Pila IBC & Shekor Li-Ion chargers

The idea here was to review the Pila which is considered a very safe charger because among other reasons it properly terminates the current at the end of the charge cycle and to find an alternate brand that is also considered safe for the same reason. In this way if you come across a cheap Li-Ion cell as I have recently, the charger will terminate the current and you'll be safe; plus you won't have to babysitter the charger and rush to remove the cell when the charge is completed.

Since many consider the Pila expensive (subjective) but the Gold standard of Li-Ion charging because it follows proper CC/CV and full termination of the current at the end of the cycle. The Pila is extremely well made compared to cheaper Li-Ion chargers and is UL listed.

I also searched out for a cheaper Li-Ion charger that would follow the CC/CV and terminate the current at the end of the cycle, more on that further down.

You may not know this but the Pila is Swiss designed and engineered, again this is not a cheap Asia designed product. The Pila has 2 fully separate and independently controlled channels.

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Buy Pila IBCT 4-stage Charger, AC Adapter | Pila BC01-AC01




The manufacture (as shown above) finally updated their marketing info about the 4th stage of the charging cycle to properly reflect that the charge is terminated at the 4th stage, and is not trickle charging. As many professionals have tested and stated this time and again, but the Pila 2005 included instruction manual has never been updated, which has led to some confusion and questions.

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Pila also has a DC/DC car power supply
Buy Pila DC/DC Vehicle Adapter for IBC Charging System | Pila DC01



Here's what the charger looks like inside



And the back side of it




Here's a reference of properly charging Li-Ion's
Charging lithium-ion batteries


Enter the Shekor charger;

While the Shekor doesn't adhere 100% to the ideal CC/CV charging algorithm there is an approximation to it, especially close to the end of the charge.

The Shekor completely cuts-offs (0ma) after the charge is done, doesn't overcharge the cells but is a bit slow compared to the Pila.
It can also though be used to charge the smaller li-ion cells, and one of the nice things about it is, it has a very wide range of power input.
9V - 32V and it requires 450mA, the DC supply it comes with provides 12V @ 500mA but is not a UL listed adapter, it carries the CE label.

I used it with the supplied power supply and it works well, barely gets warm. I also used a UL listed adapter I had laying around from a WDC My Book
no longer being used; 12V DC @ 1500mA and the charger performed equally as well. I tried it out in the Car using a 12V DC cigarette lighter plug and
it worked great in the car too. The only "negative" I found about the charger though is it charges 18650 batteries a little on the low side, my batteries
came off the charger @ 4.15 consistently, whereas the Pila they come off the charger @ 4.20 However if you go back and read battery charging reference
I linked to, you'll notice it says that under charging up to 10% is actually better for the battery and certainly much better than over charging!

So I have accumulated several chargers over the years for Flashlights and Lasers,and have read a ton of info on CPF and several sites in Germany and Japan.
My personal conclusion and recommendation would be the Pila 1st followed by the Shekor as #2, even taking in account that the algorithm is not
perfect on the Shekor, many of the China designed ones don't follow it at all. I think the Shekor is the "best" of the budget ones and very safe.

I found two sources to get the Shekor from, the one in the USA can get it to you in days and that is were I bought a couple from myself. The other supplier is in China and I hear they take 3-4 weeks to get it to you.

Shekor charger



What it looks like inside



Shekor Universal Lithium Ion battery charger RCR123 - 18650 - e-lectronics.net : USA $14.95 + $3.24 first class mail
(there is even a charging graph posted on this site that shows how good this charger really is)

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=9650 China $10.28

Hi electron. excellent charger review although having some measurements of each charger to compare real life charge curves and operation would be nice. i have a pila and a cheaper 2 cell li-on charger (china). the pila just works and i can rely on it so i use it for my AW's. the other charger is back up in case i need to charge more than 2 cells. i personally would just spend the money and buy another pila because then i know i getting good quality and operation.

When I do a search the only pila IBC with the 4 stage is called the Pila IBCT?

Is this the same unit or are they different?

Pila IBC Lithium Charger (CC/CV) - Lithium (3.0-4.2v) - Batteries & Chargers - OVEREADY Flashlights/Torches - Control The Dark