I like this concept: being able to charge an odd number of cells is outstanding! Most chargers need you to charge in "sets" of at least two. I want one of these. Great job on the review sir!
I think the tape over the vents is to force air over the cells through the slide slots, I have a fast charger with a huge fan that follows the same design. And all the via's most probable for thermal spreading and airflow. The IC's per channel, with the suporting components look like buck convertors controled by the µC. I would imagine they are making all the noise on the scope and the cells don't really care about noise. Thanks for the tear down, looks blood fiddly haha. And Meh to blob on boards, we will never know what the µC is. BTW, this is all of the top of my head, I'm still learning.
I agree,I have one of the older designs without the fan and it uses the same or similar case. Some chargers without the fan pause charging if the batteries get too hot.
Martin, that P3484 ic is probably EUP3484 a 3A step-down converter by Eutech Microelectronics which logo is on that ic ;) So each cell has it's own step-down converter.
You're right. One of those recently burned out badly in mine, so I'll try to replace that (without the needed skills and the proper tools) when I get the replacement IC. :) So my advice to y'all: when one channel doesn't seem to charge a good cell and shows only a few mAmps, don't push it any longer, and try to have that IC replaced before it burns a hole in your PCB just like it did for me. :)
there is a more recent video review of this charger and I found it interesting that there are at least two large capacitors on the newer version than the one in this review !
their is a switch on the in side on the right hand side when its up side down looks like it changes the voltage 4.2 and 4.32 and 3.7 volt is labeled on the board
Just wondering what the tolerance is on the 12V DC input. If a cigar lighter cable is included (or available), it's probably good for between about 10V and 15V. I'd like to operate this from lead-acid batteries in a solar power set-up. The user guide doesn't provide any detail on this. img547.imageshack.us/img547/3070/y8v.pdf
From an online forum, information from an Opus developer, input voltage can be from 8 to 16 VDC. The user manual states the charger requires a minimum current of 3 amps @ 12 volts.
Rigtigt god gennemgang af BT-C3100 . Som altid er dine test dybdegående og fyldestgørende. Du burde have et erhverv som underviser. For det kan tælles på en hånd, hvem jeg følger her på youtube når det gælder elektronik og feljsøgning. og du er bestemt en af dem Martin..
My third slot went dead :( Opened it up and the IC U3 you mentioned is burned for that slot. Leg(1-4) is burned., and the C56 capacitor next to it is now black. Hoped it was only a dead capacitor problem. Mine is a bit different, did not have the tape, and a bit different components. V2.2 manufactured 2015-04-30. Thanks for the video.
Could you repair it? A similar disaster happened to my fourth channel: the input pin (the second one) burned a hole in the PCB, the + side of the capacitor and the copper track between them burned out, too.
10 ปีที่แล้ว
i have a solar charge controller but its a pwm and it discharges my 12 volt battery when the sun is not direct enough any ideas how to prevent discharge ? do you think this soplar charger is faulty? i want a better chargecontroller but they can get xpensive mines a cm3024z any ideas?
Very nice review and teardown! It's very interesting to see such a clear dismantling like this ;) Is the internal switch intended to switch to LiFePO4 chemistry which cuts off at 3.6/3.7 volts? If that is the case, this charger would be even more interesting. Wonder why they haven't put the switch on the outside.. But drilling a small hole right in top of the switch makes it possible to switch it from the outside (if you know what you're doing) with a small screwdriver. Nevertheless i'm also a bit worried about possible resistance caused by the sliders. I've inspected the circuit board thoroughly and it appears that the sliders, that keeps the cells in place, only makes contact on the metal sliding tracks due to the force of the spring, but it seems that the spring and the small attached pin itself does not make any contact with the circuit board or the sliding tracks. The pin who is connected to the spring goes thru the circuit board into the plastic of the housing and does not appear to make any visible contact. You can imagine that there will be a reasonable amount of resistance due the bad contact with as a result no correct measurements of the cells and therefore no correct charged cells. Solder a short wire on each of the sliding track solderings and solder the other end of the wire onto each spring increases the chance of a better connection I think. Does this make any sense? I'm curious at your opinion about this. I've ordered this charger already (there's a new 2.1 version out now) so maybe I'll do this modification myself ;) Thanks again for the review!
Yes, that soldered part is a crystal. Most likely for counting the time shown on display. I don't like the bodge style placement of those capacitors and i particularly don't like the choice of brand... it's a relatively expensive charger and that Jwco is a bad manufacturer. It may heat quite well inside during charging so this only adds up. They could have chosen some tantalum capacitors and modify the pcb slightly to allow for that but that would have added maybe 1-2$ to the price. That black tape may be a fix for EMI radiations or noise from those inductors on the bottom - maybe they wanted the cooling from those vents but it made too much noise or didn't pass tests. Shame you didn't open the power supply as well... it seemed a bit tiny for a 12v 3A power supply and usually, some manufacturers really cheap out on such power supplies and have little protections and safety precautions inside.
A nice teardown and discription in pt1, i am defenatly thinking of getting one as i am on all rechargables too. have you or can you do a review on the uni-t 58c? Paul
Martin, unless I missed can you comment on all the many holes on the Pcb.......from a distance they look like via stitching, but too random and too many! They look to me like they drilled them manually as vent holes! They don't look to be THP....but hard to see. Hmmmm! Ian.
I am looking to buy a charger to mainly charge AA & AAA batteries, I often see the Duracell and Energizer chargers, $50 is the maximum I want to spend on a charger, also is it better to buy a charger without a fan, are the Duracell, Energizer and Uniross chargers better than Opus and are Amazon Rechargeable batteries the best and are they made by Panasonic but what charger should I buy, I want my batteries charged within 2 hours or faster.
Hi From Australia,Good review going into details and to see inner-workings looks like a decent build quality. just wondering if your still using this one? any dramas with it? i'm in the process of getting one of ebay the ver 2.2 apparently for 59Au.
Hey the fan work is only to cool batteries or ic's on the board what warms most? Because i want to unplug fan during refresh mode (4 batteries low 200ma charge/discharge)charger is in very low load but fan makes noise pusching cold air frequently when i sleep can i do it?
Hi, I use this charger since 2 years, very good and reliable , but not perfect...because no Lifepo4 charge. Is the 3,7V switch really for charging Lifepo4 (Lfp) , I'm not sure...the best maxi charge for Li-Ion is 4,2V and not 4,35V...And for Lfp it's 3,6V MAXI and not 3,7V (best at 3,55V) . It can accept 3,7V but it's not good for the future of the battery. I think it would be better to use this switch position for Li-Ion storage. I made a little hole in the backcover at the good place, so i don't need to open everytime i need to change the voltage. This charger seems not built for LFP, it's a shame, it was not difficult to include this function . The Top would be to have the choice with a 3,6V (3,55V) position for Lfp , and 4,15V for Li-Ion...Some Mah less, but much better for battery life.
Anyone know the Manufacturers website for these? Also is this still the best option for a cylindrical Li-Ion battery charger / analyzer? Best place to buy for .AU also please?? .-.-.
I know this is an old video but I found it when trying to find some info about hacking this unit to charge li-ion 18650 cells to the military preferred 3.9 as it allows the cells to last much longer. I wonder if anyone knows how to mod the v2.2 of this charger to change the 4.2v to 3.9v?
Using Op-Amp maybe ? It should be added between read of voltage to controller, but it will work for charging only because you will add to discharge to .. or check maybe there is something you can adjust in charge switch circuit (4.2,4.35,3.7) maybe there are resistors to determine charge mode
Hugh Justins it's kind bother to wait btw, but why don't just watch when the voltage is 3,9 then remove the battery. but from what i read, if you willing to store li-ion more than a month leave it @ 3,8 V
Hi ,I found your your channel very useful indeed and even possibly saved my life, I got my first multi meter recently and done simple tests to batteries etc. COULD you please do something regarding testing HDMI / DVI mini DVI cables/ adaptors. could this be done with a m/meter . sometimes you can have say cables going into adaptors and you don't know what is malfunctioning the cable , the adaptor/ the ports etc. cheers graham from oswaldtwistle, UK
Thanks for the videos. You were smart to test the charger first, and then do the tear down, I have seen YT videos where they take it apart first:-) . I would be interested to know if anyone finds this sold somewhere in the USA, the link you provided looks OK, but shipping is a killer. Thanks.
Nice teardown - and it still works :). Very interesting review link in the description, it's charging behavior is a little misterious :). You are right, as others already said, the crystal looks like a 32.768kHz real-time clock crystal for the charging time clock. Cool that it can charge different cell technologies, but for me a 9V slot is missing. And I'm wondering, how this thing can charge the cells at max Amp - isn't this a little much for the 3A/12V power supply? Or can't you charge all with max power at the same time? The fan is really a fail (but not the biggest :) ), you just did such a nice PWM video, they should have used duty cycle based on temp and not only on and off :).
I like this concept: being able to charge an odd number of cells is outstanding!
Most chargers need you to charge in "sets" of at least two. I want one of these.
Great job on the review sir!
I think the tape over the vents is to force air over the cells through the slide slots, I have a fast charger with a huge fan that follows the same design. And all the via's most probable for thermal spreading and airflow.
The IC's per channel, with the suporting components look like buck convertors controled by the µC. I would imagine they are making all the noise on the scope and the cells don't really care about noise.
Thanks for the tear down, looks blood fiddly haha. And Meh to blob on boards, we will never know what the µC is.
BTW, this is all of the top of my head, I'm still learning.
I agree,I have one of the older designs without the fan and it uses the same or similar case. Some chargers without the fan pause charging if the batteries get too hot.
Martin, that P3484 ic is probably EUP3484 a 3A step-down converter by Eutech Microelectronics which logo is on that ic ;) So each cell has it's own step-down converter.
You're right. One of those recently burned out badly in mine, so I'll try to replace that (without the needed skills and the proper tools) when I get the replacement IC. :) So my advice to y'all: when one channel doesn't seem to charge a good cell and shows only a few mAmps, don't push it any longer, and try to have that IC replaced before it burns a hole in your PCB just like it did for me. :)
there is a more recent video review of this charger and I found it interesting that there are at least two large capacitors on the newer version than the one in this review !
their is a switch on the in side on the right hand side when its up side
down looks like it changes the voltage 4.2 and 4.32 and 3.7 volt is labeled
on the board
Just wondering what the tolerance is on the 12V DC input. If a cigar lighter cable is included (or available), it's probably good for between about 10V and 15V. I'd like to operate this from lead-acid batteries in a solar power set-up. The user guide doesn't provide any detail on this. img547.imageshack.us/img547/3070/y8v.pdf
Just use a BUCK step down which will bring a stable 12V and 2 Amps and it will be fine.
From an online forum, information from an Opus developer, input voltage can be from 8 to 16 VDC. The user manual states the charger requires a minimum current of 3 amps @ 12 volts.
Good job. Good production.
Rigtigt god gennemgang af BT-C3100 . Som altid er dine test dybdegående og fyldestgørende. Du burde have et erhverv som underviser. For det kan tælles på en hånd, hvem jeg følger her på youtube når det gælder elektronik og feljsøgning. og du er bestemt en af dem Martin..
What about lacrosse bc-700 bc-900? Very popular model.
Minute 6:52 this is a EUP3484 or equivalent, 3A, 30V, 340KHz Synchronous Step-Down Converter. datasheetspdf.com/parts/EUP3484.pdf?id=825847
My third slot went dead :( Opened it up and the IC U3 you mentioned is burned for that slot. Leg(1-4) is burned., and the C56 capacitor next to it is now black. Hoped it was only a dead capacitor problem. Mine is a bit different, did not have the tape, and a bit different components. V2.2 manufactured 2015-04-30. Thanks for the video.
Could you repair it? A similar disaster happened to my fourth channel: the input pin (the second one) burned a hole in the PCB, the + side of the capacitor and the copper track between them burned out, too.
i have a solar charge controller but its a pwm and it discharges my 12 volt battery when the sun is not direct enough any ideas how to prevent discharge ? do you think this soplar charger is faulty? i want a better chargecontroller but they can get xpensive mines a cm3024z any ideas?
Just bought one am satisfied.
Wich type and sizes of Leds display?I want replace them with Orange
Very nice review and teardown! It's very interesting to see such a clear dismantling like this ;)
Is the internal switch intended to switch to LiFePO4 chemistry which cuts off at 3.6/3.7 volts? If that is the case, this charger would be even more interesting. Wonder why they haven't put the switch on the outside.. But drilling a small hole right in top of the switch makes it possible to switch it from the outside (if you know what you're doing) with a small screwdriver.
Nevertheless i'm also a bit worried about possible resistance caused by the sliders. I've inspected the circuit board thoroughly and it appears that the sliders, that keeps the cells in place, only makes contact on the metal sliding tracks due to the force of the spring, but it seems that the spring and the small attached pin itself does not make any contact with the circuit board or the sliding tracks.
The pin who is connected to the spring goes thru the circuit board into the plastic of the housing and does not appear to make any visible contact. You can imagine that there will be a reasonable amount of resistance due the bad contact with as a result no correct measurements of the cells and therefore no correct charged cells.
Solder a short wire on each of the sliding track solderings and solder the other end of the wire onto each spring increases the chance of a better connection I think. Does this make any sense? I'm curious at your opinion about this.
I've ordered this charger already (there's a new 2.1 version out now) so maybe I'll do this modification myself ;)
Thanks again for the review!
Correct
Yes, that soldered part is a crystal. Most likely for counting the time shown on display.
I don't like the bodge style placement of those capacitors and i particularly don't like the choice of brand... it's a relatively expensive charger and that Jwco is a bad manufacturer. It may heat quite well inside during charging so this only adds up.
They could have chosen some tantalum capacitors and modify the pcb slightly to allow for that but that would have added maybe 1-2$ to the price.
That black tape may be a fix for EMI radiations or noise from those inductors on the bottom - maybe they wanted the cooling from those vents but it made too much noise or didn't pass tests.
Shame you didn't open the power supply as well... it seemed a bit tiny for a 12v 3A power supply and usually, some manufacturers really cheap out on such power supplies and have little protections and safety precautions inside.
Are there any other chargers (similar to this in terms of capabilities) that are better?
A nice teardown and discription in pt1, i am defenatly thinking of getting one as i am on all rechargables too. have you or can you do a review on the uni-t 58c? Paul
Martin, unless I missed can you comment on all the many holes on the Pcb.......from a distance they look like via stitching, but too random and too many! They look to me like they drilled them manually as vent holes! They don't look to be THP....but hard to see. Hmmmm!
Ian.
+IanScottJohnston they look like they are drilled holes due to the plating on them, probably for heat dissipation.
I am looking to buy a charger to mainly charge AA & AAA batteries, I often see the Duracell and Energizer chargers, $50 is the maximum I want to spend on a charger, also is it better to buy a charger without a fan, are the Duracell, Energizer and Uniross chargers better than Opus and are Amazon Rechargeable batteries the best and are they made by Panasonic but what charger should I buy, I want my batteries charged within 2 hours or faster.
Hi From Australia,Good review going into details and to see inner-workings looks like a decent build quality. just wondering if your still using this one? any dramas with it?
i'm in the process of getting one of ebay the ver 2.2 apparently for 59Au.
Hey the fan work is only to cool batteries or ic's on the board what warms most? Because i want to unplug fan during refresh mode (4 batteries low 200ma charge/discharge)charger is in very low load but fan makes noise pusching cold air frequently when i sleep can i do it?
Is any1 knows what crystal specs are, there seems not a single datasheet of bt-c3100
Hi, I use this charger since 2 years, very good and reliable , but not perfect...because no Lifepo4 charge.
Is the 3,7V switch really for charging Lifepo4 (Lfp) , I'm not sure...the best maxi charge for Li-Ion is 4,2V and not 4,35V...And for Lfp it's 3,6V MAXI and not 3,7V (best at 3,55V) . It can accept 3,7V but it's not good for the future of the battery.
I think it would be better to use this switch position for Li-Ion storage.
I made a little hole in the backcover at the good place, so i don't need to open everytime i need to change the voltage.
This charger seems not built for LFP, it's a shame, it was not difficult to include this function .
The Top would be to have the choice with a 3,6V (3,55V) position for Lfp , and 4,15V for Li-Ion...Some Mah less, but much better for battery life.
Hi, what is please transistor (model, type) on PCB designation as Q6 (or Q8, Q10, Q12)? ... in my charger is a dead :-(
I have one nice to know what is inside.
Anyone know the Manufacturers website for these? Also is this still the best option for a cylindrical Li-Ion battery charger / analyzer? Best place to buy for .AU also please?? .-.-.
I know this is an old video but I found it when trying to find some info about hacking this unit to charge li-ion 18650 cells to the military preferred 3.9 as it allows the cells to last much longer. I wonder if anyone knows how to mod the v2.2 of this charger to change the 4.2v to 3.9v?
Hugh Justins i would be curious about this if you found a way
Using Op-Amp maybe ? It should be added between read of voltage to controller, but it will work for charging only because you will add to discharge to .. or check maybe there is something you can adjust in charge switch circuit (4.2,4.35,3.7) maybe there are resistors to determine charge mode
Hugh Justins
it's kind bother to wait btw,
but why don't just watch when the voltage is 3,9 then remove the battery.
but from what i read, if you willing to store li-ion more than a month
leave it @ 3,8 V
Hi ,I found your your channel very useful indeed and even possibly saved my life, I got my first multi meter recently and done simple tests to batteries etc. COULD you please do something regarding testing HDMI / DVI mini DVI cables/ adaptors. could
this be done with a m/meter . sometimes you can have say cables going into adaptors and you don't know what is malfunctioning the cable , the adaptor/ the ports etc. cheers graham from oswaldtwistle, UK
Thanks for the videos. You were smart to test the charger first, and then do the tear down, I have seen YT videos where they take it apart first:-) . I would be interested to know if anyone finds this sold somewhere in the USA, the link you provided looks OK, but shipping is a killer. Thanks.
Thanks for the post Bubba.
GearBest sells them for $39 shipped as part of a group buy. budgetlightforum.com/node/30515
sirpau1 I have never been to that forum, I will check it out, thanks.
+Paul ... on sale now for $31.59
Nice teardown - and it still works :). Very interesting review link in the description, it's charging behavior is a little misterious :). You are right, as others already said, the crystal looks like a 32.768kHz real-time clock crystal for the charging time clock. Cool that it can charge different cell technologies, but for me a 9V slot is missing. And I'm wondering, how this thing can charge the cells at max Amp - isn't this a little much for the 3A/12V power supply? Or can't you charge all with max power at the same time? The fan is really a fail (but not the biggest :) ), you just did such a nice PWM video, they should have used duty cycle based on temp and not only on and off :).
Maximum 6A 4.35V 26.1W charging. It uses buck circuit so can charge faster when using 12V 3A aka 36W Input
U8 - what is this?
8:40 it is indeed a crystal.
7:16 - Dog Bark???
"LCD display" haha just kidding bud great review much appriciated!
fa.metincom.net/baza/dc_dc/data/EUP3484.pdf
I just googled the P3484. often only one of the lines is the product name
Thanks very much Dan.
Nice one and looks to me like a 100% Chinese product, interesting...
.
for the publicity they make for themselves, they seem very cheaply made...