SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

[B-2Admirer]

So it's "quasi CC/CV" with pulsating current. What was the size and rated capacity of the cell (I assume it wasn't fully discharged initially)?

 

[kreisl]

The green AA batteries on Aliexpress Taobao Alibaba have no rating and come fully charged ~1.6V (rounded value). Yes from what i can tell it is a quasi CC CV with pulsating current, very interesting. On the initial discharge with 500mA and discharge reduce at 0.75V one gets over 2000mAh after many hours of discharge. More data i dont have sorry. More data you would find in a battery leview thread.

ha

 

[Gigaslux]

Re: 2nd gen dreamcharger presented on IFA Berlin 2014…

Very interesting. I remember reading about this some time ago, and held off buying the Opus. I'm glad I did, as the Opus has needed a few releases to deliver the goods.

I assume the RC crowd and the fast growing vaper industry will be the biggest market, but I'll be interested to see the final specs for this.

No idea on price yet?

I bought two MC3000 and both have had the pins holding the slot springs broken after a pair of days. They are very thin plastic pins. SkyRC told me that a new version is coming with stronger pins but they refunded me just one unit. Also, they told that the new version will be available only when the old version still in stok will be finished.
The slot 1 gives always lower value of mAh and slot 3 always bigger values. Also, slots 1 and 2 discharge by 0,65A whereas slots 3 and 4 discharge by 1A. Forget discharging by 2A if you don't improve the fan.

 

[billcushman]

Re: 2nd gen dreamcharger presented on IFA Berlin 2014…

Where did you buy your MC3000s? When were they delivered? Thanks.

I bought two MC3000 and both have had the pins holding the slot springs broken after a pair of days. They are very thin plastic pins. SkyRC told me that a new version is coming with stronger pins but they refunded me just one unit. Also, they told that the new version will be available only when the old version still in stok will be finished.
The slot 1 gives always lower value of mAh and slot 3 always bigger values. Also, slots 1 and 2 discharge by 0,65A whereas slots 3 and 4 discharge by 1A. Forget discharging by 2A if you don't improve the fan.

 

[Swede74]

Well this is a bummer. I had the dread battery-spring breakage that others have mentioned. I put two 18650s in to charge, and roughly half an hour later I hear a disturbing metallic snap and the charger immediately starts complaining. Run over to it, the charger noticed the circuit break, and the little arm that holds negative on a battery is shoved all the way against the bottom of the tray, and moves freely.

I bought two MC3000 and both have had the pins holding the slot springs broken after a pair of days. They are very thin plastic pins. SkyRC told me that a new version is coming with stronger pins but they refunded me just one unit. Also, they told that the new version will be available only when the old version still in stok will be finished.

I was hoping I would never have the dubious pleasure of joining your not so little club. Alas, I can now call myself not only a proud, but also a frustrated and somewhat disappointed, owner of the MC3000.

Before my very eyes, as I was about to press a key to light up the screen to see how far the charging of three 18650 cells had progressed, something snapped and there is no longer any tension keeping the cell in place in slot #3.

I have contacted SkyRC and MacGyvered the charger.

 

[MarioJP]

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

Oh man, should i be worried?

 

[haute]

I was hoping I would never have the dubious pleasure of joining your not so little club. Alas, I can now call myself not only a proud, but also a frustrated and somewhat disappointed, owner of the MC3000.

Before my very eyes, as I was about to press a key to light up the screen to see how far the charging of three 18650 cells had progressed, something snapped and there is no longer any tension keeping the cell in place in slot #3.

I have contacted SkyRC and MacGyvered the charger.

What is your hardware version?

Analyzing HKH version is revision 1.3 and appears to have spring brackets, quite robust.

The currently marketed version is 1.4

 

[romteb]

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

Oh man, should i be worried?

I think it's safe to call these snappings a consequence of a design flaw at this point, just pray it happens under warranty because after reading Gigaslux post just above it looks like Skyrc is sweeping this under the rug, we'll probably be ordered to move on

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

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

Do the posts break when the charger is cold or after it has warm-up, is heat an issue? what hardware version do you have?

John

 

[jal]

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

Do the posts break when the charger is cold or after it has warm-up, is heat an issue? what hardware version do you have?

This is a single datapoint, but mine broke while warm - I had been charging two cells for about half an hour when a post snapped in one of the trays that was charging.

 

[fnsooner]

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

Yikes, I wonder if this is a quality control issue, or a "nature of the beast" thing and all units are destined for breakage.

I have had my MC3K since they have been available and it is my main charger. I use it almost daily. I charge AAA, AA, 18650, 26650 and D cells. So far I have had no problems with the springs.

Of those that have had your spring mechanism break, what would you rate your usage level? Light, medium, heavy or super heavy?

 

[Swede74]

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

This is a single datapoint, but mine broke while warm - I had been charging two cells for about half an hour when a post snapped in one of the trays that was charging.

My charger was warm too, I had been charging three cells for about an hour. The fan was not running when it happened, but it had been at intervals during charging. The fan came on more frequently while I was discharging the same cells on the same night, so the temperature of the charger had fluctuated over the course of about four hours. It never got hot to the touch, nor did the cells; I didn't detect any smell of overheated electronics or plastic, and the fan was never on for more than 10-15 minutes at a time.

Of those that have had your spring mechanism break, what would you rate your usage level? Light, medium, heavy or super heavy?

I would rate my usage level as medium. I have had my MC3000 since April 21 or 22, almost exactly one month.

 

[MarioJP]

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

Now when the springs snaps, does the platic pin just comes off or break off?

 

[MarioJP]

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

I think it's safe to call these snappings a consequence of a design flaw at this point, just pray it happens under warranty because after reading Gigaslux post just above it looks like Skyrc is sweeping this under the rug, we'll probably be ordered to move on

Well this just sucks. How does the warranty work if shipped from international to U.S?

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

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

Thats why i asked a few post back, it`s a pity us early buyers who got ours from China could not get a replacment from Amazon Ect now that they are sold in the UK, US, EU now, as it`s expensive to send back to China.

It would only take authorisation from SkyRC to make this happen i suppose.

John.

 

[MarioJP]

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

Yeah, at 120 bucks. I wonder how many hardware changes before it's final? The worst case scenario, If it becomes too much of a hassle for SkyRC. They could scrap the mc3k project altogether considering it's their side project. Guess that is the downside of a niche product. If it works, great, otherwise it is business as usual.

 

[kreisl]

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

sky produces mc3k in small batches like two hundreds and they have been switching suppliers to get the best possible material quality for the plastic casing. very oo:few samples out of one recent batch must have had sub standard quality, so warranty applies for the broken parts, the dealer carries the spare part for repair. every production unit undergoes burn-in testing procedure, continuous stress test at max charge load and max discharge load watts.

in every production batch there are minimal changes, i.e. improvements, to the assembly, construction, material, but i stopped caring. heck my sample is an early production unit engineering sample with old LCD and unplated metal contacts, no FCC sticker or model marking, nothing. i heard that future buttons will be black with recessed symbols. ppl can paint the symbols with any preferred color!!

i also dont care about the quality of the app. i am old skool squirrel who prefers to hit the physical buttons on the charger. For the memory SNB's (UP+SNB) and the Batt IR measurement (UP+DOWN) one actually needs to hit the buttons .. to get simultaneous pressing. and I wuv it! so much fun haha.

what i do care about is the continuous improvement of the firmware, like debugging, and of the dex. both are now getting there, where i wanted to see them .. both providing the basic functions with no more essential bugs. Serious battery testing, serious logging of capacity and energy, reference measurements can be taken now .. after checking the electrical connection (TOV: UP+DOWN) and having user-calibrated the device.

a word on factory calibration. it has been confirmed by Sky that the m3k factory calibration is a "fast parallel procedure involving resistors", meaning that no FLUKE is used to calibrate each slot individually. The factory calibration is good enough for most users who don't own a precision multimeter or don't know the difference between amperage and voltage, and it is refinable thru the more accurate user calibration procedure as outlined in the manual.

Is factory calibration inferior to user calibration then?

If i invest a high resolution FLUKE and 1 hour of care and time, yes. If i invest a 3$ ebay multimeter, then no. So in general yes, but it depends on the accuracy and resolution of your electronic equipment and your manual technical experience. To be blunt, if i let my lil niece do the user calibration, then no, factory calibration will not be inferior to her user calibration.

 

[Gauss163]

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

very oo:few samples out of one recent batch must have had sub standard quality,

"very few" is pure conjecture. It would seem more logical to infer that the above-mentioned problems are inherent in the design, and may eventually affect all units of that design once they suffer the right combination of stress induced by mechanical flexing, heat cycling, etc.

It might make sense for MC3000 owners to proactively reinforce the spring posts, since they're much harder to rebuild after they snap.

oh snap! :sigh:

Hmmm....

 

[jal]

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

Of those that have had your spring mechanism break, what would you rate your usage level? Light, medium, heavy or super heavy?

I received mine April 6th, it broke May 12th. I used it heavily for about a week after getting it - cycled 36 18650s, put it through its paces with a number of size/chemistry variations. Since then, pretty light use charging 18650/26650/16340s for normal use - been busy and haven't played with my toys much.

 

[MarioJP]

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

So Is it matter of time that the spring could snap on my charger?