Soshine SC-C3 Intelligent Rapid Charger

[UnknownVT]

Follow Up -

Batt1 was put into Refresh again (3rd time) this time discharge was interrupted twice - periods were approx 2 hours, 1 hour then ~3hours (didn't see the finish).

The battery was definitely warm at the end of Charge (but not "hot") -

Testing in the charger - passed initial test and started charge (like all batteries so far) and would in this state start the Refresh without errors.

However this time my measurements were -

Batt1 1.438V; FA=8.8A -->1.414V

The FA is a noticable improvement over the 5.7A I got previously and pretty close to the flash amps I was getting with Batt3 - so perhaps the Refresh cycle has helped this Batt1?

EDIT to ADD -

As a check I put Batt1 back in the charger - it passed initial test and started charging (the bottom segment flashes 7 times then they climbed to the top segment only flashing) at under 9 minutes the charge terminated (didn't see the end) - so this looks good for the end of charge detection.

 

[UnknownVT]

More Follow Up -

To test end of charge detection with more than one battery I put all 4 of the Digital Concepts/Saker 2500mAh NiMH AA that I had used for the Refresh and charge tests back in the charger to charge.

They all passed the initial startup test - batt1 climbed to the top segment within moments (don't forget I only recently charged that one) the others started down at flashing a single segment, then after some minutes climbed to the second segment - not at the same time - when I looked batt4 was still on first segment.

After less than about 40 minutes batt1 and batt4 showed full (batt1 recently charged and batt4 was probably the strongest of the 4).

Also remember that the charge current for 4 is lower at about C/4 - 525mA. So when batt1&4 reached full, I removed them - a few minutes later batt3 also reached full charge - I removed that as well, and a few minutes later the last one batt2 also indicated full - they were all warm when removed with maybe batt2 the warmest - but again not hot.

So it would seem that the charger does fine on end of charge detection for 1, 2 or 4 batteries (I didn't try 3).

The fact that the last test with 4 seemed to finish at different times - kind of inpsires confidence that each battery's end of charge is being detected individually.

Like I said previously I like this charger a lot - for the following -

Can charge 1 battery at a time.

Seems to monitor each battery individually.

End of charge is detected for each battery individually.

Refresh - seems to resuscitate a battery (I used it 3 times and saw noticable improvement in flash amps) -
BUT does not seem to want to work with older batteries - which is a pity since those are exactly the batteries that need Refreshing.

Price - $13.98 shipped would seem like a bargain.

 

[UnknownVT]

UL Symbol isn't legit. If it was Legit there would be an ID next to it. The Sony version has the ID, which is the UL file number for the listing. If you make a UL listed Product, you have to show the listing file number next to the UL symbol, it is spelled out in the UL listing agreement.
I know because I have been involved in the manufacture of UL listed equipment.

I wrote e-mail to Soshine to ask if they had UL certification -

Their reply -
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: UL listing for Soshine SC-C3 Charger‏
From: (xxx).soshine(at)gmail.com
Sent:Sun 2/17/08 9:04 AM



2008/2/14, V T :

Hello,​

I noticed that your Soshine LCD Quick Charger SC-C3​

http://soshine.com.cn/html/Products184.htm​

now has the UL symbol on its packaging link to photo -​

can you please tell me the UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc.) listing reference for this product?​

Many thanks,​

-- ​

Vincent ​

Dear Vincent:
so sorry to late email you ,this days in china is new year
the C3 's certification we did not the UL cetification ,but we sure we can pass it ,we notice it when design the charger,
if custom give a order we can use 6 months pass it.
if you any question ,please let me known .TKS
SILING
--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[UnknownVT]

More follow-up -

The charger will quite happily charge different batteries -
ie: I can have mixed AA and AAA batteries.

When a battery has finished charging - and others still continuing charging - I can remove the fully charged battery and insert another battery to charge - I can see the initial test, then the newly inserted battery will start charging - the other charging batteries appear undisturbed.

So this is a very versatile independent channel charger.

For 1 to 2 batteries it's about C/2 for 2100mAh NiMH AA -
which is great for my Kodak Pre-Charged (LSD) 2000-2100mAh and eneloops 1900-2000mAh
and just over C/2 for AAA NiMH - I have 1000mAh Digital Concepts/Sakar and 700-800mAh eneloops.

This charger has turned out to be just the thing I needed to be able to charge 1 or 2 batteries quickly and "kindly".

Only disappointment was the inability to refresh sad old batteries - which are the one most in need of Refresh.

 

[wildstar87]

Anyone had success charging 2700ma batts in this? I saw reports on DX that it can't do it for some odd reason. I have some Titanium 2700s that I would want to be able to charge.

 

[UnknownVT]

Anyone had success charging 2700ma batts in this? I saw reports on DX that it can't do it for some odd reason. I have some Titanium 2700s that I would want to be able to charge.

I am no battery or charger expert -
but I don't see why this charger would not charge batteries of 2700mAh capacity.
(I only have capacities up to 2500mAh)

Soshine's web page on this charger

"Fully capable of Charging all capacities of AA and AAA NiMh rechargeable batteries.
Will even charge the higher capacities of the future. "

I can't think of any charger that can instantly and accurately determine a battery's capacity (if any could, then probably every single person interested in chargers here on CPF would buy one) and disable itself if it was 2700mAh - sounds like magic if it could.

I think that report was either a bad charger, or if it charges other batteries - then those 2700mAh batteries were bad.

 

[Yapo]

I recently got this charger(took a month to get to me from KD) same as shown in the pics, I loaded it up with 4 energizer 2500mah nimh AA's and it took about 6hr+ before the light turned off.
I took them off the charger and i decided to measure the voltage my DMM and they all read 2.0V+ i was suprised to see it so high as my old 15hr energizer charger usually left them at about 1.5V+ off the charger.
I checked the voltages again a few hours later and they read about 1.6V+...

Is this normal/safe?

 

[Mr Happy]

You should check your DMM. I'm not sure that it's possible for a NiMH cell to read more than 1.5 V open circuit.

When you charge a cell at high rates (e.g. 1C) then the voltage reached just before the -ΔV termination signal is detected might get close to 1.6 V, but this voltage drops rapidly once charging stops. The normal voltage of a cell "hot off the charger" is about 1.45 V.

 

[UnknownVT]

I loaded it up with 4 energizer 2500mah nimh AA's and it took about 6hr+ before the light turned off.
I took them off the charger and i decided to measure the voltage my DMM and they all read 2.0V+ i was suprised to see it so high as my old 15hr energizer charger usually left them at about 1.5V+ off the charger.
I checked the voltages again a few hours later and they read about 1.6V+...

As Mr Happy said this sounds WRONG.

Although 6 hours sounds about right for 4x 2500mAh capacity (when these are depleted/empty) -
since the charge current is 525mA for 4x AA NiMH -
2500/525 x1.2 = 4.8 x 1.2 = 5.71 hrs

BUT 2+Volts sounds very wrong.

The highest voltage straight off the charger I've recorded in this review was 1.577V and 1.591V - BUT these were with NiMHs which are very marginal (flash amps < 1.0A!!! - most people would have thrown these away.... see post #4).
Mostly I recorded less than 1.5V.

I just checked the voltage during charging - I used a NiMH that was at about 1.4V open circuit - during charging the voltage fluctuated (due to "pulse" charging?) between about 1.46V to 1.67V.

Have you tried charging any other NiMH - to determine if it is the charger or those Energizer 2500mAh?

If you are going to try charging again. Try just one known good NiMH - note the capacity - it should reach termination at about capacity/1050 - eg: a 2000mAh should reach termination in about 2 hours - keep an eye on the charge progress check at 1 hour, 2 hr then about every 10 minutes (check for heat - if the battery is getting HOT then stop the charge - the battery should get warm - perhaps distinctly/noticably warm but not HOT) - if the charger has not terminated by about 3 hours - I would say the charger has missed termination and stop the charge.

 

[Yapo]

hmm i just checked the AA's again and 2 of them which i've known dont last long have already dropped to 1.3V while the other which i havent used yet is at 1.5V. I also checked the voltage of my lithium rechargables and the numbers seemed abit high as well so maybe it is just my DMM as the battery may be low...i'll try changing it and see and also charge some more batteries.

thx.

EDIT: yep after replacing the battery the readings are lower now as they should be...1.1V and 1.3V respectively...now to see they voltage of freshly charged ones...

I just finished charging 2 2500mah energizer AA...they took over 3hrs to fully charge and they were really hot when i took them off...cool enough to hold but if you squeezed them in your hand they did feel too hot for comfort. Both AA's read 1.5V

I'm pretty sure they werent that hot when i pulled off 4 of them the first time so i guess i'll stick to charging 4 at a time when possible although it had finished charging for awhile before i took them off...