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

Good point. Wonder if it’s feasible to have a sliding rail that isn’t spring loaded. Instead, make the contacts be magnetic? That way there won’t be undue stress against the battery or sliders.

This brings to mind how a file-cabinet drawer’s back plate works. There’s a back plate that slides forward and back manually, with a lock. There is no spring. It keeps your files snug, no matter how loaded the drawer is.

IMO, some tweaks to the MC3000 would do the trick, so SkyRC could be the company to work with.

BTW: I guess you all know the story behind the MC3000? SkyRC built this charger to specifications of a flashlight enthusiast. Sounds like history repeating, somehow.

Great start. I’d also like to see a 2-cell version for greater portability.

I worked out the probability that you’ll see anything from this project, and it turns out it’s only 2.718%.

Still, it’s fun to speculate what could be. IMO, the only thing that stands a chance of getting anywhere close to the requirements is a modified MC3000. Though, that would never get done on the budget requirement of $39-$49.

Group buys (like the recent one for the Xtar Li500S) make a lot more practical sense for a “budget” charger.

The only way a BLF charger would get done is to ask a company like Xtar to make some very minor modifications to an existing charger, and do a group buy. But that will never come close to the requirements for this project.

Finally a realistic view.

That’s a very precise number. Show your math please.

You sound a lot like my elementary school math teachers…

In HS and college science they teach that only the last digit is non-precise. So if I say I have 2.5 gal of gas, it’s understood it could be 2.48 or 2.54. But if you say you have 2.500 gallons of gas, then it’s a fact that it was measured to at least the hundredth of a gallon.

So when you say “I worked out the probability” and the answer is 2.718%… that is fascinating to me.

Perhaps he simply asked Spock to calculate it. :wink:

BlueSwordM, is there news on this project?

Yeah, something like a modified RC3000 is out of the picture.

@WalkIntoTheLight, as I’ve said before, if the additional features don’t work out, then the basic adaptable voltage charging(3,60-4,20) and very low current voltage recovery will be the only features implemented.

@JoshK, not until Wednesday next week.

Why is that?

Cost…

Perhaps he tallied all the options, say 32 of them, and gave ‘a not probable’ value of 1; to a ’probable’ value of 100; thus creating 3200 total points of which he subjectively added up some 87. This gives a ratio of 87/3200 = 0.027188 or 2.718 % chance of fruition.

Not defending WalkIntoTheLight, just pointing out what he could have done…

Guys, it was a joke. The number I picked is just e (Euler’s number), expressed as a percent. I thought pi would be too obvious.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the Adeaska VC4 Plus.
( Review )

I haven’t seen much if any mention of this charger here. It looks like it already has multiple charge cutoff points, can do 4 26650 at a time, can charge relatively fast, and the base model doesn’t cost a small fortune. The only thing I can’t tell is how long a cell it can support. As a Sofirn Protected 21700 owner, I’m interested in that answer.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t have very low current voltage recovery, or adjustable charge voltage.

I had previously purchased the SQ2 from Adeaska. A 2 bay 1/2 & 1 amp multi-charger. After a while, and after purchasing an inline USB tester, I realised the unit was defective. There never was a constant current delivered and the mode selection was inverted with two cells; i.e. with two batteries selecting 1 amp delivered some 400 mA (peak). Had to select 0.5 Amp to get some 800 mA. From ZeroAir review, this model is better.

As the logistics were erroneous and the current would constantly vary, I opted for a MiBoxer C4-12. The Miboxer has an equally nice display and IR test (the SQ2 doesn’t have IR). The VC4 has independant buttons / status display for all bays and IR. Zeroair mentions the sliders are ’scratchy”; which I had greased.

@Blue: It does have Battery Activation - see the blued manual in review.