SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

[billcushman]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

I just ordered high quality micro usb cables. Not taking any chances.

What cable did you order? The cable listed below is an excellent micro usb cable that works well with the MC3000.

Monoprice Premium USB to Micro USB Charge & Sync Cable 3ft- Black #9761

 

[MarioJP]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

What cable did you order? The cable listed below is an excellent micro usb cable that works well with the MC3000.

Monoprice Premium USB to Micro USB Charge & Sync Cable 3ft- Black #9761

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018IAXSS4/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Gold plated and 20AWG too.

 

[chemEJoe]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

Just received my unit today from HKequipment. Firmware 1.3 Hardware version 1.4 Ordered 2/3, received by Chicago post office on 2/5. Took to 2/11 to get to Channahon. (received by Channahon Post Office on 2/11 and delivered to me on 2/11)

Only minor problem I have is that part of my shipment is missing. I hope it is just a oop's, and not a problem.

I received mine from GB in 12 days this week, FW 1.02 HW 1.4. Nothing missing. I paid $85 with their new customer promo that is on their landing page.

If you order batteries, do it separately as it goes by a different carrier with much less tracking visibility. The charger is visable on tracking from China to the plane to the US no problem.

 

[Albert_]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018IAXSS4/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Gold plated and 20AWG too.

Appears to be a good cable.

One problem I have with some of the USB cables is their lack of a braided shield. High speed usb cables will use both a metal braid and foil as shielding. The braiding also adds additional strength to the cable. Low speed usb cables usb specs don't call for shielding.

Another problem that exists is the Micro-b connector(s) wearing out. Some connectors only last short while before the usb connection becomes loose. This sort of problem for data line cables isn't really acceptable. For some devices you may loose important data, crash hard drives, cause system failures, etc.

Tronsmart site description:

The combination of gold-plated connectors, bare copper conductors, and foil & braid shielding provides durability,
error-free data transmission, and fast charging speed.

Apparently braiding and foil was left out of their USB cable construction pic.

http://www.tronsmart.com/tronsmart-mupp1-premium-usb-cables-3-pack-with-gold-connector

Good quality USB cables normally uses both braiding and foil

 

[billcushman]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

Here is a test of various micro usb cables. Important design characteristics are shown in Altert's USB 2.0 illustration. The twisted pair for the data cable is very important. The best rated cable is the Monoprice standard cable..

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-micro-usb-cable/

The Monoprice 9761 cable I recommended is the Monoprice premium cable

 

[MarioJP]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

I received mine from GB in 12 days this week, FW 1.02 HW 1.4. Nothing missing. I paid $85 with their new customer promo that is on their landing page.

If you order batteries, do it separately as it goes by a different carrier with much less tracking visibility. The charger is visable on tracking from China to the plane to the US no problem.

Can you verify if the fan is blowing air out the vent?

Thanks.

 

[chemEJoe]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

Can you verify if the fan is blowing air out the vent?

Thanks.

MarioJP ... sorry to have read about your probs with GB about 40 pages back. Had I known about the battery shipping (almost all their ways prohibit cylindrical batteries, so my batteries are now somewhere through Sweden. I'd say GB batteries are about 2-4 weeks), I would have done US MT Electronics I think. Anyway, I got lucky I was waiting for the end of Jan slug of chargers and sent a ticket to them and they let me know it was coming so I ordered and got it in 12 days. So far so good.

On fan test you want, let me ask ... if I just set the fan temp in settings to something v low, will it come on? I don't have Li Ion batteries to discharge for another 10 days. I can only test with NiMH. If I set it to low temp will it trigger the fan? Let me know and I will do the test for you. I'm just learning the thing and with old NiMH of unknown state, I've been only fooling with it and haven't done a run yet. I'm a newbie to battery charging, having been duped for years on simple chargers and just recycling batteries when they 'felt' old. So glad I found this enthusiast base.

 

[billcushman]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

On fan test you want, let me ask ... if I just set the fan temp in settings to something v low, will it come on? I don't have Li Ion batteries to discharge for another 10 days. I can only test with NiMH. If I set it to low temp will it trigger the fan? Let me know and I will do the test for you. I'm just learning the thing and with old NiMH of unknown state, I've been only fooling with it and haven't done a run yet. I'm a newbie to battery charging, having been duped for years on simple chargers and just recycling batteries when they 'felt' old. So glad I found this enthusiast base.

You can set the fan to ON and it will be on all the time. A better way is to look at the fan blades with the charger upside down. If the blades rotate CCW the fan blows upward. If it rotates CW, the fan blows downward. Several pages ago in post #2204, Kreisl posted a drawing of the blade shape for each direction. A link to that drawing is below.

http://abload.de/img/del1ajspt.png

 

[Minimoog]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

If it helps this https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7mrfg9zt25n8vl/20160212_230048.jpg?dl=0 is from one that arrived from GB yesterday.

 

[billcushman]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

If it helps this https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7mrfg9zt25n8vl/20160212_230048.jpg?dl=0 is from one that arrived from GB yesterday.

The picture does not show the edges of the fan blades clearly because of the focus and glare from flash. From what I can see it looks like your fan blows downward. It looks like the example on the right side of Kreisl's drawing.

 

[kreisl]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

you could also deploy external USB fans, reversed, powered by the USB output of the charger

http://abload.de/img/del1ajspt.png

http://abload.de/img/del2r5sqz.jpg

btw this weekend i'll submit my bug report for 1.04beita. 1.04 final should be bug-free, right?

 

[Minimoog]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

It's like the one on the left of the drawing - when I compare my older one with the newer version, the fan is now reversed.

 

[Albert_]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

Here is a test of various micro usb cables. Important design characteristics are shown in Altert's USB 2.0 illustration. The twisted pair for the data cable is very important. The best rated cable is the Monoprice standard cable..

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-micro-usb-cable/

The Monoprice 9761 cable I recommended is the Monoprice premium cable

I had previously ordered three of the Monoprice Premium's at different lengths and also an Anker Premium with the woven jacket. After inspection both appear to be approx. the same quality. The Monoprice is slightly stiffer whereas the Anker is slightly more flexible using a nylon woven jacket. Both use 24AWG/2C power wires.

At 3 feet of length a 20AWG/1C (7/32) would have .04419 fewer ohms of resistance

(7/32 or 19/32 stranded wire is commonly used with USB 2.0 cable)

(7/32) 24AWG/2C @ 3' = 0.0735 ohms
(7/32) 20AWG/2C @ 3' = 0.02931 ohms
(difference of .04419 ohms)

(19/32) 24AWG/2C @ 3' = 0.0702 ohms
(19/32) 20AWG/2C @ 3' = 0.02703 ohms
(difference of 0.04317 ohms)

Charging lithium batteries with a maximum of 4.2 volts. If the charging voltage is regulated the current should be slightly higher using a larger gauge wire.
__________

What may happen with some cables that are frequently inserted and pulled out is the two locking connector pins, used to secure the micro-b connector, weaken and stop working. The connector feels loose or falls outs. The pins can be bent back up using a toothpick or sharp object. Quality of USB connectors may vary between cable manufactures.

USB connectors primarily designed for easy insertion and extraction are not the best design as a more stationary connection.

One method used to secure USB cables is to use locking or panel mount USB cables. Locking USB cables are manufactured for USB A, B, C and Mini, however I haven't come across any locking Micro USB cables.

_____

My MC3000 hasn't arrived yet. I ordered a few days before CNY. Their support said some units are on back order. It may be sometime in March before the MC3000 charger is delivered.

 

[chemEJoe]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

You can set the fan to ON and it will be on all the time.

Bill,

Thanks for your posts on this thread as I've learned a lot from them. This one thread is too long to easily find things for reference, so I guess I gotta go with memory. I'm on page 63 ha ha.

GB source, end of Jan shipment, FW 1.02, HW 1.4:

Anyway, I checked the fan as you noted and it blows out toward my face as I have it upside down facing me. So I take it it's the original HW setup, and the reversing of the fan is still a good thing for my version if I want to reduce discharge temperature hikes or excursions. Let me know if I didn't understand right and that's what you and Mario needed.

Quick qs on NiMH since that's all I have to play with ... I'm doing Refreshes on what I have. Old and one set new some not even 1 cycle. On the old, I have some that charge for 10 mins and then discharge - does that mean that battery is gone, or will that initial current pulse method reset the battery? On the new ones, will doing one Refresh be ok (they are not LSD) to analyze capacity and then just use them to break in, or should I break_in with the MC? They are cheap Lenmars. I'm just playing around until I get Li Ions, learning the charger. No stakes. (I'm aware of the initial pulse bug written up here about NiMH charging and then trying to pulse. ok, I'll need to hard reboot to get that back if I charge a NiMH in that channel.).

 

[MarioJP]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

Now this is strange. So now its time to charge my li-ion cell after being used in the power bank. I put them in the charger. Charge rate 1A. I hit enter and all i see is 0.15A going into the cell???. I stopped the program and tried again. And again climbs up to 0.15A???.

 

[chemEJoe]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

you could also deploy external USB fans, reversed, powered by the USB output of the charger

I was thinking of this and I guess the power to the fans will mean nothing to added load to the charger, right? I'm thinking that is the easiest solution though it's a manual process to come and set that up on discharge.

 

[dssguy1]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

It starts slow when you have a very discharged battery. Wait a few minutes instead of panicking and pressing stop.

 

[MarioJP]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

It starts slow when you have a very discharged battery. Wait a few minutes instead of panicking and pressing stop.

I see what you mean now..thanks. This explains the mystery while phones sometimes starts chargimg slow and then rapidly speeds up in a few moments. Li-ion is a strange chemistry lol

 

[billcushman]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

ChemEJoe, the fan is only rarely required for all normal charger operation. Only when discharging four Li-Ion above .8A does the cooling performance become an issue. If you limit discharging four Li-Ion to only .5A the charger runs nice and cool. Discharging other batteries does not cause this problem. The total wattage when discharging is the maximum cell voltage x discharge current x number of slots in use. For the case that cause issues the calculation is 4.2 volts x 1.0 Amp x 4 slots = 16.8 watts. This is higher than the 15 watt Discharge Power Specification of the MC3000.

If you limit four Li-Ion's to .5A discharge, the wattage is only 8.4 watts. At .8A discharge, the wattage is 13.44 watts. The reversed fan helps avoid current reduction when you exceed .8A. Lower discharge wattage is easier on the charger. The standard discharge current for Li-Ion is .2C. For a 3400mAh battery, that would be a discharge current of .68A = 11.424 watts. This will cause no current reduction with the original fan direction.

 

[MarioJP]

Re: SkyRC — IFA 2014 / CES 2016 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

ChemEJoe, the fan is only rarely required for all normal charger operation. Only when discharging four Li-Ion above .8A does the cooling performance become an issue. If you limit discharging four Li-Ion to only .5A the charger runs nice and cool. Discharging other batteries does not cause this problem. The total wattage when discharging is the maximum cell voltage x discharge current x number of slots in use. For the case that cause issues the calculation is 4.2 volts x 1.0 Amp x 4 slots = 16.8 watts. This is higher than the 15 watt specified discharge capacity.

Thats what i did. sure it takes longer. But it works.