery in a low draw light and it’ll go along happily.
OK guys, I’ll post all the info when available:
- Will check for dents, cracks, or whatever may suggest the batteries I ordered from Gearbest could be damaged in transport
- If they look fine, will check stock voltage of these batteries (shouldn’t come fully charged)
- Capacity of all batteries as measured by the LittoKala after a full discharge at .5A
- IR’s (at room temp)
Got one of those with the 8x7135 chips. IMO it’s a great light but trying to pump that much power through it is not efficient.
7135*4 vs 7135*8 drivers
Yeah, I was on the fence between the 8x and the 6x.
Went with the 8x because it’s mainly going to be used as a bike light, so it will have plenty cooling, and the medium mode should be bright enough if it runs at 40% as advertised (1.1A)
But probably the same could be said for the x6, with some extra efficiency. For €14 I might just order another one with the x6 or x4 driver
EDIT: of course I forgot that on medium it will still run at 2.8A, but with PWM, thus less efficiently, as explained in that thread you linked
Well, my Liitokala 300 just arrived.
All four Trustfire Flames 3000mAh report an IR of around 50-100mR
…but with batteries fully charged, it will go to “null” in both slots, which I believe means that the batteries’ protection is kicking in because of the slightly high termination current… or that’s what I thought!
So I measured the voltage with no batteries in the charger… and it’s 4.9V in both slots!!!
What gives? Isn’t that insanely high?
EDIT: Also, while charging an almost full battery, the voltage oscillates between 4.16V and 4.23V in 15-20 secs intervals. Is that normal?
EDIT2: Once the protection is trigered, the battery measures only 4.13V. With the cheap charger it went up to 4.17V
EDIT3: Found this so I guess it’s normal for these batteries to trip the protection.