SheKor Charger for 18650/17670/18500/17500/14500/16340/

[Meterman]

As I've fed the charger off a lab PSU I could see the input voltage and current. There was never any lack of energy. (If you thought of something like that.)

Wulf

 

[neverGUP]

It looks like a nice one. Can I use this on 230V with a power plug converter?

 

[mfm]

It looks like a nice one. Can I use this on 230V with a power plug converter?

Yes.

 

[Meterman]

In the meantime I've done some cycles using Shekor as well as Pila. When discharging at 400mA (~ 0.5C) using a professional electronic load, I was amazed to find both of them to have charged in about the same amount of mAh. The battery used was an UF XSL 18350, discharged to an end voltage of 3.0V. Shekor gave 804mAh and Pila gave 798mAh. The difference might be influenced a bit by differing resting times. This battery had shown a capacity of ~850mAh in a previous test, but then charged by an Orbit Pocketlader and discharged at only 180mA to a lower end voltage of 2.8V.

So the Shekor seems to be a reliable charger providing good results at a very decent price. I just have ordered another one to finally being able to give a charger for LiIon batteries to another person with a clean conscience.

Thanks for the hint at this charger! :thumbsup:

Wulf

 

[Markcm]

Where are you purchasing this charger? I see it at kaidomain. It was at a site e-lectronics.net, but they have taken it off as an offering.

Anyplace else?

I do still have these shekor chargers at e-lectronics.net, I did not take them off the site although I was out stock for a short period.

I've sold a fair share of these now and had almost no returns or complaints. To be more specifc, there have been one or two come back due to a whining noise during charging which I replaced for them (luckily I'm in USA).

Someone asked about using a 230v adapter, these have a wide input range on the charger (9-32vdc) so you can even make your own adapter using the correct barrel plug and the charger isn't to picky.

 

[jcw122]

In the meantime I've done some cycles using Shekor as well as Pila. When discharging at 400mA (~ 0.5C) using a professional electronic load, I was amazed to find both of them to have charged in about the same amount of mAh. The battery used was an UF XSL 18350, discharged to an end voltage of 3.0V. Shekor gave 804mAh and Pila gave 798mAh. The difference might be influenced a bit by differing resting times. This battery had shown a capacity of ~850mAh in a previous test, but then charged by an Orbit Pocketlader and discharged at only 180mA to a lower end voltage of 2.8V.

So the Shekor seems to be a reliable charger providing good results at a very decent price. I just have ordered another one to finally being able to give a charger for LiIon batteries to another person with a clean conscience.

Thanks for the hint at this charger! :thumbsup:

Wulf

That's great to hear! This charger is really tempting me to go Li-Ion :shakehead

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Old4570, not being picky here, cause I know what you meant when I read it, but there are those who might misunderstand. In your first post and some subsequent posts you used CR123A as a Li-Ion being charged, and you meant RCR123, or RCR123A. CR123A is a primary Lithium, non rechargeable cell.

Re this charger, it indeed does look interesting. Does it have polarity protection?

Bill

 

[Machete God]

Re this charger, it indeed does look interesting. Does it have polarity protection?

Bill

The side of the box claims that it does, i.e., 'Lithium battery position and negative polarity protection'. Someone needs to test the claim, though...

... The graph named "Shekor"...

Wulf

Thank you for your post and those graphs. I am new to this hobby, and that one post has explained to me concisely what CC/CV behaviour is lovecpf

I am considering getting this charger, after having a WF-139 delivered less than 2 weeks ago and reading so much on how unideal its charging behaviour is. I only have two pieces of 14500 li-ion cells now, is it overkill to buy another charger so soon?

 

[jcw122]

The side of the box claims that it does, i.e., 'Lithium battery position and negative polarity protection'. Someone needs to test the claim, though...



Thank you for your post and those graphs. I am new to this hobby, and that one post has explained to me concisely what CC/CV behaviour is lovecpf

I am considering getting this charger, after having a WF-139 delivered less than 2 weeks ago and reading so much on how unideal its charging behaviour is. I only have two pieces of 14500 li-ion cells now, is it overkill to buy another charger so soon?

Well you have two alternatives, sell the WF-139 or return it if you can! :twothumbs

 

[old4570]

Old4570, not being picky here, cause I know what you meant when I read it, but there are those who might misunderstand. In your first post and some subsequent posts you used CR123A as a Li-Ion being charged, and you meant RCR123, or RCR123A. CR123A is a primary Lithium, non rechargeable cell.

Re this charger, it indeed does look interesting. Does it have polarity protection?

Bill

Its early in the AM once more , 00.24 hours , I hope I got all the CR123A's
:sleepy:

 

[Joe Hone]

I got my SheKor last week, along with some 18650 batteries. I've been charging up some 14500s and using my simple analog battery tester, the 14500s stopped charging at around 4.1V - definitely below 4.2V. Maybe I'm unduly influenced by the other positive posts about this charger, but the peace of mind it is giving me is worth the money alone. I'm tempted to throw away my WF-139, which is near new and never gave me any problems.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

I got my SheKor last week, along with some 18650 batteries. I've been charging up some 14500s and using my simple analog battery tester, the 14500s stopped charging at around 4.1V - definitely below 4.2V. Maybe I'm unduly influenced by the other positive posts about this charger, but the peace of mind it is giving me is worth the money alone. I'm tempted to throw away my WF-139, which is near new and never gave me any problems.

Would like to see a another digit added to that 4.1 volts. Do you have access to a DMM. Maybe that number would be 4.15 volts? Makes a lot of difference the closer to 4.2 volts the ending voltage is.

 

[old4570]

THe WF-139 also shuts down on completion [ Later one ] , well mine does .
Its a great 18650 14500 17670 etc charger as long as it does not over charge .

I find the Shekor just perfect for the little 10440 batteries , it does not try to force 4.2v into such a small cell , esp as the 10440's I have seem to have increased resistance to going 4.2v [ possibly due to there size ] .

 

[jcw122]

THe WF-139 also shuts down on completion [ Later one ] , well mine does .
Its a great 18650 14500 17670 etc charger as long as it does not over charge .

I find the Shekor just perfect for the little 10440 batteries , it does not try to force 4.2v into such a small cell , esp as the 10440's I have seem to have increased resistance to going 4.2v [ possibly due to there size ] .

How would the WF-139 overcharge if it shuts down on completion?

 

[old4570]

How would the WF-139 overcharge if it shuts down on completion?

It would overcharge before completion !

Some cheap chargers charge to much , up to 4.25 and even higher .. My Soshine charges up to 4.23v [ one channel ] , and Im currently trying to find a variable resistor to bring it down to 4.2v even , that way I can have both channels on the charger doing 4.2v ...

 

[Machete God]

Well you have two alternatives, sell the WF-139 or return it if you can! :twothumbs

Well, I definitely can't return it, not with a clear conscience. While trying to open up the WF-139 to see if I could wire a buzzer into the thing, I managed to break the blobs of plastic that the screws screw into. Dratted cheap chinese plastics :thumbsdow (There are TWO screws, one is hidden underneath the labelling on the back).

I've saved the SheKor to buy in a month or two's time. That way I'll have amassed more batteries to "justify" another (better) charger

 

[Meterman]

As I have powered the Shekor off a lab PSU anyhow, I thought I could feed some different voltages, as some of you probably will be interested in using alternate power sources to operate the charger.

Starting at 9V (8V is not sufficient) I tested current and wattage at 12 - 15 - 20 - 24 and 30V. There is no need to write down all the particular figures - current reaches from ~ 300mA to ~ 95mA and the wattage lies around 2.7W, only increasing to 2.9W at 30V.

Charge current was pretty stable from 418 to 422mA. Battery inserted was a Samsung ICR 18650-28A not discharged to total emptiness.

May be this is useful to one or two here.

Wulf

 

[Nil Einne]

Is anyone actually using the included power supply with a 220-240V input? I know these cheap switching PSUs included with chargers have had a tendency to die or blow up when used with 220-240V even though they're supposed to be compatible. Given the wide input voltage of the charger I can probably find a power supply to reuse so is more out of general interest then anything.

 

[old4570]

Is anyone actually using the included power supply with a 220-240V input? I know these cheap switching PSUs included with chargers have had a tendency to die or blow up when used with 220-240V even though they're supposed to be compatible. Given the wide input voltage of the charger I can probably find a power supply to reuse so is more out of general interest then anything.

Yes ! so far so good [ 240v ]

 

[Stillphoto]

Mine's on its way. Woo hoo! I've been using the totally crappy dsd charger for years. I've used my lights sparingly recently because the dsd decided to just keep charging and not shut of all the sudden.

Looking forward to it.