Diagnostic Battery Charger?

[Bravo30]

i have a handful of lithium ion batteries , manly 18650, that are getting close to 5 years old and i was wondering if theres a charger that doubles as a diagnostic tool or even just a separate diagnostic tool altogether that i can use to check the health of the batteries.

thanks,

 

[lion504]

The leading health indicator of a battery is capacity; it determines how much energy a pack can hold. There are a number of quality chargers avail that will test capacity by charging a li-ion battery to 4.2v, discharging it, then recharging it to measure mAH. The resulting capacity value (in mAH) can then be compared to advertised capacity to determine health. This type of charger is usually called an 'analyzing' or 'grading' charger. The closer the 'analyzed' or 'graded' capacity is to the advertised capacity, the healther the cell is. A rule of thumb: 80-100% of advertised capacity = good.

I've personally used (and recommend) the XTAR VC8 and the Opus BT-C100, which both have the analyzing feature. Others (that I don't have any direct experience with) include Opus BT-C3100v2.2, XTAR VC4S, XTAR Dragon, etc. Depending on how many slots you need, you're looking at $20-50.

CPF member HKJ posts quality reviews, and his website has all the data you'll need. https://lygte-info.dk/info/indexBatteriesAndChargers UK.html

Good luck.

P.S. Does Bravo30 have anything to do with Bravo20?

 

[Bravo30]

The leading health indicator of a battery is capacity; it determines how much energy a pack can hold. There are a number of quality chargers avail that will test capacity by charging a li-ion battery to 4.2v, discharging it, then recharging it to measure mAH. The resulting capacity value (in mAH) can then be compared to advertised capacity to determine health. This type of charger is usually called an 'analyzing' or 'grading' charger. The closer the 'analyzed' or 'graded' capacity is to the advertised capacity, the healther the cell is. A rule of thumb: 80-100% of advertised capacity = good.

I've personally used (and recommend) the XTAR VC8 and the Opus BT-C100, which both have the analyzing feature. Others (that I don't have any direct experience with) include Opus BT-C3100v2.2, XTAR VC4S, XTAR Dragon, etc. Depending on how many slots you need, you're looking at $20-50.



P.S. Does Bravo30 have anything to do with Bravo20?

Thanks for the info!

Bravo30 is just Bravo30. No relation to anything. Just a random screen name that I've had for a while.

 

[terjee]

I'm seconding everything lion504 said, so make my post more as addition than opposing viewpoint, I just wanted to mention a few things.

First up is resistance. In addition to capacity, resistance tend to go up as a battery age, and is also a useful health indicator. A lot of chargers will give you a resistance reading, also some none analyzer ones. The quality of these can vary a bit, but it's good to keep an eye on, as it's something you can notice during every day use.

Also, storage voltage matters when storing LiIons for a long time. If they've sed discharged buying a certain level, they can be damaged. Some will try to revive them by bringing the voltage up slowly, others will hand the cells in for recycling if they voltage has stayed below a certain voltage for an extended period of time. How careful you'd want to be depends on personal risk preference and use case. I wouldn't use a battery that's been stored for two years and showing less than 1V for vaping for example, but for outdoor RC-car use I wouldn't mind trying.

Also, while I think it's needlessly expensive for most, there's also the SkyRC MC3000 charger. It gives more control of testing and charging batteries, but it's not something you'd typically need, I'm just mentioning for completeness.

 

[Bravo30]

I've personally used (and recommend) the XTAR VC8 and the Opus BT-C100, which both have the analyzing feature. Others (that I don't have any direct experience with) include Opus BT-C3100v2.2, XTAR VC4S, XTAR Dragon, etc. Depending on how many slots you need, you're looking at $20-50.

is the Opus BT-C3100v2.2 the most current model offered? so far i like it over the rest. it has an easy to read screen and i can charge, test, discharged different cells all at the same time. also, i read somewhere that a certain model Opus came with a car charger. is this true? if i remember correctly it was the BT-C3400

 

[lion504]

I think the difference between the C3400 and C3100 is the discharge cut-off voltage. 3.1v vs 2.8v, respectively. I can't remember where i read that, so consider the source! Not sure about the inclusion of the 12v plug. On a couple of occasions, I used a 12v to 5v USB A adapter with my C100.

 

[terjee]

i read somewhere that a certain model Opus came with a car charger. is this true?

The C3100 used 12V input and a standard plug. It would surprise me a bit if you couldn't use a standard cigarette lighter type adapter to power it, but please verify before purchasing.

You're likely to find such adapters where you'd buy the charger, and also most staffed gas's stations, electronics or car stores etc.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I think the difference between the C3400 and C3100 is the discharge cut-off voltage. 3.1v vs 2.8v, respectively. I can't remember where i read that, so consider the source! Not sure about the inclusion of the 12v plug. On a couple of occasions, I used a 12v to 5v USB A adapter with my C100.

I have both the BT-3400 v. 2.2 and 3.1 and you're correct in that regard, but the BT-3400s differ from the BT-3100 v. 2.2 in that the former has an 'upgraded' fan and its display can be toggled to turn off after a few seconds or to stay in the on position.

Chris

 

[Dascombe]

I'm seconding everything lion504 said, so make my post more as addition than opposing viewpoint, I just wanted to mention a few things.

Also, while I think it's needlessly expensive for most, there's also the SkyRC MC3000 charger. It gives more control of testing and charging batteries, but it's not something you'd typically need, I'm just mentioning for completeness.

Just having bought the SkyRC I'm going to have to agree completely. After spending the better part of this long weekend playing around with it, it's pretty disappointing. If I had to do it again, I'd go with the Opus C3100 and a YR1030 resistance tester.

 

[pasquale]

I use my chargers-analysìzer for this purpose too; unfortunately I found there are some differences between the various chargers; just a couple of examples:

Battery 1 (18650 Sony SE):
Miboxer c2-400 reports 2191 mAh
Liitokala Li-500 eng reports 2416 mAh (full test)
Xtar VC4S reports 2140 mAh

Battery 2 (Panasonic CGR18650A):
c2-4000 > 1313mAH
Li-500 > 1755MaH
VC4S > 1341mAh

Things seem to get worse with older batteries:
Battery 3 (Sanyo Kidy4 051697):
c2-4000 > 1572mAh
Li-500 > 1711mAH
VC4S > 1266mAh (!)

old Sub-C NiCd (brand unknown, rated 2000mAh):
C2-4000 > 1942mAH
Li-500 > 1357mAh (!)
VC4S > 965mAH (!!)

Is this normal? I am expecially impressed by the VC4S cautious behavior...

Still checking.
Best regards,
Pasquale

 

[Tomaao]

I use my chargers-analysìzer for this purpose too; unfortunately I found there are some differences between the various chargers; just a couple of examples:

Battery 1 (18650 Sony SE):
Miboxer c2-400 reports 2191 mAh
Liitokala Li-500 eng reports 2416 mAh (full test)
Xtar VC4S reports 2140 mAh

Battery 2 (Panasonic CGR18650A):
c2-4000 > 1313mAH
Li-500 > 1755MaH
VC4S > 1341mAh

Things seem to get worse with older batteries:
Battery 3 (Sanyo Kidy4 051697):
c2-4000 > 1572mAh
Li-500 > 1711mAH
VC4S > 1266mAh (!)

old Sub-C NiCd (brand unknown, rated 2000mAh):
C2-4000 > 1942mAH
Li-500 > 1357mAh (!)
VC4S > 965mAH (!!)

Is this normal? I am expecially impressed by the VC4S cautious behavior...

Still checking.
Best regards,
Pasquale

Hi Pasquale,

Is there any update about your checking?

I'm wandering why the Li-500 always detected a higher capacity (except the last one) and the VC4S detected a very low capacity for old battery.

 

[pasquale]

Hi Pasquale,

Is there any update about your checking?

I'm wandering why the Li-500 always detected a higher capacity (except the last one) and the VC4S detected a very low capacity for old battery.

Unfortunately, yes
The Liitokala seems to have gone ill (or crazy); the slot #4 has started to give nonsense results for full (NOR) test on a set of AAA Eneloops, each rated around 700mAh; after analyzing one, it says "165mAh". I repeated the test with another battery, then with the first again, and the results are the same. In one occasion even slot #3 has behaved the same.
Now I'm being concentrated to solve the question. If more tests confirm the illness, I suppose I'm going to dismantle it and give a look. Too lazy to ask for refund/ replacement / assistance...

Greetings,
Pasquale