Test/review of Charger Woyum ZK4

HKJ

Flashaholic
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
9,715
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
[SIZE=+3]Charger Woyum ZK4[/SIZE]

DSC_1429.jpg

DSC_1430.jpg
DSC_1431.jpg


This charger supports NiMH and LiIon batteries, has adjustable charge current and is flexible with length.



It arrived in a cardboard box with a lot of specification on it.

DSC_1423.jpg


The box contained the charger, power supply, car adapter and instruction sheet.

DSC_1432.jpg


The charger is powered from 12V and do also have a usb charger output.



The power supply is a standard 12V plug pack with a Woyum label on it.

DSC_1424.jpg


The charger also includes a car adapter.

DSC_1433.jpg


The charger has a LCD display on the front, but no buttons.

DSC_1435.jpg


There is a button hidden on the side of the charger, it will change between the 3 charger currents.

DSC_2331.jpg


Display during power on.

DSC_2332.jpg


No batteries in the charger, the missing 0.5A text is because it is flashing to signal it is selected. It can be changed at any time by pressing the button.

DSC_2333.jpg


Charging two LiIon batteries and one NiMH battery, the pie chart shows the charge status.



The specifications are on the bottom of the charger.

DSC_1436.jpg
DSC_1437.jpg


The charger uses the classic slider construction and will handle batteries from 33mm to 77mm, this will handle even the longest protected cells.

supportedBatteryTypes.png


supportedBatterySizes.png


DSC_1537.jpg
DSC_1538.jpg
DSC_1539.jpg


DSC_1540.jpg
DSC_1541.jpg
DSC_1542.jpg

DSC_1543.jpg
DSC_1544.jpg


The charger can handle well above 70mm long batteries.



[SIZE=+2]Measurements[/SIZE]


  • Power consumption when idle with no batteries is 0.5 watt
  • Charger will discharge a full LiIon battery with less then 0.15mA when not powered.
  • Below 0.6V the charger will not detect a battery
  • Between 0.6V and 2V the charger will assume NiMH
  • Between 2V and 3V the charge assumes LiIon and chargers with about 150mA.
  • Above 3V the charger use selected charge current.
  • Voltmeter is within 0.04V (All readings are slightly low).
  • Voltmeter is will not show above 4.20V
  • Will restart charging it voltage drops below 4.1V.
  • Will restart charging if battery is inserted or power cycled.

[SIZE=+2]Charging LiIon[/SIZE]

LiIon can be charger with 0.5A, 1A or 2A. The 2A only works for 1 or 2 cells.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28SA18650-33%29%20%231.png


The charger uses a CC/CV profile with a termination current of about 200mA.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28SA18650-33%29%20%232.png

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28SA18650-33%29%20%233.png

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28SA18650-33%29%20%234.png


The 3 other slots are about the same, but I would have liked slot #3 to better match the other slots in voltage.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28SA18650-26%29%20%231.png


Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28PA18650-31%29%20%231.png


Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28BE18650-26%29%20%231.png


Thse cells are handled fairly nice, but the high termination current means a significant voltage drop when finished with older cells.

Woyum%20ZK4%200.5A%20%28SA18650-33%29%20%231.png


At the lower charge current the steps in the current regulation is very obvious (It is fine).

Woyum%20ZK4%202A%20%28SA18650-33%29%20%231.png


No problem charging with 2A, but this cell is not the best for this.

Woyum%20ZK4%202A%20%28AP18650-26%29%20%231.png


This is a newer high current cell that is much better suited for 2A charging.

Woyum%20ZK4%202A%20%28SA20700-30%29%20%231.png


The same with this larger cell.

Woyum%20ZK4%200.5A%20%28AW18350-IMR%29%20%231.png


A old and very worn down cell is hopeless to charge here, it gets lots of restarts.

Woyum%20ZK4%200.5A%20%28KP14500-08%29%20%231.png


The 14500 is handled fine.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%284xSA18650-33%29.png


The charger can handle 4 LiIon at 1A.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%2012V%20%284xSA18650-33%29.png


For that it need about 1.7A from the 12V power supply.

Temp5848.png


M1: 35.3°C, M2: 36.6°C, M3: 36.8°C, M4: 34.8°C, M5: 38.4°C, HS1: 50.0°C

Temp5849.png


M1: 40.7°C, HS1: 51.4°C

PoweronLiIon.png


The charger needs some seconds to start.

ChargingLiIon.png


The charger pauses the charge current at regular intervals.

CurrentChangeLiIon.png


Current can be changed at any time between 0.5A, 1A and 2A, 2A is only possible with one or two batteries.



[SIZE=+2]Charging NiMH[/SIZE]

NiMH can be charger with 0.5A or 1A.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28eneloop%29%20%231.png


The eneloop cells is charged nicely, it looks like a -dv/dt termination and no top-off or trickle charge.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28eneloop%29%20%232.png

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28eneloop%29%20%233.png

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28eneloop%29%20%234.png


The other 3 slots looks similar.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28eneloopPro%29%20%231.png


With the eneloopPro it looks like voltage termination and it is fully charged.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%28leise25%29%20%231.png


The leise is stopped on -dv/dt.

Woyum%20ZK4%200.5A%20%28eneloop%29%20%231.png


The termination also works at 0.5A.

Woyum%20ZK4%200.5A%20%28eneloopAAA%29%20%231.png


The AAA cell was definitly stopped on -dv/dt.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20full%20%28eneloop%29%20%231.png


The charger needs about 10 minutes to detect a full eneloop.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%20%284xeneloop%29.png


The charger maintain the 1A charge rate with 4 NiMH.

Woyum%20ZK4%201A%2012V%20%284xeneloop%29.png


And need a bit below 1A from 12V when doing it.

Temp5858.png


M1: 37.3°C, M2: 38.5°C, M3: 38.8°C, M4: 38.2°C, HS1: 48.2°C

PoweronNiMH.png


The charger needs a some to start.

ChargingNiMH.png


And as usual with NiMH chargers it pauses to check voltage.

CurrentChangeNiMH.png


With NiMH the current can be changed between 0.5A and 1A at any time.



[SIZE=+2]USB charger output[/SIZE]

  • Usb output is coded as Apple 1A

Woyum%20ZK4%20230V%20load%20sweep.png


The charger output is rated for 1A and can deliver about 1.3A, this is fine, but not a very powerful usb charger.

Woyum%20ZK4%20230V%20charging%204x18650%201A%20load%20sweep.png


Charging battery at the same time as using the usb output do not affect the usb output, but the efficiency is, of course, much lower, due to the power used to charge the batteries.

Woyum%20ZK4%20230V%20load%20test.png


The usb charger has no problem delivering 1A for 1 hour and as can be seen below stays cool.
The temperature photos below are taken between 30 minutes and 60 minutes into the one hour test.

Temp6012.png


M1: 31.6°C, HS1: 34.7°C

Temp6013.png


M1: 34.2°C, HS1: 37.4°C

Temp6014.png


HS1: 35.9°C

10ohm.png


At 0.5A the noise is 25mV rms and 423mVpp.

5ohm.png


At 1A the noise is 36mV rms and 657mVpp.


The charger passed the 2830 volt and 4242 volt test, this means it is it is fairly safe.



[SIZE=+2]Conclusion[/SIZE]

The charger works fairly well with LiIon batteries, but due to the high termination current it is not perfect for older or small cell.
The charger works well with NiMH batteries.
The usb output is only 1A and coded with a older code.

All in all a good charger.



[SIZE=+3]Notes[/SIZE]

The charger was supplied by Woyum for review.

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger
 
Last edited:
Top