skyrc mc3000?

[susieqz]

hiya, guys.
ever since mooch said that you could triple battery life by only charging to 4.0 instead of 4.2, i've been looking for a charger that would do that.
this seems to be the only one that will do that.
i watched all the reviews but they aren't trustworthy/
it kinda looks like you need to be a programmer to operate this thing.
my comp skills are limited so i hope an actual human being who has this
would tell me about it.

please?

 

[madstabber]

This review explains the chargers functions and what’s required to use them. I haven’t read through it all but I think you would be able to figure out how to set your charge parameters.
Review of Charger SkyRC MC3000
I know someone was getting one of these chargers a while back but I can’t find who it was to tag them. I’m sure an actual user will chime in soon enough. Good luck if you do get one, it seems to be one of the best, if not thee best, hobby charger on the market.

 

[susieqz]

thanks. mad.
i'll go look but i'm hoping a member has one.

 

[Mooch]

hiya, guys.
ever since mooch said that you could triple battery life by only charging to 4.0 instead of 4.2, i've been looking for a charger that would do that.
this seems to be the only one that will do that.
i watched all the reviews but they aren't trustworthy/
it kinda looks like you need to be a programmer to operate this thing.
my comp skills are limited so i hope an actual human being who has this
would tell me about it.

please?

I said triple?
Or did I just say it could be greatly extended if not otherwise abused?

 

[Mordacai]

I have one at my disposal and I think that @Jazzman has one as well.

They're certainly more involved than other chargers on the market and do take some time to get used to, but they also have a simpler dummy mode.

 

[My Batt Hurts]

Setting up a program to stop charging at 4 volts was the first thing I did. It works well.

It's not that bad, and the manual is very helpful - have a look and see what you think.

 

[susieqz]

yeah mooch. you said both.
to be fair it was ''double or triple''.
episode 6.
i hope in your charger tests you indicate chargers that can
charge to 4.0, in case i missed one.

 

[susieqz]

thanks mord n mybatt.
i needed to hear from actual people.

 

[Jazzman]

thanks mord n mybatt.
i needed to hear from actual people.

I'm an actual people, and have an MC3000

Regarding programming, as @Mordacai said... the charger has a dummy mode that is ready to go for most batteries types and will just charge or discharge according to presets which works very well. If you want to have custom settings it also has normal and advanced modes that can really customize your charging, discharging, cycling, break-in, and storage modes. It's very flexible if you want that. If you don't like setting things up with the 8 on-board buttons just plug it into a PC by USB and use the free program. You can also program and monitor operation by Bluetooth with your phone or tablet.

If your goal is to only charge to 4.0v termination, you can either do that each time you charge, on a per bay basis (easy with just a couple of button clicks on the charger), or program it one time to one of 30 preset memory spots available and your done. This is not hard to do, just press one button (long press) and you can scroll through all the charge details by scrolling up or down and when you see the termination voltage just change it from 4.2 to 4.0. If you want to save that change forever in that memory location just hold the enter button for 2 seconds (and you can program 29 more programs this way if you want other custom programs). Now it's done and it will always use that termination voltage.

No matter what charger you get, if you want a termination voltage of 4.0v you will have to program it yourself. I can't think of any charger that comes at anything other than 4.2v. Even chargers that can do Hv 4.35v usually come preset to 4.2v for safety. So don't let programming scare you off since that will be the case for any charger you buy. The only thing that makes it difficult is all the available parameters you can change and tweek. But you won't need to so don't get distracted by the geeky things that can be done if you wanted to, but never will.

This is a very accurate and safe charger from my experience and after 6 months use I'm quite satisfied. If you have any other questions let me know.

 

[susieqz]

jazz, thanks tons.
that is exactly the info i need.
as far as i can tell, there are no other chargers that will allow me to set 4.0
termination.

 

[Mordacai]

@susieqz, as far as I know you're right.

And it's almost the only charger you'll ever need, as you should see the list of different chemistry/types of batteries that it can work with.

It's very quiet and stays cool in operation.

 

[Jazzman]

jazz, thanks tons.
that is exactly the info i need.
as far as i can tell, there are no other chargers that will allow me to set 4.0
termination.

When I was researching chargers I saw a couple that could do 4.0v besides the MC3000, but they were no where near as full featured and were more expensive so I dismissed them and got the MC3000. BTW, amazon has this charger on sale now for $91.19 (I paid 109.00), so it's a very good deal and with Amazon just return if you don't like it.

One of the nice benefits I didn't see before I got the charger was NiMH battery charging. I bought a bunch of NiMH in all sizes from AAA to D size very cheaply from the Amazon basic line and I will never again buy expensive disposable Alkaline batteries like Duracell again. And the cheap NiMH batteries have around 4 times the mah of Alkaline batteries and can be charged hundreds of times. This alone will pay for the charger in short order for me. And no programming needed! Just pop in any NiMH batteries you want and hit charge, the charger already knows what the battery type is and how to charge.

 

[susieqz]

thanks, everyone. you have convinced me.
i just ordered the 3000 from amazon.
i don't know how long chargers last, but if it lasts a long time it will pay for itself.
see, i have 18 18650s @ $5.
that's $90.
if i double their life, i save $90 n the charger cost $91.
i sure hope you guys will help me when i mess up the programing.
that will happen for sure.

 

[My Batt Hurts]

You'll get on fine! The great thing is you probably won't need to setup more than one or two programs. Once done, it's much more like using a typical charger.

Good move, @susieqz.

 

[Mooch]

thanks, everyone. you have convinced me.
i just ordered the 3000 from amazon.
i don't know how long chargers last, but if it lasts a long time it will pay for itself.
see, i have 18 18650s @ $5.
that's $90.
if i double their life, i save $90 n the charger cost $91.
i sure hope you guys will help me when i mess up the programing.
that will happen for sure.

Good luck!
Charging to a lower voltage will reduce the capacity a bunch (your vaping time) but should help extend overall battery life a lot as long as they’re not otherwise abused. Stay below their current rating, never let them get below 2.5V (3.0V is better), never let them get more than a bit warm, never charge or use them when cold, charge at a low to moderate rate, store them at room temps.

 

[Jazzman]

thanks, everyone. you have convinced me.
i just ordered the 3000 from amazon.
i don't know how long chargers last, but if it lasts a long time it will pay for itself.
see, i have 18 18650s @ $5.
that's $90.
if i double their life, i save $90 n the charger cost $91.
i sure hope you guys will help me when i mess up the programing.
that will happen for sure.

In that case, it will be the best $1.00 charger you ever purchased!

Several of us here have this charger, so ask for any help you need. Besides good quality batteries, a good charger is probably the best investment you can make. And if you have crappy batteries, it's probably a better investment with all the safety features this charger has.

 

[Jazzman]

You'll get on fine! The great thing is you probably won't need to setup more than one or two programs. Once done, it's much more like using a typical charger.

Good move, @susieqz.

That's exactly correct, I use 2 memory programs for 95% of my charger use. I have bay 1 and 2 set for 2A charge rate for my 4000mah 21700s (Samsung 40T) and bays 3 and 4 set for 1A for my 3000mah 18650s (OhmLife) and pretty much just leave it like that so all I have to do is pop in the battery and push the charge button. I sometimes use other programs like Charge>Discharge>Charge to check battery condition and storage charge for cells I'm not going to use for a while. I also use NiMH, but I just use the automatic setting already programmed in the charger for that since it seems to work really well, and just pop in the NiMH batteries and hit the charge button.

 

[susieqz]

Good luck!
Charging to a lower voltage will reduce the capacity a bunch (your vaping time) but should help extend overall battery life a lot as long as they’re not otherwise abused. Stay below their current rating, never let them get below 2.5V (3.0V is better), never let them get more than a bit warm, never charge or use them when cold, charge at a low to moderate rate, store them at room temps.

um, mooch?
i think i read that you were gonna test this charger in your second round
if so, note that there are 2 versions floating around.
the first iteration had 1 fan n lots of problems.
the newer ones have 2 fans n less problems.

 

[Mooch]

um, mooch?
i think i read that you were gonna test this charger in your second round
if so, note that there are 2 versions floating around.
the first iteration had 1 fan n lots of problems.
the newer ones have 2 fans n less problems.

Yup, thanks.
I have the two-fan version and will be upgrading the firmware from V1.13 to V1.14 before testing.

 

[madstabber]

Yup, thanks.
I have the two-fan version and will be upgrading the firmware from V1.13 to V1.14 before testing.

Do you know how long before your first round of charger reviews will be published?