I will buy the Opus BT-C3100 V2.2 Pro's & Con's of the: Liitokala engineer Lii-500 + better screen ? + easier operation ? - Only discharges @ max 500 mAh.. - no internal resistance ( use a multimeter, so it's not a huge problem for me )
Jehu, I just bought 4 MiBoxr C4 charges and they all charge giving complete battery stats. It runs in either auto or manual mode and slot 4 will run a full charge/discharge/charge. I like the auto mode because it monitors the battery state and switches the amperage (100mA-800mA) as needed. I'm in the process of testing about 100 cells and I do notice that the unit will get hot if you leave flat on the table. Being new to this it is great to see how the algorithm handles the state of charge. Some of the cell were in the sub 1v range and it started charging the cell as a NiMH at 100mA. Once the cell got up to around 2v it automatically switched over to Li-ion and continued charging. If this unit had a fan and could test in all 4 slots it would be great. I just bought a XTAR Dragon VP4 Plus but it is kind of pricey!
VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO CORRECTION! Based on this video and the 1 amp claimed discharge info, I just purchased the Lii-500 from Amazon. After reading the Chenglish instruction booklet that came with it, the Lii-500 will only discharge at 250mA and 500mA MAX. Selecting the current for capacity testing is only for the charging current. If charging current 300mA or 500mA is selected, the capacity test will discharge at 250mA. If charging current of 700mA or 1000mA is selected, capacity test will discharge at 500mA which is the same as the other units in this video. ALSO, DEFAULT SETTINGS are 250mA discharge and 500mA charge. 700mA or 1000mA charge current MUST be selected for before testing for the unit to switch to 500mA discharge.
Now that I know what a nor test is(thanks to you), I still don't know what a FAST test is, in order to be able to tell the difference, which was my initial question. And when do we use either of them? in what situation specifically do we use the NOR or FAST mode? And thirdly, now that I've fully tested, recorded my batteries and drained them 50% or even 80% just doing stuff, what mode do I select when next I want to charge using the Liitokala, CHARGE, FAST or NOR? see what I mean?
@@paulb9769 I like it better than my Nitecore D4 chargers because this has higher charging current and has capacity testing that I use a lot. But this was 4 years ago and I think other chargers have come out that have similar or better specs.
Another nice feature about the Zanflair C4 is that it has a USB port so that when you put a charged 18650 it will put out 5 volts at 1 amp. More than 1 cell in the holder then it ups it to 2 amps at 5 volts which is great if you need to charge your cell phone if the power goes out. I have 2 of the Zanflairs and I love it. Only problem ive found is that once your charging and it hits the 4.2 volt mark it says its done. Doesn't seem to put amps back into the cell. That's why I run the NORM test and once it says its charged I put it on the my blue 18650 charger (popular charger but the name has left ne at the moment) and it will put the amps back into the cells. Great video
Hi Jehu. Looks like no one mentioned this, at least part 2. :) 1: The Opus does test for IR, just use the quick test function. 2: The Liitokala only charges at 1.000mA, discharge test has a max of 500mA.
@@off-gridscandinavia4048 Well, the adapter which you get with device is just 2000mA, so, there is no chance that you charge something with 4000mA if adapter is 2000Ah. I wonder, what if I use 4000mA adapter.. And, it is not useless.. the 500mA for charging is realy good charge..healty for batteries as well.
Yes the disrespect on the opus lol. The internal resistance on these chargers are not very good though. But also the Opus has an always on display option if you hold in the display button, he should have done a little more research before making this video. Also the MiBoxer c4 can test capacity depending on which version you have but only on slot 4 and only at 0.4A.
Liitokala...has an eBay Kentucky shipper. Hardly any of the China Liitokayla offers have American plug power supply cords. Do not expect any 12 volt 2 amp power cord to work for the Liitokala charger. Also the Littokala gets warm when charging so use a cooling fan to insure longevity of charger and power supply in this warmer weather. Voltage...internal resistance and amperage readings plus a full cycle charge test....I bought 4 of these chargers with power supply and have no regrets
Hi, the LiitoKala Lii-500 can discharge only at 250mA and 500mA. If you choose charge current of 300mA or 500mA, discharge = 250mA. If you choose charge current of 700mA or 1000mA, discharge = 500mA. It's a great charger, I got one.
Its now early 2020 and I just went with a Xtar Dragon VP4 Plus 4 Slot Professional Battery Charger and Tester, a little on the pricey side but its' it the ducks nuts.
Sounds like a winner. I've put a lot of work into my e-bike as a complete novice. It's worth it to me to pay a little more to have the confidence that it's doing a good job.
With the LittoKala, you do need to be careful to not accidentally touch positives together (the spring side) as it will take out a surface mount fet inside. It is cheap and easy to fix if you manage to do this by replacing the SMD fet (yes I do know this for a fact!!).
I've been collecting batteryclearinghouse's 36v Panasonic nice. I've been averaging 3200 mah. Had quit a few at 3350! Mah very nice cells. I'm always afraid to share cause then they'll be sold out. I suspect that drives many from sharing. At the same time i think people should know that they're kick ass cells!
Quick Test on the OPUS does not test capacity in the charge cycle. I have the BT-C3400 and it very clearly charges to full, records the capacity as it discharges, and stores the measured capacity as it recharges. The mAh only counts up during the discharge then never changes.
The Litto Kala charger is amazing. Either the batterys or the charger gets warm so I placed a small computer fan in front of charger which keeps the charger cool. Heat can lessen the life of the charger.
Thanks for reviewing charger/testers. I've been wanting to get something to replace my 2 home brew discharge circuits, so I can have one device do everything instead of using two multi meters, timer, separate charger, and a mess of other stuff. However, in the last 3 years I've been buying my cells new from my local vapor store... I use VRK 18650 3.5 Ahr cells. I get them new, and torture the hell out of them. Not so much with the draw, which is usually 3C, but I often charge them in the truck, or car, in extreme temperature conditions. Living in Northern Illinois, we get both high heat, and extreme cold inside vehicles. Yet with these conditions, I've only had one cell noticably lose capacity. And that cell is still usable (for now).
The LiitoKala Lii-500 can only discharge cells at 500mah. So it would take double the time to discharge vs. the OPUS. The OPUS does calculate internal resistance, just go to quick test and within about 3-5 seconds it'll tell you the internal resistance for all the connected cells. I also have the Zanflare, it seems to over estimate the capacity by 50-100mah, not a big deal but what is a fairly big deal is even though it is only charging or discharging at 500mah the cells get HOT vs the OPUS the same cells would hardly get warm charging/discharging at 1A! SO in my opinion OPUS vs Zanflare= OPUS! It is like $5-8 more and well worth it. Now the LiitoKala Lii-500 is a good amount cheaper $20 vs $34-38. So it would probably be worth just getting more LiitoKala Lii-500 chargers since you can almost get 2 for the price of 1 OPUS.
Hey I just got a Zanflare, and noticed that the cells do get hot... I even pulled one out in fear it might get damaged. If the cell is in good shape should I worry about it? Also do you know of any way to cool it down a little?
@@superpooper1945 - just aim a fan at the cells in the charger. The only difference, besides the charging current, from the liito and opus is the built in fan on the opus. But a built in fan and an external fan are very similar Edit: actually the opus does have quite a bit more space between each cell and slot so that's a factor too. But still, if you just get some good airflow over the cells, it should keep em much cooler than Normal. Also, most my normal cells get around 120 degrees during the discharge phase which seems totally fine. If they start getting up to 130 and beyond then I'd be more concerned. In my opinion they should never be too hot to touch with the back of your hand or wrist.
Joel Smith correction approx. 440 ah. total. 30 36v hover board batt. packs 4 ah ea + 40 SPIM08HP 3.7V 8AH LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERIES 25C 200A SUPER CELLS set up as 10s 36v packs
Jehu, I have an Opus Bt-3100 and it reads internal resistance? In your video, you mention this was the only problem. On mine, I click on Quick Test and it give me the internal resistance. Some will say its off and some will say its spot on. Some say you have to run a wire hack from the spring(board) to the connector to get an accurate reading. Mine also goes up to 2 amps if your only using the 2 outside channels.
The problem isn't that it can't do resistance measurements, but that it doesn't (at least, not out of the box) do ones that are worth anything. You can get drastically lower readings just by putting a finger on the connector, because the connection isn't good enough, so in many cases, more of the resistance you're reading is from the spring connector than is from the cell itself.
Measuring the internal resistance is always finicky as it depends on the battery temperature, the SoC, and the charge-discharge cycle depth and frequency. For example Ni-MH can read very high if they haven't been used, but they recover with regular use. Li-Ion can have a low internal resistance because of dendrites and of course they would self-discharge rapidly.
There is also a couple of different versions(might be 3??). I have the opus bt-c3100 v2.2. They supposedly address the resistance issue they had with the older version. They also address some other issue, including the noisy fan. You should never really trust any equipment when it comes to testing resistance. Just make sure when you record your resistance, you use the same exact method on all batteries going into the same pack. I personally spot check the resistance with the same old trustworthy method of a 1-ohm resistor(10-30watt).. then you take the Voltage Drop(example .10V) and divide it by the Voltage you got after you added the resistor(example 4.2V, with resistor 4.10) Math would be .10 / 4.10= (.0243)24Mohm. Using a 1-ohm resistor is just less headache when it comes to math. (other valued resistors and you have a little more math, to get the amp vale with the resistor) When I compare it to the Opus, I typically get a difference of around 50mOhm consistent, could be the spring causing the difference? I have no clue. Some claim to take apart and solder the wire directly(you can find this hack online). When I test my Imax ACB6 authentic version, I get results all over the place, but closer to the resistor test. It can be anywhere from 10-30mohm off sometimes and sometimes spot on. These are just my result and test methods. I am a newbie 200%. I really appreciate the replies! Look up (Tom Donnelly) here on RUclips. He has a detailed video on the subject. Great video and Probably one of the best I found so far on the subject.
The IR reading from the BT3’ series is as good as any on the market. You will get variations when you run the test because that’s the nature of reading internal resistance. Just the small rise in temperature the cell experiences during the 1st test will cause the 2nd test to be a bit different. It’s a dynamic process but the OPUS are wonderful, especially considering the price. Think about the variation and ask yourself, Does a 10-15 mOhm swing make much difference when building a giant bank with used 18650’s? No, not at all.
Remember, that If the cell has less than 2.3V, Liitokala will not charge it. It will charge them up to ~2V and stops, thinking that this is NiMH battery. To rescue cells that were 1V or less, I bought an Xtar charger. It's worse than Li500, that's why I use it as a support charger. I recommend such a duo for anyone who start mess with old laptop batteries.
@@paulb9769 It depends what you need. I have one XTAR VC4 and 3 Liitokala Li500's and use the VC4 very rarely. X4 is a newer version, but still does not have the advantages that Li500 has. Stable charging process and capacity measurement while discharging is too important for me
Yes lead acid have water in them and when you pass charge thru water it splits the atoms into oxygen and hydrogen gas, that's why the water disappears... this is how water powered cars run, passing high current thru water pulsed right and enough is produced to run a combustion engine. I'm a mechanic and an electronics tech for those wondering how TF I'd know ;) PLUS I've built my own HHO generator, connec ted it to my car and produced a lot of gas (and made a few loud explosions for fun!) Thanks to man's resilience electric cars came BACK, they can't kill EVERYONE! I suspect we'll see HHO cars more common in the future
@@hitechobo5586 he wrote the comment one year ago and the litokala is available. Just search yourself on ebay for lttokala li-500 and you will found it for US$20. I prefare the opus, it can discharge at 1 amp and the littokala only 500ma. I can do internal resistance checking too.
You need a updated video I have the LiitoKala LII-S8. It's great douse everything and pays for its self in just your battery use around the house bout my unit from Aliexpress durt cheep.
One nice feature with some of these chargers is that when the batteries are charged, you can leave them in the charger and use it as a power bank. That's what the USB at the back is for. :) When you're making this kind of video, it's a good idea to read the manuals first so that you don't have to say "I don't know" so many times.
I've got a bt3100, it does do resistance and 4 x 1000mA, or 2 x 2000mA. I've used it a lot and it is great, once you set the mode, just insert the battery and it automatically starts, on 4 independant channels. None of the chargers seem to have a storage mode. I'm collecting batteries, slowly, and after the capacity check the battery is fully charged but I don't want to leave it that way for an extended time. It would be good if a charger would provide an option to leave the battery at storage charge
For your question about the hover speed related to voltage , the dc motors are speed rated to the volt, and hover motors your using is rated 15.5 per volt. Hope that helped.
Please check out the xtar vc8! Better than all them chargers put together. Does everything, supports all kinds of batteries, shows ir, current, capacity for each cell and at up to 2amps each if the wall plug is good enough
I have been using the Zanflare C4 for a few weeks and the only down side is the battery voltage it shows don't agree with a volt meter witch is known to be accurate. Thanks for the review.
Please rest assured that Zanflare team would assist you to solve the problem, we really hope our customers could be happy with the purchase. Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you !
BTW: For emergency calls...all mobile phones must be able to call 911 even if there is NO service on it...I keep an old clam-shell in the car as an emergency cellphone.
Yes, but one thing I've never heard mentioned is that old phones using Analog or 2G radios will not be able to make 911 calls as there are no towers to hear them. 3G is also being retired over the next few years in the US, which should render any pre-4G phone unusable. How sad would it be to keep a phone charged in your glove box only to find out that it doesn't work in a life-or-death emergency? To avoid that situation, it might be safer to properly dispose of all pre-4G phones or at least /not/ in glove boxes. Some work fine as wifi devices, but only until their software or web browser grows unusably obsolete.
My personal winner is the OPUS. Seems like he just didn't see the Quick Test option in the modes.. It can tell internal resistance,discharge at 1 amp and is compatible with other types of cells. Comes with a 3 Amp power brick and cost only 35 bucks. The fan is small, basically a gimmick.. but it's there.
@@BastelPichi thanks for the heads up. I've decided to run my ebike off this free energy I keep hearing about. I just gotta figure out how these RUclips geniuses do it but can't fully divulge the exact informing or risk having a mysterious accident
i would recommend to not charge/discharge unsupervised! I just tested a Xtar VP4 Plus Dragon with salvaged cells, no problem there, just one spontaneous restarting a test cycle on the third channel. Don´t know why it did this. Did this with some Panasonic cgr18650da cells. Tested out better than with an imax B6 test... (though i don´t remember the cutoff voltages) Then I started a test cycle with one of the old red notebook cells, kind of forgot about it and went for an appointment with a client. This lasted longer than expected, when I returned and looked at the charger I was alarmed, cause the charger showed a rate of 5058mAh already charged into the cell. I was able to get it out of the charger and juggled the freaking hot cell into a metal watering can outside... I guess I was lucky not to have burned down my house. I´m wondering if I should get rid of all the red ones, they are old and low capacity anyway... You (all of you out there) got to be careful! Don´t burn down your house or shop just because the testers do not have any temperature measurement or cut off depending on time or charged mAh. I just bought 100 LG HE4 cells brand new (produced in 2019) for 150€, I think I should search for more like these, these are sitting all at 3,518V - 3,519V. I´ll test them soon to see if they are at full capacity after 2 years without being used... by the way: I really like your videos, the´re great! And I think it is really cool what you are doing with the samba. It would be a pain in the ass to get something like this street legal in Germany cause of all the restrictions like EMV ( I don´t know the correct english term, is it emc -electromagnetic compatibility?) I whish I never sold my T2 20 years ago, now i´m struggling to find a t3 in good condition which I can afford. They are taking the T2 price lane right now an getting expensive in Germany and got crazy expensive because of all the traveling restrictions due to covid. T1 isn´t affordable anyway. Perhaps I got to resurrect my t4 from the dead... I hope you could understand me as my english skills aren´t too good...
Lead acid batteries can outgas Hydrogen gas, making them explosive, which is why you aren't supposed to jump-start car batteries with both leads directly on the battery. By clipping the negative lead to the body or a bolt away from the battery it potentially avoids Hydrogen gas ignition and an explosion/and/or fire if the battery outgassed significantly.
you the man! this 18650 stuff is awesome! i hope tesla a lot of luck with the super battery factory. that way these batteries will be cheap and your channel will explode. Thanks for all the info, I'm still catching up and have for a plan to convert a LADA station wagon from the '70s to full electric and solar. i guess its a light enough vehichle for this to be feesable.
thanks for this. i have an xtar vc4 plus and I hate it. its slow as fuck charging. i followed the link for the lii-500 but ordered the newer 600. its more money but it can charge all 4 slots at up to 3 amps.
Thank you for the video, I have a question about the Opus BT 3100, if I want to test 2x18650 battery connected in parallel and if I use an alligator clip to connect it to the charger to test it, will this work? I just don’t want to disassemble it too much since it’s from a Ninebot scooter. It was difficult enough taking it apart and snipping the nickel plate off the cells, so most of them are now connected in pairs and I would like to test them.
LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500 manual says that in FAST/NOR test when you choose 700 or 1000mah charging current, the system chooses 500mah discharge current automatically.
I ran across this statement on Wikipedia but with no citation. "After one year on the shelf, a LiFePO4 cell typically has approximately the same energy density as a LiCoO2 Li-ion cell, because of LFP's slower decline of energy density." Do you see this with the used batteries you use?
Bro, I am a vapor, but I would still like to check up on the health of my old batteries from time to time, and test new batteries that I purchase on the internet to make sure they are what they say they are because there's a lot of fake ratings on batteries today. Very informative video bro, good vibes to you, thanks for the info
Comparing features to eliminate those low end models is fine. To get the best, I expect at least some real test and opening (or breaking) the case to compare the circuit and components used.
Thanks for this video. I'm nor testing batteries with the Liitokala Lii 500, new 26650's and recycled 18650's. Neither charges for a second time, only charge and discharge and when end is blinking the batteries are sitting at 3.0v and not recharging. Nor test is charge/discharge/charge normally. Are the chargers bust, all 4 of them ?
I love your videos you explain everything so anyone can understand. I would like to make a power wall and recharge it by wind turbine generators from China. These generators produce between 500 -1000W per generator. To Re-charge the batteries in my wall how many of these wind turbine generators would I have to have going to Charge my power while to run my house. I only use the heating system between the months of November to the end of April the rest of the year we just use our fridge or stove or hot water and lights. We heat by electricity using heaters that total 18000watts
Those wind turbine power numbers are going to be optimistic (if not absolutely imaginary) ratings under ideal wind conditions, and the prices do not, of course, include the towers needed to put the turbines up where the wind is. You'll get more heat by burning the packing crates. To actually run your house on wind could easily cost 6 figures, unless you already have a suitably high and sturdy tower, and the skills and equipment to get the generator up there. Better to look at passive solar heating, improved insulation, a heat pump instead of resistive electric heaters, and maybe efficient wood heat (which is of course renewable and carbon-neutral).
Hey dude I love your channel. I’m in the middle of a 4wd Esk8 build. I got 4 90kv motors. I want to us NESE modules. But I don’t know the dimensions of the modules. I know I need to go 12s. But the parallel is ware I’m stuck, because of the dimensions. Do you know the dimensions for a 21700 6p modules? Up to 8p? Thanks for any help. P. S. I looked an asked all over. The manufacturer never responds to my weekly emails lol.
Actually, The newer (been out for about a year) MiBoxxer C4 will not test/discharge batteries nor will the high-end model (C4-12) The much older version was able to but that hasn't been around for some time and they had issues with its accuracy and they wanted their product to work fully rather than throw a half-ass test system into a great charger. I'm sure in the future they will bring it back, and I will buy it once they do. But the new MiBoxer C4-12 (3AMP charge on each channel at the same time) It's in a league of its own. Not many chargers come close to 3amps on all 4 channels. It's my favorite charger. (I use a different charger/tester to test my battery) It's built better then any other changer I have had and I have had them all. But It does not have discharge. It does not have a testing feature. The MiBoxer will give you the total MAH you have charged your battery from whatever percentage you put it on, but it will not discharge and then recharge and give you a full test readout. As it does not have one. The much older model did but that's been long gone. But as far as battery chargers go, the MiBoxxer is the best you can get in the $50 price range. Check out the reviews. It is very accurate as far as the milliamps, and it is one of the best chargers for not overcharging your batteries. Also, the best way to test batteries is at 500 Milliamps as you will get a much more accurate reading of the true MAH. Or at least do not test at over 1000 milliamps discharge/charge. It's worth the extra time it takes. You do it overnight and you benefit greatly. If you do one battery of the same exact brand and model at 500ma and then the next one at 1ma, you will not get the same reading no matter what. The slower you charge a battery the higher the capacity it will hold. Therefore you will get more power out of the battery overall. So I only suggest fast charging if you use the battery all the time and don't mind them degrading too much. If I plan on using my battery very often then I will charge them at 2 or even 2.5 amps no problem, except 18650 I don't charge over 1.50amps. But if you are going to have a power bank or a flashlight sitting around and not to be used often, charge the battery you will use in it at 500ma. You can gain a good 10-15% more battery life out of it compared to if you charged it at 2000 milliamps. Though I am guilty of charging 26650's and 21700's and even 18650's as long as the eternal resistance is in a good enough range to handle 3amps. and of course, it will auto throttle down as the charge nears its end or if the charger senses too much heat too quickly. That's the one thing about batteries, the last 10% of the charge current can either take away or add many cycles to the battery. This is why you never want to remove a battery from the charger midway if you don't absolutely have to. Even though you don't have the battery charged near its cap. It is still not the smartest thing to do if you want the longest life out of your battery. And on top of it all the slower you charge the longer the battery's lifespan. And never let your battery discharge below 10% if possible. You will greatly reduce its capacity over time. Just like how all 18650 li-ion batteries can charge to 4.35 volts. But by charging the battery that lasts 10% of its capacity will reduce the life of the battery drastically. I don't build power walls, I do build battery banks once in a while. But I am a flashoholic. I have a lot of high end very high output and high CRI flashlights. So amp draw and MAH come into play as some of my lights need a lot of MAH and others need high discharge rates in order to produce the maximum lumen output for the longest. I work in any sort of sector that I would need flashlights for, I just really enjoy them. Right now I would say my Noctigon K1 with Osram W1 Green emitter is my absolute favorite thrower it reachest out to just over a mile. 720,000 CD (with the w1 green Osram emitter) If you want W1 white 650,000 CD and that'll still throw way past what you can see with the naked eye. But this is why nearly all of my throwers are in W1 green. And no I do not hunt. Green just allows you to see things further away in greater detail. And your eyes pick up green better than any other color on the spectrum. I also have a JetBeam RRT-M1X Raptor, It an LEP and it will throw 1.4 miles and then some. It has absolutely no spill, it is basically a white laser with a thicker beam. The only thing is it's not an all-around use flashlight, It's a specialty flashlight made for viewing small areas at very far away. (But its a very fun toy) It is the longest throwing lighting device in that form factor you can buy right now. As it will cast light out past 2800 meters. (its a little underspec'ed so it performs much better then the box says it does) And it is literally about the same size as an Acebeam L18 (That would be my favorite white light thrower as it doesn't have spill at all. As for flooders. I like my Fireflies ROT66 GEN2 (XPL HI CW emitters) it is 14,000 lumens and the size of a Redbull can. One hell of a flooder. I also love my Noctigon D4SV2 XPL HI HD Emmiters) its 5,200 lumens. And my Fireflies E07 I have two one in OSRAM 15W (7,300 lumens) and that thing is the best blend of throw and flood I have besides my Astrolux FT02S (XHP 50.2 *4 emitters) 11,000 lumens. Then I have really tiny flashlights like the Lumintop GT Nano, the Smallest longest throwing flashlight in the world. And my FW3A XPL HI 5000k 2,800 lumens, is my EDC. Along with my Lumentop FW4A (XPL HI 3D) 3,600 6500K Lumens. I have so many more to list I shouldn't even get started. But if anyone ever needed to put together a search and rescue team in my area, I'm the guy you want to call. As most of the flashlights cant be bought here and are custom made or modded by Hank. I have tried going to FA meetings, that didn't last long. I would show up with flashlights and the whole meeting would go to shit. I have tried the group thing twice. I just can't seem to get off the lights. I can't stop. Something about the feeling of having something brighter than the sun in your hand. I mean yes I'm addicted and I'm trying to get help. But at least I'm no longer in denial about it. What I would absolutely love is if I could find a job that will allow me to use my flashlights and put them to good use. I would be willing to take a pay cut for a dream job like that. Maybe some sort of security or guard for a building. Or just some sort of liability protection. I don't know, hell even a reviewer. I would love to review flashlights and batteries, flashlight cases (I design my own) I also do something very interesting in cool with my flashlights that I do not want to give away here. Anyway, I hope some of the info I could give helps someone new to the battery game. And have maybe inspired someone to get an actual nice flashlight. Once you start there is no going back though. My first real flashlight was the Sofrin SP36 BLF (Quad emitter, High CRI, and High Lumen output flashlight 94CRI and 5560 Lumens. And I still use it often as it's a great mix of CRI and output as well as very efficient. The part I find funny is when I have the cops called on me because I walking around with something so bright no one understands what is going on. lol Thanks for the review on the battery chargers. It was very informative and I think I know what ill be going with now. Thanks again buddy, appreciate what you do, and the fact that you a truly a nice guy is what keeps me coming back. It's been getting harder and harder to find people that are actually nice and not just nice for youtube.
Just watched We have embarked on a similar journey, so far on a much smaller scale at least for now We are in South Africa, Johannesburg The availability of cells and even worst with high quality cells are an issue By we, it's a friend and self, both with electronics background, are both aiming to be off the grid - self am already about 70% off the grid, just with Gell/AGM batteries To get cells from anywhere outside, the issue tgat we have is the shipping costs 1 they are astronomical, leaving us with the local Chinese importers So far we have only been able to get our hands on some weak cells, 18650 (1600mAh) , 26650 (3100mAh) - so we will just use more cells to get our power walls packs going/built We have imported some battery testers/Charger (we have just recieved our LiitoKala Lii-500) and a few other items form the start of our projects We are still at the stage of testing cells to try and decide what cells we are going to use So if anyone would like to follow my journey - will be sharing it on this channel
Zanflare have doubled in price and and one Jspznese supplier is switching and baiting on free and expedited shipping costs and the Lito is available in US on eBay. Friday May 8
Hi. Which one is safer and more reliable for charging Fenix 18650, Ledlenser 14500 and Panasonic Eneloop aa and aaa batteries; LiitoKala Lii-500s or FENİX ARE-A4? Which one do you suggest and why?
Which would you recommend for the casual user that can do at least 4 batteries of any chemistry with size up to D, that also has a balancing port for batteries in series? I am debating on buying something like one of the Turnigy, or similar charger for series batteries then build up some battery holders and wire them in parallel for individual batteries. I like the idea of individual charging but I have read charging in parallel forces all batteries to the same voltage by the nature of it being in parallel. Are there charges that use the balancing port in the traditional way for measure and discharging but also have a feature where they can be used to charge series batteries individually?
If your discharge load went to charging yet untested cells in need a full charge that would a capacity tester in a class all by itself. In California it doesn't seem sensible to create heat for discharge test while running air conditioning.
Hello! I have build a camper bluetooth speaker with 18650 4s3p with 2200mah cells i will charge it with skyrc imax b6 mini almost everything are did, but i still missing a good panel Connector to the camping bluetooth speaker, did you now a small Connector that works to the max output with 4s3p on skyrc imax b6 mini?
Thans for THE usefull information. One Thong THE litokala dimschakelaar current is lower toen THE charge. So 250&500 charge, it dischargr at 300 and when you cholesterol 750/1000mA it discharge at 500. Was in THE manual, white snotter person showde in comparison movie litokala and opus. Can you confirm ?
Hi. Not a techie guy but how about nitecore, golisi, astrolux and other brands. Looking for a plug and play type that can protect my batteries for a long time and detect needed to charge. Mains with overcharging and safety protection. Is liitokala 500 the best?
Hi, I watch most of your videos and have been trying to educate myself. We have an Enphase solar installation (14 panels) that were installed by a contractor. I am now trying to build my own DIY powerwall. Do you know what I need to purchase if I build my own battery (would something like the ' AIMS POWER Inverter Charger, Pure Sine Wave Form, 1000W') work okay? How do I connect the inverter to the Enphase combiner box? Besides the battery, is that all I need.
hi what would be the best way to Check the capacity of 18650 laptop battery Cells ( 1000 nos ) in a day. what hardware would be required. your professional Guidance would be highly appreciated Thanks !!
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The BT-C3100 can measure the internal resistance, use Quick test. It can charge 4 batteries at 1 amp, or 2 batteries at 2 amp
I will buy the Opus BT-C3100 V2.2
Pro's & Con's of the:
Liitokala engineer Lii-500
+ better screen ?
+ easier operation ?
- Only discharges @ max 500 mAh..
- no internal resistance
( use a multimeter, so it's not a huge problem for me )
BT-C3100 V2.2 has IR test and has a HIDDEN SWITH to change voltage. This is very good tester.
Recently got the Liitokala and have run 2amp checks through it for weeks and its a beast!!!!
Such a great personality. A joy to listen to and a CAN DO approach to life.
The opus BT-C3100 V2.2 have quick test that shows the internal resistance of the battery.
Jehu, I just bought 4 MiBoxr C4 charges and they all charge giving complete battery stats. It runs in either auto or manual mode and slot 4 will run a full charge/discharge/charge. I like the auto mode because it monitors the battery state and switches the amperage (100mA-800mA) as needed. I'm in the process of testing about 100 cells and I do notice that the unit will get hot if you leave flat on the table. Being new to this it is great to see how the algorithm handles the state of charge. Some of the cell were in the sub 1v range and it started charging the cell as a NiMH at 100mA. Once the cell got up to around 2v it automatically switched over to Li-ion and continued charging. If this unit had a fan and could test in all 4 slots it would be great. I just bought a XTAR Dragon VP4 Plus but it is kind of pricey!
Thank you for your thorough explanation of your experience. I think I'll look for the xtar but it's 5 yrs later!
VERY IMPORTANT VIDEO CORRECTION! Based on this video and the 1 amp claimed discharge info, I just purchased the Lii-500 from Amazon. After reading the Chenglish instruction booklet that came with it, the Lii-500 will only discharge at 250mA and 500mA MAX. Selecting the current for capacity testing is only for the charging current. If charging current 300mA or 500mA is selected, the capacity test will discharge at 250mA. If charging current of 700mA or 1000mA is selected, capacity test will discharge at 500mA which is the same as the other units in this video. ALSO, DEFAULT SETTINGS are 250mA discharge and 500mA charge. 700mA or 1000mA charge current MUST be selected for before testing for the unit to switch to 500mA discharge.
Now that I know what a nor test is(thanks to you), I still don't know what a FAST test is, in order to be able to tell the difference, which was my initial question.
And when do we use either of them? in what situation specifically do we use the NOR or FAST mode?
And thirdly, now that I've fully tested, recorded my batteries and drained them 50% or even 80% just doing stuff, what mode do I select when next I want to charge using the Liitokala, CHARGE, FAST or NOR? see what I mean?
How is it? I am not sure what to buy.
@@paulb9769 I like it better than my Nitecore D4 chargers because this has higher charging current and has capacity testing that I use a lot. But this was 4 years ago and I think other chargers have come out that have similar or better specs.
Opus bt 3100
Has ingernal resistance .
Also it has lighting display all time if you want.
the videos that get 5-10 million views are generally non informative and totally idiotic. i appreciate your knowledge and sharing from your heart.
That is very true
Great video on this subject for us old folks! The length of video does not matter! Good job!
OPUS BT-3100 v2.2 is the winner and the only one with the
hidden switch
Cooling fan
Can change at 2 amp on outside slots.
Another nice feature about the Zanflair C4 is that it has a USB port so that when you put a charged 18650 it will put out 5 volts at 1 amp. More than 1 cell in the holder then it ups it to 2 amps at 5 volts which is great if you need to charge your cell phone if the power goes out. I have 2 of the Zanflairs and I love it. Only problem ive found is that once your charging and it hits the 4.2 volt mark it says its done. Doesn't seem to put amps back into the cell. That's why I run the NORM test and once it says its charged I put it on the my blue 18650 charger (popular charger but the name has left ne at the moment) and it will put the amps back into the cells. Great video
can you make an update video on this for 2020 ✔😁 your the only person i trust for my info on battery 😇
Hi Jehu.
Looks like no one mentioned this, at least part 2. :)
1: The Opus does test for IR, just use the quick test function.
2: The Liitokala only charges at 1.000mA, discharge test has a max of 500mA.
1.000mA for 2 cell and 500mA for 4 cell.
@@srdjan272able , no :)
And if so, pretty useless having a 4 port tester, that can only use 2.
@@off-gridscandinavia4048 Well, the adapter which you get with device is just 2000mA, so, there is no chance that you charge something with 4000mA if adapter is 2000Ah. I wonder, what if I use 4000mA adapter..
And, it is not useless.. the 500mA for charging is realy good charge..healty for batteries as well.
@@srdjan272able , 12V*2A=24W input and 4*4.2V*1A=16.8W
Do your math and Ohm's Law ;)
Yes the disrespect on the opus lol. The internal resistance on these chargers are not very good though. But also the Opus has an always on display option if you hold in the display button, he should have done a little more research before making this video. Also the MiBoxer c4 can test capacity depending on which version you have but only on slot 4 and only at 0.4A.
Liitokala...has an eBay Kentucky shipper. Hardly any of the China Liitokayla offers have American plug power supply cords. Do not expect any 12 volt 2 amp power cord to work for the Liitokala charger. Also the Littokala gets warm when charging so use a cooling fan to insure longevity of charger and power supply in this warmer weather. Voltage...internal resistance and amperage readings plus a full cycle charge test....I bought 4 of these chargers with power supply and have no regrets
Hi, the LiitoKala Lii-500 can discharge only at 250mA and 500mA.
If you choose charge current of 300mA or 500mA, discharge = 250mA.
If you choose charge current of 700mA or 1000mA, discharge = 500mA.
It's a great charger, I got one.
Its now early 2020 and I just went with a Xtar Dragon VP4 Plus 4 Slot Professional Battery Charger and Tester, a little on the pricey side but its' it the ducks nuts.
Sounds like a winner. I've put a lot of work into my e-bike as a complete novice. It's worth it to me to pay a little more to have the confidence that it's doing a good job.
With the LittoKala, you do need to be careful to not accidentally touch positives together (the spring side) as it will take out a surface mount fet inside. It is cheap and easy to fix if you manage to do this by replacing the SMD fet (yes I do know this for a fact!!).
I've been collecting batteryclearinghouse's 36v Panasonic nice. I've been averaging 3200 mah. Had quit a few at 3350! Mah very nice cells. I'm always afraid to share cause then they'll be sold out. I suspect that drives many from sharing. At the same time i think people should know that they're kick ass cells!
Quick Test on the OPUS does not test capacity in the charge cycle. I have the BT-C3400 and it very clearly charges to full, records the capacity as it discharges, and stores the measured capacity as it recharges. The mAh only counts up during the discharge then never changes.
Some errors, the Opus does give internal resistance, the Litokala does not discharge at 1 amp, max it's 500 mah.
Correction! The only charger that can deal with LiFepo4 is the j35.us/OPUS-BT-C3100
The Litto Kala charger is amazing. Either the batterys or the charger gets warm so I placed a small computer fan in front of charger which keeps the charger cool. Heat can lessen the life of the charger.
Thanks for reviewing charger/testers. I've been wanting to get something to replace my 2 home brew discharge circuits, so I can have one device do everything instead of using two multi meters, timer, separate charger, and a mess of other stuff. However, in the last 3 years I've been buying my cells new from my local vapor store...
I use VRK 18650 3.5 Ahr cells. I get them new, and torture the hell out of them. Not so much with the draw, which is usually 3C, but I often charge them in the truck, or car, in extreme temperature conditions.
Living in Northern Illinois, we get both high heat, and extreme cold inside vehicles. Yet with these conditions, I've only had one cell noticably lose capacity. And that cell is still usable (for now).
Zanflair C4... it’s tha bomb!
The LiitoKala Lii-500 can only discharge cells at 500mah. So it would take double the time to discharge vs. the OPUS. The OPUS does calculate internal resistance, just go to quick test and within about 3-5 seconds it'll tell you the internal resistance for all the connected cells. I also have the Zanflare, it seems to over estimate the capacity by 50-100mah, not a big deal but what is a fairly big deal is even though it is only charging or discharging at 500mah the cells get HOT vs the OPUS the same cells would hardly get warm charging/discharging at 1A!
SO in my opinion OPUS vs Zanflare= OPUS! It is like $5-8 more and well worth it. Now the LiitoKala Lii-500 is a good amount cheaper $20 vs $34-38. So it would probably be worth just getting more LiitoKala Lii-500 chargers since you can almost get 2 for the price of 1 OPUS.
Hey I just got a Zanflare, and noticed that the cells do get hot... I even pulled one out in fear it might get damaged. If the cell is in good shape should I worry about it? Also do you know of any way to cool it down a little?
@@superpooper1945 - just aim a fan at the cells in the charger. The only difference, besides the charging current, from the liito and opus is the built in fan on the opus. But a built in fan and an external fan are very similar
Edit: actually the opus does have quite a bit more space between each cell and slot so that's a factor too. But still, if you just get some good airflow over the cells, it should keep em much cooler than Normal. Also, most my normal cells get around 120 degrees during the discharge phase which seems totally fine. If they start getting up to 130 and beyond then I'd be more concerned. In my opinion they should never be too hot to touch with the back of your hand or wrist.
Eric Fling r
Joel Smith correction approx. 440 ah. total. 30 36v hover board batt. packs 4 ah ea + 40 SPIM08HP 3.7V 8AH LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERIES 25C 200A SUPER CELLS set up as 10s 36v packs
thank you
The opus can internal resistance too. I prefare the opus because it can discharge with 1 amp and the littokala only can 500ma discharge.
Apparently the new Xtar VC4S can do capacity and resistance testing plus it can do 3 amps on a single slot. Seems like the way to go for me.
I picked up the Zanflare and it works good for my small beginning setup.
very useful
any 6 or 8 bay chargers that can discharge for cap testing?
I just got an opus and so far so good
Jehu,
I have an Opus Bt-3100 and it reads internal resistance? In your video, you mention this was the only problem. On mine, I click on Quick Test and it give me the internal resistance. Some will say its off and some will say its spot on. Some say you have to run a wire hack from the spring(board) to the connector to get an accurate reading. Mine also goes up to 2 amps if your only using the 2 outside channels.
The problem isn't that it can't do resistance measurements, but that it doesn't (at least, not out of the box) do ones that are worth anything. You can get drastically lower readings just by putting a finger on the connector, because the connection isn't good enough, so in many cases, more of the resistance you're reading is from the spring connector than is from the cell itself.
HUH? how do you get the internal resistance without the battery touching the charger?
Measuring the internal resistance is always finicky as it depends on the battery temperature, the SoC, and the charge-discharge cycle depth and frequency. For example Ni-MH can read very high if they haven't been used, but they recover with regular use. Li-Ion can have a low internal resistance because of dendrites and of course they would self-discharge rapidly.
There is also a couple of different versions(might be 3??). I have the opus bt-c3100 v2.2. They supposedly address the resistance issue they had with the older version. They also address some other issue, including the noisy fan. You should never really trust any equipment when it comes to testing resistance. Just make sure when you record your resistance, you use the same exact method on all batteries going into the same pack. I personally spot check the resistance with the same old trustworthy method of a 1-ohm resistor(10-30watt).. then you take the Voltage Drop(example .10V) and divide it by the Voltage you got after you added the resistor(example 4.2V, with resistor 4.10) Math would be .10 / 4.10= (.0243)24Mohm. Using a 1-ohm resistor is just less headache when it comes to math. (other valued resistors and you have a little more math, to get the amp vale with the resistor)
When I compare it to the Opus, I typically get a difference of around 50mOhm consistent, could be the spring causing the difference? I have no clue. Some claim to take apart and solder the wire directly(you can find this hack online). When I test my Imax ACB6 authentic version, I get results all over the place, but closer to the resistor test. It can be anywhere from 10-30mohm off sometimes and sometimes spot on.
These are just my result and test methods. I am a newbie 200%. I really appreciate the replies! Look up (Tom Donnelly) here on RUclips. He has a detailed video on the subject. Great video and Probably one of the best I found so far on the subject.
The IR reading from the BT3’ series is as good as any on the market. You will get variations when you run the test because that’s the nature of reading internal resistance. Just the small rise in temperature the cell experiences during the 1st test will cause the 2nd test to be a bit different. It’s a dynamic process but the OPUS are wonderful, especially considering the price. Think about the variation and ask yourself, Does a 10-15 mOhm swing make much difference when building a giant bank with used 18650’s? No, not at all.
The Opus 3100 - light will stay on - if you program it - SO EVEN BETTER - WE HAVE A CHOICE
Remember, that If the cell has less than 2.3V, Liitokala will not charge it. It will charge them up to ~2V and stops, thinking that this is NiMH battery. To rescue cells that were 1V or less, I bought an Xtar charger. It's worse than Li500, that's why I use it as a support charger. I recommend such a duo for anyone who start mess with old laptop batteries.
Is the Xtar X4 better?
@@paulb9769 It depends what you need. I have one XTAR VC4 and 3 Liitokala Li500's and use the VC4 very rarely. X4 is a newer version, but still does not have the advantages that Li500 has. Stable charging process and capacity measurement while discharging is too important for me
Yes lead acid have water in them and when you pass charge thru water it splits the atoms into oxygen and hydrogen gas, that's why the water disappears... this is how water powered cars run, passing high current thru water pulsed right and enough is produced to run a combustion engine. I'm a mechanic and an electronics tech for those wondering how TF I'd know ;) PLUS I've built my own HHO generator, connec ted it to my car and produced a lot of gas (and made a few loud explosions for fun!) Thanks to man's resilience electric cars came BACK, they can't kill EVERYONE! I suspect we'll see HHO cars more common in the future
I am using a UPS ROUTER BACKUP as my power supply. 12v 3a. Works great
What's your favorite capacitry tester in mid-2019? The video is already a year old.
StopLossLOL it’s 2 years old and the favorite is unavailable without it being reliably a able in the future. That 20 minutes that I’ll never get back
@@hitechobo5586 he wrote the comment one year ago and the litokala is available. Just search yourself on ebay for lttokala li-500 and you will found it for US$20. I prefare the opus, it can discharge at 1 amp and the littokala only 500ma. I can do internal resistance checking too.
My current favorite for charge/tester is the accupower iq 338xl.
LiitoKala-Lii500 only discharges at 500mA. When you set 1000mA it is the charge. And as per the manual, this means a 500mA discharge.
thats why i prefare the opus. It can do internal resistance checking too.
Loving your videos, watching them all as they are so super nice informative. Learned a lot. Thanks a mill and greetings from Ireland !
You need a updated video I have the LiitoKala LII-S8. It's great douse everything and pays for its self in just your battery use around the house bout my unit from Aliexpress durt cheep.
Your dogs are the best.
One nice feature with some of these chargers is that when the batteries are charged, you can leave them in the charger and use it as a power bank.
That's what the USB at the back is for. :)
When you're making this kind of video, it's a good idea to read the manuals first so that you don't have to say "I don't know" so many times.
For Testing i use SkyRC MC3000. For Bunch-Charge many Cells to make Packs i use some Xtar VC8 at same time.
I've got a bt3100, it does do resistance and 4 x 1000mA, or 2 x 2000mA. I've used it a lot and it is great, once you set the mode, just insert the battery and it automatically starts, on 4 independant channels. None of the chargers seem to have a storage mode. I'm collecting batteries, slowly, and after the capacity check the battery is fully charged but I don't want to leave it that way for an extended time. It would be good if a charger would provide an option to leave the battery at storage charge
The imax b6 and comparable ones can do that.
For your question about the hover speed related to voltage , the dc motors are speed rated to the volt, and hover motors your using is rated 15.5 per volt. Hope that helped.
Please check out the xtar vc8! Better than all them chargers put together. Does everything, supports all kinds of batteries, shows ir, current, capacity for each cell and at up to 2amps each if the wall plug is good enough
I have been using the Zanflare C4 for a few weeks and the only down side is the battery voltage it shows don't agree with a volt meter witch is known to be accurate. Thanks for the review.
Please rest assured that Zanflare team would assist you to solve the problem, we really hope our customers could be happy with the purchase.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you !
@@skate7016 Are these available in the UK I can not find any.
BTW: For emergency calls...all mobile phones must be able to call 911 even if there is NO service on it...I keep an old clam-shell in the car as an emergency cellphone.
Yes, but one thing I've never heard mentioned is that old phones using Analog or 2G radios will not be able to make 911 calls as there are no towers to hear them. 3G is also being retired over the next few years in the US, which should render any pre-4G phone unusable. How sad would it be to keep a phone charged in your glove box only to find out that it doesn't work in a life-or-death emergency? To avoid that situation, it might be safer to properly dispose of all pre-4G phones or at least /not/ in glove boxes. Some work fine as wifi devices, but only until their software or web browser grows unusably obsolete.
My personal winner is the OPUS. Seems like he just didn't see the Quick Test option in the modes.. It can tell internal resistance,discharge at 1 amp and is compatible with other types of cells. Comes with a 3 Amp power brick and cost only 35 bucks. The fan is small, basically a gimmick.. but it's there.
Thanks for this, I've been looking high and low for my source of 18650s to build my ebike
Some wrong content: The opus is the winner, because it can discharge at 1amp the others not.
@@BastelPichi thanks for the heads up. I've decided to run my ebike off this free energy I keep hearing about. I just gotta figure out how these RUclips geniuses do it but can't fully divulge the exact informing or risk having a mysterious accident
@@ContentCalvin this freee energy is fake. Watch electroboom
@@BastelPichi Bigfoot told me all about it but it's hard to understand him he always talks so fast
Awesome Content
Opus does test internal resistance. This is what the quick test function does.
Hi jehu. Is there a new video every year about this charger? Whos the best in 2022?
i would recommend to not charge/discharge unsupervised! I just
tested a Xtar VP4 Plus Dragon with salvaged cells, no problem there,
just one spontaneous restarting a test cycle on the third channel. Don´t
know why it did this. Did this with some Panasonic cgr18650da cells.
Tested out better than with an imax B6 test... (though i don´t remember
the cutoff voltages)
Then I started a test cycle with one of the old red notebook cells,
kind of forgot about it and went for an appointment with a client. This
lasted longer than expected, when I returned and looked at the charger I
was alarmed, cause the charger showed a rate of 5058mAh already charged
into the cell. I was able to get it out of the charger and juggled the
freaking hot cell into a metal watering can outside... I guess I was
lucky not to have burned down my house.
I´m wondering if I should get rid of all the red ones, they are old and low capacity anyway...
You (all of you out there) got to be careful! Don´t burn down your house or shop just
because the testers do not have any temperature measurement or cut off
depending on time or charged mAh.
I just bought 100 LG HE4 cells brand new (produced in 2019) for
150€, I think I should search for more like these, these are sitting all
at 3,518V - 3,519V. I´ll test them soon to see if they are at full
capacity after 2 years without being used...
by the way: I really like your videos, the´re great! And I think it
is really cool what you are doing with the samba. It would be a pain in
the ass to get something like this street legal in Germany cause of all
the restrictions like EMV ( I don´t know the correct english term, is
it emc -electromagnetic compatibility?) I whish I never sold my T2 20
years ago, now i´m struggling to find a t3 in good condition which I can
afford. They are taking the T2 price lane right now an getting
expensive in Germany and got crazy expensive because of all the
traveling restrictions due to covid. T1 isn´t affordable anyway. Perhaps
I got to resurrect my t4 from the dead...
I hope you could understand me as my english skills aren´t too good...
Lead acid batteries can outgas Hydrogen gas, making them explosive, which is why you aren't supposed to jump-start car batteries with both leads directly on the battery. By clipping the negative lead to the body or a bolt away from the battery it potentially avoids Hydrogen gas ignition and an explosion/and/or fire if the battery outgassed significantly.
Thanks man , it’s good informations, is there any update for the top charger/tester now ?
the video starts at 8:55
Don't know what mboxer unit you have but mine discharges and charges and tells you the capacity and all that and it works just fine.
Hello
please tell me what you think about the megacell charger? the one with 16 cells
you the man! this 18650 stuff is awesome! i hope tesla a lot of luck with the super battery factory. that way these batteries will be cheap and your channel will explode. Thanks for all the info, I'm still catching up and have for a plan to convert a LADA station wagon from the '70s to full electric and solar. i guess its a light enough vehichle for this to be feesable.
thanks for this. i have an xtar vc4 plus and I hate it. its slow as fuck charging. i followed the link for the lii-500 but ordered the newer 600. its more money but it can charge all 4 slots at up to 3 amps.
Thank you for the video, I have a question about the Opus BT 3100, if I want to test 2x18650 battery connected in parallel and if I use an alligator clip to connect it to the charger to test it, will this work? I just don’t want to disassemble it too much since it’s from a Ninebot scooter. It was difficult enough taking it apart and snipping the nickel plate off the cells, so most of them are now connected in pairs and I would like to test them.
LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500 manual says that in FAST/NOR test when you choose 700 or 1000mah charging current, the system chooses 500mah discharge current automatically.
franky4fing3rs it took me a year to realize that specially when those batteries were intended to use in multiple parallel
I ran across this statement on Wikipedia but with no citation. "After one year on the shelf, a LiFePO4 cell typically has approximately the same energy density as a LiCoO2 Li-ion cell, because of LFP's slower decline of energy density." Do you see this with the used batteries you use?
hello Jehu
is the LiitoKala Lii-500 still your number today 2021 July ?
brilliant channel... i'm wanting to build a powerwall to run one device... thanks for all the info buddy.
Miboxer c4-12 is a good charger. I think the best. Has all the features and has temperature sensor and control.
Update? I want to build a small battery out of reclaimed cells. What charger/tester do you recommend in 2021?
I use 4 XTAR VC8 units that run on the new usb orange tab at 3a and i think at 9v....they tell me everything!
Bro, I am a vapor, but I would still like to check up on the health of my old batteries from time to time, and test new batteries that I purchase on the internet to make sure they are what they say they are because there's a lot of fake ratings on batteries today. Very informative video bro, good vibes to you, thanks for the info
with all due respect you mention that the opus bt-31oo v2.2 does not measure resistem .he does mesure resistantce
love me some diy but the teq wall could create some serious conversation
Comparing features to eliminate those low end models is fine. To get the best, I expect at least some real test and opening (or breaking) the case to compare the circuit and components used.
Expect and you shall be let down
Nice. I'm thinking about some USB-C solar products (charging/charge controllers/solar controllers). This is good info for early research stuff.
Love your work on all things 18650, take a break and post you playing the guitar, anything from Stevie Ray Vaughan would be good. :)
NZ Mark.😄
Can I use my imax charger with an 18650 battery holder to charge and discharge cells? Like maybe A parallel holder?
Thanks for this video. I'm nor testing batteries with the Liitokala Lii 500, new 26650's and recycled 18650's. Neither charges for a second time, only charge and discharge and when end is blinking the batteries are sitting at 3.0v and not recharging. Nor test is charge/discharge/charge normally. Are the chargers bust, all 4 of them ?
MiBoxer C4 DOES do discharge testing on channel 4.
I love your videos you explain everything so anyone can understand.
I would like to make a power wall and recharge it by wind turbine generators from China.
These generators produce between 500 -1000W per generator.
To Re-charge the batteries in my wall how many of these wind turbine generators would I have to have going to Charge my power while to run my house. I only use the heating system between the months of November to the end of April the rest of the year we just use our fridge or stove or hot water and lights.
We heat by electricity using heaters that total 18000watts
Those wind turbine power numbers are going to be optimistic (if not absolutely imaginary) ratings under ideal wind conditions, and the prices do not, of course, include the towers needed to put the turbines up where the wind is. You'll get more heat by burning the packing crates. To actually run your house on wind could easily cost 6 figures, unless you already have a suitably high and sturdy tower, and the skills and equipment to get the generator up there. Better to look at passive solar heating, improved insulation, a heat pump instead of resistive electric heaters, and maybe efficient wood heat (which is of course renewable and carbon-neutral).
Hey dude I love your channel. I’m in the middle of a 4wd Esk8 build. I got 4 90kv motors. I want to us NESE modules. But I don’t know the dimensions of the modules. I know I need to go 12s. But the parallel is ware I’m stuck, because of the dimensions. Do you know the dimensions for a 21700 6p modules? Up to 8p? Thanks for any help. P. S. I looked an asked all over. The manufacturer never responds to my weekly emails lol.
Does he make 2170 version? I don’t have those so I can’t tell you dimensions
12:20 Actually the Miboxer C4 can discharge the batteries but only on the fourth channel.
Actually, The newer (been out for about a year) MiBoxxer C4 will not test/discharge batteries nor will the high-end model (C4-12) The much older version was able to but that hasn't been around for some time and they had issues with its accuracy and they wanted their product to work fully rather than throw a half-ass test system into a great charger. I'm sure in the future they will bring it back, and I will buy it once they do. But the new MiBoxer C4-12 (3AMP charge on each channel at the same time) It's in a league of its own. Not many chargers come close to 3amps on all 4 channels. It's my favorite charger. (I use a different charger/tester to test my battery) It's built better then any other changer I have had and I have had them all. But It does not have discharge. It does not have a testing feature. The MiBoxer will give you the total MAH you have charged your battery from whatever percentage you put it on, but it will not discharge and then recharge and give you a full test readout. As it does not have one. The much older model did but that's been long gone.
But as far as battery chargers go, the MiBoxxer is the best you can get in the $50 price range. Check out the reviews. It is very accurate as far as the milliamps, and it is one of the best chargers for not overcharging your batteries.
Also, the best way to test batteries is at 500 Milliamps as you will get a much more accurate reading of the true MAH. Or at least do not test at over 1000 milliamps discharge/charge. It's worth the extra time it takes. You do it overnight and you benefit greatly. If you do one battery of the same exact brand and model at 500ma and then the next one at 1ma, you will not get the same reading no matter what. The slower you charge a battery the higher the capacity it will hold. Therefore you will get more power out of the battery overall. So I only suggest fast charging if you use the battery all the time and don't mind them degrading too much.
If I plan on using my battery very often then I will charge them at 2 or even 2.5 amps no problem, except 18650 I don't charge over 1.50amps. But if you are going to have a power bank or a flashlight sitting around and not to be used often, charge the battery you will use in it at 500ma. You can gain a good 10-15% more battery life out of it compared to if you charged it at 2000 milliamps. Though I am guilty of charging 26650's and 21700's and even 18650's as long as the eternal resistance is in a good enough range to handle 3amps. and of course, it will auto throttle down as the charge nears its end or if the charger senses too much heat too quickly. That's the one thing about batteries, the last 10% of the charge current can either take away or add many cycles to the battery. This is why you never want to remove a battery from the charger midway if you don't absolutely have to. Even though you don't have the battery charged near its cap. It is still not the smartest thing to do if you want the longest life out of your battery.
And on top of it all the slower you charge the longer the battery's lifespan. And never let your battery discharge below 10% if possible. You will greatly reduce its capacity over time. Just like how all 18650 li-ion batteries can charge to 4.35 volts. But by charging the battery that lasts 10% of its capacity will reduce the life of the battery drastically.
I don't build power walls, I do build battery banks once in a while. But I am a flashoholic. I have a lot of high end very high output and high CRI flashlights. So amp draw and MAH come into play as some of my lights need a lot of MAH and others need high discharge rates in order to produce the maximum lumen output for the longest.
I work in any sort of sector that I would need flashlights for, I just really enjoy them. Right now I would say my Noctigon K1 with Osram W1 Green emitter is my absolute favorite thrower it reachest out to just over a mile. 720,000 CD (with the w1 green Osram emitter) If you want W1 white 650,000 CD and that'll still throw way past what you can see with the naked eye. But this is why nearly all of my throwers are in W1 green. And no I do not hunt. Green just allows you to see things further away in greater detail. And your eyes pick up green better than any other color on the spectrum. I also have a JetBeam RRT-M1X Raptor, It an LEP and it will throw 1.4 miles and then some. It has absolutely no spill, it is basically a white laser with a thicker beam. The only thing is it's not an all-around use flashlight, It's a specialty flashlight made for viewing small areas at very far away. (But its a very fun toy) It is the longest throwing lighting device in that form factor you can buy right now. As it will cast light out past 2800 meters. (its a little underspec'ed so it performs much better then the box says it does) And it is literally about the same size as an Acebeam L18 (That would be my favorite white light thrower as it doesn't have spill at all. As for flooders. I like my Fireflies ROT66 GEN2 (XPL HI CW emitters) it is 14,000 lumens and the size of a Redbull can. One hell of a flooder. I also love my Noctigon D4SV2 XPL HI HD Emmiters) its 5,200 lumens. And my Fireflies E07 I have two one in OSRAM 15W (7,300 lumens) and that thing is the best blend of throw and flood I have besides my Astrolux FT02S (XHP 50.2 *4 emitters) 11,000 lumens. Then I have really tiny flashlights like the Lumintop GT Nano, the Smallest longest throwing flashlight in the world. And my FW3A XPL HI 5000k 2,800 lumens, is my EDC. Along with my Lumentop FW4A (XPL HI 3D) 3,600 6500K Lumens.
I have so many more to list I shouldn't even get started. But if anyone ever needed to put together a search and rescue team in my area, I'm the guy you want to call. As most of the flashlights cant be bought here and are custom made or modded by Hank.
I have tried going to FA meetings, that didn't last long. I would show up with flashlights and the whole meeting would go to shit. I have tried the group thing twice. I just can't seem to get off the lights. I can't stop. Something about the feeling of having something brighter than the sun in your hand. I mean yes I'm addicted and I'm trying to get help. But at least I'm no longer in denial about it.
What I would absolutely love is if I could find a job that will allow me to use my flashlights and put them to good use. I would be willing to take a pay cut for a dream job like that. Maybe some sort of security or guard for a building. Or just some sort of liability protection. I don't know, hell even a reviewer. I would love to review flashlights and batteries, flashlight cases (I design my own) I also do something very interesting in cool with my flashlights that I do not want to give away here.
Anyway, I hope some of the info I could give helps someone new to the battery game. And have maybe inspired someone to get an actual nice flashlight. Once you start there is no going back though. My first real flashlight was the Sofrin SP36 BLF (Quad emitter, High CRI, and High Lumen output flashlight 94CRI and 5560 Lumens. And I still use it often as it's a great mix of CRI and output as well as very efficient.
The part I find funny is when I have the cops called on me because I walking around with something so bright no one understands what is going on. lol
Thanks for the review on the battery chargers. It was very informative and I think I know what ill be going with now. Thanks again buddy, appreciate what you do, and the fact that you a truly a nice guy is what keeps me coming back. It's been getting harder and harder to find people that are actually nice and not just nice for youtube.
Just watched
We have embarked on a similar journey, so far on a much smaller scale at least for now
We are in South Africa, Johannesburg
The availability of cells and even worst with high quality cells are an issue
By we, it's a friend and self, both with electronics background, are both aiming to be off the grid - self am already about 70% off the grid, just with Gell/AGM batteries
To get cells from anywhere outside, the issue tgat we have is the shipping costs 1 they are astronomical, leaving us with the local Chinese importers
So far we have only been able to get our hands on some weak cells, 18650 (1600mAh) , 26650 (3100mAh) - so we will just use more cells to get our power walls packs going/built
We have imported some battery testers/Charger (we have just recieved our LiitoKala Lii-500) and a few other items form the start of our projects
We are still at the stage of testing cells to try and decide what cells we are going to use
So if anyone would like to follow my journey - will be sharing it on this channel
what do you think about Xtar VP4 Dragon?
Stumbled across your channel!! I subbed after the 1st 5mins of this video. Great work
Zanflare have doubled in price and and one Jspznese supplier is switching and baiting on free and expedited shipping costs and the Lito is available in US on eBay. Friday May 8
Hi. Which one is safer and more reliable for charging Fenix 18650, Ledlenser 14500 and Panasonic Eneloop aa and aaa batteries; LiitoKala Lii-500s or FENİX ARE-A4? Which one do you suggest and why?
Which would you recommend for the casual user that can do at least 4 batteries of any chemistry with size up to D, that also has a balancing port for batteries in series?
I am debating on buying something like one of the Turnigy, or similar charger for series batteries then build up some battery holders and wire them in parallel for individual batteries.
I like the idea of individual charging but I have read charging in parallel forces all batteries to the same voltage by the nature of it being in parallel.
Are there charges that use the balancing port in the traditional way for measure and discharging but also have a feature where they can be used to charge series batteries individually?
Hey Garcia, I like your Type 2 AND your
Coldplay Tee shirt!
If your discharge load went to charging yet untested cells in need a full charge that would a capacity tester in a class all by itself. In California it doesn't seem sensible to create heat for discharge test while running air conditioning.
it does in Texas
Hello! I have build a camper bluetooth speaker with 18650 4s3p with 2200mah cells i will charge it with skyrc imax b6 mini almost everything are did, but i still missing a good panel Connector to the camping bluetooth speaker, did you now a small Connector that works to the max output with 4s3p on skyrc imax b6 mini?
Thans for THE usefull information. One Thong THE litokala dimschakelaar current is lower toen THE charge. So 250&500 charge, it dischargr at 300 and when you cholesterol 750/1000mA it discharge at 500. Was in THE manual, white snotter person showde in comparison movie litokala and opus. Can you confirm ?
Dimschakelaar = discharge
Cholesterol. = choose
Snotter = other
😪Auto correction
Hi. Not a techie guy but how about nitecore, golisi, astrolux and other brands. Looking for a plug and play type that can protect my batteries for a long time and detect needed to charge. Mains with overcharging and safety protection. Is liitokala 500 the best?
I just use a RC charger. You can set your own charge and discharge rates etc.
thanks for your inspiring Videos.
maybe also a test of the SkyRC MC3000 would fit to this charger video?
90% of the batteries i recycle from laptops are 80%+. I have IT shop and getting tons of it send by customers for recycling.
lucky
Hi, I watch most of your videos and have been trying to educate myself. We have an Enphase solar installation (14 panels) that were installed by a contractor. I am now trying to build my own DIY powerwall. Do you know what I need to purchase if I build my own battery (would something like the '
AIMS POWER
Inverter Charger, Pure Sine Wave Form, 1000W') work okay? How do I connect the inverter to the Enphase combiner box? Besides the battery, is that all I need.
hi what would be the best way to Check the capacity of 18650 laptop battery Cells ( 1000 nos ) in a day. what hardware would be required. your professional Guidance would be highly appreciated Thanks !!