I used an epoxy glue to re-attach the broken stem from shipping. I'm trying to assemble it, but it's a freak'n nightmare - no instructions, the 4 sliders to get into position is totally, insanely nuts!
It's sitting there on my bench in pieces, and I don't have faith the stem will hold up when all back together. Been way too bizy to spend that kind of time this needs. Hope to get back to it soon.
Any chance you could post a photo of your repair and the innards you’re trying to reassemble before closing it up?
I think many others have had (or will eventually have) this same problem.
A very long list of improvements has been implemented on the charger, what do you believe is missing?
What you said is my thoughts exactly. I’ll never buy anything from this company.
At least Xtar recalled the VP2 when the problem was discovered. From what I’ve read about SkyRC, their customer support sucks.
True, but the WP2 cost 5 times less than a MC3000. BTW, I’ve owned 10 Xtar’s including 2 of the first gen WP2’s and never had problems with any of them. I’ve since given my WP2’s away to friends and they’re still working 5 years later.
Here's the original case:
Here's the replacement case that had a stem snapped off, and with the stem repaired with a supposed good epoxy glue:
Here's the mess:
I looked it over again and can't begin to understand how it's possible to work in this space and get everything aligned up perfectly. Nothing fits snugly.
They glued the connectors with really tough stuff so can't work on it in pieces. I got all the buttons, display and boards moved over ok, I'm just stuck on aligning/assembling the sliders.
K, think (thought) I found a way to assemble it. For the 6 screws securing down the back cover, I had only 5. For some reason couldn't get them to tighten the case completely - just a hiar worth of looseness. Tried it anyway - oh boy... One of those long slots popped out, angled now in the case - of course I tried this with a cell and power, so.... The charger reset, and then noticed the distinct smell of burning electronics. Turned it off. I straightened out the slot, and this time held the case tightly together and the screw actually tightened it all up. So it's working - but on only 2 slots - the 3rd and 4th. 1st and 2nd are dead - don't recognize a battery, so sure something critical went up in smoke for those 2 slots. So I'm worse then when I started - I had only one dead slot, now I got 2 dead ones.
Now that I know how to assemble it, might have to take a looksy to see if I can see what burnt, and if it's replaceable. Or buy a new one? Really wanted to charge 4 cells at a time with this - got lots of SRK style lights now...
I also had trouble putting the MC3000 together after fixing a broken post. In the process the whole thing stopped working when one of the rails slipped and probably shorted something. Just like you couldn’t close the case all the way. Got an error message about the ADC after getting it sorted.
There’s isn’t anything similar on the market so just bought a third one. At least now both of them have the new case with better posts.
Here is the list that members came up with………The thread died so I didn’t see where these were resolved. Maybe in another thread?
It is required to remember the program numbers or press a key, on the initial screen there is no hint on how the selected program works.
Default time on LiIon is 3 hours, this is to short.
When terminating on time or capacity, no capacity information is saved.
Break_in shows charged capacity, not discharge capacity.
Backlight always requires a keypress to turn on, putting a battery into the charger will not turn the light on
Factory calibration do not match specifications.
The PC software requires a high screen resolution
NiMH charge curves looks messy on PC, an option to hiding measuring pauses would be nice.
PC software saves csv files at wrong location.
It is not possible to copy programming from one charger to another, people with more than one charger (That will be me) must enter each program on each charger!
The Bluetooth software is not stable and do not work on all phones.
Strange coding on the usb output, why not use a chip to automatic get the best coding?
Some of them is preferences not bugs and many of them has been fixed.
The master list of bugs and fixes is in post #6 in this thread:
Perhaps it will be simpler if the “unfixed” issues are enumerated here?
Tom,
Thanks for the photos. A picture is worth 1000 words and now I see exactly what you’re up against.
Maybe they’ve since corrected all the issues with the MC3000. I don’t know. I wonder if there’s a photo here somewhere of the new post design.
I sorely miss “Made In America”. If a charger that offered those same features and was made in the USA….heck I’d spend twice as much because I know the warranty would be honored and that means the quality would be better to begin with. The actual price we pay for “cheap” Chinese goods is expensive.
So you’re going to possibly just buy another as a fix…maybe a fix……maybe another lemon?
Unfortunately, to get those expensive “cheap” goods, we’ve abandoned our ability to make much of anything domestically and every component would have to come from guess where? Ultimately expensive, “cheap” Chinese goods are an opiate on which the world is addicted…to it’s own demise.
A quick look through the list didn’t reveal (to my tired eyes) a fix for the all important and critical breaking post issue?
Did I miss it?
How do you know the new ones have better posts? Did you take it apart or can you see them without disassembly?
Is there a photo of the new posts on the forum somewhere?
I was fixed a long time ago.
ok. It’s hard to figure out the timeline of some of the fixes and I didn’t see it in the list.
That’s good to know. But wait….in the posts above, TomE just this week says he received a replacement cover for one that had broken pins and it ALSO has the same issue?
Maybe the post were stronger, but still broken due to shipping? This is confusing. :person_facepalming:
So I wonder if ALL the discovered bugs and problems have been resolved now or if there are any new ones that have not yet.
Oh, sorry. The problem with the case was a batch was made with poor brittle plastic that caused the posts to break. I should take pics of the old vs. new, but the new case does have better made posts - better, stronger support base of the post, but also should be made of the better material. The problems with the replacement case was a post broke in shipping because GearBest (and the source vendor - SkyRC?) packed it incredibly stupidly.
So HKJ is right - this post problem was fixed long ago. I bought mine from GearBest, of course we know not the best vendor, but the best price of course. Another issue was I had mine for a few months before I even turned it on for the first time, so when all this started for me, the new better batches have been out there for a while.
I ordered the case replacement on Dec 24, 2016, and ordered the charger on Aug 16, 2016. I believe the better case were shipped before August, but GearBest/SkyRC apparently didn't do a "recall" to pull "bad" units off the shelves, so old inventory still was shipping, and by the time I ordered the bare case, they were out of stock
Maukka - you don't know how happy I am you had the same exact problem, and you are totally correct bout there's nothing else like it. $90 now at GearBest, $10 less than I paid - think'n bout it.
I should add, SkyRC did respond well to my email to their support. I was happy with their responses, and thought they were considerate. I never did bother contacting them though after receiving the broken replacement - my bad. Here's the first response:
From: SkyRC_Karl Peng [mailto:karl@skyrc.cn]
Sent: Monday, February 6, 2017 9:11 PM
To: Tom E
Subject: Re: MC3000 questions...
Hello Tom Elfers,
thanks for contacting SKYRC.
We are very sorry to hear about the plastic material failure which you experienced with your first unit of MC3000 from Gearbest. We are glad to hear that you are already in the GB process of warranty service. The replacement part will fit your charger, has an improved construction design and also is built with much higher quality plastic material. You can find documentation about this improved replacement part on CPF, the flashlight forum.
Are you saying that GB has run out of stock of the replacement part? — Let me check and take care of it. Everyone in China has been on 2-4 weeks CNY holiday season vacation, that is another reason for the unusual delay in the process, sorry for the long wait.
Good luck with the GB warrant service process,
hope you can get the improved part soon,
please don't be disappointed,
best regards
Important Notice: In order to prevent financial fraud, if you get the notice of changing bank account, please confirm if there is an official email of "Bank Account Change Notice" with SkyRC company stamp and signature. And if you still have questions, please feel free to contact SkyRC via SkyRC official tel+86-0755-83860222 for reconfirmation. Thank you. |
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Karl Peng Sales Department SkyRC Technology Co., Ltd. 4/F, Building No.6, Meitai Industry Park, Guanguang South Road, Guihua, Guanlan, Longhua New District, Shenzhen 518110, China T: 0755-83860222-806 F: 0755-81702090 M: 18476631970 Email: karl@skyrc.cn www.skyrc.com |
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From: Tom E
Date: 2017-02-06 10:52
To: info@skyrc.cn
Subject: MC3000 questions...
Hi,
I bought an MC3000 from GearBest, and after just a couple weeks of use, the left most bay’s spring popped off. Took off the cover and noticed the plastic pin snapped on the left most bay, and the right most bay’s pin holding the spring is also broken, and won’t last long.
I ordered a replacement case from GearBest for $20, and have been waiting for weeks for it to come in stock.
Is there anything you can do to expedite the replacement? After all, it’s a defect in manufacturing or design – not my fault, not GearBest’s fault. Also is there anything you can tell me about the replacement case? GearBest is not capable of answering my questions. My main concern is will this replacement case fit my unit, and is it an improved design?
Please, please, help – please, if you can, at least, answer my questions.
I’m a very disappointed customer – I expect better quality for this kind of money. For such high level features and advanced functionality, I would expect better attention to details of quality.
Thanks!
Tom E
Ouch!
This is my concern. I guess I’m lucky that mine hasn’t had any of the posts break (ordered December 2015). Having heard of this issue, I’ve been rather careful with the sliders, and perhaps that helps. The dilemma is what to do when it breaks. The top cover has been in my shopping cart for a while now, but i’m concerned that I might run into trouble putting it back together, as this has been reported quite a few times.
The sticking point is that the bloody top cover is expensive. At $20.00, it is nearly a quarter (22.22%) of the cost of a new charger (currently $89.99)! Unfortunately, there really isn’t anything else like it (despite my hopes when I first heard of the Xtar Dragon), so if it breaks I’ll likely get a replacement. If I buy the top cover, screw up putting it back together, then get a replacement charger, I’d be $109.99 poorer (instead of just $89.99).
I got a 2 cell MC3000 charger now, and ordered another MC3000 at discount for $90, so it's on the way 
I got $20 credit from Gearbest which I used to buy the cover - funny because I had 2 slots working before, and 2 slots now, but for different reasons.