MiBoxer C2-3000 Charger Review

MikeB.

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I received this charger from MiBoxer for review.

This charger comes in a nice simple box with all the info printed on it. The charger only comes with a 12 volt car charger power adapter, and a usb power cord. The power adapter can output either 12 volts if the supplied cord is plugged into or 5 volts for normal usb charging cables. I would prefer that it came with a 120 volt power adapter, and have a 12 volt car charger as an available option. I had to use a 120volt to usb power adapter that I had to use the charger, they recommend 5 volt 2 amp adapter which luckily I had.

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This charger is totally automatic, it tests that battery when it is installed and chooses the voltage and amperage to charge the cell at. At first I did not like this idea, I like having control over the charge rate so that I can fast or slow charge at my choosing. I charged a couple of 18650 cells, which is very simple and straight forward, just plug in the charger, place the cells in the bays and the charger does the rest. For someone inexperienced or looking for a very simple charger this does work very well. I decided to charge a 26650 and 16340 cell to see how it would handle them. The imr16340 has a fairly low internal resistance so it actually charged at a rate up to 700ma, which is a little higher then I care to charge them at, I usually try to charge at under 500ma rate. The 26650 cell charged at a rate up to 1300ma, which is probably all the 5 volt 2 amp 120volt power adapter would allow, I'm guessing that with more input power it would probably charge up to the 1.5 amp max output.

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When the cells are finished charging the output goes to 0ma so it does shut off completely and it cycles through cell voltage, internal resistance, and also shows what it "thinks" the cell capacity is. It seems like its initial guesses are pretty close, the 16340 is rated at 700mah, and it showed 745mah, the 26650 is rated at 5000mah, and it showed 5080mah for that cell. From what I understand this charger is supposed to get smarter the more you use it, and learn from previous charge cycles to get more accurate on its output information.

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Overall this seems like a good charger, I'll keep trying it out over time and see how it works over time. In some ways I do like the simplicity of just plug in, insert cell, and away it goes, but for my preference I like to have complete control over charge rates that my cells are getting. I usually like to charge at slower rates which is supposed to be a little better for the cells, but sometimes you might just want to get it charged and go faster. I would like to maybe see at least a low and high setting for charge rates, it would give a little control at least. I have mixed feeling about the use of a 12 volt car charger that can also power 5 volt devices, I just have a feeling eventually it might not switch properly and send 12 volts to a 5 volt device, I wouldn't trust the adapter on anything the charger. I really wish it just came with the standard 120 volt wall adapter, as that's the only place I ever charge by cells, having to source a 120 volt to 5 volt 2 amp usb adapter is not the most user friendly in my case. I do like the charger, it seems well built, and works on the cells I've charged so far, I just have a few things that I would change as mentioned to make it even better.

I will update this review as I get more time with the MiBoxer C2-3000 charger.
 
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