SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

[tjh]

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

I do own a charger. Not tried bluetooth though. Don't see any reason to.
Can try to figure out how it works.

That was my point - the Bluetooth function works fine. I agree the app is rather clunky, but it does work and once you've got the setting programmed in, it's very easy to use.

Anyway, I've "been told" so I shall pull my head in and say no more.

 

[sns]

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

That was my point - the Bluetooth function works fine. I agree the app is rather clunky, but it does work and once you've got the setting programmed in, it's very easy to use.

Anyway, I've "been told" so I shall pull my head in and say no more.

I've never implied that bluetooth does not work, only said it should and explained my vision behind its need overall. That's it.

 

[tjh]

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

I've never implied that bluetooth does not work, only said it should and explained my vision behind its need overall. That's it.

I was referring to this.

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

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

Is this broken plastic spring post being blown out of proportion, how many chargers have we had with broken posts.

If owners with broken posts would give there serial number maybe we can identify a bad batch, the problem is they get lost in this huge thread.

I don't use my MC3000 a lot and when i do it`s mostly for nimh cells which are shorter than 18650 which will put more pressure on the posts, I have not had a problem myself.

Thanks

John.

 

[ShopGL]

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

I bought the MC3000 a while ago but am just starting to use it now. My main use is to cycle new batteries to achieve optimum performance.... and then compare performance between brands... beginning with the FDK manufactured Top Tier batteries: Fujitsu Premium HR-3UTHC / and the two current models of eneloop pro BK-3HCCE and the eu/japan BK-3HCD ... It would be nice if the Bluetooth phone software was more useful and shared programs with the charger but I am more interested in the computer software and was hoping to graph my results. I have not downloaded it or used the PC-Link yet..but am planning to get to it next week So far so good in using the units interface...the programming flexibility of this charger what I was looking for.

 

[sns]

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

Just tried bluetooth yesterday, charged couple of 18650. Everything went smoothly with no issues whatsoever. Did not try saving profiles. Connected right away and satyed connected for couple of hours. I was using Samsung Note 4.
From my experience, bluetooth is one of the most bugged wireless communication protocols. So, if it does not work - 95% chance is that devices are not compatible or using different handshakes (there are some 5+ types of connection handshakes).

 

[jal]

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

From my experience, bluetooth is one of the most bugged wireless communication protocols. So, if it does not work - 95% chance is that devices are not compatible or using different handshakes (there are some 5+ types of connection handshakes).

For the record, I've had zero problems with Bluetooth using an iPhone 6. I really only use it at the end of cycles to make it shut up.

And (donning my geek-hat) Bluetooth is a troublesome protocol, not so much because of the protocol itself, but because it has two competing constraints: work in any and all conditions and use as little power as possible. Additionally, a detail that is more psychological than technical is that today most people use Bluetooth from phones, which creates a an expectation, even in people know better, that "signal is signal". It has wifi and I can call, why can't it talk to that stupid box across the room?

In fact, interference is a massive problem for BT. For instance, I have a very cheap keyboard on one of my machines. I found that if the cord for it is between my phone and another device, the phone gets insufficient signal. A friend is a failure analyst for a well-known gadget maker, and he hates Bluetooth with a fiery passion, because it provides an endless stream of "this didn't work in that way, find out what's wrong", and nearly always the problem cannot be reproduced, because it was almost certainly environmental happenstance.

And then add in cheap manufacturers saving a penny, and you get a real mess.

Technical sidetrack over.

 

[sns]

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

Well, just add it on top of it. Multiplied by microsoft implementations of pairing and apple's plus android implementations of its own, salted by broadcom bt stack... On small os-less devices it works a bit better though, but pairing some weird barcode reader with windows 8, for example, is somewhat extraordinary dance with slight chance or real luck... So, just remember, if it is paired and work just like that out of the box - it's a luck =)

 

[tjh]

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

For the record, I've had zero problems with Bluetooth using an iPhone 6. I really only use it at the end of cycles to make it shut up.

You know you can turn the beeping off in the settings, yeah?

 

[c-fut]

Hello all. I'm a new owner of the mc3000. I have been using it to check capacity in my 18650 cells in advanced mode. I will be getting some AA and AAA eneloop cells this Friday and wanted to see what settings to use on this charger. I did some reading and found the recommended charging rate of .5C and discharge rate of .2C. I cannot find the termination voltage for the Eneloops though. Anybody know? Or am I going at this all wrong? Thanks in advance

 

[SilverFox]

Hello C-fut,

Welcome to CPF.

With Eneloops at a 0.2C discharge rate a good termination voltage is 0.9 volts.

Tom

 

[jal]

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

You know you can turn the beeping off in the settings, yeah?

I do, but thank you. I did have them off for a while - I really hate beepy noises. The reason I don't turn it off is because I have three unbroken pins left, and I may not hear the snap noise if I'm puttering around the house when the next one goes. The circuit-break alarm is harder to miss. I fully intend to turn the bleeping bleeps back off once I get around to doing something about the pins.

 

[kreisl]

Exactly. Four buttons = shortcuts to four different programs. Makes sense, doesn't it?

< UP + SNB > is used as short cut. 4 SNB's, so we get 4 short cuts to program memories.

we could also implement < DOWN + SNB > as short cut. This would give us 4 extra short cuts to program memories, for a total of 8 short cuts. please lemme know if you prefer four or eight in the 1.10 firmware.

personally i dont mind much, eight might be overdoing dee idea tho. my cell phone number has 7 digits and my squirrel nut sized brains cannot even memorize that number!
i had to alphabetize it as in 1 800 SAFEWAY 1 800 LIPO SUCTION etc lol
of course, having eight rather than four does not harm, technically. but then comes smart aleck G and wants twelve without being an owner herself. Etc etc etc.

it was your good idea and it got accepted and implemented and celebrated. so i let you draw the line.
anyway, we could use < DOWN + SNB > in future for something else. maybe four ice creams. so, if you dont really need eight, we should not use up these 4 potential short cuts, huh?

 

[Swede74]

< UP + SNB > is used as short cut. 4 SNB's, so we get 4 short cuts to program memories.

we could also implement < DOWN + SNB > as short cut. This would give us 4 extra short cuts to program memories, for a total of 8 short cuts. please lemme know if you prefer four or eight in the 1.10 firmware.

I prefer four (4) shortcuts.

it was your good idea and it got accepted and implemented and celebrated. so i let you draw the line.
anyway, we could use < DOWN + SNB > in future for something else. maybe four ice creams. so, if you dont really need eight, we should not use up these 4 potential short cuts, huh?

What an honour, and how fortunate that I will not have to travel far to accept my Noble Prize. I agree, it is a good idea to leave the remaining four potential shortcuts unused. It may be a bit of a disappointment for those who would prefer eight, but it would be even worse if they got used to having eight shortcuts now, only to have the rug pulled from under them if < DOWN + SNB > has to be used for something else in future versions of the firmware.

 

[kreisl]

I prefer four (4) shortcuts.

very well

thanks man, cheers!

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

How much energy are we wasting discharging battery`s to test their capacity, I would be nice if we could connect an power bank to the usb port and use that as the load thus charging it in the process.

John.

 

[write2dgray]

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

The iCharger line of chargers support regenerative discharging, pretty handy for cycling without converting all the energy into heat.

 

[Ravel]

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

I was trying to install DataExplorer in my Raspberry Pi, but without any luck. The reason is the same, to not have a hungry pc ON all the time, besides RPI can be powered by MC3000 Usb, and with tightvncserver it's a great headless. The problem it's to compile from source to ARM6, what I don't know how to do it. :/

That's openjdk. Doesn't work then?

Try oracle Java. I'm not a Java fan but you should be able to get the package name with

apt-cache search java | grep -i oracle

Hello,

I run a MC3000,
I could not make DEX run under raspberry pi model 1 B (although I went quite far in compiling it)
So I opened a thread with DEX :
sr #109066: cannot run under raspberry pi model 1 B. No java/ext directory ?

here http://savannah.nongnu.org/support/index.php?109066

If somebody is interested...

Regards

 

[kreisl]

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

okay looks like (k#60) and (k#61) have been implemented successfully.
from my part, there are no further fw wishes and i asked them to let the 1.10 fly, as soon as they're done with the tests cheers!

 

[Ammitz]

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

My 4 month old MC3000 just cracked 3 black spring holders.. looks like there where sliced over because off heat..