Battery charger/ analyser

[dave]

I've got loads of batteries - many of them quite old, so I have been looking for something to analyse them with for a while. I finally found this:




It measures battery capacity, gives an indication of internal resistance and is also a decent charger - all for about £16

I got it here:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LiitoKala-Lii-260-LCD-Display-Wall-Car-Charger-for-18650-26650-Li-ion-battery-/161235908423

It arrived in under two weeks and works very well and is also very simple to use. If you want to see a detailed review of it from a real battery guru look here:

lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20LiitoKala%20Lii-260%20UK.html

[Ripshod]

Don't trust the actual figures as these 'analyzers' are not acurate. What they are good for though is comparison measurements. Test a battery when new and check now and then for dropoff.

[VapingBad]

I got the AWT version of this (Ares Star Lii-1000) that Torchythebatteryboy generously donated to the London SE meet and it is quite a good little charger, I like it slightly under charging, it doesn't have the over-voltage problem the Lygt review didn't like and the IR test was better than I expected from a non 4 wire tester although the reading differers a little between channels, compared with my 4 wire tester I got:

 charger         analyser       Battery    
26 milliohm     16 milliohm     VTC4
118 milliohm     77 milliohm     Efest red 18350
Not tried the discharge feature.

[b1mble]

The discharge feature on the AWT version is fine - it agrees with the other devices I have that can measure capacity. I have a largeish spreadsheet of capacities measured on them here.

[dave]

Feb 3, 2015 19:04:30 GMT Ripshod said:

Don't trust the actual figures as these 'analyzers' are not acurate. What they are good for though is comparison measurements. Test a battery when new and check now and then for dropoff.

I think the mAh measurement is pretty accurate on them, but as you say the internal resistance - or mR as they call it is not other than as a comparison. I've seen various discussions on this and it appears to be somewhere between the AC impedance and the DC resistance as it is measured by a very short pulse. Gives a ranking to your batteries though.

[blakey]

I'm currently using this www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?389732-Test-Review-of-Charger-Opus-BT-C3100-V2-1

Have you seen the liito with a 4 channel bay anywhere?

[dave]

That was one that I was considering blakey until I saw this one. There are a few variants of it, including the newer 300 (which is pretty much the same but also charges ni-mh batteries), but I've not seen a four bay version. I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with one eventually though

[blakey]

Feb 4, 2015 17:22:45 GMT dave said:

That was one that I was considering blakey until I saw this one. There are a few variants of it, including the newer 300 (which is pretty much the same but also charges ni-mh batteries), but I've not seen a four bay version. I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with one eventually though

Should you come across one on your meanderings mate, gissa nudge please

[VapingBad]

I decided to give the AWT version of the charger in the OP a go with the discharge test, won't be doing that again as the positive terminal get too hot and heats the batteries and I didn't let it finish. It was the charger not the batteries as the positive terminal was hotter than the battery when they were removed. I could rig it up to use an external battery holder to avoid this but can't be asked as I have a dedicated analyser anyway.