What do you lube up the fan with, if I may ask. Thanks!
I just used what I had on hand,motor oil with a syringe to get right in there.
Many thanks. I have an Opus 3100 on order and I may need to lubricate the fan soon, from what I read here.
Does anyone know the differences between v2.1 and 2.2 of this charger?
There is a v3.1 version now.
John.
I’ve seen C3400 v3.1. I haven’t seen C3100 v3.1. Who sells it? What are the differences?
V3.1 only discharges li-ion cells down to 3.1v when v2.2 discharges li-ion down to 2.8v
The reason for this change is that low voltage protection on (protected) li-ion cells is set at 2.8v and if this cuts in before the charge finishes the display will show NUFF and you will loose all your data.
The problem is a lot of li-ion capacity`s in data sheets are from discharging to 2.8v and if you only discharge to 3.1v a lower capacity will show.
EDIT: The C3100 and C3400 are supposedly the same, the C3400 might have been made for a certain seller.
John.
It is not, usual the protection will be somewhere between 2.0V and 2.5V.
The change on the 3300 is because it pulses discharge and these pulses may trigger the low voltage protection, even when the battery voltage is above 2.8V with no current drawn.
Well you learn something new everyday.
Thanks Henrik
John.
I would like to know this also.
Edit: found out by myself
I got one on order v2.2 but didn’t realize it’s pulse charging 2A. Would it “hurt” my 14500 cells 800mAh (ptotected)? I’m thinking of canceling my order.
Yeah, I’m in the same boat. I already have a Lii-500 which does not use pulse charging, so I may just stick with it and cancel my C3100 order.
On a side note, I don’t know how commercial Li-Ion batteries differ from consumer grade ones, but this study seems to suggest that pulse charging is actually a good thing:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775301008205
Pulse charging is not the same as the pwm regulation BT-C3100/3300 uses.
Thanks!
Do we know what the long term effects are of using PWM regulation charging on Li-Ion cells?
I have not seen any results about that, but I know that small cells are charged with up to 10 times their rating in the pulses.
You mean BT-C3100 does this?
In general, what is your preference between BT-C3100 and Lii-500, when it comes to Li-Ion charging specifically?
Thanks!
The charge current is around 2.5A, but at low current it is only applied for about 0.01second at a time.
I prefer chargers without pwm regulation, that means the Lii-500. I uses the SkyRC MC3000 and the LiitoKala Lii-202 (I have it at work). Before the MC3000 I used Xtar chargers.
I think maybe I got a bad BT-C3100 or I’m just a dumb ass. It works fine in all modes for all my 18650 batteries. With my 10440 and 14500, not so much. I tried testing an Olight 14500 protected cell and it won’t even read it. It blinks and will allow me to select any of the modes but then won’t complete any of them, it just goes back to null. I can put same cell in Nitecore SC4 and it will it charge fine. Opus won’t charge, discharge, or test the cell at all. I have some other 10440 and 14500 that will quick test resistance but will not complete a discharge. I tested about 40 18650 cells for capacity (charge, discharge) without a hitch but these other cells this charger does not like. Dunno if this charger is defective or I am defective.
The problem is probably the protection, the Opus always uses a few amps in current, it then turns it on and off to get a average that matches the selected current. If the protection trips at the current Opus uses, it will not work with the cell.
Got a replacement from Amazon and this one does exactly the same as I posted above. So looks like charger is fine. Just doesn’t want to read the Olight 14500 protected cell. As far as the behavior on those other 14500s I had in the Opus not discharging them, I trashed all those batteries. I think the Opus was trying to tell me something when it refused to discharge them below 3.9 volts! They had a resistance of between 300 and 800, they were all a few years old and they were all Trustfire. Yeah I know, right. No more batteries with the word “fire” in the name for me. I learned my lesson. Junk is still junk no matter how you color it.
I have both the 3100 and the 3400 —- with protected cells it’s a crap shoot when testing discharge with the opus— some will go low enough to read / some won’t—- I have several Sanyo (EVVA labeled) protected 14500 cells —- half will complete a test cycle—- I kind of watch the charger while testing these — you can get a rough capacity before it resets the charger