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I’m often asked about various battery packs, and the questions are about both battery protection and balancing. I needed a battery pack, a protection board, and a balancer for a UPS conversion project. The battery is still on its way, and there’s no point testing the protection board without it, so today I’ll tell you about the balancer.

2020 is coming to an end, and at readers’ request I’ve decided to bring together all my battery reviews from this year in one article. They’ll be heavily condensed, of course—the goal isn’t to show everything, but to provide a kind of “digest.” I published a similar article last year, but back then almost all the batteries were name-brand ones from Nkon, whereas most of these are from AliExpress. Warning: VERY large amount of data ahead!!

About a year ago, information about a new battery model, the INR18650-25S from Samsung, started appearing more and more often. Naturally, it caught my interest, so I bought a couple to test. Today I'll tell you how they performed.

Today I'm reviewing a timer that looks quite ordinary, but can do more than simply run for set time intervals: it can also switch according to sunrise and sunset times, which can be more convenient than a conventional photocell relay in some situations.

Some time ago, I announced a new product from Atorch, the DL24 electronic load. But calling this device new is a bit of a stretch; it would be more accurate to call it a budget version, without a heatsink included and with a maximum power limit of 1000 W.

This post isn't an ad or a promotion; it simply covers new products that have gone on sale. Today I'll tell you about some interesting desk clocks that were released not long ago.

My story with uninterruptible power supplies began back in the late ’90s and early 2000s—not as a user, but more on the manufacturing side. That’s why I was doubly interested in seeing what’s being made today and remembering how we used to do it. So this review will probably have a touch of nostalgia.

I’ve already reviewed a 128GB external SSD from Orico, but when I was offered the chance to test a new version, this time with 500GB, I thought, why not? The previous one works fine, and as they say, “you can never have too much storage.”

Some time ago, I posted information about a new model of adjustable converter that I had stumbled across completely by chance. But literally that same day, a company representative contacted me on Skype and offered to write a review of the model. I received it not long ago, tested it, and am ready to tell you more about it.

Sometimes you need batteries with a built-in protection circuit, and the selection of models is considerably smaller. It gets even more limited when you’re looking for models with protection rated for high current. Today I’m reviewing three models, but testing revealed that sometimes things can be so good that they turn out to be “bad.” Still, you can find out all about it in the review.

Last time I covered 26350-size batteries. Today, I'm looking at cells in another uncommon size, 10370. They differ not only in size, but also because they're LiFePO4 batteries.

I never cease to be amazed by the variety of battery sizes, and that's partly why today I'm reviewing some examples of the rather uncommon 26350 size.

As you may know, the RD6006, 6012, and 6018 power supplies support WiFi connectivity when the corresponding module is installed. However, the settings menu and software also include an RS485 option, indicating that this communication interface can be used as well. Not long ago, RD RIDEN added RS485 modules specifically for these power supply models to its store.

Just under four months ago, I published a review of RuiDeng's new RD6012 converter. Now I have the next model in this lineup in my hands: the RD6018, with an output voltage of up to 60 V and a current of up to 18 A. This review will be relatively short, but I'll still try to make it as informative as possible.

Those who read my battery reviews have probably noticed that almost none of my tests go by without a "conditioning" cycle, which I run using a relatively simple charger. I reviewed it more than 5 years ago, and it served me faithfully all that time. But I think it's time to replace it with something more convenient and powerful, so today I'll be talking about the Vapcell S4 plus charger.

For some reason, I rarely review boost converters, and I don't think I've ever reviewed one with this much power. But people often ask me about converters like this, so I bought this one specifically for a review.

The new RD6018 adjustable converter is now available from the official RuiDeng store

Not long ago, one of my readers got in touch and offered to let me test some batteries I hadn't handled before. But in this case, we're not talking about a different chemistry—that part is familiar enough—but about the form factor and capacity. As usual, though, it's best to read the review for all the details.