SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

[TinderBox (UK)]

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

Sorry for your loss, Do you mind if we see your serial number so we can see if we have a bad batch.

John.

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

 

[MarioJP]

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

If plastic is that brittle that it can't handle daily use. That is unheard of. With that said. I notice on slot 3, the rail feels loose when i pull back on the slider. I can see the metal plate move. No issues so far though. Should i be concern about the rail feeling loose?

 

[Swede74]

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

Sorry for your loss, Do you mind if we see your serial number so we can see if we have a bad batch.

John.

Good idea. Here is mine. SN:000908510

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

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

Thanks Swede74 , anybody else with broken posts, drop your serial maybe we can see a pattern, bad batch ect.

John.

Good idea. Here is mine. SN:000908510

 

[Ammitz]

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

SN:000908347

contacted Gearbest, they offered me $20 partial refund.

Sorry for your loss, Do you mind if we see your serial number so we can see if we have a bad batch.

John.

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

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

MC3000 with broken posts.

SN:000908510
SN:000908347
SN:000863552
SN:000908895

Anybody Else?

My MC3000 is OK, But i don't use it much, But it`s serial falls in-between the ones that have been given above, so i suspect it will be affected at some point.

John.

 

[gyzmo2002]

SN: 000863552. Bought at the end of december.

 

[ilgrank]

About fw 1.10..
I have seen no one complain about NIMH termination voltage.. isn't the default 1.65v a bit on the high side? 1.55 wouldn't be a safer bet? What do you think about it?
Also.. my PCLS still reports no new firmware found (im @1.02).. is it normal?
Is there any work done on PCLS as far as you know kreisl? We will see some of the proposed enhancements implemented?
Many thanks!!

 

[MarioJP]

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

Can anyone tell me what the rail is attached to? Feels like it can come off. Can't really tell from the pics.

 

[kappa7]

About fw 1.10..
I have seen no one complain about NIMH termination voltage.. isn't the default 1.65v a bit on the high side? 1.55 wouldn't be a safer bet? What do you think about it?
Also.. my PCLS still reports no new firmware found (im @1.02).. is it normal?
Is there any work done on PCLS as far as you know kreisl? We will see some of the proposed enhancements implemented?
Many thanks!!

The termination voltage for NIMH and NICD battery is only a safety feature so it has to be higher than the maximum voltage reached during a standard charge. The normal termination used is the -dV/dt.

 

[jal]

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

Mine (two pins down so far) is 000908895.

 

[tjh]

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

Mine (no issues so far) is SN: 000888547

 

[kreisl]

Also.. my PCLS still reports no new firmware found (im @1.02).. is it normal?
Is there any work done on PCLS as far as you know kreisl? We will see some of the proposed enhancements implemented?

yes it is normal. no further changes will be done in 1.10 and probably the firmware will be posted as separate download EXE on the website. no more updating through pcls.

afaik 1.10 has passed testing and afaik they are sending it to production these days. but i really cant know when the 1.10 will be posted on the website.

afaik pcls has been changed only to get more logging like 1 decimal for capacity and maybe energy. havent tested it. imho its been superseded by the availability of dex. dex is being updated regularly and has reached high maturity status for mc3k logging. a reliable tool.

and no, we will not see some of the proposed pcls enhancements implemented anytime soon. both dex and pcls listen to suggestions and bug reports, but i only see dex moving.

pcls is left behind. sokay.

 

[Rapster]

My serial number from an MC3000 without issue thus far: 000888549.

Looks like you were in the queue *just* ahead of me, tjh.

Were you the one wearing the funny hat?

 

[sns]

Interesting question - what kind of internal resistance test MC3000 is using? Just got hands on ALL-SUN battery internal tester and it shows approx. 0.10 Om less resistance over MC3000 and that device is known to use 1kHz method. Is MC3000 using usual simple load test? I don't think it has AC method or multifrequency method for sure as it is most expensive one.

 

[hoanle]

My MC3000 is SN: 000863427 (bought 12/2015 and no issues so far).

 

[ilgrank]

yes it is normal. no further changes will be done in 1.10 and probably the firmware will be posted as separate download EXE on the website. no more updating through pcls.
[pcls] imho its been superseded by the availability of dex. dex is being updated regularly and has reached high maturity status for mc3k logging. a reliable tool.

while DEX is very useful to graph data, (and correct me if I'm wrong) it is of no help for quickly setting parameters to the MC3000.
I do often switch programs, and entering them by hand (once for each channel) is a real PITA..
I'd just love to have a quick way to store/send recipes to the MC3000
Wouldn't you think this would be useful?
Thanks

 

[kreisl]

while DEX is very useful to graph data, (and correct me if I'm wrong) it is of no help for quickly setting parameters to the MC3000.
I do often switch programs, and entering them by hand (once for each channel) is a real PITA..
I'd just love to have a quick way to store/send recipes to the MC3000
Wouldn't you think this would be useful?
Thanks

@sns
mc3000 uses simple test, see HKJ review. if your measurements are 100mO too high, then your rails may be dirty with grease. i cleaned my rails.

@ilgrank
the current dex version does logging only, thats true. there has been plans for some control or programming in future versions.
how many different programs do you normally use? you can save up to 30 different programs. and you have quick access to the 4 favorite programs.
you can send recipes thru pcls and app. also store in the app under a name. the android app works just fine, as long as the android language setting is english.
pcls will get more functionality like the saving or storing of recipes but for this some structure of the firmware needs to be changed and dis aint gonna happen anytime soon. the new 1.10 is just coming out after 5 months of wait. was supposed to be released after CNY holidays but the list got longer and longer, and etc. yes it will be possible with pcls and dex to store all 30 programs to hdd later this year, i am foncident. but restoring from hdd to mc3k is yet another story and actually may not be supported for various reasons even though the coding is possible. only because something would make sense and could be coded and done, doesnt mean that it will be coded and get done. company priorities rule. squirrel eats nutz. whatever that means. hh

i heard that they are planning to post the updated user manual by dee end of this week. total number of pages hasnt changed.

 

[Ravel]

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

[QUOTE]My laptop and the two USB hubs I have connected to it are all USB3 capable.
I specifically bought USB3 hubs for my new laptop.

I have no problem running the PCLS and talking to my MC3000 via it.

So I suspect the USB3 thing is a bit of a red herring.[/QUOTE]

Re-read the original post.
Disabling usb 3.0 helped with dex(not pcls) detecting the charger. It is still not narowed down, but my giess is that problems arise only with Intel USB 3.0 Chip.

Pcls works ok either way, except that it stops logging upon inserting another usb device, a behavior which dex doesnt exibit.

>>I suspect the USB3 thing is a bit of a red herring
I came to the same conclusion at least for my chromebook laptop i5 and intel USB2 and 3 ports.
As described here : https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?48121

DEX recorded random noise (spikes in values and zeroes) in the signal
and random data freeze (a bit more on the USB2 than USB3, a feeling more than hard data
since I stopped looking into the difference between 2 and 3).

I have no longer those problems since I installed a powered D-link USB2 hub in-between the MC3000 and and the USB2 port of the laptop.

Anybody with the same observations ?

 

[Gauss163]

Interesting question - what kind of internal resistance test MC3000 is using? Just got hands on ALL-SUN battery internal tester and it shows approx. 0.10 Om less resistance over MC3000 and that device is known to use 1kHz method. Is MC3000 using usual simple load test? I don't think it has AC method or multifrequency method for sure as it is most expensive one.

There was much prior discussion (see around here), where no specific implementation details were revealed, but an intelligent guess is that it is using one of the standard DC IR tests (current injection/interruption) described in the article that I linked there. It should be very easy to reverse engineer the specifics of the actual test if one has the charger and some basic electronics tools.

Generally it does not make sense to compare high-frequency AC impedance tests to DC IR tests (they can differ by a factor of 2-3). See here for further discussion.