Opus BT-C100 charger does NOT charge Li-ion batteries and Banggood says it does NOT support Li-Ion batteries

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
1

I wanted to get a portable analyzing charger and it seems that the smallest full-featured one would be the Opus BT-C100 charger. It has almost all the functions of a bigger analyzing charger (which I already own a few), although with only 1 slot - it is designed for portability.

I purchased a unit from Banggood, but when I tried to charge an 18650, it DOES NOT seem to charge them. It will seem to "charge" but then shows "FULL" immediately (tested when the battery voltage was only around 3.9v), after inserting a few seconds, it shows FULL, and testing the battery voltage shows it's still at around 3.9v. I also tested with an 18350 and it's the same behavior. Tested other 18650s at different voltages, and they appear to charge but then displays "FULL" very quickly.

I did a video to demo the problem to Banggood:

testing the Opus BT-C100 with an 18650:

Banggood replied back and told me to test other battery types. I don't have a LiFePO4 battery, but I have NiMh, and it appears to charge NiMh properly:

Now after showing both videos, BG replied back and pointed me to their product page description:

https://www.banggood.com/OPUS-BTC100-Digital-LCD-Intelligent-Battery-Charger-for-LiFePO4-Ni-MH-NiCd-with-EUUS-Plug-p-1183151.html

The product description indicates it charges: LiFePO4, NiMh, NiCD

There is NO indication that it can charge Li-Ion.

BG's response: I am using a battery type that is not supported by the Opus BT-C100 charger.

That seems to be an unreasonable response. What do you think can I do?

2

Although it seems silly to make a charger that does everything BUT Li-Ion, it is in fact a reasonable response from them. Buying this is an easy mistake to make, but unless you saw somewhere in the advertising that it can charge Li-Ion to 4.2V, then it was entirely your mistake. Other brands also make chargers that work with everything but Li-Ion.

Ideally they should post a warning because there are bound to be many customers who end up with a product that won’t do what they primarily wanted it to do, but I don’t see how they can be blamed or expected to compensate for a customer not checking the specs to confirm it is what he wanted.

It is human nature to feel cheated under circumstances like this, but the facts do not support it.

3

https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Opus%20BT-C100%20UK.html

it can…

4

Other things I noticed with my “defective” Opus BT-C100. Since I don’t have another good working unit to compare to, I’m not sure what a normal one behaves, but something that seems “off” with my unit:

1) when I plug in to power, the display will show some voltage starting from 1.xxx and increases a bit, then it shows FULL, even when there is no battery inserted yet

- I’m not sure if this is a normal behavior or not for a BT-C100 (I compared some other Youtube videos, and theirs seem to show “null” instead of “FULL” when no battery is inserted yet.

- for that matter, I’ve never seen this charger display the word “null” yet — when is it supposed to display “null”? Without a battery inserted, it displays “Full” (the battery voltage display will show some voltage increasing, then shows “Full”)

2) when I set to CHARGE (with a Li-ion battery inserted), ie. I press and hold the MODE button until the display is blinking the word “CHARGE”, then I pressed the CURRENT button to change the current selection, the allowable current ranges are 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.6 and 2.0 — I thought the charger disallows charging Li-Ion at 2.0A rate, but with my unit, it allows that (although as mentioned it does not really charge).

Similarly with DISCHARGE function, the allowable discharge rates are 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 and 1.0A.
The manual indicates that 1.0A discharge is only allowed for NiMh and not for Li-Ion.

But on my unit, it seems to be able to allow discharging at 1.0A for Li-Ion batteries — is this normal for the Opus BT-C100?
(note: the unit gets hot very quickly so I didn’t attempt doing it for long, tested only a few minutes)

5

That just doesn’t seem correct. Is there a different model of Opus BT-C100 charger that does NOT charge Li-Ion? Maybe someone can point an official product page for the Opus BT-C100 to clarify this?

The product’s box and the manual that came with my Opus BT-C100 clearly indicates that Li-Ion batteries are supported.

It shows FULL even without a battery inserted:

6

States clearly on the box, Li-Ion supported, and lists a variety of cell sizes, 10440,14500 etc

D_T_A doesn’t your box have the same info, in both the manual and on the box? Send them a pic if so and you are in the clear, they have to honour what the product claims about itself.

Also if your box and manual doesn’t make that claim you still have a case if they changed the specs without changing the model number. As long as your model umber is identical to the one in the pic below (From Tatasal’s link)

7

You might have mentioned this in your initial post. This is THE critical point.

8

I’m using this charger for months to charge my 18650s and 26650s, so of course it’s able to charge Li-Ion batteries. (Plus you can also use this as a power bank.)
I like this charger so much I had to order its “big brother”, the Opus BT - C3100 V2.2. (Which has 4 slots for double price.)
I bought it from GearBest, since my experiences with BangGood are pretty mixed.

9

Just to add my own experience, I have one of these and it definitely charges normal 3.7/4.2V Li-ion batteries.

10

After inserting the battery, you can use the left button to set the type of rechargeable battery. After inserting the battery, it is automatically detected that it is a Li-ion battery. It can then be set whether it is a standard type with a maximum voltage of 4.2 volts or a type with 4.35 volts. The charger owns, normally charging Li-ion batteries. In the evening I shoot a video to make sure the charger supports Li-ion batteries. You can then send the video to Banggood. Your charger is definitely defective.

I looked at Gearbest. They have the same mistake as Banggood. However, the pictures show that Li-ion is supported.

https://www.gearbest.com/chargers/pp_300470.html?wid=1451237?lkid=11125772?lkid=12715283

Website OPUS

https://szopus.en.alibaba.com/?spm=a2700.8304367.topnav.1.15ca458dFMFSpp

BT-C100 NIMH Li-ion BATTERY CHARGER with POWER BANK

11

Ok, right now I tested charging an NiMh again on the Opus BT-C100, and now it also wouldn’t charge.

Indicating there IS really a problem with my Opus BT-C100 which I just received…

12

Looks like this one may be the ‘Utorch UT01’ of chargers,I got a bad one too,gearbest partially refunded it if I remember correctly.

13

That should qualify for a full refund. I can't imagine BG not giving you all your money back anymore.

14

Mine works fine with Li-Ion batteries. It’s actually my go-to charger when I’m charging single cells.

15

Banggood is really impossible! They insist that the Opus BT-C100 charger does NOT support Li-Ion batteries.

I have also shown the video wherein my unit also does NOT charge NiMh batteries (in the first video, it still charges NiMh, but when I re-tested, it doesn’t charge anymore).

Other functions like the powerbank and impedance test appear to work. The Discharging function makes the unit get hot, so I didn’t test that function for long.

They suggest that I should have gotten another charger that supports Li-Ion.

Actually I have other analyzing chargers already, I’m looking for one that is small/portable and can run off USB power and does capacity test. It seems only the BT-C100 has this functionality. Except my unit does not have the “Charge” functionality…

I tried using micro-USB to power the unit, and charging also does not function whether powered via micro-USB or via the included 12v power adapter.

~

Is there some Banggood representative here who can give a more constructive solution to my problem? They keep on insisting the BT-C100 does not support Li-Ion 3.7v batteries. And I already presented that it also fails to charge NiMh (during my first video, it did, but subsequent testing it does NOT charge NiMh anymore — definitely some fault in the Charging mechanism on my unit)

16

Your last option is to give them an ultimatum for a re-send (let’s say 3 days from your request), adding that you if they still insist not to replace an obviously defective item, then your last recourse is to go file a dispute with Paypal to recover you money.

The amount may not be significant, but we should give the message to dealers that we are prepared to use the last resort if necessary.

17

BG’s rep is Swi:

SWI

18

Maybe you made the same mistake with them that you made in the OP of this thread.
You did not mention that the box and the manual clearly indicate that this model is in fact supposed to charge Li-Ion.
A simple photo of each with the model number clearly visible is good evidence.
Maybe also reference reviews from their own sales page showing Li-Ion charging.
You just assumed that everyone here knew that, maybe you assumed the same with them?

Anyway, contact the Banggood rep, and also mention to Banggood that you will file a Paypal dispute if unsuccessful.
I did both when they kept insisting on replacing the wrong part for me, and within an hour or two they agreed to send the right part.

19

Send BG a picture of the box, then file a paypal dispute and don’t close it until you get a new charger in the mail, or a refund.

20

This a bit of a hard one…… if it doesn’t actually claim to charge them on the sellers site, and they don’t show the box photo saying it does, them you should assume it doesn’t even if someone else tells you otherwise.
BUT now that it isn’t charging other cells, it’s not even an issue anyway because it’s not charging a cell they claim is should.

When I have defective / wrong items (or for that matter taking over 1 month to arrive) from Banggood or Gearbest etc I don’t even bother to contact them, open a dispute with Paypal upload photos for evidence straight away.
If they contact through Paypal then I answer them, but only then and minimally or again you’ll get into a silly argument that never ends, it just slows the resolution down, I think they think you might give up if it goes on for over 20 emails!
Delivery wise if/when the item does turn up you can always cancel the dispute, but it can take 3/4 weeks to sort the dispute from opening it, so they are getting 1 month + 3/4weeks grace anyway.

I have better things to do with my time than to get into a petty battle of emails that from experience always gets nowhere, and ends up at best with them offering you an insulting 1/2 refund.
Paypal have never let me down once when opening disputes, and I have had a fair few with Banggood and Gearbest - the last one they even told me I had to open a youtube account to send videos to them , that was after sending them photo’s (which were already on Paypal) TWICE, each time claiming they didn’t receive them!! all over a $4.95 tailcap that didn’t fit on my S41.

Finally NEVER close a Paypal dispute (and they BG/GB WILL ask you to close it, or like they say ‘we won’t be able to help’ Bullpoop!) until you are happy with the resolution or have your money back.