Difference between Opus BT-C3400 & BT-C3100 v2.1?

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
548

I will try to answer all the questions in this post.

I ruined my charger last night,Jon did not replace it, he gave me a very good deal on a new one.

Every Opus[had four] I owned or tried worked. They have variances. The Best one which I ruined last night was the ONLY one that never stopped[because of heat] during the discharge cycle,Therefore it was MORE accurate because it did not measure mAh again after stoppage.I actually watched these chargers once the mA read”0”. sometimes they stop for 2 minutes or more until the batteries cool. The voltage goes up b/w 0.03v and 0.06v during stoppage. That is measured again,hence the inaccuracy.This happened every 7 to 8 minutes with this new charger.

Basically the longer it takes to discharge the higher the mAh reading and more Inaccurate those readings are.This is after using the same batteries and comparing time of discharge and capacity results.

Before I forget. My Orbtronic comparisons were in a post earlier today.New charger was around 45 minutes longer and was ~175mAh higher.[Four slot median]

What I have simply determined in the last few hours is this. A fan like the delta would eliminate this problem. also, the variance in the charger also plays a role because this new charger has the Lite-on as did yesterdays catastrophe. So I put old chargers fan in new charger and it STILL has stoppages. That tells me something is a little different electronically,i have no idea what it may be.

I will admit I am more picky than most. I also am a great observer and write these stats down and also watch the charger when it is stopping. So I am not imagining the inconsistencies, I may be bothered by them more.

I am driven to get this or another charger to work like the deceased one! Like HKJ said, more air flow should solve your problem. I believe that. sometimes you have to improvise in order to eliminate an imperfection.

I have 6 X 4BAY quality chargers. the ONLY reason I got the Opus is for relatively accurate Capacity tests. The One I have now[after two tests] seems to be the most inaccurate of the Four.

I know I did not say exactly everything I wanted to. Those thought have escaped me. It bothered me a lot that I ruined the Opus becuase i knew that it would be difficult to find one as accurate.

I may drive you nuts along w/ myself,but I am determined to get this one or the next one to be as accurate as the deceased Mr. opus.

I emailed someone to splice/rewire/mod my remaining Two Delta fans,THAT IS THE SOLUTION FOR THIS CHARGER,I AM CONVINCED,MORE AIRFLOW! :+1:

If I fogrot anything I am sorry,I am a bit delirious today,actuall 4 days in a row w/ not enogh sleep,good night,good weekend,Capolini/wolfodg/Camilli/Volpini!!!

EDIT:I THOUGHT I POSTED THE CHARGE/TEST RESULTS EARLIER…HERE THEY ARE:

This is with the same 4 x 18650 Orbtronic batteries and discharged @1amp.These batteries were cycled 470 times bought on 12.21.2012.

Old charger:Time:2h48m Four slot median:2784mAh Done last week.

New charger: Time:3h34m. Four slot median:2955mAh

Diff: 46 minutes/171mAh. I do not mind the extra time but it correlates with the Inaccurate capacities.

My final test in the KP 4 X 18650. I will have those results before I go to bed,I would guess at least 150Mah off and an additional[minimal] 50 minutes more time. I will EDIT and post that tonight.

In order to get a better comparison of these tests and how accurate Mr. Deceased Opus was.This is a good barometer.

30 Q Brand new-

HKJ-2884mah…………….Opus Four slot median:2910mAh

549

Good question,I do not think I WOULD have the patience to watch it for 3.5/4.0hours!

I would bet at least 15 times. I estimate every 7 or 8 minutes w/ 2 minutes rest. Add that up and we will Say every 10 minutes[including rest]…6 times/Hour times 3.5 hours plus.,that is 21 times. It slows down a little around 3.3v. FINAL ANSWER IS 18……….I bet I would be within 3!

You ask me a question,It can be a long winded answer.

These KP are only @ 3.56v after 2h 33m!! .

EDIT: This is my experience with Four BT-C3100.

They either STOP/REST/RECOVER for the entire discharge OR they do not do it at all[KING OPUS].

550

I have Two announcements:

1. I am determined, obsessed and possessed to get this or my final attempt Opus charger to Run like “KING OPUS”. That will be its new name!

2. Jon[owner L.ION] and Dominic his main man both told me that they will only use 3 X 18650 when doing discharge tests. Primarily because of the RESET problem right near transition of Discharge/Charge. That happened w/ two of mine.

Secondarily most likely because STOP/REST/RECOVER issue that we have been talking about on/off for 6 weeks or so!

……

551

I’m doing a discharge test right now with 4 VTC5 —so far it’s been cranking hard 1:02 with a reading of 1022 no resets
I’ve never had that problem with this 3400 my 3100 is at the camp—
So I’d say my 3400 is King Opus——JK—-the damm thing will most likely break now—-LOL

552

VTC5 are only 2600 mAh not 3400mAh :wink:

My solution[s] are in my next post

553

what are you saying—that it will only fail with a 3400mah cell—- Ive done 100s of cells without any kind of failure that you’re talking about—just recently tested and matched 26/ 30Qs not one interruption—that’s with the stock(better PS)

554

Opus Solutions-"Utilizing my ideas along with others"

"TRIPLE COMBO"

1.Cut some vents in the bottom of the Opus.

2.***Elevate Mr. Opus entirely with "Mr. Slab Of Steel"

3. Use an external fan to blow on Mr. Opus!

Try this until "The Delta Destroyers" are back in commission.

***Mr. "SLAB OF STEEL" reduced the external temperature of my FENIX ARE-C2 From 132F down to 90F

LINK BELOW FOR SLAB OF STEEL...Groundbreaking discovery implemented by "Your average Joe Hobbyist",,"Wolfdog"!

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/45250

555

For the most part YES. I have to do more testing to see how this one will fare,I would think the same results as the other 2 that did this: As long as it is NOT 4 X 3400mAh it can usually handle it, although Jon had ones reset w/ 4 X 3000mAh.

I will bet when I discharge 2 or 3 of the same batteries the results will be more accurate.

Two Issues with these chargers.That have been determined with a lot of help from others and my vigorous testing and stats!

1.Resetting near the transition from discharge to charge[this has prompted Jon NOT to discharge 4 x 18650]SOLUTION: My LITE-ON SMPS 12V/5.5A/66W.

2. The charger STOPPING because it is too hot and only resumes when the temp. is below 40C/104F. SOLUTIONS: a fan with excellent CFM[Ability to move air],Delta 12v/0.12a/1.44watts!

I have experienced that with 3 out of the 4 Opus.chargers I have had

556

To start off with your charger is stopping it’s discharge way before the end(heat) and restarting— so cell size has nothing to do with it
All I know is I have two of them and they work perfect—good luck with all your testing

557

I’ll admit I am a bit confused… not terminally confused mind you, just a bit confused. :smiley:

1. The initial problem mentioned was a “reset” shortly after the discharge cycle had ended & the charge cycle had begun. This problem was identified as happening when 4 x 18650 cells were being tested.
This is what my charger was doing also, nothing more.
The solution to this was replacing the inadequate power supply with an adequate SMPS.
As far as I can recall, no mention was made by anyone at the time of their charger stopping during discharge because of “heat” related issues.
Sooooooo….

2. Is this a newly discovered issue?
Mine has not & does not do that. When was this issue first discovered?

Just attempting to keep up. :slight_smile:

558

I think the problem started when a fan was replaced —I’m not sure though

559

It is the total mAh CAPACITY! More capacity/More work/more heat!

4 x VTC5[2600mAh] = 10,400mAh

4 X K’power 3400mAh= 13,600mAH Additional 3200mah!

That is like an extra battery. That is why w/ 3 x 18650 3400Mah the charger does NOT have problems.

If you read the manual it will tell you about “WHY” the charger stops/starts again during Discharge or when the batteries get above 40C/104F.

560

You’re still not explaining why the heat is building up and shutting the charger off early in the Discharge cycle—at that point the charger has no idea what size the cell is—I usually don’t read manuals(I don’t have those problems—why would I)—when something gives me too much trouble —I toss them

561

That is all well and good. But none of it answers the questions I asked.

In addition mine does not do it with 4 x Sanyo NCR18650GA’s…. 3500mAh each.
4 x Sanyo GA’s [3500mAh ea.] = 14,000mAh … Additional 400mAh from the K’powers

What I am asking is quoted again below……

562

teacher——-I tried to answer you as far as I know from reading here—I thought the first instance of the New problem was when Wolfdog tried the replacement fans—yesterday he mentioned that other 3100 had this shutting down on discharge problem

gauss163—I thought about the IR after my last post—most of my cells are low resistance—as far as ambient temp—I have mentioned my wife keeps this house like a meat cooler—-one of the things I see is—all of his chargers are/maybe coming from the same lot

the only way I could make my 3400 replicate the first discharge/charge reset was to use my Littokala 2amp PS—-with this PS as soon as you tried to charge 4 cells @ 1 amp it reset

563

I understand teacher! Your charger is just like King Opus that I killed,It has NO issues,be grateful. I have had 2 chargers that could not handle 4 x 18650,that is why I am determined to get this one or another one working like it should.

The results I post later will show the difference b/w 3 or 4 batteries discharged when you have a charger like the one I have now. Lastly, Jon only discharges 3 batteries at a time because of this issue and the other[reset] that I mentioned in a post yesterday!

HKJ and I have been exchanging emails/photos of my board. He has been tremendous help in pin pointing the destruction of King Opus. I will post that later.

My fans are in the mail to Dale! :+1:

564

I am testing 4 X 30Q Now,10 cycles only,basically new. I will find out soon enough if it stops or if it can handle 12,000mAh. It could not handle 13,600mAh[4 x KP 3400.

_

Although not mind boggling this will give you an idea what the difference is in charging 3 X 18650 3400 VS. 4 X 18650 3400. Same KeepPower batteries.

I believe this is evidence that numerous stoppages during discharge directly relates to over blown and inaccurate capacity readings.

- 4 X 18650 3400mAh Keeppower-Numerous stoppages ~15 lasting 90 sec. to 2 minutes.

Four slot median:3278mah

Average time: 3h55m

–3 X 18650 3400mAh KeepPower

Four slot median: 3096mAh

Average time: 3h3m

Difference: 282mAh and 52 minutes longer for the 4 x 18650 3400mAh

Obviously the stoppages ADD time and the also add mAh because as the battery rests, the voltage goes up ~0.03v to 0.06v and that is measured AGAIN!

The solution, other than what I am trying to do[Delta destroyer] is to do what Jon does and only put 3 batteries in!! I can not accept that,at least now I won’t!

565

And a stellar job you did my Louisiana friend. :+1: … :slight_smile:
Thank you. :wink:

All I was attempting to ascertain was when the heat problem was first noticed as wolfdog has now mentioned it has happened in 3 of his 4 OPUS chargers.(1)

“I” did not recall any of that being mentioned until the last day or two.

  • So I was trying to determine if this had been an occurrence all along and just not been mentioned OR if I had missed the mention of it in all this vast quantity of material. :slight_smile:

Nothing more nothing less……. :slight_smile:

(1)

566

How do I get a hold of him. More than a free Opus I would like to know if the Resistors Q18 and 1AMh can handle using my Delta 12v/0.12a/1.44w fan.

These lie directly behind the plug of the fan on the back of the board.The white piece of plastic is for the plug insert.

I had to get a magnifying glass to read them. HKJ worked with me over 1 hour telling me what to look for and I took some pictures.

1AMh resistor is the one that HKJ was not able to find info. on. His guess is the fan would be ok.

Q18 and 1AMh


567

Not resistor, but transistor. There is a significant difference between the two type of parts.