Pila vs i4 V2

[Troop#26]

Hello Everyone,

Im not much of a battery guy, every once and a while (maybe every two years) I come out and replace my 18650 batteries. I tend to just buy the biggest capacity AW batteries available. My lights that I use regularly are a 1X18650 and a 2X18650 light which means I have three batteries I need to charge.

When I first got CPF'd I was told very early on that Pila made the best chargers. I have two PILA chargers now and like to leave 3 batteries in the lights and three in the charger so that I can just swap out when needed. My understanding (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that in MOST chargers this is NOT safe to do with an 18650, however using the Pila which has some kind of a trickle charger this is "mostly" safe to do? (I should clarify the batteries are seldom left on for more than 1 day).

Anyway, I have recently gotten a few more different lights that I use from time to time and I have some different battery configurations now. 18500, 16350, 18350, 17650. The problem is when I travel I have all of these spacers to bring. Plus I have to bring two chargers, which means two wall-wart plugs, 2 12 volt DC plugs, etc etc.

Right... so I discovered the above mentioned i4 v2 charger. I noticed that it is also MicroProcessor Controlled... this would allow me to charge 4 cells independently. I have also seen in mentioned that this trickle charges as well. Would this be a good option or should I stick to the Pila?

Thanks,

Stephen

 

[HKJ]

Any type of trickle is charge is bed in a LiIon charger, luckily very few has it, even when the specifications says they do.

The i4 is a good universal charger, but it is easy to find better LiIon chargers, Pila is one, Xtar has a range of good LiIon chargers.
Be aware that the i4 is a very slow charger, charging four 3400mAh can takes more than 10 hours.
Something like the Xtar VP1 is a much better charger and with adjustable charger rate you can charge two 3400mAh batteries in less than 4 hours, then select a lower charge rate and safely charger two 16350 batteries.

 

[thedoc007]

If he is leaving the cells on the charger for a day at a time, I don't think the slow charge time would be a significant drawback for his use. I have two I4s, and I like them. They may not be the best at anything, but they perform adequately (and they perform best with Li-Ions), and for his needs it makes perfect sense. Won't need any spacers, won't need to bring two chargers/cords.

Read HKJ's own review here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-SysMax-NiteCore-Intellicharger-i4-V2-Charger

Read selfbuilt's review of the I4 here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...arger-Review-(V2)-current-voltage-comparisons

Excerpted from that page:

"The i4 does not completely terminate when the three yellow LEDs go solid. Although my DMM dropped to zero on my 10A port, when I switched over an re-ran the termination charge on my DMM’s mA/uA port, I measured a low 110 uA current. But this is low enough to be irrelevant. Note that despite what the manual says, this is not what most people understand as a "trickle charge." A true "trickle charge" usually involves a regular pulse of mA current, to maintain the fully charged state. IMO, this is not a good thing for Li-ions – most "trickle chargers" are set too high, and over the long-term, will slowly cook your batteries (i.e. it gradually over-charges the cell, as long as it sits in the charger). The constant low uA current here is negligible, and will not lead to "trickle-charger" over-charging. For all intents and purposes, the i4 is close enough to full termination."

Hope that helps...thanks to selfbuilt and HKJ for all the great work!