Anyone who has chosen a universal charger for nickel-metal hydride and lithium batteries knows that all chargers on the market are not without drawbacks. Robiton tried to create the perfect universal charger.
Robiton MasterCharger 4T5 Pro costs about 3800 rubles and can do a lot:
• Support for Ni-MH, Ni-Cd, Ni-Zn, LiFePo4, Li-ion, LiCoO2, LiMn2O4 batteries;
• Supports sizes AAA, AA, A, SC, C, 10440, 14500, 16340 (RCR123), 17335, 17500, 17670, 18350, 18490, 18500, 18650, 20700, 21700, 26650, 26700;
• 4 independent channels (batteries of different types can be charged simultaneously);
• Charge, discharge, recovery and testing of batteries;
• Charge current up to 2000 mA, discharge current up to 1000 mA;
• Automatic detection of the battery type;
• Protection against polarity reversal, short circuit and overcharge;
• Display on the screen of voltage, capacity, internal resistance, discharge or charge current, operating time of each channel, discharge capacity and charge;
• Connecting to a computer, plotting charge and discharge charts, exporting data.
Includes charger, 12V 3A power supply, data cable, instructions.
The right side of the charger has a USB port that you can use to charge your gadgets.
Rear power connector, fan, USB connector for connecting to a computer (non-standard A-A cable is used).
The program on the computer shows all the parameters and draws graphs.
It is possible to export data for each channel to CSV.
The charger has four buttons:
"SLOT": selects one of the channels or all channels;
"CURRENT": setting the charge or discharge current for the selected or all channels (long press);
DISPLAY: toggles the display of the parameters of the selected channel (voltage, capacity, time, internal resistance, current). If no channel is selected, the display of all channels is switched. Long press toggles the permanent backlight on and off.
"MODE": sets the operating mode of the selected channel or all channels after a long press.
The device operates in the following modes:
"CHARGE" - charge;
"DISCHARGE" - discharge;
"DISCHARGE REFRESH" - battery recovery (discharge-charge-discharge-charge);
"CHARGE TEST" - battery capacity test (charge-discharge-charge);
"IMPEDANCE TEST" - test of internal resistance;
"STOR" - charge of storage batteries (lithium batteries are charged up to 3.75V, nickel-metal hydride, nickel-cadmium, nickel-zinc up to 1.35V).
The charger has a large number of settings, which you can read about in the instructions (it is on the manufacturer's website for link).
Perhaps the main drawback of the Robiton MasterCharger 4T5 Pro is the fan. It is quite loud and tends to turn on and off many times during the charging and discharging process if currents above average (for example, when four channels are discharged with a current of 500 mA, it turns on for one minute every 3-5 minutes).
Another inconvenience - if the contact is broken or the battery is removed from the slot, all information about this battery and the graphics in the program on the computer instantly disappear. In general, the program is not the most convenient, but it is better than none.
Nevertheless, this is the most "advanced" charger of this format that I have come across.
© 2020, Alexey Nadezhin
The main topic of my blog is technology in human life. I write reviews, share experiences, talk about all sorts of interesting things. My second project - lamptest.ru. I test LED bulbs and help me figure out which ones are good and which are not.