Charger Miller ML-106 V1.0
Miller makes usb powered LiIon chargers usual with a power bank function. This device is more flexible with battery sizes that usual for Miller devices.
No fancy box, I got the charger in a plastic bag without any accesories or manual.
The charger is usb powered.
And on the other end of the charger it has a usb output.
Some of the indicators are placed here, but more indicators are hidden inside the charger.
The lid can be removed, there is no hard lock on the lid it clicks in place and can be pulled off.
With 18650 batteries the lid can be closed.
The battery slot has a couple of fixed positions, making it possible to fit most unprotected batteries and xx650 protected batteries into the charger. It is also possible to fit unprotected 14500 and 16340/18350, this is usual a bad idea due to the high charge current.
The 3 xx650 positions covers from about 63mm to 69.5mm, i.e. not the really long 18650/26650 cells.
The screws holding the case together must not be too tight for this slider to be unlocked and moved.
Here I have a 50mm long battery in the charger.
The charger has way to high charge current for small batteries.
Measurements charger
- Will discharge batteries with 7mA when not powered and leds on.
- Will discharge batteries with 0.1mA when not powered and leds off.
- Below 0.6 volt it will not charge
- Between 0.6 volt and 3V it will charge with about 250mA
- Above 3 volt normal charge current will be used
- Charge will restart if LiIon voltage drops.
- Charging will restart charging after power loss, or battery insertion.
The charger uses a simulated CC/CV charging, where the termination current can be a bit high.
The two other cells works the same way, but the time varies.
This is a older protected battery and it could be charged.
It is possible to charge small batteries in the charger, but the current will be 1.6A, i.e. way to high.
Adding 0.5ohm in series with the usb power to simulate a long cable or weak charger did not present any problems, the charge current is just reduced.
M1: 38,7°C, M2: 34,0°C, HS1: 41,0°C
The charger needs about 2 seconds to initialize.
When the battery is nearly full the charger will pause occasionally to measure voltage.
Measurements Usb
- Usb output is coded as usb charger (DCP)
- Usb output is active while charger is powered, but the voltage is lower.
- Usb output can be used as ups
The usb output can deliver about 1.5A before it shuts down.
Usb output is active while charger is powered and the current limit is considerable higher.
With a battery and external power the output looks about the same as above.
With 0.5A current drain the charger can maintain output for about 3½ hour.
Increasing load to 1A will reduce the time to a bit below 2 hours.
Noise is 17mV rms and 150mVpp.
Noise is 18mV rms and 160mVpp, this is very good values.
Tear down
Miller chargers are fairly easy to open and look inside. This is also required if you want to know what version you got.
The charger and power bank handles nearly everything with a single IP5206 IC. There is 3 transistors and a inductor to help it.
On this image all the leds can be seen, there are 6, 5 are green and one is blue (LED6).
Conclusion
This charger works fine with most 18650/26650 batteries, but it can be slightly tricky to adjust the length. For shorter batteries the 1.6A charge current is a problem. The charger may miss the last few procent when charging batteries.
Usb output works perfectly with good efficiency, low noise and can deliver around 1.4A. When the charger is powered the usb output voltage is considerable lower and the current limit much higher.
Using the lid with a 18650 battery makes it a easy portable power bank.
This is a good charger for 18650/26650 batteries and power bank with 18650 batteries. 26650 can also be used for power bank, but that will be without the lid.
Notes
The charger was supplied by Gearbest for review.
Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger
Read more about how I test USB power supplies/charger
