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lemmy - Link to source

[Review] SkyRC MC5000 battery charger and analyzer – a worthy successor to the MC3000?

As a flashlight enthusiast, you might be interested in this new professional battery charger and analyzer for checking and maintaining your batteries.

The full review is available here


English review at BudgetLightForum
German review on my website

Summary


For many years, the SkyRC MC3000 has been considered one of the best chargers for round batteries. The user has full control over the charging process and can set not only the charging current but also many other parameters. It can also connect to a PC or smartphone for settings and data logging.

And here comes the new SkyRC MC5000!

I was really looking forward to the SkyRC MC5000: a modern design with a large color display, innovative scroll-wheel input, charging currents of up to 5 A per slot, Bluetooth connectivity and advanced analysis features.

All in all, everything has worked so far, but the range of functions still seems somewhat limited. Many enhancements could potentially be introduced through firmware updates, such as expanded parameter ranges, more effective use of the status LEDs and possibly even support for 1.5V Li-ion batteries. The absence of program memory slots is particularly disappointing. At this price point, a PC interface for control and data logging should also be included.

In its current form, the SkyRC MC5000 is still a long way from being a real successor for the MC3000. It is not a bad device by any means, but it does not yet fully meet the expectations I have for a professional charger in this class.

[Review] SkyRC MC5000 battery charger and analyzer – a worthy successor to the MC3000?

BudgetLightForum.com
in reply to SammysHP

lemmy - Link to source

solrize

The manufacturer web site is almost unusable and doesn't have an ordering button. There's a "Where to buy" link way at the bottom, that doesn't work for me. Web search shows this is about a US$ 200 charger. Ouch. Thanks for the review but yikes. Also I don't want to install a phone app to use or update the charger. You are right that the missing features being important (PC interface, bidirectional USB charging).
in reply to SammysHP

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Nanook

@SammysHP That's great except just how many primary batteries do you need to replace before this thing pays for itself? Pricing is not justified. I spent a whole of $30 for a unit from popular mechanics of all places. it charges every chemistry except lithium ion, I have separate chargers for those, does so individually for each battery so I can put say an NiMH in one slot, an alkaline in another, and it will charge as appropriate for each.
in reply to Nanook

lemmy - Link to source

SammysHP

I live in a world of mostly Li-ion batteries around me, NiMH come second. Primary (alkaline) batteries? Nope, never use them because of their poor performance, environmental problems and because they leak.

Not all of my devices can charge their Li-ion batteries. A simple charger is enough in most scenarios. You only need an analyzing charger if you want to monitor and maintain the performance of your batteries.

in reply to SammysHP

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Nanook

@SammysHP The reason I use Alkaline in some applications is I have some devices where voltage is important and they will not run on 1.35 NiMH voltage but they will run on 1.6 Alkaline voltage. But I agree, performance is bad. Unfortunately the 1.5v lithium ion cells aren't really 1.5v, they're 3.7 or so and regulated down. This causes two issues, the regular introduces a lot of RF noise, and the voltage is flat right up to the point of complete exhaustion so you can't tell when the battery is ready to crap out.
in reply to Nanook

lemmy - Link to source

SammysHP

This causes two issues, the regular introduces a lot of RF noise


Yes, unfortunately that is true …

and the voltage is flat right up to the point of complete exhaustion so you can’t tell when the battery is ready to crap out.


There are many models with a voltage warning (either dropping to 1.1V or slowly decreasing voltage):

If there are two batteries in series, you could also try a single LiFePO₄ (with protection circuit), as it keeps a rather stable voltage around 3.2V.

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