Battery Charger-MC-3000

[susieqz]

it' s great you like the 3000.
one of thse guys may be able to help.
i did read that you could quiet the beep to make it less irritating.

 

[Jazzman]

Excellent explanation, now I completely understand. I have the Miboxer C4-12 right now which I love but I’ve been checking out this SkyRC for awhile now and was curious if I could use it to its fullest capability not having a computer. Thanks for taking the time explaining this to me I really appreciate it. I happy with my charger situation right now but if something happens and I need a new one, the SkyRC is probably going to be my choice. As far as I’ve seen, there isn’t another charger that comes close to its features and capabilities. It’s in a class of its own.

The computer connection is mainly differentiated from the charger buttons and BT methods by being able to log data and easily graph the results. It's also easier to change the myriad settings available, especially for multi-step programs. But those settings can be done by the other methods too. To most, data logging and analysis is not something they would do anyway, so nice to have but not need to have (but it's there if you ever change your mind). I like to do a full C>D>C on new batteries and file the printouts to reference 6 months down the road. But honestly, good batteries are so cheap it just not that important to most and if a battery starts to go bad it's not very interesting to most people to see the data... just buy new cells. I think BT is the most convenient really. At least for me.

There is a program referred to as DEX (short for Data Explorer), that can read the log files directly and output graphs and charts automatically with a big range of options if you want to see the data plotted but don't use Excel. The program is specifically made for chargers and each supported charger has all it's features coded into the program. The MC-3000 is supported.

 

[Jazzman]

Got my unit YAY and it's really good, still figuring out the bizarrely arcane ui. One thing that is driving me nuts is the constant beeping coming from the unit. I am really thinking about opening it up and ripping that speaker out. I did find a place in the ui to turn the beeps off but it does not stick perminatly, if you have to power cycle the charger it gets turned back on.

There are 3 key beep settings in the Global setup configuration (pages 15 and 16 in than manual). The setting
are:

• Key Beep which beeps each time you press a key. I like this and leave it on.
• System Beep which beeps when charges and programs are finished with 10 beeps and 1 beep between programs for multi-step programs so you know when the next program starts. I like this and leave it on
• Screensaver It doesn't say it's a beep in the manual, but when the slots have no battery and a certain amount of time goes by, it beeps to remind you it's still powered on. And it keeps doing this every few minutes. I turn this off, it's super annoying to me. At first I though I had to unplug the power every time I was through using the charger to stop the incessant beeping, but turn the screensaver off and that irritation goes away. And it's really irritating that the manual doesn't tell you that the screensaver feature beeps or that if you turn off screensaver it stop the beeps they didn't tell you about. Minor gripe about this charger, but there it is.

 

[susieqz]

i think people that get the mc3000 are interested in graphs.
battery price is irrelevant.
nobody buys the mc3000 just to charge batteries.
i think battteries are fun, tho i don't understand the graphs.

 

[Steve W Pedersen]

Now that I am more familiar with the Mc-3k I have officially retired all of my vct4a's and have switched to my new vct5d cells. I really wish there was a user setting for discharge cutoff in mods I feel that I should be able to set this higher than what is the stock value.
I have figured out how to permanently set the sound off I was not doing it correctly , you have to press and hold to make it stick.

 

[Jazzman]

Now that I am more familiar with the Mc-3k I have officially retired all of my vct4a's and have switched to my new vct5d cells. I really wish there was a user setting for discharge cutoff in mods I feel that I should be able to set this higher than what is the stock value.
I have figured out how to permanently set the sound off I was not doing it correctly , you have to press and hold to make it stick.

Yes, any setting changes you make that you want to be saved on the MC-3000 requires holding the enter button for 2 seconds to save the change. This applies to program saves, setting saves and global value saves (like changing the beep behavior). If you don't save a setting change for parameters for a specific charge/discharge or whatever operation you are going to do, it will only apply to that one operation and will be back at the previous setting for the next time you do that same operation. This is handy for a change you want just for that operation and don't want to make permanent for that memory location. But for a global setting it will revert as soon as you exit the global menu I believe.

While this may seem confusing and counter intuitive, it does add to the flexibility of the system to do custom one-off operations.

I mentioned this in another MC-300 thread, but if you really want to know all the dirty details and capabilities of this charger, go to this website (174 pages of posts on the MC-3000) for a really in-depth look at the charger.
SkyRC — IFA 2014 — MC3000 charger-analyzer
The majority of the thread is devoted to the user base there working with SkyRC to develop this charger and its software before the charger was released. It really was a community effort to make this charger as good as it could be and was surprisingly devoid of sniping and arguments that usually accompanies a diverse group of people on the internet. A lot of smart battery folks over there and a lot of credit goes to SkyRC for listening and reacting so quickly to the community input. To me it was interesting to see the development phase of this charger as it happened and to see the final result of a group effort to finalize the feature set of this charger.

BTW, make sure to go into the global settings menu, near the bottom of the settings, to check if you are on the latest firmware version 1.14 and hardware version 2.2 to make sure your charger is running the current firmware and hardware revision. You probably are, but good to check.

 

[Zazie]

I have two chargers (and Xtar VP2, which I bought when I got my first external battery mod and naively thought I'd only ever need to charge two batteries at a time, and a Gyrfalcon All-44), but, boy, is this guy singing to me. Being able to set it to charge to a specific voltage and to read internal resistance, plus an alarm to let me know when batteries are charged? Those alone are enough to attract me, and there's so much more besides. I am so, so tempted.

 

[Baditude]

Those alone are enough to attract me, and there's so much more besides. I am so, so tempted.

You're having a relapse. Report in to your nearest support group.

Shinyitis Support Group

 

[Zazie]

You're my guardian angel, @Baditude. But, but, but it's been ages since I bought a charger. Many, many mods and attys and flavors ago. Surely I'm due?

 

[Baditude]

You're my guardian angel, @Baditude. But, but, but it's been ages since I bought a charger. Many, many mods and attys and flavors ago. Surely I'm due?

Sure, falls into the category of "backups for your backups".

Now I'm an enabler.

 

[Zazie]

Take it as a good thing. It's never wise to get too set in one's ways.

 

[susieqz]

zaz. if you like quality tools like i do, you'd love the 3000.
it's in a different class from other chargers.

 

[Zazie]

Your saying something along those lines in another thread is what first piqued my interest, @susieqz.

 

[susieqz]

the programming isn't easy tho.
jazzman saved me.

 

[Zazie]

It does sound daunting. I'd probably hold off even if it weren't, though. I don't think I can persuade myself that I need a third charger. I'll just have to hope one breaks, I guess.

 

[susieqz]

this thing is costly n forces you to spend more,
i bot AAs, n soon i'll get Cs etc.
vaping isn't my hobby. batteries sre.

 

[Mordacai]

It's a damm good investment @Zazie, especially for an upgrade replacement.

It does have a basic dummy mode to the full featured advanced mode, where you can create up to 30 different charge programes for different cells.

I have programs setup for LG HB6, Samsung 20S and Samsung 30T cells.

All you have to do when programs have been setup is to press the slot channel button, use the arrow keys to scroll to the relevant program, press and hold enter to select and when all slots are sorted you press and hold enter to start charging.

 

[stratus.vaping]

You're having a relapse. Report in to your nearest support group.

Shinyitis Support Group

Yes that will really help

 

[Zazie]

It's a damm good investment @Zazie, especially for an upgrade replacement.

It does have a basic dummy mode to the full featured advanced mode, where you can create up to 30 different charge programes for different cells.

I have programs setup for LG HB6, Samsung 20S and Samsung 30T cells.

All you have to do when programs have been setup is to press the slot channel button, use the arrow keys to scroll to the relevant program, press and hold enter to select and when all slots are sorted you press and hold enter to start charging.

It sounds wonderful, and I would love to have one. Probably will, eventually. But I'm going to stand pat for the nonce. I think/hope.

 

[Mordacai]

That's why I said upgrade replacement @Zazie, if you've got something that works you don't really need one unless you just want one.