Nitecore I2 - Intelligent charger

[Ypedal]

As some of you already know, i'm pretty heavily involved in flashlights.... borderline OCD going on here.. but i'm having fun...

I've tried just about every charger on the market available from china via DX.com and Everbuying.com and ebay... trustfire, ultrafire, no-name generic stuff...

A few examples of the one's on my desk while i had the camera in my hand..


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Got it from here :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110969592529?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 

[cal3thousand]

What's the benefit of this Nitecore over the cheapies? (besides the obvious)

 

[Ypedal]

ok. forgot all about having started this review, the testing has been on-going.

Many of the less expensive "Fire-xx " branded chargers have the typical problem of powering themselves from the battery they are supposed to charge, if the AC side is not plugged in.. resulting in discharged or damaged cells.

the Nitecore I2 i'm glad to report, does not light up with cells inserted and AC not plugged, however, measured with a DVM it does show a drain !.

Advantage to the I2 is that it not only charges Lithium cells ( NOT LiFePo4 !!! ) but it also does Ni cells, i'm charging a few Eneloops as i type this.

It brings lithium cells to 4.19 volts, so unprotected cells are safe. ( some of the Fire-xxx chargers go to 4.25~4.3v, too high and they should only be used with protected cells )

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The Nitecore NL183 - 2300 mah " High Discharge Performance " cells, are not that high performance.... 230 Mohm is what my Icharger reports... ( gathering a selection of 18650 cells for comparison testing )

 

[Matt Gruber]

a diode in series will prevent discharge when not plugged in. nothing will flow out of the cell,
unless the diode is hooked backwards, then nothing flows in.

 

[Ypedal]

that's nice, but when i buy a consumer ready product, i don't intend or expect to start adding diodes to it lol...

 

[Matt Gruber]

really? anything i buy, i expect to modify. once i had to mod socks! i cut the elastic, was too tight
.
a 36v razor charger, i had to add a diode. But the 24v were OK! i guess they saved 20 cents on the 36v.
My 1985 skill has the diode in the battery box.
it is a crap shoot on everything!

 

[ohzee]

Looks like a nice charger. Last year I did some checking around when I needed something reliable for my zebra light.

Ended up getting one of these and so far it's done the trick. http://www.xtardirect.com/xtar-battery-chargers/xtar-wp6-ii-charger/wp6-ii-charger.html

I like the ability to charge multiple batteries at once.

 

[Matt Gruber]

i was seduced by an ac adapter 2.5 amps at 4.2 volts for $9 surplus.
very nice with screws not glued BUT
4.38 v
so it took an hour to add a 330 ohm resister to get my desired 4.06 for 80- 85% charge. i really didn't want 4.2 so i was expecting to mod it, but was hoping for 4.15, then i'd be close enough.
and the led goes on so it would need a diode, except i never ever leave a battery hooked to a charger not plugged in.
i like the hobby of modding everything i buy :lol:

 

[Matt Gruber]

so here is what happens when a "stupid" ac adapter is used to charge a pair of 18650 konions that were 3.55v at rest:
after 1 minute 2.72 amps
2m 2.6a
3m 2.49a
4m 2.4 3.72v
6m 2.27a 3.74v
10 1.95 3.79 cells 79F charger 94F
15 minutes 1.63a 3.84v
30 1.14 amps 3.90 volts
1 hr .64a 3.97v
90 min .34a 4.04v
2 hrs .21a 4.04v (cv set to 4.06v)

 

[Overclocker]

don't be fooled by this charger. it's a pretty decent (but slow) li-ion charger... but it does a pretty bad job of charging NiMH. doesn't do a proper delta-V. overheats cells