Shame because I assumed this charger does all , clearly it does not and the manufacture clearly isn't interested in any updates, so buyers beware ! I fell for it as have a ISDT C4 Evo Smart Charger anyway , so didnt really need this
SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer
- Thread starter kreisl
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
wus
Newly Enlightened
And does the ISDT C4 Evo recharge the Kratax 1.5V Lithium AAs?
Ha ha no that's why bought the skyrc , pretty annoyed as paid £100 for a charger that does no more than previous except c and d batteries , but support arn't interested in updating the firmware either. Yes as stated earlier need a 5v charge , but as I have a stand alone charger for these batteries that seems to be a dumb charger ( I maybe wrong ) I would expect the skyrc to charge them.
wus
Newly Enlightened
And did you ask ISDT as well if they would update their firmware to support charging such cells which require 5V straight? Apparently there are a couple more brands which require 5V, see https://www.akkuvergleichstest.de/
The MC3000 charges cells. It adjusts voltage and current, and controls the charging of a single cell. These 1.5V Lithium AA's are not cells, they have a cell inside but there is circuitry that surrounds it to take the Lithium 3V cell and regulate it to 1.5V. This circuitry also acts as the charger. So yes you are getting regulated voltage of these batteries, but you are also loosing efficiency because of the voltage converter, and its also a smaller cell inside because the circuit uses some space. So they have pluses but also big negatives. For example, a Lithium-ion battery doesn't like to be charged to 100% and stored, it should be charged to no more than 80% for long storage, where an Eneloop has no problem with a 100% charge and storage.
so when you pay £100 for a charger that states does all I expect it to , do you work for them ? seems like your very protective over a company that have not updated their firmware in 2 years and when requested , refuse to update their firmware ! sorry directed at Wus
I believe all the batteries the MC is compatible with, are already listed, and documented. So assuming you researched it before buying it, you then hoped the company could easily update the firmware for you? Strange logic in my opinion. The AA/AAA lithium batteries I buy, like “Energizer” brand are considered disposable/recyclable, for all the technical reasons mentioned in posts above. Just return it or sell it, do a bit more research next time, instead of, in your words: “a charger that states does all I expect it to”. Good luck!
You're blaming the manufacturer for an assumption you made. That's not fair.
Also, as explained by wus, the kind of battery you have can have any of several ways of how it needs to be charged. It is impossible for the charger to know what method is needed for any specific kind of that battery.
There's a reason a charger is often included with this kind of batteries, because the charger is matched to the specific type of batteries.
Also, as explained by wus, the kind of battery you have can have any of several ways of how it needs to be charged. It is impossible for the charger to know what method is needed for any specific kind of that battery.
There's a reason a charger is often included with this kind of batteries, because the charger is matched to the specific type of batteries.
wus
Newly Enlightened
Did you ask ISDT if they can update the C4 Evo firmware to allow 5V charging? Maybe they are more willing?
Btw, I'm not working for any company. I'm a retired engineer and thought about the problem that this sort of batteries pose to so called "universal" automatic chargers. I couldn't find an easy solution, that's why I wrote
However, I don't claim that it isn't possible at all, just because I didn't quickly find an easy solution - who am I after all. And maybe it would even be possible for SkyRC to implement it in a manual way, perhaps as you suggested in the expert mode. But like most companies, they will probably do it only if they can expect significant sales from it - not because 1 customer (who already purchased his unit
) asked for it.I prob know more than you buddy ! also the circuit in an aa lithium is a step down converter as well as low/high voltage cut-off and I know it requires 5v to charge as its really a 14500 @ 3.7v . My bad for not checking the charger more thoroughly. To be honest I thought in expert mode you could change it to charge @ 5v, but you can't as it thinks its a 1.3v aa and you can't change that all
Well that says it all!
While new batteries may come out, there are new larger size lithiums that electric cars are or will be using, but I suspect there will be NO firmware updates to this charger. It was created fairly long ago, but still charges the majority of batteries out there. I wish you luck finding a solution…..
Yes good point , I was merely stating that the manufacturer is not interested anyway. I could charge them manually but thought the charger that comes with them is a bit tacky
Attachments
wus
Newly Enlightened
Since a few days, the Sky MC3000 App (Android) that I use notifies me every time I start it that a new Firmware is available for download and should be installed in the charger. I now looked this up and saw that the new version - it is V1.15 - is dated 27.03.2020, i.e. it is over 2 years old.
I could not find a changelog or anything that describes the changes from V1.14. Did I overlook something? Do any of you know what changed?
It seems odd that a "new" firmware is offered only more than 2 years after its creation, does anyone here know why it is announced (by the app) only now? I'm using the MC3000 and the app since well over 2 years.
Google Play says tha app is V3.84 and was introduced on 17.12.2021. I'm always updating apps when new version become available....
I could not find a changelog or anything that describes the changes from V1.14. Did I overlook something? Do any of you know what changed?
It seems odd that a "new" firmware is offered only more than 2 years after its creation, does anyone here know why it is announced (by the app) only now? I'm using the MC3000 and the app since well over 2 years.
Google Play says tha app is V3.84 and was introduced on 17.12.2021. I'm always updating apps when new version become available....
The Krataxes are actually rebadged, or possibly cloned, Hixons, which in turn are rebadged or cloned by or from a number of other brands, you can find these scattered across Aliexpress with accompanying hit-and-miss quality control. I wouldn't want to use these with anything other than the vendor's charger which knows exactly what magic needs to be performed to safely charge them.
Or at least to charge them.
You can see this on some of the chargers for the batteries, you only plug the battery in on the + side to charge it, the - side is disconnected, so there's no way you're going to be able to charge it with any standard charger, firmware update or not.
They're also all quite misleadingly rated in mWh not mAh to hide their rather low capacity. Unless you really, really need 1.5V rather than 1.2V you're far better off with Eneloops. Even then, because they're running through a DC/DC converter they often have quite a bit of voltage drop at higher current draws, so you're not even beating an Eneloop there.
Thiers-Issard
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 10
Is it possible that i have bricked my MC3000 unit?
I downloaded the latest firmware from SkyRC's homepage and plugged in my USB cable.
Tried to update firmware and it didn't work.. Now the screen was blank and I panicked a little
, did a little bit of searching and found this guide:
"https://www.candlepowerforums.com/t...charger-analyzer.389700/page-174#post-4923550"
I grabbed my best USB cable that I know works, and I tried to upgrade firmware with this guide
And all I get is: start vector err1
Tried a few other cables too that I know are nice, but no...
I downloaded the latest firmware from SkyRC's homepage and plugged in my USB cable.
Tried to update firmware and it didn't work.. Now the screen was blank and I panicked a little
, did a little bit of searching and found this guide: "https://www.candlepowerforums.com/t...charger-analyzer.389700/page-174#post-4923550"
I grabbed my best USB cable that I know works, and I tried to upgrade firmware with this guide
And all I get is: start vector err1
Tried a few other cables too that I know are nice, but no...
wus
Newly Enlightened
Just so that no incomplete information remains here:
Yes, eneloops can supply higher currents than this sort of 1.5V LiIon AAs. They all (or that I know) have current limiters, to protect the built-in DC/DC converters. However, until their current limit, which is typically in the 1.5 to 2A range for AAs, they have a very stable output voltage, much better than NiMHs, whose voltage decreases significantly at higher currents.
You can see this here: select for instance the Kentli AA PH5 3000mWh vs the eneloop AA HR3-UWXB for currents of 1 and 2 Amps.
SYZYGY
Enlightened
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2019
- Messages
- 221
i'm using NCR18650GA (3500mAh) cells.
i made this refresh profile for them to measure their capacity:
BATT TYPE: liion
MODE: refresh
CAPACITY: 4200mAh
C. CURRENT: 1A
D. CURRENT: -1A
C. RESTING: 30min
D.RESTING: 60min
CYCLE COUNT: 1
CYCLE MODE: C>D>C
TARGET VOLT: 4.20V
TERMINATION: 0.1A
RESTART VOLT: OFF
D. REDUCE: OFF
CUT VOLT: 2.7V
CUT TEMP: 45°C
first, what do you think about it?
i use mostly zebralights, so i chose 2.7V cutoff because i've heard that's where ZL's LVP kicks in (is that true?). i wanted a capacity figure that roughly reflects my target devices.
however, it seems like they stopped discharging at 3V. what am i missing here?
you can see slot 1 is resting at 2.97V. IIRC the others also stopped at ~3V.
did i do something wrong? is this a bug? am i misunderstanding how this is supposed to work?
my device info:
fw 1.15
hw ≥2.2
thanks
i made this refresh profile for them to measure their capacity:
BATT TYPE: liion
MODE: refresh
CAPACITY: 4200mAh
C. CURRENT: 1A
D. CURRENT: -1A
C. RESTING: 30min
D.RESTING: 60min
CYCLE COUNT: 1
CYCLE MODE: C>D>C
TARGET VOLT: 4.20V
TERMINATION: 0.1A
RESTART VOLT: OFF
D. REDUCE: OFF
CUT VOLT: 2.7V
CUT TEMP: 45°C
first, what do you think about it?
i use mostly zebralights, so i chose 2.7V cutoff because i've heard that's where ZL's LVP kicks in (is that true?). i wanted a capacity figure that roughly reflects my target devices.
however, it seems like they stopped discharging at 3V. what am i missing here?
you can see slot 1 is resting at 2.97V. IIRC the others also stopped at ~3V.
did i do something wrong? is this a bug? am i misunderstanding how this is supposed to work?
my device info:
fw 1.15
hw ≥2.2
thanks
Last edited:
