18650, decent, inexpensive charger/tester

[fastline]

Sort of tired of the China budget level charger and it is becoming apparent that I need to be able to do do a controlled discharge to test the mAH performance of the cells. I am not sure if there is a slick package to both charge and test or if this will be two devices? I am not looking for the pro level system, just something rather basic.

I assume one could probably just charge a battery, then just use a power resistor and record time to discharge to min V with the DMM but I assume there are some simple testers that make this easier?


I think I should probably clarify my goals for needs for battery testing. I simply want to arrive at an estimated mAH performance. something I can document per cell and track. i build electronics and not opposed to making something but somethings are too cheap to make. Or maybe this is deal simple? We need a constant discharge rate? What rate is that for the standards of the cells and how they are typically used? if anything like lead acid, they are probably rated at a fraction of their actual use so the performance drops?

I have read all the good and bad with 18650 cells and seems it is better to just know what ya got. I would like to at least know.

 

[Wiggle]

I've had good luck so far with my Opus BT-C3100. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?389732-Test-Review-of-Charger-Opus-BT-C3100-V2-1

Do a little digging though, I know a couple people had some issues with the fan. Mine works great though, it's my main charger. It can charge and discharge and will record mAh for both of those. It's probably not the final word in accuracy but my results seem reasonable and are quite consistent. Charge rate is adjustable from 200 mA right up to 2000 mA (1000 mA for some types of cells).

 

[ko4nrbs]

I use this to discharge and balance my 18650 cells. I then charge them on my XTAR VC4. The VC4 gives me the capacity after charging.
http://www.myrcmart.com/rcx-3in1-ba...oltage-indicator-150w-discharging-p-4767.html
or here
http://www.buddyrc.com/3-in-1-battery-checker-balancer-discharger.html

This is how I set up the RCX 3 in 1 Discharger/Balancer:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2381853


XTAR VC4 charger on this web site:
http://www.xtardirect.com/collections/chargers
Bill

 

[CuriousOne]

I'm using LittoKala Li-260 engineer. Not super fast or super accurate, but cheap, and precision is enough for home use.

 

[OneBigDay]

Inexpensive means different things to different people, so I'm just throwing this out there as one idea.

The CBA IV from West Mountain Radio does capacity testing by running a controlled discharge and then outputting a graph to your computer. It's easy to run the tests and you can overlay one graph over another if you want to do comparisons of the same cell over time, or competing brands, or whatever else you might want to compare.

I'm not sure what is considered a pro level system, but this is a well designed gadget that specializes in capacity tests.

 

[CuriousOne]

Oh, in such case, this one is not expensive at all (at least for someone):
http://www.interstatebatteries.com/1/1/9364-cadex-c7400er-c-analyzer-tes2010.html

$9,999.99 for a battery charger is not that much, I believe

 

[GreatBizarro]

I purchased an Opus BT-C3100 and I am very happy with it. Fan went out in the first 40 charge/discharge cycles but they replaced it no problems. I am using it to condition and charge my computer 18650 takeouts and it works great for that.

 

[JasonJ]

I've had an Opus BT-C3400 for about a month or two.. ran it for basically 2 weeks straight charging and testing each of my 42 18650's and all of my NiMH cells in the house. No fan noise, no overheating, perfect. Love it.