Any Chargers with Bluetooth for Monitoring?

[Jazzman]

I've been looking for a new charger, currently using a Nitecore D4 and it's getting a bit long in the tooth although still works fine. One feature I really wanted but don't see on any of the chargers I've been looking at is the ability to monitor my charge remotely with Bluetooth on my phone or tablet. I think this would be a great feature and means I wouldn't have to get up and go check on the charger to see how my batteries are doing.

Is anybody aware of a charger like this? Maybe something from the flashlight guys or something, or is just a feature that hasn't been done yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Izan]

I've been looking for a new charger, currently using a Nitecore D4 and it's getting a bit long in the tooth although still works fine. One feature I really wanted but don't see on any of the chargers I've been looking at is the ability to monitor my charge remotely with Bluetooth on my phone or tablet. I think this would be a great feature and means I wouldn't have to get up and go check on the charger to see how my batteries are doing.

Is anybody aware of a charger like this? Maybe something from the flashlight guys or something, or is just a feature that hasn't been done yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It's a few years old.
Efest LUC Blu4 Charger Bench Test Results...a good, durable 1A Bluetooth charger

Batteries and chargers

 

[My Batt Hurts]

Also the SkyRC MC3000.

 

[Jazzman]

It's a few years old.
Efest LUC Blu4 Charger Bench Test Results...a good, durable 1A Bluetooth charger

Batteries and chargers

Thanks for the recommendation. It looks like a decent charger but won't charge 21700s unfortunately. So this is so close, but not quite enough. Don't know why I didn't go to the source for this question... Mooch. I always go there for for battery reviews before purchase. I guess I just never paid attention to the fact that he reviews chargers too. Great find though.

 

[Jazzman]

Also the SkyRC MC3000.

This looks like an awesome charger and exactly what I'm looking for. It has all the features I'm looking for (and a few I wasn't but want now) except Internal Resistance, which I can easily live without. Even Discharge/Charge program and storage charge, which I will certainly use. The feature set is rich and with 30 user definable presets it should be easy to get this to operate exactly the way I want. It even has a temp sensor for monitoring heat for each battery while charging, great safety feature I haven't see and didn't expect... but really want now. Just too many features to list. But the killer feature is Bluetooth and the way they did it it is really good it seems. Not only can you monitor the charge, but you can see all four batteries at once with a nice graphical display. Really nice to see status of all 4 bays at a glance. And a charge power level of 2A per bay not shared is another big plus since the typical 750mAh or 1A is just not efficient for many 21700 batteries that can safely charge well above that rate.

SkyRC also has a good reputation in the RC hobby, so I'm comfortable with buying with the expectation this will be a good charger.

Not sure how I missed this one, and it's been available for 2 years, but I'm really glad you didn't miss it and took the time to post this. I'll wait just a couple days to see if any other suggestions, but this is a buy for sure if I don't see anything else. It will be well worth the money spent at $100 current price.

Thanks for the recommendation, just what I was looking for and more.

 

[Mowgli]

I've never used the Bluetooth on my Blu6 but I charged my Golisi 21700s on it.

 

[Jazzman]

I've never used the Bluetooth on my Blu6 but I charged my Golisi 21700s on it.

Nice find @Mowgli , I appreciate the the recommendation. It's funny that all the BT chargers recommended are from a couple years ago. I guess BT never caught on and most have no need for it. For my use case though, I charge in the garage and want to monitor and control from the house, it's a killer feature. I guess my mistake in trying to find a BT charger was in looking at the newer chargers and not older ones.

I think the SKyRC MC300 is the charger I'll be going with. Not only for the BT, but it has a much better feature set that I think will be useful to me like, discharge mode up to 0.5~2Amp, storage charge mode, break-in mode for automatic multi-cycle of new batteries, max 3amp charge rate, up to 2Amp per bay when all bays are used, temp measuring and protection per bay, great BT app that can control charging features from phone or tablet, and of course BT.

And at $100 not an outrageous price, high... but commensurate with the feature set. I can also get it from Amazon Prime so no worries if it doesn't perform as well as I expect.

Thanks to all for the responses, it has really helped me.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

I own the Blu6. The Bluetooth implementation is meh at best. It allows you to make output changes to the current and monitor the battery’s charging state. It will also notify you via your phone once the batteries reach full charge. The BT radio is pretty weak – I loose connection just walking out of my office where the charger resides….approx. 10 to 15 feet. Although I do live in an old home with mesh and plaster walls which can have an adverse effect on wireless performance. If connection is lost, you have to pair it again….not a big effort but PIA.

The charger can accept up to 21700 cells and will do 2amp charging on 2 bays, 1 amp on 4 bays and 0.5amp on all 6 bays. It’s also has a built in PSU and proper IEC power cord. I f’n hate wall wart PSU’s – they are a unnecessary evil!

No comment on the performance difference with the SKyRC, never used one.

 

[Jazzman]

OK, I ordered MC3000. But not from Amazon, their Prime was $136.99. The recommended Amazon listing was directly from SkyRC at $100.00 + 7.31 shipping. I had missed before that this was Amazon recommended and not Prime. So I ordered from ProgressiveRC who I have placed many orders from and always got good service. They were 109.99 with free shipping from WA. A Couple more dollars, but proven trustworthy in the past.

I'll chime back in after I've had a chance to receive and test it out.

 

[hhesser]

Also the SkyRC MC3000.

How long did it take you to master the charger? I'm still in Dummy mode.

 

[Jazzman]

2 minor corrections to my previous posts. I thought the MC 3000 only did 3A on 1 bay, but it turns out it will charge at 3A on all 4 bays at the same time. So a total of 12A charging capacity. It also does do IR measuring, which wasn't listed on the spec sheet but was shown on a YT video. Nice.

Mine is scheduled for delivery on Monday. Looking forward to it.

 

[My Batt Hurts]

How long did it take you to master the charger? I'm still in Dummy mode.

Will update when it arrives and I've had a chance to use it . There's a feature I'm after, but I wouldn't be too surprised if I end up stuck in dummy mode for a few months weeks!

 

[My Batt Hurts]

How long did it take you to master the charger? I'm still in Dummy mode.

Well, it's here and it's huge! We're getting along fine though.

 

[Jazzman]

Well, it's here and it's huge! We're getting along fine though.

Gratz on the new charger. I got mine a couple of weeks ago and other than the software being a bit kludgy and 21700 being a bit too tight getting in and out of the charger it's been working great. I really like the temp monitoring of each cell for peace of mind and find the batteries stay very cool during charging. Since heat is usually the first indication of trouble during charging, having that in real time is a very nice feature. Also, the bluetooth has been working great for me.

I'll be interested in how the charger works out for you. Let us know after you use it for a bit.