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NITECORE 'new' I4 Smart Battery Charger AU $23.50 Delivered @Zapals

150

Slight price drop for a great charger

The NEW i4 is extremely efficient (up to 1500mA) as it is able to charge batteries twice as fast as the i4 ( up to 1000mA ), which will drastically reduce charging time.

Zapals listing normal price as $33. This the new i4 charger.

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  • +1

    1500 is when you use one slot only

  • +1

    Ordered a D4 on the 27th, still hasn't been shipped. Lodged a support ticket yesterday, has gone through 2 agents already with neither of them saying a word.

    • +1

      After ordering a few items from different Chinese websites like gearbest, zapals took the longest to arrive.

    • +1

      I ordered a D4 on the 28th…still nothing here either.

    • Apparently, the courier picked up the package on the 11th, but I wasn't notified.

  • How does this compare to Eneloop? I haven't tried both but looking to get some decent batteries this week for my XBOX.

    • Nitecore charger do support more battery types and charging options.

    • The stock Eneloop chargers are dumb charger AFAIK. Meaning they charge for a set amount of time regardless of charge left. These are smart chargers where they detect how much charge is left, charge up to full and stop. The D4 supports charging Li-Ion cells as well as opposed to just low discharge NiMH, this might also?

      • I'm pretty sure my Fast charge one doesn't do that, and charges each one the length of time accordingly.

    • +1

      looking to get some decent batteries this week for my XBOX

      Be aware that most Xbox controllers will throw a "low battery" warning at about 1.2V and be continuously nagging you to change batteries thereafter.

      All of ours die at about 1.1V or higher…. I know, coz I buy the 30 packs of Varta AA's at BBC then test the voltages on them after the Xbox finishes with them. The reasonable AA's go into battery powered LED light strings, where they last for ages.

      What that means is that the NiMH seem OK straight off the charger (1.3 to 1.35V) but drop almost instantly to 1.2V (low battery) and dies very doon afterwards. I'd estimate about 1/2 the run time of a AA Alkaline.

      They aren't flat… it's that the Xbox wants 2x1.55V = 3.1V new batteries and considers the alkaline AA's dead at just under 2x1.2V = 2.4V, which is the normal "almost fully charged" voltage for an Eneloop or other NiMH.

      Go and get a 4 pack of Coles or Aldi LSD NiMHs first and test how well they work. They are almost as good as Chinese Eneloops anyway, and FAR cheaper.

      BTW - you don't really need LSD batteries in a Xbox, because they chew through batteries like hell, so they won't get any opportunity to self discharge anyway LOL.

      As an aside, this shiuts me so badly that I am current designing a Xbox battery pack that uses 2 x 14500 or 14300 LifePO4 lithium cells. Fully charged 3.4V off the charger, settle to 3.2V and about 3.0V just before dead flat. That means you can get every single drop of the charge out of them. This is NOT a straight retrofit - circuits are needed to stop over-discharge, as Xbox will take them down below 2.4V which will harm them.

      • Thanks for that detailed explanations, much appreciated. Unfortunately I could only understand some of it not all, are you basically recommending me to buy non rechargeable batteries for my XBOX controllers as they will work better and last longer?

        I thought about getting the XBOX battery pack but it's quite pricey and not worth it in my opinion.

        • +1

          are you basically recommending me to buy non rechargeable batteries for my XBOX controllers as they will work better and last longer?

          I recommending that you to TEST FIRST before outlaying a lot of money on rechargeable batteries.

          Pointless buying if they don't provide satisfactory service. We have 3 or 4 x Xbox360 (3 different versions) and 2 x Xbox One controllers (2 versions), and none work for any decent length of time with Rechargeable AAs

          I thought about getting the XBOX battery pack but it's quite pricey and not worth it in my opinion

          The Xbox 360 genuine packs are pretty good, but the chinese clone cheapies are crap. I'd say go with that rather than buying Eneloops - but buy genuine, not off ebay etc.

          We have one only Xbox One Play and Charge kit - it never gets used. I think that might actually be Lithium pack inside, but anyway the kids say that battery life is better with Alkalines.

          Our machines get heavy use sometimes, many hours per day (eg: kids live on the thing). There is no way we can get one full day out of rechargeables.

          All M$ had to do is make the controller detect based on 2x1.2V instead of 2x1.5V and it'd be solved. But then that would mean the battery gauge wouldn't work with Alkalines.

          The Play and Charge kits work differently - they connect directly inside the charger. They seem to give normal battery life and battery levels are detected properly.
          - They have the added advantage of allowing play while charging, which is very handy.

  • +1

    Noob question, what's the difference between the i4 and D4 model? is the D4 worth the extra?

    • +1

      For charging eneloops, yes the D4 is worth the extra. See my post below.

      For charging Li-ion batteries, less certain.

  • I bought the Aldi charger for like $20 a month back. it seemed working very well and has more ports for the different types of batteries. But it does take a long time to charge an AA battery(about 5 - 6 hours). Is it normal? Does this charger offer something better, in terms of the longevity of the batteries?

  • +1

    For charging Eneloops, this charger will only charge them at 500mA (1 or 2 cells) or 375mA (4 cells). That makes it quite slow, about 7.5 hours for 4x AA eneloops, and 9 hours for 4x AA eneloop pro. With one or two AA cells the time is 5.6 hours for eneloops and 6.7 hours for eneloop pro.

    Also, if you want to charge AAA eneloops with the "new I4", make sure you always charge four at the same time. With less than four batteries, some or all of the cells will be receiving 500mA, which is too high for AAA batteries if you want long life. Some other Nitecore chargers have a "low current" option for small batteries allowing you to charge fewer than four AAA batteries, but the "new I4" doesn't have this option.

    For charging eneloops, the Nitecore D4 is a better choice. It has a higher charging current if only 1 or 2 batteries are being charged, and has a 300mA "low current" mode that you can select for AAA batteries.

  • +5

    This was from the other thread. I thought it would be helpful for those wanting to know or learn about rechargeable battery and various chargers.

    Russ on 07/01/2017 - 23:53
    Mic is right, but I'll put a little more background into his statement. You want a smart charger, but you must also make sure it doesn't charge too fast.

    First, I should clarify that this charger will only charge large lithium batteries at 1.5A. When it detects NiMh batteries, the maximum charge current for those is 500mA - which is lower than the previous model, which could output 750mA when only one or two batteries are being charged. See the table in the 1-page manual for more information: http://charger.nitecore.com/html/uploads/ueditor/image/produ…

    Now back to the information about charging NiMh batteries:
    One of the main killers of batteries is heat. Charging a battery too fast (or discharging it too fast for that matter) will cause the battery to heat up. Too hot and the pressure inside the battery will increase. All NiMh batteries have a pressure relief membrane which ruptures when the pressure becomes too great, and once it has ruptured, your battery begins a downward spiral of reducing capacity. They also leak a little, and this can damage whatever you put the battery into.

    How fast a charge is too fast? Well, I consider a charger that takes less than 3 hours to charge the battery (charging from totally flat) to be too fast. To equate that to charge current, you need to know the battery capacity.

    For an example, I'll pick an AAA eneloop, with a capacity of 750mAh. Due to the inefficiencies in charging, you will have to push 1.4x750= 1050mAh into the battery to fully charge it. So to charge that battery in three hours, the charge current should be 1050/3 = 350mA. If you charge it at significantly higher current than that, you run the danger of it getting too hot at the end of the charge cycle and rupturing the battery's pressure seal.

    This charger can charge at up to 500mA if you are charging one or two batteries. This is too high for AAA eneloops. When charging three at once, one of the batteries will receive 500mA while the other two receive 375mA. Only when you are charging four batteries at once does the current come down to 375mA per battery, and while this is tiny bit higher than the 350mA I recommend, it's okay. So if you are charging NiMh batteries with 750mAh capacity or lower, like AAA eneloops, this charger will be risky unless you are charging four at the same time.

    For AA eneloops, this charger will be fine, although a little slow compared to many other chargers. To charge a 2000mAh eneloop fully will take 1.4x2000= 2800mAh, and at 500mA, that will take up to 5.6 hours. If charging three or four batteries the rate will be 375mA, so the charge time will be up to 7.5 hours. Many other chargers (e.g. the Panasonic BQ-CC16 "smart fast" charger) will charge the same batteries in 3-4 hours, so the Nitecore I4 is quite slow by comparison.

    If you are planning on charging AAA batteries, pick the Nitecore D4 in preference to the I4. When charging four batteries the D4 is the same as the I4, at 375mA per battery. But when charging fewer that four batteries the D4 lets you select "low" mode for the batteries that would otherwise get 750mA, reducing the current to 300mA. The display on the D4 tells you what the charging current is, it's easy to select low mode.

  • Nice post.

    I use a Nitecore i2 to charge 18650s, and a La Crosse for my Ni-MH and nicads.

  • The NEW i4 is extremely efficient (up to 1500mA)

    Errmmmm - that has nothing to do with efficiency.

    as it is able to charge batteries twice as fast as the i4 ( up to 1000mA ),

    Well, wooptie doo! 1000mA for one cell max, and only 350mA per cell if all 4 slots used. This is very poor performance, and significantly lower that from other chargers.

    This is a nice charger in some ways, except that it doesn't have a large enough power supply.

    Most competitors can change FOUR cells at up to 2 AMPS each… all at the same time.

    The D4 is not much better, very poor performance and very few options for charging rates - for example an obscure "low mode" where most other chargers actually let you choose how many mA on each slot individually.

    which will drastically reduce charging time.

    Only compared to the old i4 which was outrageously slow.

    Overall this charger is not particularly good value at $23.50.

    • I have no idea which charger to buy but I can to get into rechargeable batteries. Can you recommend one for me? Please?

      • If you are the type to like to know all the data (how much each battery was charged etc) then get the Nitecore D4 (around $28 delivered from same site) or a LaCrosse BC700. If you don't care, then get the Nitecore I4 (this deal). If you intend to bring your charger around travelling, then the Nitecores are easier because of the plug.

      • That is asking how long is a piece of string.

        You need to be a bit more involved in the purchase. Here's some questions about the choices…

        • How many slots (batteries at once)?
        • What size batteries do you need to charge?
        • What kinds of batteries (only NiMH, or also Lithium)?
        • Fast charging rates (slow is kinder, but who cares)?
        • To be able to charge in car (12V)?
        • Travel to other countries?
        • Absolute simplest possible (pop in and wait)?
        • Some control (eg: to choose charging rates)?
        • Full control, and if so do you want to load different batteries in each slot?
        • Digital display?
        • Discharging function (for refreshing old cells and gain some capacity back)?
        • Analyising - check capacity & internal resistance, work out how dead and why?

        If you only have one charger, then I reckon it's best to get a universal multi-cell and multi-chemistry charger that's more flexible to handle different sized cells of different types. That means the charger is able to handle future requirements far better, like charging AAAs and various Lithium as wewll.

        Generally, the more features you add, the more expensive. However if you ONLY ever want to charge (say) AA NiMH, then a dedicated charger just for that particular usage will be far better value.

        Personally I want ALL my new chargers to also accept LifePO4 Lithium 3.2V, so I choose my chargers differently to most people who only want NiMH or perhaps to charge 18650 Lithiums as well. For NiMH I already have an old 10-slot slow charger and a Aldi 4-slot that work OK for simple requirements like Eneloops.

        Personally I find Battery Analysis exceptionally important, as old NiMH cells tend to develop high internal resistance after a while which makes them increasingly unsuitable for high drain devices like cameras and Xbox controllers. That internal resistance also means that they get hot when being charged, and after a while it gets to the point where the heat is killing them and they get impractical to keep using.

        To do analysis I've bought a few Opus BT-C100 single cell Analysing chargers at $18 each
        Review here then Updated here.

        Then I use various other chargers to charge my cells, most of them pretty cheap units. I tend to mod the chargers to fix up design faults, make them detect voltages accuratel;y, etc. My old NiMH cells end up in Solar path lights where they still work better than the horrendous cells they supply as standard.

    • So which charger would you recommend?

  • any idea if i can use this one to charge batteris for ARLO home security? i am thinking to get Nirecore batteries as well to suit ARLO, but can't find it anywhere in australia. and seems like i have to source it from overseas. but the shipping for batteries is a pain

  • +1

    any idea if i can use this one to charge batteris for ARLO home security?

    This is the official page:
    https://www.arlo.com/en-us/products/arlo/tenergy_rechargeabl…

    RCR123A = 16340 = The Nitecore charger handles that size.

    The cells are about 650mAh so you will be charging them pretty slowly, at 375mA x 4 - about 2 hours per set.

  • -1

    since most people are unlikely to ever receive one this discussion is a bit sad. Zapals tends not to send , has no customer support and 3 months is a long time for a low % chance of receipt. Still feel free to have a punt and then waste even more time getting your money back from paypal.

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