Nitecore SC2

[Vape Magoo]

Sadly I purchased the SC2 from IMR without researching reviews.

Charging brand new HG2's to 4.25v is what prompted me to look into this deeper. I did find a Youtube review that exposed the over charging issue, they showed a 4.29v charge on a 18650.

I have found mentions (and quotes) online (Reddit) of @Mooch putting out a "Do Not buy" recommendation on the SC2 but can not find the actual source written by Mooch. Does anyone know where I can find it?

From what I read there is also an overheating concern.

One frustration was the user manual, as well as different reviews, state to enter manual mode you press the button over the slot you want to adjust. This did not work on mine. After a lot of wasted time I discovered 3 quick presses of the button over the desired slot puts my SC2 in manual mode.

I do not know if this is a problem with mine or the SC2 has been updated to require 3 presses and the user manual was never updated and the new version was never reviewed. 3 presses is no problem, being told to press the button over the slot when you need to press it 3 times is.

I guess the manual mode is kind of a mute issue, overcharging and reports of overheating has my new purchase headed for the landfill.

 

[Rossum]

Back in July, Mooch wrote, "I have deleted my SC2 failure post and am ordering two more for testing to gather more data. I’m realizing that is too hot of a topic to post about with just one unit tested." But I don't see any follow-up testing after that.

It looks like someone quoted his original post on planetofthevapes.co.uk/forums/
I won't link to it directly, but an appropriate web search should turn it up.

 

[Vape Magoo]

Yeah, I found that in my searching. Really would of liked to of seen it.

 

[Northstar6]

Personally I'd choose an Xtar over Nitecore any day.

 

[madstabber]

I agree with Northstar, I’ve never had any major issues with my Xtar chargers. If you want a good charger the Miboxer C4-12 is an excellent charger and can charge your cells fast (3amps across 4 bays) or slow (0.2 amps) and everything in between. It monitors temps and gives you a IR reading. The IR readings aren’t very accurate which I guess is a problem with all of these hobby chargers. Sometimes I’ll get a crazy IR reading with my Miboxer but a quick wipe of the contacts fixes it. That’s the only problem I’ve had with mine.
Another great charger is the Gyrfalcon All-44 and All-88. I haven’t used them personally but I’ve heard from knowledgeable trusted folks that they are an excellent charger. I think of Nitecore as the Smok of chargers. They put out a lot of models and have the best brand recognition but that’s the only thing they’re best at.

 

[Mooch]

My follow-up testing had no failures but the SC2 runs HOT, much too hot in my opinion. Most Nitecores share this...umm...feature. I did not test anything else except the temperatures of the SC2.

Over charging cells is a great way to accelerate their aging. Add on them getting warm during charging and that means you will be buying batteries more often.

 

[Vape Magoo]

I agree with Northstar, I’ve never had any major issues with my Xtar chargers. If you want a good charger the Miboxer C4-12 is an excellent charger and can charge your cells fast (3amps across 4 bays) or slow (0.2 amps) and everything in between. It monitors temps and gives you a IR reading. The IR readings aren’t very accurate which I guess is a problem with all of these hobby chargers. Sometimes I’ll get a crazy IR reading with my Miboxer but a quick wipe of the contacts fixes it. That’s the only problem I’ve had with mine.
Another great charger is the Gyrfalcon All-44 and All-88. I haven’t used them personally but I’ve heard from knowledgeable trusted folks that they are an excellent charger. I think of Nitecore as the Smok of chargers. They put out a lot of models and have the best brand recognition but that’s the only thing they’re best at.

I actually have an Opus BT-C3100. For some reason I thought Nitecore was a better brand even though my D2 is off by 0.02v (Reports 4.20v when it is actually 4.18v), but I liked the fact that it was under charging. I was actually hoping the SC2 did the same thing, I was going to mainly use the 2 Nitecores and just use the Opus when I needed one of its features.

The weight of the SC2 is much heavier and outer construction a lot more solid, but it looks like the guts are a fail.

I have tested different batteries (HG2, 18650GA, MJ1, 25R....) both old and new and found the same issue, at 0.05A it charges to 4.24v to 4.26v. I did experiment with 2A charging on a couple of 18650's and those showed up as 4.19v after charging. Those were VTC4's. I will check out a few other batteries to see if the pattern persists.

Apparently it's built to wear out your batteries quicker, either fast charging or over charging. I will check out 1A to see what that charges to.

 

[Vape Magoo]

Looks like the voltage the batteries are charged to does depend on the charging current.

2 amp => 4.20v
1 amp => 4.22v
0.5 amp => 4.25v

My cynical side can't help but to think that this is not a bug, it's a feature.