How to test old LiIon / NiMH batteries?

akula88

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I was an early believer of rechargeable LiIon batteries. I still had those Pila batteries which I bought as early as 2004, although they are no longer being used, when I got 'Ultrafire' way back around early 2010's. Not sure yet if there were 'fake Ultrafire' during those years. I have since move to AW and Keeppowers.

I'm not a heavy user, so the charging cycle may not have even reach 50-100 for each cells. I also have years-old Black AA and AAA Eneloop Pros which I used for clocks, remote controls and few lights.

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Is there a way to test their efficiency or capacity? Is there a charger-discharger function that can test them?

I already have a couple of Lii-100, but I'm considering to buy an (inexpensive) 2-slot charger (at least), so I'm trying to hit two birds with one stone.

I'm considering and reviewing these models right now --
* XTAR VC2S | XTAR VC2plus | XTAR VP2 - no NiMH support and wall plug only
* Liitokala S2 | Liitokala 300
* Keeppower L2 - no NiMH support
* Opus BT-C100 - single slot only, as I have not found a 2-slot Opus charger.
 

akula88

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Yes, Peter. I'm actually using HKJ's reviews to narrow down as far as the chargers are concerned -- plus my local supplier's availability.

But still -- I'm interested on which indicators (charger features) and charger could answer my battery question? :) My knowledge about electronics is limited. I can see a lot of data, but I don't know what to look for or how to interpret them. :(


---- ETA --

Using my old Soshine charger above, it shows how many mAh were supposed to have been charged into my cell after it reaches full status. My other charger is Lii-100, I rely on the 4 blinking lights to go steady.
 
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peter yetman

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To properly measure the capacity of a cell you need to completely discharge it then recharge it. Analysing chargers will do this.

Looking at that chart there's only two chargers that are two slot, support NiMh and Li- ion and are analysing.
Miboxer c2 400
Allmaybe TC2 (XTAR's other brand)

They both get a 2 smiley face rating.

I think there's more analysing chatgers in 4 slot.

I found the reviews daunting at first, so I always cut to the conclusion. Then I read the first bit that tells you what the thing does.

Hopefully that'll help you in your quest.
P
 
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akula88

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^ Thanks again, Peter, for showing me the way.

I read in a youtube comment that there would be at least 3 ways to at least get the (potential) capacity of the battery... All which needs read-outs on how much amps 'was charged' into it.
1 - direct charging : mAh will be displayed when the battery is fully charged. Batt should be at least fully drained / used up from the start.
2 - fast test : battery is discharged, and then fully charged up -- this will indicated the total mAh that went into it.
3 - Nor test : battery is fully charged, then discharged and shows the mAh that was drained/pull out of it, and then charged again to full.

This does direct me to expand my choice to 4-slot chargers, as they seems to be having more features that I need.

Opus and Liitokala seems to slug it out in that category (at least in terms of local availability).
 

MidnightDistortions

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Charging only shows how much was used to recharge the battery. Discharging the battery is pretty much the only way. Also if you dont have an internal resistance checker to let you know if a cell has high resistance one way to check is discharge them at a high level. 1 amp discharge should work for Eneloops. But you'll want to fully charge them first and see how much capacity can get out of them. I'd say anywhere to 70-80% is ideal. Choosing a lower discharge rate wont really tell you whether the cell is good enough for a high drain device.
 

akula88

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I finally chose a compact Opus BT-C100. Liitokala Engineer 300 would have been my other choice. According to HKJ, C100 has most of the advance features found only on larger chargers.

I ordered it last Friday from an online dealer and it arrived today through a courier. This is quite a leap from my previous Lii-100. Display is quite informative, albeit you have to push [mode] button to cycle thru it. I need to slide up with some technical terms... Youtube will be an ample guide for now, as the info sheet that comes with the package requires some 'validation'.

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I'm doing my first 18650 discharge now @ 700mAh. This does takes a while.

Charger seemed to have all the features I would need -- charging / discharging; charge/discharge test; impedance measurement; etc.

I'll try to check all my older batteries. While, I don't have much, it will still take a few number of days to do this. Part of the flashaholic hobby I suppose. Flashlights gonna drink some battery juice sometimes. :)
 

ampdude

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I just assume my older ones are not going to work as well as any new ones I might buy. The rechargeable batteries I have usually don't see any serious life or death situation critical usage. I just kind of gauge when it seems like they are not holding the charge they used to and how old they are and judge when I might need to buy some new ones.
 
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