SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

[sbj]

You can leave capacity on "off". Discharge current: 0.2C, ie 600mA; Final discharge voltage: 2.50V; Discharge Reduce: "OFF".
It is normal for the no-load voltage of the battery to recover after the discharge current has been switched off. All the more, the higher the discharge current was before switching off.

 

[lemental]

You can leave capacity on "off". Discharge current: 0.2C, ie 600mA; Final discharge voltage: 2.50V; Discharge Reduce: "OFF".
It is normal for the no-load voltage of the battery to recover after the discharge current has been switched off. All the more, the higher the discharge current was before switching off.

Thank you I'll change the settings and retest. The final discharge voltage of 2.50v i thought would be lower than it is safe to discharge but as you've advised this, I'm assuming it is in fact safe!

Given these cells are 3000mAh spec, would setting of 2.50v in theory test and produce a result of 3000mAh with these skyrc settings?

Thanks

 

[fmc1]

Hi,

Hope one of you kind folk could please help me out with my new mc3000

I'm trying to use 'refresh' mode to test the capacity of my ageing Samsung 30Q 3000mAH rated cells. I've set the cutoff to 3.2v and put 3000mAH in the program setting.

When i do the test, the cells don't reach 3.20v. It seems to get within 0.05v then in the rest phase, it creeps up and shows anything from about 3.25 to 3.3v before starting to charge again.

Firstly, is this normal behaviour for the charger or have I received a lemon here?

If it's perfectly normal, could you please recommend the correct settings for the capacity test?

Thanks
lem

If you want to see the highest capacity numbers for the battery you need to push it to near its limits. Try this for 30Q's.


Capacity 3200, this is just a safety thing.


Mode cycle, not refresh because you want to see discharge capacity not charge capacity. Refresh will actually show you both but not until it's finished with the final charge. Refresh is just a convenience setting it is exactly the same as cycle C>D>C count 1.

Set the cycle mode to C>D, cycle count 1, C. current to 1.5A or about .5C, termination to .1A. You could bring the termination down to .05A to squeeze in a little more charge but I think .1A is enough. Leave target volt at 4.20V.


Set D. Current to .6A or about .2C and D.reduce to -.1A. The D.reduce is what helps with the recovery or creep up affect. You could also lower this even more to -.05A to get that little extra non recovery affect. Bring the cut volt down to at least 2.75V, 3.2V is way too high compared to what manufactures use. You could go lower but don't pass 2.5V or you will risk damaging the battery. Also add a C. rest of about 10 minutes or so.


If you do this and are still not getting reasonable numbers you could recalibrate the unit if you have a good DMM. It would also be very helpful if you tested more than one battery, this way we have something for comparison.


Frank

 

[lemental]

Thank you, fmc1
I'm running a test now with those setting and will report back on the results.
I won't be using a setting under 2.75v cut off but in theory, what sort of settings would show the stated capacity of the battery if it was safe to use? If i know this, i'll be able to have a good idea of the condition of the ageing batteries i've not tested before compared with new.

Also, given the voltage drops once the cells are fully charged, is there way of telling what the highest voltage has been after termination if I'm no near the charger when the cycle ends?

Thanks

 

[lemental]

Hi,

Is it normal to get wildly different results when testing cells? I put four 18650s in to see how close they would test with the same settings as above and they were differing by 50-150mAh.

lem

 

[mrrhh]

Is it normal to get wildly different results when testing cells? I put four 18650s in to see how close they would test with the same settings as above and they were differing by 50-150mAh.

That's not wildly different, that's normal. Wildy different is when one cell measures 2400mAh and another 1800mAh.

 

[lemental]

That's not wildly different, that's normal. Wildy different is when one cell measures 2400mAh and another 1800mAh.

Sorry, i worded that badly. I retested the same cells and the results of each cell were different to the first time they were tested. Each cell varied by up to 150mAH from the first test.

 

[Drone]

Hi All. New to this forum and new to the MC3000, I just got it last week and have been putting it through it's paces. Overall I'm quite impressed, or perhaps I should say overwhelmed at the feature set and performance. I'm not nearly as impressed with the BT app and the Monitor program for the PC. They work alright for what they do, but are lackluster in looks, UI, and features. Ideally I would like a full featured app for both PC and Android that could do pretty much everything that can be done directly on the charger. It seems the program development stopped prematurely. Maybe sales didn't justify it, which would be a fair point.

So the above being said, are there any 3rd party apps or programs that are better to use? Is the code open source? Are there any nice Excel templates for importing the CSVs?

I've only made it to page 47 in the thread so far, so if this has been asked before I apologize, but I do actually read it all and I'll get to it all in time. BTW, it was quite interesting reading about the development of the MC3000. I'm impressed with how open SkyRC was to suggestions and feature additions.

I have no regrets buying this charger and I would buy again today if I had to make the choice again. Great charger for a reasonable price. But yeah... I want more if more is available.

 

[mrrhh]

Sorry, i worded that badly. I retested the same cells and the results of each cell were different to the first time they were tested. Each cell varied by up to 150mAH from the first test.

It's certainly possible in theory since it depends on a range of factors, charge rate, discharge rate, effects of that on the protection circuitry, etc. E.g. with a high discharge rate the cell will heat up more, which may cause the protection circuitry to trigger earlier or later than with a slow discharge. It also depends on whether, when you sat first time tested, you mean the first ever charge/discharge cycle for the cell or the first time you've tested an already-broken-in cell, the first few times you'd expect to get some variation.

 

[mrrhh]

Hi All. New to this forum and new to the MC3000, I just got it last week.

Speaking of getting the MC3000, has anyone ordered one from Gearbest recently? They've been sitting on my order for over a month now, took payment but haven't shipped, and their response to my support request was "keep waiting".

 

[Drone]

Speaking of getting the MC3000, has anyone ordered one from Gearbest recently? They've been sitting on my order for over a month now, took payment but haven't shipped, and their response to my support request was "keep waiting".

Not sure where you're at in the world, but if in the US just get it from Progressive RC. I had it in 2 days and only $10 more than GB. I've been using them for years and always had good service and quick deliveries. Plus free shipping CONUS

 

[mrrhh]

Not sure where you're at in the world, but if in the US just get it from Progressive RC. I had it in 2 days and only $10 more than GB. I've been using them for years and always had good service and quick deliveries. Plus free shipping CONUS

Unfortunately I'm nowhere near the US, so have to buy from GB or alternative, even more dubious sources. If they don't ship within the next week I'll do a chargeback, it's now been over a month and they're showing no signs of shipping after having taken payment for it.

 

[bamzero]

Unfortunately I'm nowhere near the US, so have to buy from GB or alternative, even more dubious sources. If they don't ship within the next week I'll do a chargeback, it's now been over a month and they're showing no signs of shipping after having taken payment for it.

If you can't cancel the order from their site anymore, contact their support and request cancellation. They are not unreasonable about this sort of thing and probably easier and quicker than going through the chargeback procedure.

Coincidentally I got mine from GB 3 years ago, just left some 18650's on charge and came back to find 3 of 4 spring posts snapped, dammit... only ever had light usage. Came back here for best solution for repair.

 

[bamzero]

So this is what I went with in the end, spring attached to rail itself...

 

[mrrhh]

If you can't cancel the order from their site anymore, contact their support and request cancellation. They are not unreasonable about this sort of thing and probably easier and quicker than going through the chargeback procedure.

I've opened a ticket with them, I was influenced somewhat by reading a few discussion threads where people complained about orders not being shipped and having to do chargebacks, so I'll see how it goes. I don't necessarily want to do the chargeback but I'm annoyed that they seem quite happy to take payment without any sign of shipping anything, this is now the second ticket I've had to open just to get an order shipped.

 

[mrrhh]

Got a reply fairly quickly, unfortunately it's just "keep waiting", it may have been scripted. I'll give them another week and see what happens.

 

[mrrhh]

Got a reply fairly quickly, unfortunately it's just "keep waiting", it may have been scripted. I'll give them another week and see what happens.

It's finally (allegedly) shipped, after 1 1/2 months of waiting and submitting tickets for both items I'd ordered. I'll see when/if it arrives.

 

[mrrhh]

It's arrived and works OK, apart from a black sliver about 8mm long inside the LCD display (argh), it's down near the bottom so doesn't block anything but it is rather annoying. However, Bluetooth pairing doesn't work, if I open the app it just hangs with a display of Charger + MAC address (well, BD_ADDR) with the BT light on the charger never going on. If I try and pair manually the BT light on the charger illuminates but I need a PIN to pair, which I don't have. I know people have requested PIN-secured pairing in the past, could it be that they've implemented this now? FW is 1.14, HW is "> 2.2".

 

[Wild4fire]

It's arrived and works OK, apart from a black sliver about 8mm long inside the LCD display (argh), it's down near the bottom so doesn't block anything but it is rather annoying. However, Bluetooth pairing doesn't work, if I open the app it just hangs with a display of Charger + MAC address (well, BD_ADDR) with the BT light on the charger never going on. If I try and pair manually the BT light on the charger illuminates but I need a PIN to pair, which I don't have. I know people have requested PIN-secured pairing in the past, could it be that they've implemented this now? FW is 1.14, HW is "> 2.2".

If you don't know the PIN, usually it's just 0000.

 

[SpideRMaN]

It's arrived and works OK, apart from a black sliver about 8mm long inside the LCD display (argh), it's down near the bottom so doesn't block anything but it is rather annoying. However, Bluetooth pairing doesn't work, if I open the app it just hangs with a display of Charger + MAC address (well, BD_ADDR) with the BT light on the charger never going on. If I try and pair manually the BT light on the charger illuminates but I need a PIN to pair, which I don't have. I know people have requested PIN-secured pairing in the past, could it be that they've implemented this now? FW is 1.14, HW is "> 2.2".

I got no PIN request, just switch on Bluetooth, run the app and click on the MAC address (works well on Note 4 android 5.1.1)

My MC3000 FW is 1.14, HW is > 2.2