SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer

[tjh]

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

It's impossible to do that with a microcontroller, not enough ram nor flash to contain a whole copy of the firmware.
The only thing that it's possible to do is to use a bootloader that it will be never deleted during the upgrade, then when the new firmware is flashed and at the end of the procedure the PC send the checksum of the firmware. The microcontroller marks as valid the new firmware only if the calculated checksum is matched. If there is any problem the bootloader will never start the corrupt firmware but wait for a new flash procedure.
I think that's about what is (correctly)implemented in the MC3000.

This makes sense, thanks for the information. I'll update my original post.

 

[kreisl]

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

A quick heads up, some notable improvements in FW1.04 quick tested so far by me are:

+ GSV has 1 new item called "Names: {Parameter|Default}". You still cannot name your own programs but at least TOV can show the main program parameters like chemistry, charge and discharge rates.
+ SOV has 1 new item called "Average". It shows the "average voltage" (of your test run?). I don't know how this value is being calculated. I guess that you get 3.6V when doing a full discharge run on a liion cell? Actually it doesn't matter how it is being calculated because the calculation method could be silently changed again in future firmware versions. The user is free to calculate the average voltage with his/her own averaging technique in Excel. There are hundred ways of defining an average value mathematically!
+ When an abnormal program termination occurs (capacity cut, time cut, temperature cut, etc), it is possible to enter SOV and DDV and look at the data up to that point. Depressing the SNB in TOV will quit the error.
+ The AUTO of the backlight works now as expected, it turns ON when battery is inserted or when a program has finished (or an abnormal program termination occurs).

Batt IR measurement has been improved internally but I still want that separate function for Batt IR measurement in TOV, i am working on it

 

[tjh]

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

A quick heads up, some confirmed easily notable improvements in FW1.04 are:
+ GSV has 1 new item called "Names: {Parameter|Default}". You still cannot name your own programs but at least TOV can show the main program parameters like chemistry, charge and discharge rates.
+ SOV has 1 new item called "Average". It shows the "average voltage" (of your test run?). I don't know how this value is being calculated. I guess that you get 3.6V when doing a full discharge run on a liion cell?
+ When an abnormal program termination occurs (capacity cut, time cut, temperature cut, etc), it is possible to enter SOV and DDV and look at the data up to that point. Depressing the SNB will quit the error.
+ The AUTO of the backlight works now as expected, it turns ON when battery is inserted or when a program has finished (or an abnormal program termination occurs).

I still want that separate function for Batt IR measurement in TOV, i am working on it

This is great news!
Thanks kreisl and SkyRC.
Looking forward to it.

How do you update the charger? New dedicated program or updated Monitor?

Or will you keep us in suspense?

 

[kreisl]

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

How do you update the charger? New dedicated program or updated Monitor?

i have no idea.

i got a standalone *.exe file for the beita ("dedicated program"). installs safely on WinXP thru premium usb data cable. if they distribute the dedicated updater.exe, they wouldn't need to urgently update the PCLS. at the same time i am not sure how safe it is to run the updater.exe on systems other than my WinXP

 

[clintb]

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

Do we all really believe this "faulty USB cable" thing?

I find it hard to believe the cable I have, that has flashed at least 30+ ROMs and uploaded countless Gigabytes of data to my phones, is the reason that PCLS stops logging now and then.

I don't believe it's the reason.

A faulty cable shows itself pretty quickly if you're using it for other things.

More likely a bad connector or bad USB implementation.

I used to think a cable wouldn't make much difference. If it's working on one device, it should be good to go on others, right? Not as I've found.

New Garmin Oregon 600 hand held GPS receiver. I had some maps to transfer onto it and into the expandable micro SD storage. Mini USB cable that has been used for other devices, with zero problems. I start the transfer of approximately 1 GB and it stops. I try again; same result. Take the card out and put it in a card reader directly attached to the computer...can't write to it, nor can I format. Crap. Returned that card (Sandisk Extreme) to Amazon for an exchange. Received new card (same Sandisk) and immediately tested in card reader with benchmark programs and copying huge amounts of data to/from. No problems. Put the card in the Garmin and try transferring maps...same thing again. It's like the card got software locked, which I learned is possible with micro SD. Sent that one off to Amazon for a replacement. This time, I switched to using the mini USB cable that came with the Garmin and it worked perfectly.

 

[zasada]

when i charge eneloop batteries in advanced mode i set the end voltage 1.65v and capacity for standard eneloop AA 2000mah and for pro 2500mah. The charger always stops charging when on the screen it is written cut capacity. What do I do wrong?

 

[MarioJP]

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

So i decided to test the SkyRC PC monitor. One thing i've noticed is the connectivity issues with certain usb cables. Luckily i have unused usb cables and that particular cable seem to got rid of the Usb connection error message. These micro USB ports are too fragile. Over time they data pins begins to wear or bend. And, not all cables are created equal too. There are some that come defective in a sense where it works fine on one device but has issues on another device. Experienced this many times and that is really annoying. But high quality cables works in all devices. That to me is QA passed. I have the habit to test connection before any type of data transfers, especially when flashing firmware are involved. Having a bricked phone due to a bad cable is not cool, and now that this charger has the ability to update. There is that risk of bricking it too. Would of been nice if the charger came with its own usb cable. The notion that you can just grab any cable, plug it in and flash is a disaster waiting to happen lol.

 

[billcushman]

when i charge eneloop batteries in advanced mode i set the end voltage 1.65v and capacity for standard eneloop AA 2000mah and for pro 2500mah. The charger always stops charging when on the screen it is written cut capacity. What do I do wrong?

Read page 20 of the manual to understand what Capacity is. The fact that you are able to set capacity tells me you are not using the Eneloop mode. I suggest you use the Eneloop mode. If you did that you would not have had the problem. If Capacity is set for any Ni-MH type battery, it must be set at least 20% higher than the rated capacity of the battery. It is a safety feature to stop charging if other termination methods fail. Your charger stopped charging because you set the capacity too low and it resulted in a Capacity Cut.

 

[kreisl]

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

Batt IR measurement has been improved internally but I still want that separate function for Batt IR measurement in TOV, i am working on it

oops, the function is there!
In TOV, pressing <STOP+UP> together will evoke the Batt IR measurement in TOV. The function is applied to ready slots only. The result is displayed in TOV. To quit the display of the miliOhms, in TOV one can click on ENTER (for RETURN), OR click on the SNB (to enter SPV) followed by STOP (to CANCEL SPV and return to TOV).

Can the pressing of <STOP+UP> stop active slots, accidentally? Well, only if you're pressing like mr clumsy

<UP+DOWN> would have been my preference and is feasible to implement but for now the key combination is <STOP+UP>. So yes, if you're clumsy with the key pressing, you would unintentionally STOP all slots hhh.

 

[kappa7]

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

Nice that they have implemented the Batt IR as separate function.
The problem to accidentally stop active slots can be resolved, as someone here on the forum has already suggested, by changing the stop function from short press of stop button to long press of stop button.

 

[_UPz]

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

oops, the function is there!
In TOV, pressing <STOP+UP> together will evoke the Batt IR measurement in TOV. The function is applied to ready slots only. The result is displayed in TOV. To quit the display of the miliOhms, in TOV one can click on ENTER (for RETURN), OR click on the SNB (to enter SPV) followed by STOP (to CANCEL SPV and return to TOV).

Can the pressing of <STOP+UP> stop active slots, accidentally? Well, only if you're pressing like mr clumsy

<UP+DOWN> would have been my preference and is feasible to implement but for now the key combination is <STOP+UP>. So yes, if you're clumsy with the key pressing, you would unintentionally STOP all slots hhh.

Great stuff! Nice work for the SKYRC team and squirrel.
Shall we expect the firmware to be available at the end of the CNY, isn't it?

 

[kreisl]

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

Shall we expect the firmware to be available at the end of the CNY

I found bugs in the beita so the release firmware is covering 25+ k# items as listed. We can expect 1.04 to be available later this month. I figured out that Average in SOV is being computed as the quotient of energy and capacity. Discharging an old Samsung ICR18650-32A at -1.00A from 4.35V to 2.75V resulted in "Average: 3.700V" on the LCD lol. Right now i am doing a Break_in on a 100mAh NiMH and the charger has no problems with producing a steady 0.010A charge current, cool. So in theory, future firmware versions could support -0.01A/0.01A as the lowest rates instead of the official -0.05A/0.05A specification; but there is no urgency or priority and we'll unleash when time's come.

Thanks everyone for your interest and all the help with identifying bugs and submitting ideas and suggestions. With 1.04 out, it'll become harder to encounter remaining bugs, all of which probably really minor in nature. So many notable changes from 1.03 to 1.04, and probably only irrelevant and very few ones from 1.04 to 1.05, a safe guess. About then i'd compile my posts into a review of 1.05 and also have a comparative look at the assembly of the (more expensive) FCC/CE edition which started production in January and were shipped to foreign retailers (US/DE).

 

[usrnam]

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

So many notable changes from 1.03 to 1.04, and probably only irrelevant and very few ones from 1.04 to 1.05, a safe guess. About then i'd compile my posts into a review of 1.05 and also have a comparative look at the assembly of the (more expensive) FCC/CE edition which started production in January and were shipped to foreign retailers (US/DE).

The MC3000 (except for a EU plug version) was out of stock for a while, were recently listed back in stock with a ten dollar increase. If purchasing one of the newly stocked chargers which version is most likely being supplied?

What are the fundamental differences between the old versions and new FCC/CE edition?

 

[kreisl]

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

The MC3000 (except for a EU plug version) was out of stock for a while, were recently listed back in stock with a ten dollar increase. If purchasing one of the newly stocked chargers which version is most likely being supplied?

What are the fundamental differences between the old versions and new FCC/CE edition?

All newly stocked chargers are the FCC/CE edition.
The fundamental differences:
1) More expensive,
2) FCC/CE label sticker lol,
3) Killed dino or that's what a squirrel would believe ,
4) Fan blow up

I can't provide more (i.e. non-fundamental) details until i got my own copy for close-up comparison

 

[tjh]

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

Yeah! I got a "Limited Edition" original release.

Team "Fan should blow down"!

 

[kappa7]

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

All newly stocked chargers are the FCC/CE edition.
The fundamental differences:
1) More expensive,
2) FCC/CE label sticker lol,
3) Killed dino ,
4) Fan blow up.

I can't provide more (i.e. non-fundamental) details until i got my own copy for close-up comparison

So I was right with my guess that the fan blowing down was not a smart idea.
I will wait your comparative review and the explanation of your fan mod to open my charger and apply all the useful optimizations.

 

[fnsooner]

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

3) Killed dino ,

LOL, how rude!?

 

[Albert_]

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

Yeah! I got a "Limited Edition" original release.

Team "Fan should blow down"!

Have you tested temperature differences between having the fan blowing air downward vs blowing air upwards?

 

[tjh]

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

Have you tested temperature differences between having the fan blowing air downward vs blowing air upwards?

No. I only have 1 charger. The original. Dino included. Fan blows down.

AS GOD INTENDED.

I refuse to acknowledge these "new" fan-blows-up, non-dino monsters.

 

[kreisl]

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

i like your spirit