Charger Allmaybe EC2





Allmaybe is new to the charge market and starts with this model that is usb powered and can work as power bank. It can charge two cell at a time and handles many different chemistries and sizes.





It arrived in a small cardboard box.



It included the charger, a usb cable and a instruction sheet.



The charger has a micro usb input and a full size usb output for the power bank function.
The charger needs a 2A usb power supply/charger to work at full speed.



The user interface is a couple of leds and a single button.
A fast press on the button will select battery type, when a battery has just been put into a slot.
A long press (2 seconds) will change current at any time.



There is 4 blue leds for each slot, they are used to show charge state and when selecting battery type.
The two red leds show selected current.



Charging, the blue leds are animated.



The slots uses the classical slider construction and it works fine.

The slots can work from 33 mm to 70mm. This means that very long protected 18650/26650 batteries will not fit in the slots.






The charger can handle 70 mm long batteries including flat top cells.



Measurements

• When not connected to power it will discharges with less than 0.1mA.
  
• On the power bank slot it will discharge with about 0.2mA (45mA while indicating capacity).
  
• When power is connected with a full battery, the charger will charge with 0.8mA
  
• Below 0.1V the charger will not detect a battery, but will charger with about 3mA
  
• Between 0.2A and 1.5V the charger assumes NiMH
  
• Between 1.6V and 2,1V the charger will not recognize a battery, but charges with about 2mA
  
• Above 2.2V the charger assumes LiIon
  
• Charger will not restart when voltage drops.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  
• Usb input power consumptions when idle without batteries is 34mA, with batteries about 60mA
  

• Usb output is coded as Apple 1A
  
• Usb output will turn off after 10 seconds with less than 40mA load.
  
• On the power bank slot it will discharge with about 0.15mA (45mA while indicating capacity).
  
• Usb output will not deliver current when usb input has power.
  

Efest PRO C2 Charger 2017





This is a simple dual cell mains and 12V powered LiIon charger without any settings.



It arrived in a small cardboard box with specifications on it.



The box included the charger, a mains cable, a warranty card and the instruction sheet.



The charger has a mains socket with universal power (100-240VAC 50/60Hz) and a 12V DC connector.



The only user interface is a led light for each channel, it is red when charging and green at other times.



Specifications are on the bottom, but not very easy to read.



The slots uses the classical slider construction and it works fine.
The slots can work from 30.5 mm to 71mm. This means that it will handle nearly all 18650/26650 batteries.





The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.
The charger current is on the high side for regular small cells, but acceptable for IMR batteries



Measurements

• When not connected to power it will discharges with less than 0.3mA.
  
• When power is connected with a full battery, the charger will discharge with less than 0.5mA
  
• Below 0.6V the charger will not detect a battery
  
• Between 0.6V and 2.9V the charger will charge with about 70mA to 100mA
  
• Above 2.9V the charger will use regular charging.
  
• Charger will restart when voltage drops slightly.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  
• Power consumptions when idle without battery is 0.3 watt
  
• From 12V it need 14mA when idle without battery.
  

Kongin KC-262a





This is a simple and cheap charger that can charger AA/AAA and 9V batteries.



I got the charger in a small box.



I got a plug conversion adapter with it, but no manual or instruction sheet.




The charger has foldable US plug.



The specifications are on the botto m of the charger, together with the usual warnings.



There is two red leds, one for each pair of batteries, they are on when the charger is charging.
The leds are also used for the 9V batteries.




The slots are the common two positions for AA and AAA batteries with a 9V connector at the bottom.







Measurements

• Charger charges two batteries in series.
  
• Charger will never termination or indicate when batteries are full.
  
• The voltage on the charger terminals is around 18V when no batteries are mounted.
  
• Power consumption when idle is 0.65 watt, this is rather high.
  

Golisi S4





Golisi is a new name in chargers and starts with an simple 4 channel universal charger.




It arrived in a black very stylish cardboard box, there is some specifications on the back.



The box included the charger, a mains cable and the instruction sheet.



The charger has universal mains (110-240VAC 50/60Hz) and a 12V input on the back.



The user interface is two buttons and a large display. The buttons can be used to change what is displayed, but do not affect the charging. Current selection depends on slot used and number of batteries.
It is possible to select between V, h(time) and mAh



During power on all the segments are shown.



Current is selected depending on number of batteries and slots (CH4 alone is 2A).



On the bottom of the charger there are specifications.



The slots uses the classical slider construction and it works fine.
The slots can work from 32 mm to 70.8mm. This nearly covers anything.








The charger can handle 70 mm long batteries including flat top cells.

The default charge current for 1 or 2 cells is 1A, this is rather high for small cells. To fix this always put at least 3 batteries in the charger when charging 14500/18350/16340, they do not all have to be small or empty.



Measurements

• Discharge LiIon battery with 0.3mA when not connected to power.
  
• When power is connected with a full battery, it will charge with about 0.4mA.
  
• Below 0.3 volt the charger will report error
  
• Below 2V the charger will assume NiMH
  
• Above 2V the charger will assume LiIon.
  
• Below about 0.9 volt the voltmeter is not very precise.
  
• A slot with a battery will not increase current when other slots are finished (Good).
  
• Display turns off after 30 seconds.
  
• Voltmeter is within 0.02V
  
• Voltmeter stops updating when charging is stopped and will not show above 4.20V
  
• A single LiIon in slot 4 is charged at 2A.
  
• Two LiIon in any slots is charged at 1A
  
• 3 or 4 LiIon in any slots is charged at 0.5A
  
• NiMH is always charged at 0.5A
  
• Charger will not restart when voltage drops.
  
• The display turns off after 30 seconds.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  
• Power consumptions when idle without battery is 0.2 watt
  

Hello everyone, today we will see theUCN1 sent for the occasion from Nitecore, whom I thank for the opportunity and trust given to me.



CLICK HERE to go to the official page on the site Nitecore.

I want to clarify that the reviews are done at the amateur level and without the aid of scientific instruments or test in secret Labs cutting edge therefore, between the lines that follow, there will also be my humble impressions.


Official features taken from Nitecore:

- two bay battery charger
- compatible with Canon LP-E6/LP-E6N and LP-E8 camera batteries
- real-time information on battery voltage, charging current, battery temperature, battery level and other parameters
- monitors battery status and displays battery health
- reverse polarity protection and anti-short circuit protection
- automatic adoption for the optimal charging modes between CC and CV
- automatic termination upon charging completion
- activates over-discharged batteries with protective circuits
- compatible with power banks and solar panels
- made from durable and fire retardant PC and ABS (V0) materials
- optimal heat dissipation design
- insured worldwide by Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd


Where to buy it

You can purchase the charger at the official retailer Nitecorestore.com


The packaging and accessories

The UCN1 comes in a plastic blister packs enclosed in a rigid cardboard packaging to protect it and which is repeated several times the compatibility with the batteries Canon LP-E6/LP-E6N/LP-E8 on different sides.







On the side, in addition to the acronyms of the batteries, are also listed various models of Canon cameras that use that type of battery.



Once extracted the contents from the blister, we find:

- the UCN1
- warranty card
- the manual in different languages.



To follow the manual, you can also view or print from Nitecore website by clicking HERE.




The charger

The UCN1 is the charger for the Canon's reflex batteries from Nitecore. I want to clarify that the Nitecore has also other models of USB charger like this one, but with batteries compatible with Nikon, Sony, Leica in different variants (ULM9, ULM240, ULQUIOR and ULSL) and for various versions of GoPro starting from 3 (UGP3, UGP4 and UGP5).

This model in particular has a small high visibility monitor with black background and white lettering.
To charge the batteries there are two independent housing, different from each other. In fact, the one positioned just below the monitor is able to accommodate and recharge your batteries LP-E6/LP-E6N while the other one, found on the rear of the charger, will works with the LP-E8 batteries. About the chargers speeds, we have incoming 5v 2A and outgoing 1A on each channel.
The small plastic body, which is able to delay the spread of any flames, hides on the right side a small semi rigid cable, featuring a classic male USB connector, which has the task of drawing the necessary current, for recharge the battery by power bank or other devices that deliver current in this way.
The body is also not smooth at the edges but is surrounded by ridges that are mandated to dissipate excessive heat.

Here's what it looks like from the front. What you see on the upper left corner of the screen is the protective film that I didn't want to take off. I have not got one ruined.
What you see, is the compartment for the battery LP-E6/LP-E6N.



This following is the picture of the rear with the LP-E8 battery compartment. As you can see, the connector is different so you do not run the risk of being wrong to insert the battery.



On the top right you can see the USB connector hidden inside the body of the UCN1



extracted easly



and goes to fit comfortably into any USB port.




How does that work

Operate with the UCN1 couldn't be simpler. Just attach the USB cable to a powerbank or a car or wall charger and then insert the battery you have to reload.
The charging process will start automatically and the charger will think to get the job done, managing the speed automatically and report the status of charging or when it is finished.

After inserting the battery, the charger will also make a control on it, analyzing the internal resistance, and will tell his State that can be "Good", "Normal" or "Poor".

If necessary, the UCN1 will be able to recover even the batteries that, by mistake, they must have been dischargered more than necessary.


Dimensions: dimensions and weight

The measuring of the UCN1 are 8,54 x 5,07 x 2,52 cm. Weighs 57 gr.

Below, some photos for a dimensional comparison with a big BIC lighter,



with the Canon basic charger,



and with battery LP-E6 and a LP-E8.



Here is a photo of UCN1 profile with both batteries inserted. The thickness in this case is 4.88 cm.




Battery compartment and recharge times

To test this, I used a LP-E6 and a LP-E8.

Profile view of battery compartment slide LP-E6/LP-E6N.



To install the LP-E6 battery pack, just place it just before the contacts



and then push it to allow contact with the parties.



This is the profile view of the LP-E8.



To insert the battery, you must insert it inclined



then push it and align it to the charger.



Once you have entered the batteries, as I mentioned above, the UCN1 will analyze the cells and will tell if they are still good or not and starts charging.
We will have two lines on the screen.
In the first line will appear only informations on slots in use and battery status.
On the main line, larger than the former, it will be a vertical bar that indicates the percent of charge, will then be shown the V of the cell, the charging rate (expressed in mA), the temperature (in Celsius degrees in EU version) and the current capacity stored since the process started charging (expressed in mAh). With the exception of the vertical bar, the information will not be displayed all together. The screen will change every 3 or 4 seconds, changing the slot if 2 batteries are inserted.

I leave you to the various screens that indicate a charging process from start to finish with 2 batteries.







Note from the two pictures to follow that the charge rate decreases as we move towards charging is complete.





END appears when charging is complete.



From my tests I founded that charging from 0, then with the reflex that fails to ignite, takes about 2 hours to fully charge the battery.


Personal considerations

This Nitecore UCN1 is av ery, very interesting product.
It is a small and powerful concentrate of technology, able to complete charging of a battery in times honest without needing to be close to a wall outlet.
I haven't found flaws in the model. Its only Achilles heel, are the modern power bank that off the power when the currents involved are almost nil. Unfortunately this becomes in a terminated charging of only 99.9%.

Nevertheless, it still a product with excellent skills that I recommend to all photographers. Given the extra functionality of this model that might come in handy to many of them, both professional and budding, wishing a charger a step higher than the basic.

What do you think about? Are you considering a purchase?

Miboxer C2 6000





Miboxer is expanding their line of chargers, this time with a charger that can handle large batteries and high charge current.



The charger comes in a retail box. There is some specification on the box.



The pack contained the charger, a power supply and an instruction sheet.



The power input is a 12V barrel connector. There is also a usb output.



The charger will usual select charge current based on internal resistance and chemistry based on voltage (Only LiIon 4.2V and NiMH). With the button it is possible to override the current selection.
A fast press on the button will select slot, holding down the button will enable manual current selection. When in current selection each press will step to the next current.
For LiIon the currents are: 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.50, 0.80, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00, 2.50, 3.00
For NiMH the currents are: 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.90, 1.00



Here are all the segments in the display.



When the charger is idle it shows the model number.



An example of the readout. The charger can display: Estimated charge time, used time, current, voltage, internal resistance, temperature and mAh



When using usb output it will show how much current is drawn on the usb connector. This will, of course, use some of the power from the battery.



The battery slot is the typical slider construction, but are made to work with both small and large round cells. The slot accepts from 33mm to 72mm long cell and up to 32mm diameter, both LiIon and NiMH.



Each battery slot also has a temperature sensor.












The current may be too high for some cells on automatic and requires manual override.



Measurements

• Power consumption when idle is 0.2 watt from mains.
  
• Will discharger a LiIon battery with about 0.2mA when not powered.
  
• An empty LiIon battery will be discharged with about 3mA (bad)
  
• Will discharger a NiMH battery with about 0.4mA when not powered.
  
• Assumes NiMH below 1.9 volt and LiIon above.
  
• Voltmeter is within 0.01 volt
  
• Voltmeter will not drop below 4.20V when LiIon battery is full.
  
• Charging will not resume if voltage drops.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  

• Idle current with display on is about 40mA
  
• Will discharger a LiIon battery with about 0.2mA when not powered.
  
• An empty LiIon battery will be discharged with about 3mA (bad)
  
• Usb output is turned on with the yellow button.
  
• Usb output will turn off when load is below 75mA for 30 seconds.
  
• On overload the display will show “USb err”
  

Efest PRO C4 Charger 2017





This is a simple quad cell mains and 12V powered LiIon charger without any settings.



It arrived in a small cardboard box with specifications on it.



The box included the charger, a mains cable, a warranty card and the instruction sheet.



The charger has a mains socket with universal power (100-240VAC 50/60Hz) and a 12V DC connector.



The only user interface is a led light for each channel, it is red when charging and green at other times.



Specifications are on the bottom, but not very easy to read.



The slots uses the classical slider construction and it works fine.
The slots can work from 30.5 mm to 71mm. This means that it will handle nearly all 18650/26650 batteries.





The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.
The charger current is on the high side for regular small cells, but acceptable for IMR batteries



Measurements

• When not connected to power it will discharges with less than 0.1mA.
  
• Below 0.6V the charger will not detect a battery
  
• Between 0.6V and 3.0V the charger will charge with about 70mA to 130mA
  
• Above 3.0V the charger will use regular charging.
  
• Charger will restart when voltage drops slightly.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  
• Current will automatic change from 0.5A to 1A when batteries are full or removed.
  
• Power consumptions when idle without battery is 0.35 watt
  
• From 12V it need 18mA when idle without battery.
  

This is a brief review of the Nitecore SC4 battery charger. Here is a list of key features:

- 4 port charger. All ports individually charged.

- Can charge almost any kind of lithium-ion or NiMH cell. Supports 3.6v, 4.2v, and 4.35v lithium chemistries. Also supports NiMH chemistry. And supports almost any battery size up to a length of 70mm.

- 300mA to 3000mA charge in a single slot (manually selectable), or 6000mA total for all 4 slots.

- LCD display, gives you individual information on each slot. Voltage, supplied capacity, charge level, etc.

- Auto-detects lithium-ion or NiMH battery, and charges appropriately.

- Auto-detects large-capacity (such as 18650) or smaller-capacity (such as 14500), and sets default charge current appropriately (2000mA or 500mA).

- Uses constant-current/constant-voltage for lithium-ion, and -dV/dt for NiMH.

- Displays battery internal resistance, and health of cell.

I won’t list all the features, since you can find that easily on Nitecore’s site.

I bought the Nitecore SC4 at Bangood, with a coupon (I think from Madmax?) that brought it down to almost half-price. You can find it on their site here, along with further details:

https://www.banggood.com/Nitecore-SC4-LCD-Display-USB-Rapid-Intelligent-...

There is also a video review of the light I will put up on youtube, but it’s not completed yet. I will post when it is done.

Overview:

I like this charger. It’s fairly small, light, and gives a good charge. The real-time information it displays during charging (and on completion) is nice too.

Fast charging (up to 3 amps) is great to have if you’re in a hurry, and are used to the typical 500mA charge rate of most cheap chargers.

Two buttons provide the user-interface. One button (“C”) selects which channel to display, and a long-press will allow you to enter configuration mode. Another button (“V”) controls which information to display (voltage/capacity, internal resistance, charge rate), or controls changing settings if in configuration mode.

I won’t go into much detail here, as my video will show this better.

I found it was very intuitive to use, and I had no problem figuring it out. You might want to read the manual for some of the more “hidden” options, such as cell recovery. But overall, it’s plug & play, especially if you’re using standard 4.2v lithium-ion cells, or NiMH cells.

You can mix & match any kind of cell in any slot, all at the same time.

I think this charger is aimed more for lithium-ion charging, than it is for NiMH, but it does a decent job with Eneloops. However, I find that since the AA format is detected as “small”, the default charge rate of 500mA is too slow for Eneloops. Selecting 1000mA or 2000mA (see the Cons section for a complaint about charging 4 cells at the same time) is more appropriate.

This charger is not a capacity (discharge) tester, but you can get an idea of the capacity of your cells if you charge them from nearly empty. It will display the total charge put into each cell, and since charging lithium-ion batteries is about 99% efficient, it’s a close approximation of the discharge capacity.

There is a USB port on the charger, and it is used for powering USB devices when the charger is not busy charging cells. I suppose it might be of some use, but I doubt I will ever use it.

Pros

The charger gives a good charge. Lithium-ion cells come off the charger at about 4.19v. NiMH cells come off at about 1.51v.

Charges lithium-ion (including LiFePO4 and 4.35v cells) and NiMH, as well as almost any size cell.

Cells do not get hot during charge, and the charger stays fairly cool.

Option for fast-charging, up to 3000mA.

Display is easy to read, and the user interface (2 buttons) is simple.

Lots of information provided during charge, including the internal resistance that tells you the health of your cell. Also displays the total capacity it has added to the cell (but note that is does not do discharge capacity testing).

Default charge settings are usually appropriate.

Can select charge from 300mA to 3000mA, as well as max voltage (3.6v, 4.2v, or 4.35v).

You can recover dead cells. I’m not sure it’s smart to do that, but the charger will do it with a manual selection.

Cons (or minor complaints):

If you are charging a LiFePO4 cell, you have to manually select the 3.6v charge, or it will default to 4.2v (which will ruin your cell).

If you use slot 3 or 4, the listed charging current is really only half of what is displayed. For example, if you are charging 4 cells at 2000mA, then each cell only gets a 1000mA charge. I believe this is because the entire charge rate for all 4 slots is limited to 6000mA. But, even if you set the charge to 500mA for each slot, you will only get 250mA. So, when charging 3 or 4 cells, don’t forget to set the charge rate to double what you actually want. If you use only slots 1 and 2, then the charging rate is correctly listed. i.e., you can set a 3000mA charge rate and you will get a 3000mA charge when only charging in slot 1 and 2. Confusing!

The slots are too close together to fit anything bigger than an 18650 side-by-side. So, 26650 cells or D cells, will be limited to charging only 2 at a time.

The default charge rate of 2000mA for an 18650 cell might be a little high for some cells. You can change this, but you have to do it every time.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading.

Nitecore Intellicharger new i4 2017





This is Nitecores “simple” charger in the 4 slot version.



The cardboard box lists lot of specifications, battery types and features.



The box contains the charger, a mains cable, manual and a warranty card.



The charger has two power connectors, one for mains input (100-250VAC 50/60Hz) and one for 9-12 VDC input.



The user interface has buttons and the leds are place behind a dark cover.




It has 3 green status leds and a red led to signal full current (1.5A). The status led also has a secondary function, they are used as indicators for selected voltage.
The charger is a bit special with current selection, usual it will select current depending on battery length and chemistry, but it can be overridden in one case: Two long LiIon batteries can be charged at 1.5A, but then they will be charged in sequence, not simultaneously.
To change voltage or current tap the C button until a single green led above the required slot lights up. Then hold C or V button to adjust current or voltage. C button can only turn the red led on, the V button will change between the 3 green leds for the 3 different LiIon charge voltages. Press again shortly on C or wait for timeout.



The slots uses the usual construction and works well. They can handle batteries from 28mm to 70mm long.
Notice the long bar at the plus end, due to this the charger can handle anything up to D or 32xxx size.







The charger can handle 70 mm long batteries, inclusive flat top cells.


Measurements

• Power consumption when idle is 0.56 watt
  
• Will charge a LiIon with 0.2mA when charging is finished.
  
• Will discharge a NiMH with 0.1mA when not powered
  
• Will discharge a LiIon with 0.9mA when not powered
  
• Change between long/short cell at around 56mm
  
• Below 0.8V the charger will report error (All leds flashing) and charge with about 1mA.
  
• Above 0.8V regular charging is used.
  
• Will assume LiIon above 2.0V
  
• Slot 1 & 3 will time share.
  
• Slot 2 & 4 will time share.
  
• Charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  
• Power cycling and insertion of a battery will restart charging.
  

Nitecore SC4





This is a fairly powerful charger from Nitecore that can handle large cells and with a lot of information in the display.



The cardboard box lists lot of specifications, battery types and features.



The box contains the charger, a mains cable, manual and a warranty card.



The charger has two power connectors, one for mains input (100-250VAC 50/60Hz) and one for 9-12 VDC input. There is also a usb charger output.



The user interface has two buttons and a advanced looking display.

The display shows chemistry and charge/battery parameters: Volt, mA, mAh, time, Internal resistance
A short press on C will select next battery and also between charge current and chemistry in the settings menu.
A long press on C will enter or leave the current settings menu.
A short press on V will change between the 3 status readouts and in settings menu it will increase current by 0.1.
A long press on V will prioritize that cell (Only possible on slot #1 and #2), this will disable time sharing.
Holding down V in settings menu it will change current rapidly



This is the idle display.



Charger is working on 3 batteries, top line is for battery 3 and shows internal resistance.



Here top line is for battery 1 and it shows current and voltage.



Top line is for 2 and it shows mAh and time.



The slots uses the usual construction and works well. They can handle batteries from 28mm to 70.3mm long.
Notice the long bar at the plus end, due to this the charger can handle anything up to D or 32xxx size.









The charger can handle 70 mm long batteries, inclusive flat top cells.


Measurements

• Charger will charge a LiIon with 0.2mA when full.
  
• Charger will discharge a LiIon with 0.7mA when not powered.
  
• Charger will discharge a NiMH with 0.15mA when not powered.
  
• Charger will change between 0.5A and 2A at around 54mm
  
• Slot #1 and #3 will time share
  
• Slot #2 and #4 will time share
  
• Using the prioritize function will disable time sharing and instead charge them in sequence.
  
• When one of the shared slots is full all current is directed to the other slot.
  
• Below 0.8V a single restart pulse is tried.
  
• Between 0.8V and 1.7V NiMH is assumed
  
• Between 1.7V and 2.0V an error is reported.
  
• Above 2.0V LiIon is assumed
  
• Voltmeter is within 0.01V in the full range.
  
• Voltmeter will stop updating when charging is stopped.
  
• Charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  
• Charger will restart if battery is removed or power is cycled.
  
• Usb output is only active when not charging.
  
• Power consumption when idle with display dimmed is 0.54 watt
  

• Usb output is coded as usb charger (DCP)
  
• Usb output is only active when not charging.
  
• Power consumption when idle with display dimmed is 0.54 watt
  

Charger Xtar MC4 update

Review of MC4, read this first



This is a fairly small 4 slot charger from Xtar with usb power input. It can only charge LiIon batteries.




This review will only be an update, not a full review.




Measurements



A normal charge curve, it looks the same as the first review.



With a 0.5ohm resistor in series (i.e. a weak power supply or a long cable) the charger over charged the batteries, the updated version do not over charger, in this case the charge voltage is a bit low (Within the allowed +/- 0.05V).



I tried one test more, this time with a 1ohm resistor, i.e. even worse cable and the charging was perfect.



The orginal test was with 4 cells in the charger and it also looks fine in that case.



Conclusion

This means I will give the charger a good rating.



Notes

The charger was supplied by a Xtar for review.

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger

Folomov A2





Folomov is new on the charger market and has started with some fairly powerful chargers. This is a two slot charger that can charge with up to 3A, but also charge with low current for small cells.



The cardboard box lists lot of specifications, battery types and features.



The box contains the charger, a power supply and a instruction sheet.



The charger has one 12V input barrel connector.



The user interface has two buttons, one for each slot and a large display.
After putting a battery in a slot the current will flash for some time.
When flashing a short press on the slot button will change current in this sequence 250-500-1000-2000-3000-2000-500-250, holding down the button will change chemistry between LiIon and LiFePO4.
The user interface is slightly slow, i.e. a fast double presses is not detected.
I have one complain about the interface: When a current is changed for one channel, the adjustment time for that channel is extended, but not for the other channel, i.e. if you are too slow at selecting the current for the first channel, the second channel will start charging. The solution is to put one battery in at a time and select current for it, then the next (or be fast enough).



The display is fairly simple, each slot has a large animated (when charging) battery symbol, a chemistry text, a charge percent, the voltage and charge current. The segments are not uniform brightness on the display.



Display during charge, the bottom line will change between current and voltage.



The slots uses the usual construction and works well. They can handle batteries from 28mm to 70.1mm long. The new 70mm cells are a very tight fit and very long protection 18650 will not fit.







The charger can nearly handle 70 mm long batteries, there is no problems with flat top cells.




Measurements

• Charger will charge a LiIon with 0.4mA when full.
  
• Charger will discharge a LiIon with 0.15mA when not powered.
  
• Charger will discharge a NiMH with 0.03mA when not powered.
  
• Below 0.8V the charger will show “Er” and charge with about 3mA
  
• Between 0.8V and 2V NiMH is assumed
  
• Above 2.0V LiIon is assumed
  
• Voltmeter is within 0.02V in the full range.
  
• Voltmeter will stop updating when charging is stopped.
  
• Charger will restart if battery voltage drops to about 3.9V.
  
• Charger will restart if battery is removed or power is cycled.
  
• Power consumption when idle is 0.85 watt
  

Efest PRO C1 Charger 2017





This is a simple usb powered single cell LiIon charger without any settings.



It arrived in a small cardboard box with specifications on it.



The box included the charger, a usb cable, a warranty card and the instruction sheet.



The charger has a micro usb input for power.



The only user interface is a single led that is red while charging and green at all other times.



Specifications are on the bottom, but not very easy to read.



The slots uses the classical slider construction and it works fine.
The slots can work from 30 mm to 70.5mm. This means that it will handle most 18650/26650 batteries.





The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.
The charger current is on the high side for regular 14500 and 18350, but is fine for Efest IMR batteries.



Measurements

• When not connected to power it will discharges with less than 0.35mA.
  
• When power is connected with a full battery, the charger will discharge with less than 0.5mA
  
• Below 0.6V the charger will not detect a battery
  
• Between 0.6V and 3.0V the charger will charge with about 70mA to 100mA
  
• Above 3.0V the charger will use regular charging.
  
• Charger will restart when voltage drops slightly.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  
• Usb power consumptions when idle without battery is 9mA
  

Ansmann 2.4A High Speed USB charger ANB0114



Official specifications:

• Input: 100-240V 50/60Hz
  
• DC Output: 5V 2.4A
  
• Size: 60 × 34 × 61 mm
  
• Weight: 58g
  

• Power consumption when idle is 0.01 watt
  
• Usb outputs is coded as auto with Apple 2.4A as max.
  
• Usb outputs are in parallel.
  
• Weight is 57.1 grams.
  
• Size is 62.3 × 62.2 × 35.3mm
  

Charger Folomov A4





Folomov is new on the charger market and has started with some fairly powerful chargers. This is a four slot charger that can charge with up to 3A, but also charge with low current for small cells.



The cardboard box lists lot of specifications, battery types and features.



The box contains the charger, a power supply and a instruction sheet.



The charger has one 12V input barrel connector.



The user interface has four buttons, one for each slot and large display.
After putting a battery in a slot the current will flash for some time.
When flashing a short press on the slot button will change current in this sequence 250-500-1000-2000-3000-2000-500-250, holding down the button will change chemistry between LiIon and LiFePO4.
The user interface is slightly slow, i.e. a two fast presses is not detected.
I have one complain about the interface: When a current is changed for one channel, the adjustment time for that channel is extended, but not for the other channels, i.e. with 4 batteries in the charger you do not have time to adjust each slot in sequence, before the last slot starts. The solution is to put one battery in at a time and select current for it, then the next.



The display is fairly simple, each slot has a large animated (when charging) battery symbol, a chemistry text, a charge percent, the voltage and charge current.



Display during charge, the bottom line will change between current and voltage.



The slots uses the usual construction and works well. They can handle batteries from 29mm to 69.9mm long. The new 70mm cells are a very tight fit and very long protection 18650 will not fit.










The charger can nearly handle 70 mm long batteries, there is no problems with flat top cells.



Measurements

• Charger will charge a LiIon with 0.4mA when full.
  
• Charger will discharge a LiIon with 0.25mA when not powered.
  
• Charger will discharge a NiMH with 0.05mA when not powered.
  
• Below 0.7V the charger will show “Er” and charge with about 3mA
  
• Between 0.8V and 2V NiMH is assumed
  
• Above 2.0V LiIon is assumed
  
• Voltmeter is within 0.02V in the full range.
  
• Voltmeter will stop updating when charging is stopped.
  
• Charger will restart if battery voltage drops to about 3.9V.
  
• Charger will restart if battery is removed or power is cycled.
  
• Power consumption when idle is 1.05 watt
  

EBC-A20 LiPo Battery Capacity Tester

EBC-A20 Official Specs and Claims:
EBC-A20 Li-po Battery Capacity Tester 5A Charge 20A Discharge 85W Multifunction Battery Test
Description: EBC-A20 is a battery test instrument with charge and discharge functionTo test the capacity of lithium battery / lead acid (charge discharge 20A, maximum power 5A, 85W), support separate charge and discharge and a discharge charge test support connected to the computer, can repeatedly charge and discharge and has extended functions through online software
The maximum discharge power 85W, within 4.2V, can be 20A, 8.4V can be 10A, and higher voltage is less than 10A
Note: this model does not support Ni MH, Ni Cd charging and power test, and requires such functions Optional: EBC-A05 or EBC-A10H
Specification:
Power supply: DC19V-20V,current Above 3.5A
Voltage setting:0.00-30V,minimum step is 0.01V ( Max 18V when charge)
Current setting: Discharge/0.1A-20A, minimium 0.01A (auto current limitation when over power comsumption)
Charge:0.1A-5A,minimium 0.01A (auto current limitation when over power comsumption)、
Mode:
DSC-CC (constant current discharge): Constant discharge current,used for test battery capacity
DSC-CP (constant power consumption): Constant discharge current,used for analog power consumption device
CHG-CV (constant current charge): Constant discharge current,support Lipo battery capacity test
Automatic Charge and Discharge:SupportCharge-Discharge-Charge Model and test battery capacity test
Voltage test: 0.0-4.5V (low voltage),precision up to 0.003V 4.5V-30V(high voltage),precision up to 0.01V
Current test:0.1-20A,precision up to 0.01A
Capacity test accuracy: 10Ah/0.001Ah 10A-100A/0.01A 100A above/0.1A
Wire connection: 4 wires test,voltage test and current test via different cable to ensure acuuracy
LCD Display:Voltage/Current/Capacity/Time/Power consumption and other data
Computer connection: USB to TTL cable Parts included:
1 x Power Cable
1 x Power Charger
1 x Online cable
1 x Clamp cable

_____________________________

Manufacturer page: http://www.zketech.com/
Contact Email: sale [AT] zketech [D0T] com
Product page: http://www.zketech.com/pd.jsp?id=21#_pp=2_303
Instruction manual: https://pan.baidu.com/s/1cvTilo
Software Version used: https://www.dropbox.com/s/syycugbwo4kdjl3/eb_v1.8.5en_1001.rar
Other Manuals and Official Software link: http://www.zketech.com/nd.jsp?id=15
English Catalogue of other products: https://i.imgur.com/JlTnlrt.jpg

_____________________________

Short review:

Its not the usual type of charger you see on this subforum, but it does hold good value for somebody who is invested in their battery powered hobby has a love of batteries and is invested/curious in analyzing and maintaining them. The beefy discharge rate allows serious testing of high drain batteries, and the PC programmable interface allows for complex, long term testing routines.

Long review

Packaging and Physical characteristics:

The package arrived in a nondescript cardboard box, plastered with stickers and tracking information, within a week of being shipped out from China. Inside the box, was the Battery Tester Unit, packed within a plastic air pouch, the terminal leads, an Australian plug to CloverLeaf (C5/C6) lead, a TTL/USB adaptor, and a AD/DC adaptor in its own box.

The terminal leads are approximately 37cm in length, which was a bit on the short side when I wanted to use them with larger lead acid starter batteries.

The battery testing unit itself is a bright orange colour, with the lead sockets and fan exhaust in the front, and a power switch, Mini-B USB and Power connector at the back. The top of the device has a backlit dot matrix LCD display, and the 4 interface buttons. The dimensions of the Testing unit itself is 15.4×11.7×7.1cm (Depth x Width x Height), with about half a centimetre clearance from the ground, due to rubber feet. On it’s own, it weights about 863g, with all the included accessories, the total weight is nearly 1.5kg.
The TTL Cable identifies as “Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port USB-Serial Controller”, using `lsusb` under linux.

Box:

Items included:

Weight of Tester:

Weight of all:

Size Comparison to 18650 (1):

Size Comparison to 18650(2):

Depth:

Width:

Height:

Terminal connectors and fan:

Power and IO ports:

Display and control face of the unit:

Build Quality:

The testing unit itself feels sturdy and solid, there is some heft to it since its made of metal, and it doesn’t squeak or creak when pressed. There are some small gaps around the vertices and edges, and the LCD cutout is slightly jagged in some places (but not sharp) but these dont really detract much from the “heft”. All the screws are tightly wound and it sits flatly and evenly on the surface it’s on. The buttons themselves are made of a strong but smooth feeling plastic. Activating the button requires some force, and the click is sharp and tactile and loud, not “mushy” at all. When the unit is under a fair amount of load, the fan activates, however, there is no vibration, thanks to the rubber feet. The power/IO ports at the back are well centred and don’t shift/wobble. The AC/DC unit feels “solid” and doesn’t rattle when shook.

The dotmatrix display does temporarily distort when pressure is applied to it, but it quickly returns to normal if you release the pressure. The display should be fine, its recessed below the metal case. The viewing angle isnt amazing, but its typical for displays of this type, and its backlit.

Operation:

The unit is powered by 19-20V DC supply, with at least 3.5A (~67W). The leads plug into the front face (The sockets are different for each polarity, so you wont need to worry about mixing up the cables), and are secured by screwing the plug into the socket. The Unit I received does not come with any sort of cell holder, I had my own prepared beforehand. The leads end in copper crocodile clips, so you should be able to connect them to most battery holder terminals. The use of clips instead of a dedicated cell holder means that you should have a lot more versatility in how you connect the cells, be cylindrical cells, Lead Acid cells, and pouch style cells. The UI can be accessed either using the control buttons on the top of the unit, or from a PC connected to the unit via a USB/TTL cable. I will go in depth about the UI later on.

Current/Voltage Measurements :

For measuring the voltage and current, I used the ANENG AN8008 Multimeter. For testing voltages, the Multimeter I used was usually accurate to within 1-2mV to what the Unit/PC was reporting, however, in some cases, I saw deviations of 6-7mV. The largest deviation I saw was 10mV, however, that could be a case of my Multimeter or the leads provided (since I was using a budget multimeter for all intents and purposes) and the connection to the cell holder wasnt optimal. The voltage between the cell terminals and cell holder leads were always within 1-2mV.

I was unable to procure a Clamp meter for this review, so I used the multimeter inline with the EBC tester unit for current measurements. At a current setting of 100mAh, the multimeter read 101.5 to 101.9mAh. At a 2A setting, the multimeter showed between 1.996 and 2.000 . At a 3.14A setting, amusingly, the multimeter read 3.142A. At 4A, the multimeter read 4.014. 5A read 5.024 – 5.019 (Stable). 7A read 7.085A at the meter. At 9.5A, the meter read between 9.604 and 9.811. However, the increase in error at higher currents could be attributed to the multimeter test leads and contact resistances, and because it was reaching the limit of the rated current for the multimeter (10A).

Voltage test (14V): https://i.imgur.com/bstja8X.jpg
Voltage (3.280V): https://i.imgur.com/55cC5I0.jpg
Voltage (3.316V): https://i.imgur.com/1v9OEP9.jpg
Voltage (3.185V): https://i.imgur.com/dHINIQY.jpg
Voltage (3.179V): https://i.imgur.com/IGnfb9x.jpg
VOltage (3.157V): https://i.imgur.com/RRh6pXK.jpg
Voltage (3.162V): https://i.imgur.com/HiS5k2j.jpg
Current (0.1A): https://i.imgur.com/Ksbjcxq.jpg
Current (2A): https://i.imgur.com/W01woaC.jpg
Current (3.14A): https://i.imgur.com/HShi8Wd.jpg
Current (4A): https://i.imgur.com/Wf8fkhB.jpg
Current (5A): https://i.imgur.com/GgmJq39.jpg
Current (5A): https://i.imgur.com/hQN6gKf.jpg
Current (7A): https://i.imgur.com/YfQinQI.jpg
Current (9.5A): https://i.imgur.com/hiweAqK.jpg
Current (9.5A): https://i.imgur.com/pXf2SlF.jpg

As you can see (particularly in the 3.185V range) the voltage deviation got up to 10mV.

Audible Noise:

With low charging and discharging loads, the battery tester is completely silent, apart from the occasional click you hear from the relay. However, with a larger load, the fan will initiate to offer active cooling to the device. Its not loud as per se, it sounds as loud as a desktop PC, but if you are bothered by fan noise, its something to consider. Right next to the Fan, it measures at 60dB, around a meter away it registers at ~50dB (The app says 60, that’s the sound of my camera shutter button). It sounds roughly like a modern fridge, when its not under load, a quiet background hum at this range.

60dB Next to it:

50dB approx 1m away: (look at the middle, average figure)

User Operation (Manual – No PC)

The EBC-A20 comes with a rudimentary but useful instruction manual detailing an overview of how to access the UI in manual (no PC) mode. After turning on the unit, the display powers up and has two lines showing the interface. The default interface when powering on is the “info” interface.

Info Interface shows the following Data, on two pages,(selectable by pressing “SET”), switching between Time + Capacity (mAh) / Power + Capacity (mWh).

First Row: The first field shows the current mode (which you can initiate by pressing the red “ON” key). This is either CC (Constant Current Discharge), CP (Constant Power Discharge) and CHG-CV (Constant Voltage/Constant Current Charge). The Second field shows the Current Voltage of the Cell (to 1mV). The Third field shows the current, be it Charging or discharging current.

Second Row: First Field shows the Status, it is either OFF (Nothing running), DSC (Discharging), CHG (Charging), or AT# (Auto mode, # representing the step). The Second Field Displays Power (when the last field is showing capacity in mWh) or Time ( in minutes, when the final field shows capacity in mAh. The last field, as stated above, shows Capacity in Wh or Ah, switchable by pressing the “SET” key.

Holding down “SET” takes you to the Config mode, where you can change the parameters.

Config Mode Menu :

First Row (During CHG-CV): First Field lets you set the aforementioned operating mode. The second Field is the charging current.

Second Row(During CHG-CV): First Field sets the termination Voltage. Second Field is Cutoff Current. Last Field is Operation mode (NORmal or AUTO).

The last Submenu is the AUTO discharge setting. You get to this menu by holding down the “ON” button while the “AUTO” field is Highlighted in Config Mode (During CHG-CV). It has three fields, discharge current, Low Voltage cutoff, and the Wait time between charge/discharge.

You can also change from Charging to a Discharge mode (CC or CP):
First Row (During CC/CP): First Field lets you set the aforementioned operating mode. The second Field is the discharing current/power.

Second Row(During CC/CP): First Field sets the termination Voltage. Second Field is run time (minutes)

Flowchart: https://i.imgur.com/Xo9pOZI.png

Album showing the UI: https://imgur.com/a/NP8Q0

Navigation:

Navigating within the Fields and between them is easy and intuitive. You can enter Config Mode by holding down “SET”. Pressing the “ON” button whilst in the Config View moves the cursor to the next field. You can then use the INC and DEC buttons to change the value the cursor has highlighted. For the operating mode, it switches between the charge and discharge modes, for the Voltage and Current, and Time Fields, it cycles the highlighted number between 0-9. To go to the Next selectable text segment, simply press the “SET” key, to move the cursor to the next one.

Handy Diagram:

Holding down the SET key confirms the selection and returns you to an upper menu, in both the Config and the AUTO Discharge menu. At the Info Display, you can choose to press the “ON” buttom to start the routine. Pressing “ON” while a routine is running will stop the routine. Whilst a routine is running, pressing “SET” will switch the display between Time | Capacity(mAh) and Power | Capacity (mWh). While an AUTO routine is running, pressing “INC” and “DEC” will show the statistics for the charge/discharge cycle.
If it seems daunting in text, it really isn’t in practise. After a few tries, I quickly got the hang of it.

The Manual, linked at the top of the review, also explains it really well.

User Operation (PC Interface)

The EBC-A20’s potential isn’t really fully realized till you connect it to a PC. Before doing that, you’ll need to download some Drivers for the TTL/USB adaptor and install the EB Tester Software. It’s available for windows, however, I had little drama running it under a Windows 10 VM (virtualbox) under Ubuntu 16.04 . The software interface doesn’t really need that much explanation, its fairly well thought out and easy to understand.

The main interface consists of a graph dominating the view, a pane to the left with settings for the test or cycle, a tool bar with some quick save and setting buttons, a tool bar with further options, and a little summary below the graph, showing some stats.
In the Single Test view, you have essentially the same three general tests, CC/CV Charging, Constant Current and Constant Power Discharge, along with a live display of Voltage,Current, Power, time, and a constantly updating graph.

The other View, Cycle test, allows you to generate custom routines. You can set upto 10 steps with any of the prior 3 Charge/Discharge tests, but you can also set a “Wait” parameter (that …. you know, leaves the cell to rest for however long you want it to) and a “Cycle” parameter, that starts the cycle again, from the first test. You can generate a routine of 10 steps and Cycle it up to 1000 times.

Yes, I tested that 1000 cycle limit.

There is one minor annoyance I noticed during my testing though. The current displayed in the graph and stored doesn’t differentiate between charge or discharge. Whether you’re charging or discharging, the values are positive integers. Usually, its easy to tell when the cell is charging or discharging, based on the voltage change, but maybe an option to toggle negative values for charging/discharging could be useful.

The other huge benefit of the PC interface is the ability to export Data. You can choose to export it form of the graph the program draws, or more usefully, the raw data, formatted as a CSV text file. You can then use this data to import it into the software of your choice and use it to analyse, display the data as per your choosing.
Since you can manipulate the data, you can also overcome the issue of better representing whether the current is charge or discharge.

I’ve made a small example of that using the SLA Data:

I also need to note that the software is in active development, I had a few problems and observed a few bugs, and emailed the Rep, and she responded to me with an updated version of the software within a few days. This is very encouraging, to see a hardware vendor have such good and swift support for their software, something which is unfortunately all less and less common these days.

Software running in W10 Under VirtualBox:

Running on Surface, showing start of a 25 cycle LifePo4 test:

Completed (modified) LifePo4 25 cycle test: https://i.imgur.com/yovmpNx.png

1. Charge at 1A. to 3.6V, cutoff 0.1A
2. Wait for 30m
3. Discharge, at 1A, to 3.1V
4. Wait 60m.
5. Repeat cycle from Step 1, cycle 25 times

1000 Cycles of LifePo4 Complete: https://i.imgur.com/MJgeDK4.png

1. Charge at 0.5A to 3.5V, 0.1A cutoff.
2. Wait 1 Minute
3. Cycle 1000 times.

CV Charging of Lead Acid battery:

Constant Power (15W) discharge of LifePo4 cell:

Generating Eneloop Discharge curve using LibreOffice:

Right click on graph to show instant data:

Charge and Discharge LiIon battery and different rates:

Album of PC Interface: https://imgur.com/a/AG6ZI

The Raw Data (including CSV Values):https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BziqjIgEpcQiOWhNZzYtbmR5SzA (Inside the Curated/EBC_Data directory)

A note about the Chemistry:

Since the charger uses CC/CV for charging, it is only compatible with cells which use that, such as Lead acid, Lithium Ion/Lithium Polymer, Lithium Iron Phosphate, Lithium Titanate, etc. It cant charge cells that require dV/dt , dT/dt or NDV style terminations. These include NiMh and NiCd cells. However, it has no problem discharging those cells, as shown by the eneloop discharge curve and data.

Eneloop Discharge Curve:

Power and Granularity:

The Software and the Display both show the voltage level to 3 decimal places (Precision is rated at 3 millivolts), to 4.5v. Above that level, the precision is rated at 10mV. The current display shows up to 10mA precision from 0-20Amperes.

The control over voltage levels however is less granular, with the increments for voltage being 10mV. The current control shows a similar level of granularity, with increments of 10mAh. The minimum charging current is 100mAh. This is perfectly acceptable for most cells, apart from some really small ones cells (eg, 90mAh 10180 sized cells).

The termination current also starts at a minimum of 100mAh, with increments of 10mAh. The minimum termination current of 100mAh is okay for new and larger cells, but for older, warn cells and lower capacity cells (lower than 1000mAh), the termination current is a bit high and will result in the cell not being completely charged.

The unit is rated at 85W, 20Ampere at 4.2V, at 8.4V its 10A, at higher than 10V, its lower than 10A, conforming to the power limit (eg, 4A at 21V). The maximum charging current is 5A, which is fine for most Lithium Ion cells but might be a bit slow for larger lead acid and lithium batteries.

Conclusion

What I like:

The Tester unit is well built and sturdy

Wide range of Charging and discharge voltage

Beefy discharge rate

Informative display and well thought out UI

PC connectivity allowing programming of extended routines

Ability to export raw data. Make fancy battery test graphs, like the HJK guy

What I dislike:

Test Leads are a little short for some situations.

Not really loud, but some definite audible fan noise under heavy loads.

Software doesn’t currently differentiate between current being charge or discharge

The termination current is a bit higher than what I’d like (100mAh)

Final thoughts:

Its not for everybody, but the wide range of operating voltages, the generous discharge current, and the ability to program and interface it with a PC represents a huge range and versatility for battery enthusiasts.

Thanks for reading my long and winding review, I hope you guys found it informative!

_____________________________

Disclaimer:
I was provided this item for my assessment and review. Other than the item itself, I have not received any compensation or monetary payout for it.

Store links:

Shenzhen Tianzhongtian Trading Company (probably the best Price ATM)https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/EBC-A20-Li-po-Battery-Capacity_60...

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/EBC-A20-Li-po-Battery-Capacity-...

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/EBC-A20-battery-capacity-tester...

http://www.thanksbuyer.com/ebc-a20-li-po-battery-capacity-tester-5a-char...

https://www.ebay.com/usr/lady-yufy4

If you look for “EBC-A20 battery capacity tester” on your site of choice, you should be able to find listings for the unit.

Folomov A1



Folomov is new on the charger market and has started with some fairly powerful chargers. This is a very small charger and power bank.





The box lists lot of specifications, battery types and features, there is only the charger in the box.



Input and output is in the same block and is basically a pass through connector.




The electronic is in this block, the gray plastic is partly transparent and where the wires go out to the battery is a fully transparent piece of plastic. This makes it possible to see the internal leds:
Blinking green: Charging
Steady green: Battery full or no battery connected
Blinking blue: Usb output is delivering power.
The green led will only light up when usb power is supplied to the charger.



The magnetic connection to the battery with clearly marked polarity.



Connected to a battery.





The charger can handle just about any size battery, including most flat top cells, but the current is too large for regular use on smaller cells, except some IMR types.



Measurements

• Power consumption when idle is up to 6mA from usb (Average 3.3mA).
  
• Charger will charge a LiIon with 0.02mA when full.
  
• Charger will discharge a LiIon with 0.1mA when not powered.
  
• The charger will charge from 0V with about 200mA
  
• Charger will restart if battery voltage drops to about 4V.
  
• Charger will restart if battery is removed or power is cycled.
  
• It can handle up to about 150mm long cells
  
• Weight: 20.8g
  

• Blue light will turn on at around 22mA draw from usb output.
  
• Usb output is coded as Apple 2.1A
  
• Charger will discharge a LiIon with 0.1mA when not powered.
  
• It cannot be used as a UPS
  

[REVIEW] MiBoxer C4-12 (NiMH/NiCd/Li-ion Smart Battery Charger)

The MiBoxer C4-12 is MiBoxers's newest lithium-ion battery charger. The MiBoxer C4-12 is a 4 bay high-current smart charger which can charge up to 4 Li-Ion batteries at 3A per slot (12A total). The C4-12 is great for anyone who needs to charge multiple cells at high current simultaneously.

I was provided a copy for review by MiBoxer (Amazon US stock).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Miboxer-Battery-simultaneously-rechargeable-batteries/dp/B074XQVNDG

 

Official Product Specifications

Parameters: 
Size: 6.2in*4.7in*1.7in
Weight: 485g
Material: Fireproofing PC+ABS
Color: Black
Input Voltage /Current: DC12V 5A 
Output Voltage: 4.2V±0.1%/1.48V±0.1%
Output Current: Li-ion maximum 4*3A /Ni-MH/Ni-Cd maximum4*1A 

Apply to: 
Li-ion(4.2V) (IMR/INR/ICR) 10340 / 10350 / 10440 / 10500 / 12340 / 12500 / 12650 / 13450 / 13500 / 13650 / 14350 / 14430 / 14500 / 14650 / 16500 / 16340(RCR123) / 16650 / 17350 / 17500 / 17650 / 17670 / 18350 / 18490 / 18500 / 18650 / 18700 / 20700 / 21700 / 22500 / 22650 / 25500 / 26500 / 26650 Ni-MH / Ni-Cd(1.48V):AAAA / AAA / AA / A / SC / C / D 

Package information: 
Package include: 
1*C4-12 Battery Charger
1*Adapter( 12V 5A)
1*User Manual

Adapter information: 
Input Voltage: 100-240V 
Output Voltage: 12V 
Output Current: 5A 
Material: PC 

Advantage: 
Super Fast Charger 3A for each slot, total 12A; four slots charging independently with a power bank function.

Attention: 

Only 4th slot have the usb output function, and only for li-ion battery. It can’t charge for LifePO4 and 4.35V li-ion battery. 

 

 
Packaging and Contents
1 x Battery Charger
1 x Power Adapter
1 x Manual

Included wall adapter outputs 12V 5A.

 

 

Fit and Finish
The MiBoxer C4-12 is made out of ABS plastic and has a mild "texture" which gives the appearance of a subtle sheen as well as helping to reduce the visibility of finger prints.

Size-wise, this charger is significantly bigger than the Opus, Littokala Lii-500, Xtar VC4 and Nitecore D4 among others. It is even wider and more spacious than the Zanflare C4.

All 4 slots are evenly spaced, which helps make it easier to insert/remove batteries from the center slots. When charging 4x18650 batteries, the spacing is perfect and it is relatively easy to insert all 4 cells. However, care must always be taken to make sure that you don't accidentally knock out an adjacent cell when inserting or removing multiple batteries.

Size is approximately 4.5"x6" (12cm x 16cm)

 

OCD ALERT: The plug from the wall to the adapter does not seat all the way in. No impact on functionality.

 

User Interface and Modes
Operation:

* When multiple batteries are inserted, press button to cycle display between slots.

* When batteries are inserted, long-press button to enter current selection mode. Once in current selection mode, press button to cycle through the charge current options. The range is from 0.1A (100mA) to 3A. After you cycle past 3A, there is also an "Auto" which will determine the appropriate charge current automatically. When using 18650GAs, it determined that the best charge rate was between 1.3A - 1.7A.

 

0.10A

 

3A

 

 

Display - Always Displayed:

The display automatically cycles through stats for the selected slot.

* Temperature

* % Capacity

* Time - Cumulative charge/analysis time

* mAh - Cumulative charge

 

Display - Rotating Display (Top Right):

* V - Voltage

* mA - Charge Current

* mR - Internal Resistance

 

Voltage

 

Charge Current

 

Internal Resistance

 

Battery Chemistries Supported:
* NiMH and NiCd
* Lithium-ion (4.2V ICR, INR, IMR, etc.)
x Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo) Not Supported

Battery Sizes:
* 10340, 10350, 10440, 10500, 12340, 12500, 12650, 13450, 13500, 13650, 14350, 14430, 14500, 14650, 16500, 16340(RCR123), 16650, 17350, 17500, 17650, 17670, 18350, 18490, 18500, 18650, 18700, 20700, 21700, 22500, 22650, 25500, 26500, 26650, AA, AAA, AAAA, C, SC, D

* Protected 18650s Fit. The Protected Panasonic NCR18650GAs fit at about 69-70mm. 

* You can charge 4x26650 simultaneously.

 

 

Power Bank:

With 1x18650 battery, and main power disconnected, the unit can output 5V 1A via the USB port. The battery has to be inserted in the 4th bay and only the 4th bay will provide power.

 

Wish List / Recommendations
1) Quick Test - I wish that this charger also had a drain and test function to determine capacity for all 4 bays.

2) Storage Mode - I wish that this charger had the ability to automatically drain or charge to 50% for storage.

3) LEDs - I wish that each bay had an illuminated color LED (Green=Done, Red=Charging, Flashing Red=Error) This would make it easier to tell if charging/analysis is complete from a distance.

Summary and Conclusion

Overall, the MiBoxer C4-12 is a good smart charger. It works well, especially for people looking to charge their cells quickly and it also looks very nice. My favorite aspect of this charger is all of the information available on the display. For example, I like that it shows both capacity in percentage as well as the voltage. I also like that this charger displays cell temperature which is something most chargers do not do. You can charge cells at up to 3A but make sure that your cells are able to support that much current first.

 

Since this charger can also support charging NiMH and NiCd and it is straight-forward to use, it is a good universal/family charger. It can also fit protected cells and the bays and nice and spacious. This is one of the few chargers which can fit 4x26650. When charging 18650s, there is a nice amount of space in-between each cell. You can even charge C and D cells, which is also rare. It does not support LiFePo cells.

I like the wide range of charging options. You can charge as slow as 0.1A (100mA) all the way up to 3A. This provides tremendous flexibility. For 18650s, I normally charge them at 1A. For smaller cells like 14500s, you'll want to use a smaller current, more like 300mA. Charging multiple cells at 3A would get pretty warm, though.

 

I like that the unit is powered with a proper wall plug and not USB-powered.

 

The sliders move well (not too stiff or too sloppy).

The power bank functionality works well and outputs 1A although it only uses the 4th slot. So, if you need a ton of energy you will need to swap batteries to the 4th slot. Using cells as a power bank is also a good way to discharge cells (either for storage or testing) without "wasting" energy.

 

The only thing that I wish this charger did was automatically drain and charge batteries in all 4 slots to analyze the battery capacity. This charger will show you the cumulative charge but you would need to drain the battery first in order to get a good approximation of capacity.

MANUFACTURER SPECS
Input voltage: DC 12V / 5A
Output voltage: 4.20V±1% / 1.48V±1%
Output current: Li-ion maximum 4*3A
Ni-MH/Ni-Cd maximum 4*1A
USB Output: DC 5V / 1A
Product weight: 305g

Supported cells:
Li-ion (4.2V) (IMR/INR/ICR):
10340 / 10350 / 10440 / 10500 / 12340 / 12500
12650 / 13450 / 13500 / 13650 / 14350 / 14430
14500 / 14650 / 16500 / 16340(RCR123) / 16650
17350 / 17500 / 17650 / 17670 / 18350 / 18490
18500 / 18650 / 18700 / 20700 / 21700 / 22500
22650 / 25500 / 26500 / 26650
Ni-MH / Ni-Cd (1.48V):
AAAA / AAA / AA / A / SC / C / D

CONSTRUCTION
Overall build quality seems very good and sturdy. The charger is on the larger size (see comparison photo against my Lii-500), but that has its benefits – more space between channels.

Single button is used to cycle between channels and select charging rate:

Rear panel:

Back side markings:

C4-12 uses an external power supply with a rated output of 12V, 5A. The PS gets warm, but not hot, during high rate charging.

SLOTS/SLIDERS
Metal sliders appear robust, smooth sliding with good amount of clamping force. Nice spacing between channels makes removal of 18650 cells easy.

DISPLAY

The following information can be seen on the display:
• Chemistry
• Temperature
• % charge
• Charging time
• Charged capacity (mAh)
• Current (A) – based on some checking with my DMM, the charger shows actual current being delivered and not just the pre-selected current rate. The readings are very close to what I measured with a DMM.
• Voltage (V) – seems very accurate for Li-Ion cells, but about 0.04V low for NiMH cells.
• Internal Resistance (mOhm) –See below table for various results I got with different cells and different slots. I tested each slot 5 times with the same cell. The results are for fully charged cells. For depleted or partially depleted cells, the IR results are even more inconsistent. Consistency seems to vary depending on cell type. It is actually pretty good on some, and not good on others, and this impacts auto charge rate selection, as I noted further down.

Current, Voltage, and IR occupy the same space on the display. The respective values cycle every couple of seconds…

CHARGING
Charger has two charging modes: Auto and Manual. When charging is complete, the display will indicate “100%” and “FULL” will flash in the mAh area.

Li-Ion cells read 4.18V on my DMM after end of charge. However, if you keep cells in the charger (still powered on) for hours after they’ve reached “FULL”, their voltage will continue to drop a bit. For example, a 16340 cell was down to 4.14V after a couple of hours of sitting in the charger. An 18650 cell was down to 4.15V after about 5 hours of sitting in the charger. So, my advice would be to remove the cells from the charger soon after they reach “FULL.”

AUTO
By default, if you insert a cell, the charger will automatically select the charging rate based on cell chemistry and IR (and possibly other parameters, not sure).

Now here is where things get a bit inconsistent… Auto charge rate selection is somewhat unpredictable on some cells. It is based on internal resistance (at least in large part), and since the IR readings are sometimes inconsistent, then so are the resulting charge currents.

Based on what I’ve observed during my limited time with this charger, the charge rate is never unsafely high, but in some cases it’s lower than what I’d consider “normal” or “typical” and will result in very long charge times. Take a protected NCR18650B cell, for example. At one time, the charger measure its IR to be 105 mOhm, and applied 0.95A charge rate. That’s great. But next time I inserted that same cell, it measured its IR to be 182 mOhm, and applied 0.35A charge rate only. Again, perfectly safe, you’d just have to wait a lot longer to fully charge a 3400 mAh cell at this rate. Another time, same cell, it actually detected the IR to be 548 mOhm and applied 0.15A charge rate. If Miboxer could improve IR detection accuracy, then this whole auto charging current logic would work quite well and be more predictable, in my opinion.

However, a smart thing that Miboxer implemented in this C4-12 is that the charger will continue to measure IR throughout the charge cycle, and if it sees a drop in IR, it’ll increase charging rate accordingly. For example, when I inserted another NCR18650B cell, it charged it at 0.25A for the first hour or so, and then increased the rate to 1.05A based on an updated IR value that it obtained.
At any time during charging, you can always manually override the auto rate and choose one manually…

MANUAL:
Charge current rates available for NiMH cells:
0.1 / 0.2 / 0.3 / 0.4 / 0.5 / 0.6 / 0.7 / 0.8 / 0.9 / 1.0 A
Charge current rates available for Li-Ion cells:
0.1 / 0.2 / 0.3 / 0.5 / 0.8 / 1.0 / 1.5 / 2.0 / 2.5 / 3.0 A

Current selection is fairly straightforward: select the channel, and then long press the SLOT button to enter rate selection mode – current value will start blinking. Keep pressing the SLOT button until you reach the desired rate. After a couple of seconds, the rate will be accepted and the current value will stop blinking.

Charging Li-Ion at 3A
Below is a quick and dirty graph of charging current when charging a single Samsung INR18650-30Q flat top using a manually selected 3A rate. Sorry, I don’t have a way to log both current and voltage at the same time, which would have been more meaningful. I monitored voltage manually – it never exceeded 4.20V. Once removed from the charger, the cell was at 4.18V.

The charger starts ramping down current fairly early; however, this is most likely because of higher IR being detected as a result of my DMM being plugged into the circuit. You’ll have to wait for someone with better testing equipment to produce a proper curve. Termination current is about 0.05A.

Charging Li-Ion at 4×2A
Here is a graph of charging current when charging a Samsung INR18650-30Q button top using a manually selected 2A rate. All four channels were being charged at 2A while data was being logged on Channel 1. Once removed from the charger, the cell was at 4.18V.

Charging Li-Ion at 4×3A
Here is a graph of charging current when charging a Samsung INR18650-30Q button top using a manually selected 3A rate. All four channels were being charged at 3A while data was being logged on Channel 1. As can be seen, my unit is not capable of sustaining 4×3A charge throughout the whole cycle. It will reboot after some time and will restart using lower charging rates. Once finished, when removed from the charger, cell voltage was 4.18V.

You can see dips in the graph when the reboot happened. First reboot happened after about 19 minutes. After it came back online, I again manually selected 3A for all channels, and as you see a few minutes later it rebooted again, and again. At that point I just let it continue in automatic fashion to the end.

The temp on the display was 52C when it rebooted. Yet, the owner’s manual states this:

Quote:

Intelligent temperature control function
If during a charging process a battery temperature reaches more than 60℃, the charger will reduce the charging current in order to prevent damage to the battery. If battery temperature reaches temperature more than 70℃, the charger will stop charging the battery and prompt “Err ” .

So obviously, my experience is inconsistent with what’s described in the owner’s manual. However, what I have is a first version of this charger and Miboxer told me they tweaked it since and that in the newest version, the charger will better control temperature and will not reboot. My guess is, they’re going to throttle down charging current before the temps get too high.

So, what does this mean at the end of the day? It means that it’s a 4×3A charger, but not 100% of the time. When the temps rise, and rise they will, current rates will be reduced. I suspect adding an external fan might be a possible solution here, if you want to maintain 4×3A output longer. If I owned a fan, I would have tested it out.

I have not tested 4×2.5A charging yet.

Charging NiMH at 4×1A
Below is graph of charging current when charging an Eneloop Pro AA cell using a manually selected 1A rate (last 90 minutes or so). All four channels were being charged at 1A while data was being logged on Channel 1. Once removed from the charger, cell voltage was 1.48V. Max temperature observed during the charge cycle was 40 deg C.

USB OUTPUT
When charging my Nexus phone, the C4-12 indicated max charging current of 1.03A going out of the USB port. Sorry, I don’t have an easy way to verify its accuracy. I could only verify that 1.5A was being drawn from the cell at the time.

SUMMARY
Overall, I do like the charger. It is well made and it can fill Li-Ion cells notably quicker than my Lii-500, which is the primary reason why I’d own one. Personally, I wouldn’t want to rely on this charger to choose charge rate for me. I’d prefer to set it manually, and the charger gives me lots of options here. But for someone who just wants to pop cells in and not mess with any settings, the auto rate selection should work OK for the most part.

WHAT I LIKED:

1. Well constructed

2. Good spacing between channels makes removal of 18650 cells easy

3. Good display – lots of info provided

4. Relatively fast charging: 4×2A+ non-stop and partial 4×3A (up to about 50% of the way)
   

   
   

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT:

1. Needs better charging logic to automatically ramp down current in order to not let temperature get too high and avoid a reboot. According to Miboxer, this has already been addressed in the newest version of this charger. Alternatively, a fan could be added, but I think the whole point of this charger was to avoid having one because a fan comes with its own set of problems.

2. Improve IR accuracy – this would help make auto current rate selection more consistent for some cells.
   

   
   

   
   

DISCLAIMER: Item was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation.

Efest LUC V2 Charger 2017





This is a two slot mains powered LiIon charger with 2 different current settings and power bank function.



It arrived in a cardboard box with specifications on it.



The box included the charger, a power supply, a car adapter, a warranty card and the instruction sheet.



The car adapter is a fairly standard one.



The charger has a 12V power socket and the usb output on the back, together with the current selection switch. The current selection is shown on the display, i.e. the risk of forgetting the switch is fairly low.



The user interface is a display and the switch on the back.



During power on all the segments are shows: Current selection, Channel 1, usb output, channel 2



Here I am charging 2 batteries at 0.5A.



Specifications are on the bottom, but not very easy to read.



The slots uses the classical slider construction and it works fine.
The slots can work from 30.5mm to 71.5mm. This will give trouble with a few long protected batteries.










The charger can handle 71 mm long batteries including flat top cells.



Measurements

• When not connected to power it will discharges with about 0.15mA (2.5mA on usb slot).
  
• Below 0.6V the charger will not detect a battery
  
• Between 0.6V and 3V the charger will charge with about 150mA to 50mA
  
• Above 3V the charger will use regular charging.
  
• Batteries below 1.2V will not show correct on voltmeter.
  
• Above 1.2V the meter is within 0.1 volt.
  
• Charger will restart when voltage drops slightly.
  
• It will restart charging on reinsertion of the battery or power cycling.
  
• Power consumptions when idle without battery is 0.2 watt
  

• Usb output turns on when loaded.
  
• Output will turn off after 6 seconds when load is below 30mA
  
• USB output is coded as Apple 1A
  
• Usb output will turn off when charger is powered.
  
• Only slot #1 will supply current to usb output
  
• Will discharge battery with 2.5mA when usb output is off