Hello.
I purchased two cheap ($15) Lithium Ion chargers from Amazon to recharge the battery for my Canon camcorder. These chargers are sold under several different brands and are very popular. The top-plate shown here is removable and plates for other types of batteries can presumably be substituted, though mine only has one for Canon camcorder batteries:
Having read a little on the potential dangers of charging Li-Ion batteries (mine is a Canon BP-819) I was a little concerned that the cheap charger may be relying on the built-in safety electronics of the Li-Ion battery to cut charge rather than implementing anything particularly sophisticated. I'm also a little concerned that it might not take account of the variable charging demands depending on the starting voltage.
To see exactly how sophisticated the charger was, I too it apart (I needed to have to it with a saw, as it was sealed closed at the factory). The image below shows what I found.
Now my experience with electronics may be a bit limited, but I don't see how you can configure any kind of sophisticated charging and monitoring routines with an opto-isolator and a dc-dc converter chip. Am I wrong?
Apart from the risk of explosion or fire, what is this likely to do to the life of my batteries? Is it always best to buy the charger made by the manufacturer, or are they no better? Are there more sophisticated universal Li-Ion chargers which can be purchased?
Many thanks!
I purchased two cheap ($15) Lithium Ion chargers from Amazon to recharge the battery for my Canon camcorder. These chargers are sold under several different brands and are very popular. The top-plate shown here is removable and plates for other types of batteries can presumably be substituted, though mine only has one for Canon camcorder batteries:
Having read a little on the potential dangers of charging Li-Ion batteries (mine is a Canon BP-819) I was a little concerned that the cheap charger may be relying on the built-in safety electronics of the Li-Ion battery to cut charge rather than implementing anything particularly sophisticated. I'm also a little concerned that it might not take account of the variable charging demands depending on the starting voltage.
To see exactly how sophisticated the charger was, I too it apart (I needed to have to it with a saw, as it was sealed closed at the factory). The image below shows what I found.
Now my experience with electronics may be a bit limited, but I don't see how you can configure any kind of sophisticated charging and monitoring routines with an opto-isolator and a dc-dc converter chip. Am I wrong?
Apart from the risk of explosion or fire, what is this likely to do to the life of my batteries? Is it always best to buy the charger made by the manufacturer, or are they no better? Are there more sophisticated universal Li-Ion chargers which can be purchased?
Many thanks!