The making of the BLF UC4 charger: the start of a new venture, INTEREST LIST, UPDATE 7 (Well, ramping stopped :/ )

[Agro]

@Joshk

Oooo, how about an efficiency calculation mode for our batteries?

For example:
3000ma during discharge / 3500ma to re-charge = 85.7% efficiency.

I agree it would be nice.

[borealis]

Interested, please add me.

[amishbill]

@Joshk

…

This would be a new “mode”. It wouldn’t complicate existing modes.
When this mode gets used, it would top off the battery, discharge it, recharge it, then display efficiency.

I don’t think I’ve seen mention of this type of metric before.

I don’t think it would have much impact on wall-outlet based charging as the only different would be a little time. Charging from a limited supply like a solar cell though, I can see where you might want to know which cells will use the least source current to achieve a full charge.

I also don’t think this is an actual, distinct mode. What you’re asking for is just an additional calculation based on a standard Full Test. I see the biggest challenge being finding space on the display to show it.

[Joshk]

@amishbill

@Joshk

…

This would be a new “mode”. It wouldn’t complicate existing modes.
When this mode gets used, it would top off the battery, discharge it, recharge it, then display efficiency.

I don’t think I’ve seen mention of this type of metric before.

I don’t think it would have much impact on wall-outlet based charging as the only different would be a little time. Charging from a limited supply like a solar cell though, I can see where you might want to know which cells will use the least source current to achieve a full charge.

I also don’t think this is an actual, distinct mode. What you’re asking for is just an additional calculation based on a standard Full Test. I see the biggest challenge being finding space on the display to show it.

Yea I thought it up.
For the flashlight community, you are right, efficiency is just a matter of a little more time on the charger. But for the DIY Powerwall community, battery efficiency would be very interesting and could identify poor performers.

[Joshk]

Battery efficiency may even identify batteries in the early stages of self-discharge issues.

[Muto]

Count me in

[der_horst1 (der_horst)]

i’m interested

[opbigdave]

in please

[netgear68]

count me in for one.

[patchythepirate]

This seems amazing, put me down for one

[Petr_Sixta]

I’m interested in this charger, count with me.

[dnei519blf]

In for one. Thank you!!

[mkor100]

Would be interesting. How about real internal resistance measurement? How about tolerance for finish charging/discharging voltage? Especially I prefer finish voltage less than 4.2V, better 4.19 minus .05V .

[t-soung]

I’m interrested in 1.

@BlueSwordM

Excellent.

BTW, what kind of information would you guys like to have?

Personally, I’d like for the information to be present at all times for each slot, which includes:

1. Temps per channel.

2. Internal resistance measurements, and updates.

3. Voltage.

4. Current.

5. Charging/discharging mode via acronyms.

Anything else?

I like the display of the XTAR VC4S. It shows all information for all channels at the same time.
I also want two USB outputs for loading i-phone etc.
This reduces further power supply units.

[rost333]

Here are the additions since last week’s update and the BLF INTEREST LIST file linked to in post #1 have been updated too.
The interest list count now stands at 404 chargers.

POST # NAME
915 Tete
917 micknatt
918 Lipfit2000
919 mavortium
920 brenden23
921 ISO
922 iamnuts
923 4141003
924 scarnific
925 P33
926 Marc E
927 alex64
928 Kiltan
929 redsuns
931 LOTL
932 bmansc
933 Flying Luminosity
938 borealis
942 Muto
943 der_horst
944 opbigdave
945 netgear68
946 patchythepirate
947 Petr Sixta
948 dnei519blf
949 mkor100
950 t-soung

[Dutcheee]

Looks very nice!

One qestion, maybe it came up already, but I only see low voltage recovery for li-ion.
It is one of the things I dislike on the opus, when trying to recharge fully depleted NIMH I always need to “jump start” them in order to get recognised.

Will this problem be solved on the BLF charger? That alone is a good reason for purchase!

9V battery support would be another bonus.

[BlueSwordM]

@t-soung, sorry, but I won’t be including a second USB port on the design. Feature freeze has been done for a long time.

Upping the USB port current from 900mA to 1500mA would be an option however.

@Dutcheee, I do not think it is a good idea, but I’ll consider it a bit.
No 9V battery support, sorry. No more features to be added.

[riffraff]

“No 9V battery support, sorry.”

Wait, what? How will I recharge my smoke-alarm batteries?!? And my AM/FM transistor radio batteries? Oh, the horror!

[264]

Please add me to the interest list.

[Dutcheee]

@ BlueswordM What is the reason not to be able to recover NIMH? Quite a few of my AAA’s are down to 0 when I recharge them. Even eneloops that have been charged once. They seem to work 100% after the recharge.

Would be a very nice addition IMHO!

For the 9V’s in my sons RC car remote I can live with These