Test/Review of Charger SkyRC MC3000

[Gauss163]

Hopefully in V2 they will make the unit handle 4 D cells.

Will Einstein be consulting on that? Alas, all of my chargers are limited to 3 D. No doubt he also knows a mod for 4 D watts (vs. the current 15 watts discharge power).

@Tom: it's a joke! 4 Dimensions vs. 3 Dimensions ... Einstein ....

@Gauss: Now I get it... thanks for the context.

 

[LiteTheWay]

Yes, once again outstanding review HKJ for which many thanks. I have mine and love it although I have not figured all of it out - yet.

Like you I have packed up a bunch of other chargers and will try to sell them off - cheaply.


HKJ - on your 'issues' comment:

"Backlight always requires a keypress to turn on, putting a battery into the charger will not turn the light on".

You can go in to Setup and can change the Backlight to "ALWAYS ON', which I have done and prefer.

 

[retrocon]

Excellent review! And thanks for the simple programming guide.

 

[markr6]

reserved

"kreisl...table for two!"

 

[ven]

Outstanding review, wow , your awesome HKJ

I am very tempted but not sure how beneficial to me, i am a simpleton, stick my cells in, charge em up kind of guy Odd refresh, odd V check with MM etc........ I just dont know if i would benefit with all the bells and whistles, but i change my mind enough :laughing: so will not rule out as i like to freshen up my chargers like i do cells and lights!!!

I dont know if i would have the patience with the programming, do i on a personal level really need that level of detail(do i need 1/2 the stuff i have though so forget that comment).

Jury out for now, see what 2016 brings, but if i decide on another, this is at the top right now

Thanks for your hard work,astonishing level of detail as always!

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Thanks for the review HKJ, once again.

Here's my take on the MC3000 all-in-wonder super-charger:

There are plenty of bugs and sticking points with labels and whatnot, that waiting for a couple/few months for things to get sorted out, is prudent.

Apart from a few opinions on thermal heat management, after more than a few hours/days of testing, the MC3000 looks to be the most flexible, most precise and most complicated charger for a consumer hobbyist, even exceeding the vaunted 'hobby charger' class.

If one isn't going to fiddle with the advanced, or middle mode, this charger isn't for them.

If one is computer/electronics challenged, or if one is just a lazy person and doesn't like to push buttons--a lot of them, this charger isn't for them (I'm talking to all of you Maha C9000 bashers out there!)

For most casual li-ion/NiMH users, who like a bit more info than just voltage, or capacity, the Opus BT-3100/BT-3400 v. 2.2 might be less complicated, but still render the requisite info for people wanting more than my VP2/VC4 provide, but not that much more, where their brain is going to explode.

I don't think that I'd go hooking this thing up to my PC Win. 7 64bit box until some more people fall on their swords and things get sorted out.

As with the earlier Opus BT 3100s/BT3400s, a reoccurring problem is the fan crapping out after X, Y or Z weeks. I don't know if the PSU for the SkyRC is built well, or not, but I'd like a few more weeks, months of actual use to see what is failing, if anything is failing.

I got bit jumping on my Xtar VP2 early on, so realizing that it's usually the pioneers who take the first arrows, I'm going to wait.

Chris

 

[HKJ]

If one is computer/electronics challenged, or if one is just a lazy person and doesn't like to push buttons--a lot of them, this charger isn't for them (I'm talking to all of you Maha C9000 bashers out there!)

After you have made the programs there is a lot less button pushing on the MC3000, than on the C9000. Generally when you have made the programs the MC3000 is very easy to use, but you might need the list of program on paper and there is no automated way to do that.

Yesterday and today I ran through a lot of my batteries, re-filling and re-emptying them, it worked fine. Many flattop cells had to be moved to the top of the slot, but I did not need a magnet for any of them.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

After you have made the programs there is a lot less button pushing on the MC3000, than on the C9000. Generally when you have made the programs the MC3000 is very easy to use, but you might need the list of program on paper and there is no automated way to do that.

Yesterday and today I ran through a lot of my batteries, re-filling and re-emptying them, it worked fine. Many flattop cells had to be moved to the top of the slot, but I did not need a magnet for any of them.

I didn't even mention the 'flat top' issue that you disclosed in your review and since I pretty much use mostly flat tops, how much 'tinkering' do you have to do to get them to make contact in the MC3000 and how did they forget to place some sort of bump on the positive contact pad?

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being 'easy as pie' and 1 being 'hard as hell' to make contact and keep them put, how would you rate the flaw?

I'm sure that somebody like you, in your business, will think these chargers are a 'God send' and perhaps they are, but you're a rare and smart bird when it comes to this stuff, but I'm sure that most of us here will think it's all Greek.

Maybe the CPFer living in Greece will be happy, but I bet this charger is over the heads of a lot of people here, who are casual users.

Remember, it's always fun to tinker with new toys in the beginning and then the novelty slowly wears off.

Chris

 

[HKJ]

I didn't even mention the 'flat top' issue that you disclosed in your review and since I pretty much use mostly flat tops, how much 'tinkering' do you have to do to get them to make contact in the MC3000 and how did they forget to place some sort of bump on the positive contact pad?

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being 'easy as pie' and 1 being 'hard as hell' to make contact and keep them put, how would you rate the flaw?

Very close to 'easy as pie' when you know how (There will probably be some cells that needs a magnet):

They have a bump on the plus pole, the problem is that it goes from top to bottom. This is fine for handling different diameters, but not as good for flat tops.

I'm sure that somebody like you, in your business, will think these chargers are a 'God send' and perhaps they are, but you're a rare and smart bird when it comes to this stuff, but I'm sure that most of us here will think it's all Greek.

Maybe the CPFer living in Greece will be happy, but I bet this charger is over the heads of a lot of people here, who are casual users.

If you are without some technical flair I will not recommend this charger. If stuff like programming VCR (only valid for older guys) or using a smart phone scares you, then it is probably not the right charger.

Remember, it's always fun to tinker with new toys in the beginning and then the novelty slowly wears off.

With this charger it was an easy decision to replace the hobby chargers and the C9000, the hard one was the Xtars, they are so easy and fast to use for charging a few LiIon cells, but in the end the MC3000 will probably be just as easy most of the time, because I will leave two channels on the LiIon charge program when possible, i.e. I only have to press enter to start charging.

 

[Gauss163]

After you have made the programs there is a lot less button pushing on the MC3000, than on the C9000. Generally when you have made the programs the MC3000 is very easy to use, but you might need the list of program on paper and there is no automated way to do that.

SkyRC should extend the software to allow export/import of programs, so that users can exchange programs. This would make it much more accessible to those that are averse to programming.

 

[HKJ]

SkyRC should extend the software to allow export/import of programs, so that users can exchange programs. This would make it much more accessible to those that are averse to programming.

I would like a couple of extension in that regards:
Save all 30 programs on a PC.
Copy all 30 program from a PC to a charge (Not necessary the same charge).
Edit program on a PC (We already have that, but cannot save the result).
The easiest way to export programs would be as a couple of text lines, that could be posted on a forum or in a email, then pasted into a text field in the program for parsing into a program (No files, it is too little information for files).

What I am talking about is basically this list here:
BATT TYPE: LiIon, Eneloop, NiZn, NiCd, NiMH, LiIo4.35, LiFe
MODE: Charge, Cycle, Discharge, Storage, Break_in, Refresh
CAPACITY: Off .. 50000mAh
NOMINAL: 100mAh .. 50000mAh
MODEL: Std AA, Std AAA, Pro/XX AA, Pro/XX AAA, Lite AA, Lite AAA, Plus AA, Std C, Std D
C.CURRENT: 0.05A .. 3A
D.CURRENT: -0.05A .. -2A
C.RESTING: 0 .. 240min
D.RESTING: 0 .. 240min
CYCLE COUNT: 1 .. 99
CYCLE MODE: C>D, D>C>D, D>C, C>D>C
TARGET VOLTAGE:
DELTA PEAK: 0dv, 1mV .. 20mV
TRICKLE C: Off, 10mA .. 300mA
TERMINATION: Zero, 0.01 .. 0.99A, off
RESTART VOLTAGE:
D.REDUCE: Off, -0.01A .. -1.99A
CUT VOLTAGE:
CUT TEMP: Off, 20°C .. 70°C
CUT TIME: Off, 1 .. 1440 min
With one setting on each line and unused settings removed.

 

[JB]

I'm sure that somebody like you, in your business, will think these chargers are a 'God send' and perhaps they are, but you're a rare and smart bird when it comes to this stuff, but I'm sure that most of us here will think it's all Greek.

Maybe the CPFer living in Greece will be happy, but I bet this charger is over the heads of a lot of people here, who are casual users.

Indeed the charger is probably overkill for the vast majority of users.

It's not only a matter of the button pushing and making the programs (which at the end of day really isn't that difficult), but also a matter of knowing and understanding what all the parameters mean and how to set them correctly to achieve your objective.

For those who like to delve into the nitty-gritty of battery charging and discharging, it is very instructive and learning to fully use this charger is also a lesson in knowing charging parameters.

That said, once the initial learning is over and you've setup some programs, the charger is not difficult to use.

 

[gyzmo2002]

Indeed the charger is probably overkill for the vast majority of users.

It's not only a matter of the button pushing and making the programs (which at the end of day really isn't that difficult), but also a matter of knowing and understanding what all the parameters mean and how to set them correctly to achieve your objective.

For those who like to delve into the nitty-gritty of battery charging and discharging, it is very instructive and learning to fully use this charger is also a lesson in knowing charging parameters.

That said, once the initial learning is over and you've setup some programs, the charger is not difficult to use.

That's the reason I bought this charger. My opus 3100 does what I need but I want to learn how it is done and what to do to get the job done correctly. That's why I will use the advanced mode in the mc3000 at starting.

 

[clintb]

If SkyRC really wants to have a look at software control done right, they need to look at CCS (Charge Control Software) from FMA, and specifically on the Powerlab 8. I own one of those, and once I got the hang of things, it was super easy to build and pick my own programs.

 

[DeanW8]

double post

 

[DeanW8]

[SIZE=+2]Conclusion[/SIZE]

This charger can handle many chemistries and many battery sizes and in addition to this it has a good precision, all of this is way above any other (consumer) charger on the market at the current time.
Using the safety functions (Capacity, time, temperature) it is very easy to add a extra layer of safety to the charge process and due to the programs it only has to be configured once and then it will be active for all charging of the battery type.
The charger has 3 UI modes, the dummy mode is mostly for people that got this charger without realizing what it is, the simple mode can be used to charge/test any chemistry, but it is not really possible to adjust any parameters. For really using the charger there is only advanced mode (Or PC/phone interface).

The charger is not without issues, most of them will probably be fixed with software upgrades, I have collected some of them here:

• It is required to remember the program numbers or press a key, on the initial screen there is no hint on how the selected program works.
• Default time on LiIon is 3 hours, this is to short.
• When terminating on time or capacity, no capacity information is saved.
• Break_in shows charged capacity, not discharge capacity.
• Backlight always requires a keypress to turn on, putting a battery into the charger will not turn the light on
• Factory calibration do not match specifications.
• The PC software requires a high screen resolution
• NiMH charge curves looks messy on PC, an option to hiding measuring pauses would be nice.
• PC software saves csv files at wrong location.
• It is not possible to copy programming from one charger to another, people with more than one charger (That will be me) must enter each program on each charger!
• The Bluetooth software is not stable and do not work on all phones.
• Strange coding on the usb output, why not use a chip to automatic get the best coding?

Even with all the above issues I can only call it a very good charger, but it is not for everyone.

Conclusion section does not seem very balanced - you have a criticism list but you don't have a praise list.

You put all the emphasis on the criticism, listing 12 of them (some of which appear to be very minor), placing each one in its separate line, while condensing all of the positive things into a single sentence.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Conclusion section does not seem very balanced - you have a criticism list but you don't have a praise list.

You put all the emphasis on the criticism, listing 12 of them (some of which appear to be very minor), placing each one in its separate line, while condensing all of the positive things into a single sentence.

I think that you need to really read the review and read HKJ's comments usually after a picture, to see that he's pretty stoked about this charger. I'm sure that the local tattoo parlor has already worked out a design for H..

While there are some issues to be worked out, I got the impression that this is a very good charger, but I needed to read the entire review, carefully and then reread it some more.

Chris

 

[andrewnewman]

While there are some issues to be worked out, I got the impression that this is a very good charger, but I needed to read the entire review, carefully and then reread it some more.

Chris

Yes! This is absolutely a ground-breaking charger. It's also brand new and quite complex. Assuming the maker works through some of the rough spots, I will almost certainly get one. I will wait out the holiday season, the Chinese New Year and most of the rest of winter, however, before pulling the trigger.

 

[HKJ]

Conclusion section does not seem very balanced - you have a criticism list but you don't have a praise list.

You put all the emphasis on the criticism, listing 12 of them (some of which appear to be very minor), placing each one in its separate line, while condensing all of the positive things into a single sentence.

Try reading my praise: "all of this is way above any other (consumer) charger on the market at the current time."

I do not believe I need to say much more, but I want people to be aware that there is a couple of (small) issues, even though I say "very good" (I do not do that very often).
If there had been anything affecting the charging, the rating had not been that positive. If I had rated the different modes, neither dummy or simple would get more than good, they often have issues with the current software.

 

[chewy78]

Try reading my praise: "all of this is way above any other (consumer) charger on the market at the current time."

I do not believe I need to say much more, but I want people to be aware that there is a couple of (small) issues, even though I say "very good" (I do not do that very often).
If there had been anything affecting the charging, the rating had not been that positive. If I had rated the different modes, neither dummy or simple would get more than good, they often have issues with the current software.

lol yupp they do have "small issues " when you get a blank screen like i have on mine that gearbest is giving me the run around for warranty work.