Test/Review of Charger Opus BT-C3100 V2.1

[HKJ]

Thank you very much for the useful link.

My observation for the Test Mode of the Opus BT-C3100v2.1 is
it does a final full charge of the battery
so to use your nomenclature -

short: C > nR > D > nR > C
(addition highlighted in Red)

You can always check my reviews for the behaviour.
A LiIon charge test looks this way (charge discharge charge there is no rest period):

 

[kreisl]

short: C > nR > D > nR > C
(addition highlighted in Red)

Thanks for the info. I've corrected the post!

 

[UnknownVT]

Thanks for the info. I've corrected the post!

Sure, and thanks to HKJ for the graphic showing the Test Mode cycle from his review.

But you might want to update your long description
which is currently still:

BT-C3100 so-called "TEST MODE":
charge - no rest - full discharge,

you'll need to add the
- no rest - final full charge.

and from my observation of Test of that old LIR 123A/16340 ("3" - on its last legs)
it seems at the end of the Test Mode Cycle -
if the battery drops below 4.0V the charge will do its maintenance charge back up to 4.2V
then do the discharge to obtain the "new" capacity
and another "final" full charge.

My guess is it probably will repeat this ad-infinitum if the battery is left in the charger on the Test Mode.

 

[kreisl]

yoh. done.

thanks again!

i've been test cycling ncr-a in the skyrc. the timer cut-off refers to the single program routines instead of the total time. this is wrong imho..

 

[realista]

Thank you very much for the useful link.
At the end of the cycle the display (using the Display button)
flashes between Full and the capacity in mAh.

Thanks

just little question, capacity is read during DISCHARGING moment or charging moment? if when discharging.....i think pressing "display" should show capacity eve if the final charge is not completed. is it right?

@unknown you said the discharge current is the same as the charge current. so in the test mode......when u charge a battery at 200mah is discharged at 200.... but if you charge at 2000 will be discharged at 2000.
I don't like that i cannot choose the discharge rate. one person could prefer to charge FAST a battery but to discharge at only 200/300mah .
ABOUT THIS............. what is the "best" dircharge current to get "quite real" capacity? how do factory rate batteries? if i am not wrong..... i remember 500mah. but i could remember wrong. the true thing id that if you discharge a battery at 1000/1500/2000mah the final capacity readings are lower.......

 

[UnknownVT]

just little question, capacity is read during DISCHARGING moment or charging moment? if when discharging.....i think pressing "display" should show capacity eve if the final charge is not completed. is it right?

I can only speak for the Test Mode -

While discharging there is no display of mAh.

Once discharge is finished - the mAh is displayed - an continues to be available during final full charge.

When charge is completed - Full is displayed alternating with the mAh.

@unknown you said the discharge current is the same as the charge current. so in the test mode......when u charge a battery at 200mah is discharged at 200.... but if you charge at 2000 will be discharged at 2000.

I don't like that i cannot choose the discharge rate. one person could prefer to charge FAST a battery but to discharge at only 200/300mah .
ABOUT THIS............. what is the "best" dircharge current to get "quite real" capacity? how do factory rate batteries? if i am not wrong..... i remember 500mah. but i could remember wrong. the true thing id that if you discharge a battery at 1000/1500/2000mah the final capacity readings are lower.......

I was going by the manual - which I have commented is not very clear.

Bear in mind I have a sample of the Opus BT-C3100 v2.1 that is faulty in Slot #1 which gives obviously erroneous readings, so I cannot trust it and no longer using it at all -
I don't know if this affects the rest of the charger.

However my observation - again in Test Mode -
If a charge current of 1Amp or 1.5Amp (I have not tried 2Amps) is set, then it appears for NiMH batteries, if the discharge current is 700mA.

You can see that in HKJ's review/opening post in the graph under: CHARGE TEST NiMH batteries, used to measure capacity -
his charge current was 1Amp and discharge on the graph is about 700mA.

BUT for his graph of CHARGE TEST LiIon batteries, measure capacity - charge and discharge currents both look to be about 1Amp.

I try to use as close to 0.5C for the charge current and accept whatever the discharge current is set by the Opus.

On the Maha/PowerEX C9000 where the charge and discharge currents can be set individually - I use 0.5C for the charge and 0.2C for the discharge.

 

[tatasal]

In my Opus, I use the discharge mode to get the discharge capacity at the rate I like. Same with charging, I use the charge mode.

I don't use the its 'test mode' in li-lon since it's not useful and recommended anyway.

Test mode is best used to condition tired niMh cells.

 

[realista]

why you say "not recommended" ? it is useful to have an all in 1 program that let you veridy the capacity if the battery. The only downside is that in this charger we can't set the current discharge rate. ( i don't understand if it is fixed 700mah nimh and 1000 liion).

ASSUMING THAT ( is it true or not??) is better to verify the mah fiilled into the battery in the DISCHARGE MOMENT........ one person should manually set:
1)charge
2)DIScharge at rate you want and verify the mah to see battery capacity
3)charge

or....if could be the right way usethe CHARGING MOMENT to verify battery capacity :
1)discarge
2) Charge at rate you want and verify the mah to see battery capacity

second option is convenient for time....... but i wait for the veterans to say us that is the correct moment to verify capacity.

 

[Wiggle]

I've wondered this as well. It would be interesting to do a batch of cells and comparing the mean charge vs discharge mAh found. The way I've been testing my cells is
1) Charge up at any reasonable current
2) Discharge fully at a reasonable current based on the cell to measure the mAh
3) Charge up to 40% for cells that will be stored, charge to 90-100% for user or immediate standby cells.

 

[wolfmanus]

Hi All!

-I bought this 1 week ago. After a few days the fan is broken (the plain bearing is stringent). The fan almost always working at full speed (very loud and annoying).
-The voltage measurement is sometimes very inaccurate, reads low by 1-2 tenths of volts. (i have an AGILENT U1253B)

 

[realista]

i have the same problem of wolfman, the fan is starting do do NOISE, sometimes is difficult to start. When i plud first second the cd converter sometimes i hear noises from the fan.

i think some fan of the batch do have problems....and yes, it always start af 100% speed, no step down at 50 or 20%. i think the fan speed is too fast and over hours all fan will start to have problems.
EDIT: i noticed that 8 times on 10 every time the fan start, do make noise. but after 5 seconds noise disappear...... mmmmhh

 

[UnknownVT]

-I bought this 1 week ago. After a few days the fan is broken (the plain bearing is stringent). The fan almost always working at full speed (very loud and annoying).
-The voltage measurement is sometimes very inaccurate, reads low by 1-2 tenths of volts. (i have an AGILENT U1253B)

i have the same problem of wolfman, the fan is starting do do NOISE, sometimes is difficult to start. When i plud first second the cd converter sometimes i hear noises from the fan.
i think some fan of the batch do have problems....and yes, it always start af 100% speed, no step down at 50 or 20%. i think the fan speed is too fast and over hours all fan will start to have problems.

It would seem that there may be quality issues with the Opus BT-C3100 (v2.1).

My sample's issue was much more severe -
Slot #1 (leftmost) gave unrealistic/erroneous readings -
enough that I cannot trust it will not over-charge or over-discharge my batteries - so I would not use it at all -
with one of the important slots that can charge above 1Amp unusable -
if using slot #4 (rightmost) to charge at above 1A - the use of any of the other two slots (#2 or #3) reduces the charge in #4 down to 1A -
so effectively a 3-slot 1A charger (or 1-slot charger above 1A).

I opened a ticket with GearBest.com almost immediately with full description and photo evidence of the defect
(as described in posts #55 and #59 of this thread)

GearBest basically gave me the (polite and amicable) runaround -

Even after finally managing to come to an agreeable arrangement of a partial refund
without me having to return the defective unit (very expensive with tracking to China, and they will not pay for return shipping),
they did not actually make the agreed and promised partial refund,
and even asked inexplicably for evidence of the defect two more times.

It was not until today - after I opened a dispute at PayPal (where PayPal holds their funds) -
that the "offer" of the partial refund was made on PayPal.

I hope defective product is not the norm -
although I think the customer service is.

 

[lardyl]

It would seem that there may be quality issues with the Opus BT-C3100 (v2.1).

My sample's issue was much more severe -
Slot #1 (leftmost) gave unrealistic/erroneous readings -
enough that I cannot trust it will not over-charge or over-discharge my batteries - so I would not use it at all -
with one of the important slots that can charge above 1Amp unusable -
if using slot #4 (rightmost) to charge at above 1A - the use of any of the other two slots (#2 or #3) reduces the charge in #4 down to 1A -
so effectively a 3-slot 1A charger (or 1-slot charger above 1A).

I opened a ticket with GearBest.com almost immediately with full description and photo evidence of the defect
(as described in posts #55 and #59 of this thread)

GearBest basically gave me the (polite and amicable) runaround -

Even after finally managing to come to an agreeable arrangement of a partial refund
without me having to return the defective unit (very expensive with tracking to China, and they will not pay for return shipping),
they did not actually make the agreed and promised partial refund,
and even asked inexplicably for evidence of the defect two more times.

It was not until today - after I opened a dispute at PayPal (where PayPal holds their funds) -
that the "offer" of the partial refund was made on PayPal.

I hope defective product is not the norm -
although I think the customer service is.

In a very similar position with fan starting off ok (for a week) but now unable to spin up unless I stand the unit up on the bottom edge or twist the case a little. It is also very nosy, clearly the impeller is fouling and it sounds like a three year old cheap pc case fan.
Also noticed the "odd" capacity reading from the left hand display when doing a charge/refresh cycle.
I am in negotiation with supplier over return/repair costs at present. Do you mind me asking what they agreed to in the form of a partial refund? I'm thinking about modding the unit with another case fan that can start at full speed more reliably and a contribution from GearBest would help me to decide to keep it. I can't find anyone obvious to repair it and the way the fan is retained is not particularly conducive for a direct replacement (for my limited skills at least).
Thanks

 

[UnknownVT]

In a very similar position with fan starting off ok (for a week) but now unable to spin up unless I stand the unit up on the bottom edge or twist the case a little. It is also very nosy, clearly the impeller is fouling and it sounds like a three year old cheap pc case fan.
Also noticed the "odd" capacity reading from the left hand display when doing a charge/refresh cycle.
I am in negotiation with supplier over return/repair costs at present. Do you mind me asking what they agreed to in the form of a partial refund? I'm thinking about modding the unit with another case fan that can start at full speed more reliably and a contribution from GearBest would help me to decide to keep it. I can't find anyone obvious to repair it and the way the fan is retained is not particularly conducive for a direct replacement (for my limited skills at least).
Thanks

Sent you PM with details.

My sample was not just giving wrong/erroneous/impossible readings in slot #1 (leftmost)
but charge/discharge times were noticeably longer (almost double) for the currents chosen -
I cannot figure out what was wrong with Slot #1 -
hence my deep distrust of that slot - and I will not use it at all.

So in effect I have a 3-slot charger with one of the more important slots that can charge above 1Amp untrustworthy.

Good luck,

 

[lardyl]

Sent you PM with details.

My sample was not just giving wrong/erroneous/impossible readings in slot #1 (leftmost)
but charge/discharge times were noticeably longer (almost double) for the currents chosen -
I cannot figure out what was wrong with Slot #1 -
hence my deep distrust of that slot - and I will not use it at all.

So in effect I have a 3-slot charger with one of the more important slots that can charge above 1Amp untrustworthy.

Good luck,

thanks very much I will bear that in mind

 

[kreisl]

Afaik the BT-C3100 v1.0 applied trickle charging *after* the DISCHARGE routine. Why? In order to prevent overdischarging through self-discharge (poor health battery) or auto-discharge (standby current draw of the machine). It was afaik the only charger-analyzer which did TRICKLE charging after DISCHARGING.

So the BT-C3100 v2.1 does not do this anymore?

Well, if there is no charger in the world which does/offers "TRICKLE-after-DISCHARGE" because it is a silly or unneeded thing, then I am arguing that the MC3000 should not offer it either.

 

[HKJ]

Afaik the BT-C3100 v1.0 applied trickle charging *after* the DISCHARGE routine. Why? In order to prevent overdischarging through self-discharge (poor health battery) or auto-discharge (standby current draw of the machine). It was afaik the only charger-analyzer which did TRICKLE charging after DISCHARGING.

So the BT-C3100 v2.1 does not do this anymore?

Well, if there is no charger in the world which does/offers "TRICKLE-after-DISCHARGE" because it is a silly or unneeded thing, then I am arguing that the MC3000 should not offer it either.

This kind of questions is easy enough to answer, just look at the curves in my review. None of them show any current after discharge.

 

[kreisl]

i looked at the 1.0 curves and 2.1 curves. The 2.1 curves don't show any current after discharge. The 1.0 curves show something. But the image resolution is too small.

 

[StandardBattery]

I think on a professional level charger one would not want to trickle after discharge simply because the user may want to measure the voltage of the cell after discharge, and would likely want to choose the charge rate if they wanted to bring the cell back up. It seems user Programs can be used to do this if desired, but it should not be automatic.

 

[UnknownVT]

Afaik the BT-C3100 v1.0 applied trickle charging *after* the DISCHARGE routine. Why? In order to prevent overdischarging through self-discharge (poor health battery) or auto-discharge (standby current draw of the machine). It was afaik the only charger-analyzer which did TRICKLE charging after DISCHARGING.

So the BT-C3100 v2.1 does not do this anymore?

Well, if there is no charger in the world which does/offers "TRICKLE-after-DISCHARGE" because it is a silly or unneeded thing, then I am arguing that the MC3000 should not offer it either.

i looked at the 1.0 curves and 2.1 curves. The 2.1 curves don't show any current after discharge. The 1.0 curves show something. But the image resolution is too small.

I think on a professional level charger one would not want to trickle after discharge simply because the user may want to measure the voltage of the cell after discharge, and would likely want to choose the charge rate if they wanted to bring the cell back up. It seems user Programs can be used to do this if desired, but it should not be automatic.

v1.0 may or may not do any trickle charging - HKJ's graph seems to show close enough to zero charge current (darker green line) even on lower res.

But I can confirm v2.1 does not apply any trickle charge after discharge - as I just discharged a couple of Duracell Ion-Core AA, and although the Opus BT-C3100 v2.1 did not indicate it had finished discharging -
the readings all showed unchanging steady state - as I was not sure if the discharge had finished, I left the batteries in the charger for several minutes longer to be sure that the readings were at unchanging steady state -
and they remained so - so after approx 1/2 hour after I had found the steady state, I was confident enough of the finish of the discharge cycle, to remove the batteries.

NOTE: this is WRONG - according to the manual v2.1 does apply a trickle charge after discharge completion (see post #82) -
My apologies for this misleading post.