Ferdinando
Newly Enlightened
charger-link app is for programming hobby-Chargers (B6-mini, B6-ac, etc)
with wi-fi module
SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer
- Thread starter kreisl
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
charger-link app is for programming hobby-Chargers (B6-mini, B6-ac, etc)
with wi-fi module
gyzmo2002
Enlightened
Thank you Ferdinando. Hope the mc3000 appli will be fix soon. This charger is in my GB cart... hesitated...🤔
Ferdinando
Newly Enlightened
there are 3 apps for chargers (other than mc3000)
and 2 for ESC programming, and all works good
on my iPhone.
so I think they will fix for sure.
and 2 for ESC programming, and all works good
on my iPhone.
so I think they will fix for sure.
flashflood
Enlightened
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- 608
Did kreisl actually say that? I don't see that in any previous post of his.
B-2Admirer
Newly Enlightened
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- Aug 12, 2015
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When I try to "ADD TO BAG" the charger WITH an accessory on www.hkequipment.net I end up with ONLY the accessory in the shopping cart. I can only add the charger by itself, if I select "-" in the "Accessories" dropdown list. Whose fault is that?
Julian Holtz
Enlightened
low input voltage threshold
I want to propose a function I know and like at the iCharger line. Here, you can program a "smart low input voltage protection". This means, that one can program in a specific input voltage level threshold. Once this low level is reached, the charger does not shut down with an error message, but it reduces the charge power automatically in order not to overstrain the power supply. This is especially useful when the charge power has the potential to demand more power than the power supply can provide.
Say, one has a power supply 12V/2A. One would then program the low voltage threshold at 11.5V. Most power supplys lower the output voltage when they are almost overloaded, and do not shut dowm immediately. So, when the charger senses that the input voltage has fallen to 11.5V, it lowers it's power until it is just right. It's a feedback loop designed to draw the most power from any power supply without overloading it. It works wonderful, and I would love to see this feature on the MC3000 as well.
I want to propose a function I know and like at the iCharger line. Here, you can program a "smart low input voltage protection". This means, that one can program in a specific input voltage level threshold. Once this low level is reached, the charger does not shut down with an error message, but it reduces the charge power automatically in order not to overstrain the power supply. This is especially useful when the charge power has the potential to demand more power than the power supply can provide.
Say, one has a power supply 12V/2A. One would then program the low voltage threshold at 11.5V. Most power supplys lower the output voltage when they are almost overloaded, and do not shut dowm immediately. So, when the charger senses that the input voltage has fallen to 11.5V, it lowers it's power until it is just right. It's a feedback loop designed to draw the most power from any power supply without overloading it. It works wonderful, and I would love to see this feature on the MC3000 as well.
Batch
Newly Enlightened
And the price of the AA battery is 18.99 instead of 8.99$
B-2Admirer
Newly Enlightened
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- Aug 12, 2015
- Messages
- 78
Because the $8.99 price is stated with a discount, which only applies when you buy the set together with the charger and due to a glitch of some kind it's impossible.
kreisl
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Messages
- 2,241
The below recent pic taken with my 2014 PC Link software and 2014 prototype versions gives you an idea of what the proprietary PC Link software looks like in original resolution. My beloved HD view (720p) won't cut it, one needs to switch to Full HD (1080p). What is happening there is rather self-explanatory but let me walk you through it since it's the first time you're seeing such a screenshot and tbh the user manual doesn't talk too much about it. The new PC Link software version, compatible with 2015 retail hardware, will be posted on the website these days, so it makes sense to chat about it in this post.
4 batteries were in the charger, i started the slots at the same time via the Start/Stop-button of the software, and after 90mins i decided to take a screenshot while all 4 slots were still running their programs. With this old software version you don't really need to start all 4 slots at the same time, however it'd be the natural thing to do so.
During the graphing the scaling of both the horizontal X-axis ("busy" time until "finished") and vertical Y-axis (logged value) are adjusted automatically because the software tries to make reasonable use of the full height of the 4 space-limited mini windows. This dynamic ranging causes the Y-axis ticks to have unintelligible values (4.221 3.888 instead of 4.200 4.100) and different scales from slot to slot. As a workaround, one can approach any graph with the mouse cursor and the exact value at that point will be displayed.
The mini window display resolution is such that voltage is visibly graphed with 3 decimals (4.200V 4.199V …), current with 2 decimals (0.30A 0.29A …), temperature with 1 decimal (23.1°C 23.0°C …). Re current, iirc one gets the full resolution with 3 decimals when exporting the graphs to *.CSV-spreadsheet file (0.296A 0.295A …).
At any time one can check the tickboxes to display/undisplay the respective graphs.
Blue refers to momentary voltage as measured between the metal contacts. For a busy slot (=red SNB), the value represents the battery voltage under load. For a finished slot (=green SNB), it's the unloaded battery voltage, which very much equals the so-called battery offline voltage or resting voltage. The curve progression of voltage is usually the most characteristic most interesting graph of a battery or the charging/discharging process. It is also what you can see on the LCD display of the charger device, in Diagram Drawing View (DDV).
Green refers to momentary current thru the battery as measured by an individual current sensor in series. There are 4 slots, so there are 4 sensors. Often the graph is just a horizontal straight line, meaning constant current. If you set 3A charging, then it's maybe interesting to see how and how fast the current ramps up from 0.00A to 3.00A and then tries to maintain 3A constant current but more often than not the mc3k current graph is not very interesting to look at. It is more interesting to look at with other chargers which do not feature constant current technology.
Orange refers to the calculated capacity based on the momentary current measurement. It's the same value as one would get by measuring capacity manually with a logging digital multimeter in series. For a single constant current charge transfer operation mode the graph isn't very interesting to look at, it's then just an inclined straight line. However, for a cycling operation mode (i.e. REFRESH, CYCLE, BREAK_IN) the capacity graph can be helpful to reveal certain aspects of the cycling process.
Red refers to the temperature as measured by the slot temperature sensors. There are 4 slots, so there are 4 sensors. If a slot sensor registers a temperature, then it could equal the battery temperature in that slot. But to be clear, a temperature sensor will pick up any heat reaching it; this could be heat from the room, neighboring slots, inside of the charger, whatever, too. The temperature graphs are the most unpredictable graphs because of the various physical phenomena happening simultaneously spatially in an extended 4-bay device ("3-D"). An external temperature sensor attached to the battery of a single channel hobby charger produces more predictable because of isolate readings ("1-D").
Slot1: LiIon charging at 1.00A , 18650 battery was fully discharged (~2.6V), charger ramps up from 0.00A to constant 0.15A until battery voltage reaches 3.2V under load, then steps up to constant 1.00A until battery voltage reaches 4.2V where the CV-phase starts. Current decreases then. Makes sense to me.
Slot2: LiIon charging at 0.30A , 18650 battery was fully discharged (~2.6V), charger ramps up from 0.00A to constant 0.15A until battery voltage reaches 3.2V under load, then steps up to constant 0.30A. At such a slow charging rate, after 90mins we're still deep in the CC-phase, far away from the 4.2V CV-phase. The displayed current on my 2014 prototype flickers between 0.30A and 0.29A. We'll see it is nice constant on the 2015 retail product.
Slot3: NiMH discharging at |-1.00A| , AA battery was fully charged (~1.5V). After 1.5h at 1A discharging the transferred charge is shown as 1500mAh. Makes sense to me.
Slot4: NiMH discharging at |-0.40A| , AAA battery was fully charged (~1.5V). After 1.5h at 0.4A discharging the transferred charge is shown as 600mAh. Makes sense to me.
In all 4 slots "the temperature" has been rising. Again, note that these temperatures do not necessarily represent the actual battery temperatures. In your mind, always picture them as "slot temperatures" and not as literal "battery temperatures" tia. In a single channel hobby charger the temperature reading would very much equal the battery temperature, in a powerful 4-bay charger it won't.
What is the real utility of this tiny program for Windows PC (WinXP, Win7, etc)?
Distilled answer: 1) Monitoring the four channels simultaneously at one single sight. 2) *.EXE-files are the only way to update the charger firmware. 3) Convenience of setting program settings.
Q. Well this looks plain. Will SKY or you update and release improved PC Link software version or soon?
A. Why me? I am not programmer. I am not SKY. I am free tester only. Like you and me.
Q. Oki my bad. And what about others? Can others program their own open-source software?
A. I guess. In fact SKY is sending a mc3k sample to one talented geman programmer to have a look at the implementation.
Q. Implementation in what? Which logging software are we talking about?
A. Haha. Comes time, will announce.
4 batteries were in the charger, i started the slots at the same time via the Start/Stop-button of the software, and after 90mins i decided to take a screenshot while all 4 slots were still running their programs. With this old software version you don't really need to start all 4 slots at the same time, however it'd be the natural thing to do so.
During the graphing the scaling of both the horizontal X-axis ("busy" time until "finished") and vertical Y-axis (logged value) are adjusted automatically because the software tries to make reasonable use of the full height of the 4 space-limited mini windows. This dynamic ranging causes the Y-axis ticks to have unintelligible values (4.221 3.888 instead of 4.200 4.100) and different scales from slot to slot. As a workaround, one can approach any graph with the mouse cursor and the exact value at that point will be displayed.
The mini window display resolution is such that voltage is visibly graphed with 3 decimals (4.200V 4.199V …), current with 2 decimals (0.30A 0.29A …), temperature with 1 decimal (23.1°C 23.0°C …). Re current, iirc one gets the full resolution with 3 decimals when exporting the graphs to *.CSV-spreadsheet file (0.296A 0.295A …).
At any time one can check the tickboxes to display/undisplay the respective graphs.
Blue refers to momentary voltage as measured between the metal contacts. For a busy slot (=red SNB), the value represents the battery voltage under load. For a finished slot (=green SNB), it's the unloaded battery voltage, which very much equals the so-called battery offline voltage or resting voltage. The curve progression of voltage is usually the most characteristic most interesting graph of a battery or the charging/discharging process. It is also what you can see on the LCD display of the charger device, in Diagram Drawing View (DDV).
Green refers to momentary current thru the battery as measured by an individual current sensor in series. There are 4 slots, so there are 4 sensors. Often the graph is just a horizontal straight line, meaning constant current. If you set 3A charging, then it's maybe interesting to see how and how fast the current ramps up from 0.00A to 3.00A and then tries to maintain 3A constant current but more often than not the mc3k current graph is not very interesting to look at. It is more interesting to look at with other chargers which do not feature constant current technology.
Orange refers to the calculated capacity based on the momentary current measurement. It's the same value as one would get by measuring capacity manually with a logging digital multimeter in series. For a single constant current charge transfer operation mode the graph isn't very interesting to look at, it's then just an inclined straight line. However, for a cycling operation mode (i.e. REFRESH, CYCLE, BREAK_IN) the capacity graph can be helpful to reveal certain aspects of the cycling process.
Red refers to the temperature as measured by the slot temperature sensors. There are 4 slots, so there are 4 sensors. If a slot sensor registers a temperature, then it could equal the battery temperature in that slot. But to be clear, a temperature sensor will pick up any heat reaching it; this could be heat from the room, neighboring slots, inside of the charger, whatever, too. The temperature graphs are the most unpredictable graphs because of the various physical phenomena happening simultaneously spatially in an extended 4-bay device ("3-D"). An external temperature sensor attached to the battery of a single channel hobby charger produces more predictable because of isolate readings ("1-D").
Slot1: LiIon charging at 1.00A , 18650 battery was fully discharged (~2.6V), charger ramps up from 0.00A to constant 0.15A until battery voltage reaches 3.2V under load, then steps up to constant 1.00A until battery voltage reaches 4.2V where the CV-phase starts. Current decreases then. Makes sense to me.
Slot2: LiIon charging at 0.30A , 18650 battery was fully discharged (~2.6V), charger ramps up from 0.00A to constant 0.15A until battery voltage reaches 3.2V under load, then steps up to constant 0.30A. At such a slow charging rate, after 90mins we're still deep in the CC-phase, far away from the 4.2V CV-phase. The displayed current on my 2014 prototype flickers between 0.30A and 0.29A. We'll see it is nice constant on the 2015 retail product.
Slot3: NiMH discharging at |-1.00A| , AA battery was fully charged (~1.5V). After 1.5h at 1A discharging the transferred charge is shown as 1500mAh. Makes sense to me.
Slot4: NiMH discharging at |-0.40A| , AAA battery was fully charged (~1.5V). After 1.5h at 0.4A discharging the transferred charge is shown as 600mAh. Makes sense to me.
In all 4 slots "the temperature" has been rising. Again, note that these temperatures do not necessarily represent the actual battery temperatures. In your mind, always picture them as "slot temperatures" and not as literal "battery temperatures" tia. In a single channel hobby charger the temperature reading would very much equal the battery temperature, in a powerful 4-bay charger it won't.
What is the real utility of this tiny program for Windows PC (WinXP, Win7, etc)?
Distilled answer: 1) Monitoring the four channels simultaneously at one single sight. 2) *.EXE-files are the only way to update the charger firmware. 3) Convenience of setting program settings.
Q. Well this looks plain. Will SKY or you update and release improved PC Link software version or soon?
A. Why me? I am not programmer. I am not SKY. I am free tester only. Like you and me.
Q. Oki my bad. And what about others? Can others program their own open-source software?
A. I guess. In fact SKY is sending a mc3k sample to one talented geman programmer to have a look at the implementation.
Q. Implementation in what? Which logging software are we talking about?
A. Haha. Comes time, will announce.
Last edited:
Man this is tempting. Do other RCSKY chargers do well?
I don’t need another charger in a drawer for special situations. This would replace my Fenix ARE-C2 that sits out all the time. With all the battery chemistries that the MC3000 supports, I wonder if it has auto detect. I only use NiMH and Lithium-ion and would hate to have to program it every time I stick a battery in it to do basic charging.,
I am also trying to determine if the 3000 can charge four 26650s at the same time. I charge 10440s and AAAs and up to 26650 cells. My Fenix will not do C and D cells. On my ARE-C2, all I need to know is which end is positive and away I go.
I an not saying I wouldn’t buy the MC3000 unless all these criteria are met, but I would like to know these answers before buying.
I only have two chargers that I have used the last couple of years. My Fenix ARE-C2 and a Maha MH-C808C. If the MC3000 proves reliable and it can seamlessly replace my Fenix, this charger will be mine.
I don’t need another charger in a drawer for special situations. This would replace my Fenix ARE-C2 that sits out all the time. With all the battery chemistries that the MC3000 supports, I wonder if it has auto detect. I only use NiMH and Lithium-ion and would hate to have to program it every time I stick a battery in it to do basic charging.,
I am also trying to determine if the 3000 can charge four 26650s at the same time. I charge 10440s and AAAs and up to 26650 cells. My Fenix will not do C and D cells. On my ARE-C2, all I need to know is which end is positive and away I go.
I an not saying I wouldn’t buy the MC3000 unless all these criteria are met, but I would like to know these answers before buying.
I only have two chargers that I have used the last couple of years. My Fenix ARE-C2 and a Maha MH-C808C. If the MC3000 proves reliable and it can seamlessly replace my Fenix, this charger will be mine.
kreisl
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Messages
- 2,241
Hi,
yes it can charge four 26650's at the same time, e.g. at 4×3.00A charging rate ("12 amps"!!!). Here are some possible arrangements:
slot1/slot2/slot3/slot4
26650/26650/26650/26650
32650/26650/32650/26650
32650/26650/26650/32650
Same with C and D cells, since they have similar diameter to 26650 and 32650, see photos in an earlier post:
slot1/slot2/slot3/slot4
C/C/C/C
D/C/D/C
D/C/C/D
Yes, it also has auto detect. This particular UI mode is called Dummy Mode. It was an UI addition inspired by Fernando. :thumbsup:
LOL. True, that is why i will wait for HKE. I have had great luck with them over the years.
Anders
Enlightened
Last edited:
Doesn't it charge/discharge with constant current all the time, and if not I'm sure there is some kind of an explanation. Can you enlighten me please
I preordered at HKE and it worked all fine. But only if you choose the "Checkout with PayPal" button. If you choose "Proceed to checkout" you cant choose the payment method. If you choose "Checkout with PayPal" you later got the same page as clicking on "Proceed to checkout" but now the payment method PayPal as there
kreisl
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2012
- Messages
- 2,241
Doesn't it charge/discharge with constant current all the time, and if not I'm sure there is some kind of an explanation. Can you enlighten me please
In CV-phase the current decreases. Eventually it reaches termination current, e.g. 50mA.
Constant current means constant 3.0A all the time until program termination.
But this is not the way how to charge Lithium-Ion batteries.
For LiIon battery charging you have a constant current phase (CC-phase, 3.0A), followed by a decreasing current phase (CV-phase, 3.0A->50mA).
If the current is decreasing, it is not constant. It is decreasing.
This is correct method for fully charging LiIon batteries.
Can someone give me the link for HKEI preordered at HKE and it worked all fine. But only if you choose the "Checkout with PayPal" button. If you choose "Proceed to checkout" you cant choose the payment method. If you choose "Checkout with PayPal" you later got the same page as clicking on "Proceed to checkout" but now the payment method PayPal as there
Thanks
