Test/Review of LiitoKala Lii-100

HKJ

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Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
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Copenhagen, Denmark
[size=+3]LiitoKala Lii-100[/size]

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LiitoKala has made a couple of analyzing charger, but this model cannot do any analyzing, it is a small universal charger that handles 3 types of LiIon and NiMH, it addition to this it can also work as a power bank.

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The packaing was very simple, being just a plastic bag.

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The pack contained the charger and a usb cable.

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The charger is powered from micro usb and has a full size usb connector for power bank output.

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The charger has two red leds to show selected current and four blue leds in a row to select voltage and show battery level.
The button has multiple functions:
When a battery is put into a powered charger, it can be used to select LiIon voltage (NiMH is selected automatic).
When charger is powered a long press (2 seconds) will change between 0.5A and 1A charge current.
A fast click when charging will show the selected battery type.
When used as a power bank a press on the button will turn the usb power on.

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The charger uses the typical slider construction, it can handle batteries from 33mm to 70mm.

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supportedBatterySizes.png
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The charger can handle 70mm long batteries, inclusive flat top cells, this means most protected cells.



[size=+2]Measurements charger[/size]


  • LiIon and NiMH Batteries will be discharged with 0.1mA when power is off.
  • Charges LiIon batteries with 0.5mA when connected to power.
  • Charges NiMH batteries with 2.2mA when connected to power.
  • When battery is 0 volt the charger will charge with 3mA, this is enough to reset a protection.
  • From 0.25 volt on the battery the charger will reconize it and start charging.
  • Between 0.25 volt and 1.6 volt a battery is assumed to be NiMH.
  • Between 1.6 volt and 2.2 volt the charger will charge with less than 2mA and not allow selection of battery type.
  • Above 2.2 volt a battery is assumed to be LiIon.
  • Charger will not restart if battery voltage drops.
  • Charger will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.


[size=+1]Charging 4.20 volt LiIon[/size]

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%20(PA18650-31).png


The charger has a fine CC/CV voltage charge curve, it starts reducing current a bit early, due to voltage constrains, this will give slightly longer charge time.

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%20(SA18650-26).png


LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%20(PA18650-34).png


No surprise on these two cells.

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%200.5A%20(PA18650-31).png


Reducing the charge current to 0.5A works fine, except the termination current is not reduced (Cells will miss the last few percent of the charge).

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%20(BE18650-26).png


With this older cell the current reduction starts very early as expected.

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%200.5A%20(AW18350-IMR).png


LiitoKala%20Lii-100%200.5A%20(KP14500-08).png


Good charging on these smaller cell, again the higher termination current means a few percent loss in capacity.

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%200.5ohm%20(PA18650-31).png


Adding a resistor in series with the usb power supply to simulate a long cable or weak supply did not prevent the charger from doing a good job, but it needed some more time.

Temp2839.png


M1: 32,4°C, M2: 31,4°C, M3: 40,0°C, HS1: 48,8°C

PoweronLiIon.png


The charger needs some time to start up, this is because it is waiting for voltage selection.

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There is no problem with changing current while charging.



[size=+1]Charging 4.35 volt LiIon[/size]

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The 4.35 volt charge works as expected.



[size=+1]Charging 3.60 volt LiIon[/size]

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%20(18650-LiFePO4).png


LiitoKala%20Lii-100%200.5A%20(Soshine-LiFePO4).png



Both LiFePO4 cells is charged fine, but the voltage is a bit high (This is not a big problem with LiFePO4).



[size=+1]Charging NiMH[/size]

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This is a fine NiMH charge with voltage termination and no trickle charge.
When using voltage termination without a top-off charge the batteries will be slightly below full capacity.

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Using 0.5A charge current is also stopped on voltage termination.

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On this cell it looks like a voltage termination.

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%201A%20(eneloopPro).png


Here it is -dv/dt termination.

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My new powerex cell is stopped on -dv/dt.

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The AAA cell is stopped on voltage.

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Fast detection of a full cell, this is voltage termination.

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M1: 35,4°C, M2: 34,2°C, M3: 41,9°C, HS1: 53,5°C

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The charger is also slow to start with NiMH, but it is not possible to select any other battery type.

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There is no problem with changing current while charging. The charger uses the typical pulsing, where it can measure voltage with current off.



[size=+1]Power bank[/size]


  • USB output will turn off after 10 seconds with less than 65mA load.
  • When input power is applied, usb output will be off.
  • Mode button can be used to turn usb output on.
  • USB output is coded as usb charger (DCP).

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USB output can deliver 1.3A before it starts dropping, the overload protection first kicks in at 2A.

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Running with 0.5A load looks very good.

LiitoKala%20Lii-100%20(PA18650-31)%20usb%20out%205ohm.png


1A output also looks very good.

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The noise is fairly good at 0.5A load with 20mV rms and 170mVpp

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At 1A the noise increases, but is still acceptable with: 38mV rms and 310mVpp



[size=+2]Conclusion[/size]

It looks like this model often is a bit high in charge voltage, but within allowable tolerances. I did not see any problems real with it.

This makes it a good charger for all supported batteries and also a good power bank.



[size=+3]Notes[/size]

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger
Read more about how I test USB power supplies/charger
 

kreisl

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
2,241
I got this charger a week ago from GB.

Thanks for the great review!

:)
 

Gauss163

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Messages
1,604
Location
USA
Buyers be aware that there are at least two different positive terminal contacts employed. Besides the solid circular "button" shown above, there is also a U-shaped contact - see below. This might affect fitment for some types of cells.

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kosPap

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
2,909
Location
Naoussa Greece
When input power is applied, usb output will be off.

hmmmm... here is my experience

I was charging a battery and I connected a USB meter on the output then an old cell phone (not smart one)
The USB meter did not activate, but I was gettign a charging indication from my phone
 

Kycirion

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 12, 2016
Messages
1
I know this is a little old. But I've been thinking about getting this for my EDC bag with a Panasonic NCR18650B, so I can have a charger and battery bank available. I have some unprotected Panasonics on hand. I was wondering if this has a low voltage cutoff when used as a battery bank?

Thanks for the great reviews you do!
 

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
I have been doing a field use evaluation of the Lii100 for outdoors and prepping applications. Early testing shows it to be good for solar charging often hitting the 5 volts 1 amp goal when other chargers don't. One the down side being it can trigger a charging error should there be a serious interruption in input aka lots of passing clouds. This isn't a problem for the panel I am using which has counter measures against that. Seems to work very nicely as a power bank. One observation. The Lii200 makes for a poor powerbank unlike the Lii100. Anyone else also notice this?
 
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