New Ultrafire charger

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loquutis79

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So has anyone had any experiance with this new charger? I wonder if it is better than the WF 139, and if it is getting closer to a Pila unit.

*Ultrafire WF200

Sales Link - Norm
 
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Hi loq. Until somebody, the buyers that buy these products for UltraFire, the marketing people, the stock boys that work in the warehouse, or somebody at these goofy Chinese distributors like this, actually take the time to learn how Li-Ion cells should be charged, I wouldn't hold my breath.

This is yet another Li-Ion charger that claims (indirectly) that it's OK to charge 10440 cells at a 600mA rate. The "600mAh" UltraFire 10440 cells that I've had, tested out at about 250mAh when new, and after not very many cycles, averaged about 100-150mAh. These cells were always charged at a 90-100mA rate.

The very best 10440 cells (AW's older blue label cells) that I own, have a labeled capacity of 320mAh and do come very close to that. I've yet to see an xxxxxFire cell break the 300mAh level.

The maximum recommended charge rate for any LiCo/ICR cell in this size range, is 1C. Considering this, a 600mA rate would typically be about twice the maximum recommended charging rate. Not good at all for the longevity of the cells. Of course folks would be buying replacement cells much more often.:naughty:

Again, I wouldn't get my hopes up, considering the source. We'll see but......

Dave
 
So futher to the Ultrafire chargers question, I just read in one of the other threads that AW use to sell and recommend their 139 charger. According to the replies, this was before Pila was around [I dont remember the year, but a few ago]. The replies also said that yes, the 139 was a good and reputable charger for the time period.
So, having read so many very negitive comments about this unit, I would think that this is unfair in all honesty. Yes, there is a much better unit [Pila] now, but should that not simply mean that the Ultrafire 139 is just not as good as the Pila.
I wonder about this only because I have a very local supplier for this charger, along with AW 18650 3100's. I do think I will get a Pila one day but the Ultrafire is so readily available to me, very local and priced good that I am tempted to go with this for now. It just seems that in the Toronto area of Ontario Canada, there are no places to buy this sort of stuff.
Your comments?
 
Do you have a dmm? I wouldn't have faith in any straight-from-china charger until a few cells have been charged and tested with a dmm.
 
I do, yes. And I will be using it for whatever set up I am running for max. safety.
But my question is still, and I apologize for belabouring the point, are Ultrafire chargers really that bad or is it just that the better one came along?
And isn't Pila a Swiss design but assembled in....China?
Im not trying to slag either one of them, just trying to find out if I will really regret getting the Ultrafire 139 which is a two minute drive from me, or waiting for the mail order, possibly lost or held up at customs, highly reguarded Pila.
 
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I say go for it if you have a local dealer. Just do not get complacent.
Thousands of people have properly working cheap chargers. A few people have had them burn. A few people have a charger that will burn at some point. A few have chargers that ruin cells with bad cutoffs. With Pila, you pay for some QC.
 
loquutis79 said:
Your comments?
Click to expand...

Hi loq. Normally, you buy a device to do a job properly. If you're looking for a Li-Ion charger that properly charges Li-Ion cells, you really don't have that many choices. In the consumer cradle type charger category, you have the Pila IBC, and the 4Sevens single bay. The other route is to go with a hobby charger.

As I said, we'll have to wait and see, but so far, none of the UltraFire chargers use a proper charging algorithm. They all basically use CC with voltage checking, rather than the Li-Ion cell manufacturer's mandated CC/CV algorithm.

Chargers which use a CC algorithm are hard on cells, particularly older/used ones. They also may impose a safety risk with older cells, in addition to accelerating wear to new cells (thus making them "older" before their time).

So you have to ask yourself, with UltraFire's generally poor reputation, what is the likelihood of this new charger actually working properly. They haven't come up with one yet, so......

As for buying batteries and chargers here locally, I don't know of any shops within a 100 miles of here, that sell Li-Ion cells, or chargers. I'm pretty much limited to mail/online ordering anyway.:shrug:

Dave
 
I did pick up the Ultrafire charger after all, along with two AW18650 3100's. Charged them both to 4.18 at the green light.
I will very likely buy the Pila at some point in time as I am the sort of person who usually gets the best I can afford and lets face it, the Pila's not $500.00.
But until I get around to the whole mail order thing I will use the Ultrafire...with an eye on the green light and my trusty DMM in hand.

Now, lets hear it for Guilt Free Lumens!!!! [I love that phrase]
 
Don't sweat it bro ! I have a WF-139 that I use to charge my AW 2900's. Works great for me. I also have the DC cord so I can take it on camping trips.
 
Have been using my WF-139 for about a year. Has worked great with my AW and EagleTac 18650's. If yours keeps working consistently, then I see no reason to buy another charger.
 
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