MTN Electronics: LEDs - Batteries - Lights - Chargers - Hosts - Drivers - Components - 1-Stop-US Source

Sorry to butt in on another seller's thread but future LUC V4s will be fixed, existing inventory will definitely terminate around the 4.3V range. I'm not sure what sporting BIO V2 means, the BIO V2 is a different charger by Efest. The V2 stands for number of bays, not a version change of the charger. LUC, LUC V4, Bio V2 are three different chargers with 2, 4, and 2 bays respectively.

EDIT: I made a mistake, the Bio V2 actually happens to be a change in version, there existed a Bio V1, but the V4 in the LUC V4 refers to number of bays. Sorry!

That bit about Bio V2 is my misunderstanding, I didn’t realize it was a completely different charger. Sorry about that. Easy to slip stuff by me these days, lol.

( I leapt to a conclusion of a bios v2, like the software had been rewritten. Duh.)

Pics or it didn’t happen! Deserves a thread imho. :bigsmile: Love efest 10440s.

I made a mistake, the Bio V2 actually happens to be a change in version, there existed a Bio V1, but the V4 in LUC V4 refers to number of bays. Sorry!

Sorry Richard, 2 pics, and it is relevant because the Efest IMR10440, the Noctigon 16mm pad with XP-G2 R5 2B and the Qlite all came from you. I already had the reflector, the mini C8 was a gift.

Dark room, no lights except my chopped AA mini mag triple in ultra low mode to show the Mini C8 in my hand.

The copper pill with Noctigon, XP-G2 and Qlite

This is one of those that almost fell together, like it wanted to LIVE! I used a Lenox bi-metal hole saw to cut a plug of copper from a 1/4” thick 1” wide bar I have. Just so happened that the core fit into the Mini C8 perfectly. 17.7mm in diameter, 6.4mm thick, with the 16mm Noc on top, re-flowed together. Had to do some relief on the battery tube with the rotary, but it was really one of the easiest mods I’ve done lately.

Thanks Richard, for making this so easy with readily available parts. I’m gonna need some more drivers……

Dale, awesome build! Any idea where we can get our hands on that Mini C8?

I'm out of qlite drivers until Monday. Had a couple of rather large orders that wiped out all of the stock. There will also be more AR lenses, emitter insulators, etc. on Monday.

@ FT

mini c8

or

mini c8

I’m glad you posted this. That changes my plans for my build. Now I’m going to look for a different host. I’ll have to see at Christmas what my wife bought me from RMM and go from there.

I don’t know where this one came from, it was a gift to me.

It’s branded Guolin with GL-037-86 and 3W, even though all the literature says 1W. Need to change mine to 10W. :wink:

I got my mini C8’s from FT. They work, but they are pretty much junk stock. Not much more than a tiny host at the… $2.80 or w/e I paid per.

Btw batteries and assorted misc arrived today. I thought part of the order was missing “Why did he include this tiny box of foam” and then started pulling out foam from the cutouts and it was like a surprise miniature christmas present unwrapping.

A bunch of orders from other vendors arrived today as well… now I’ve got a pile up of parts and no idea where to start first. :bigsmile:

Unknown, start at the beginning, makes it much easier than starting in the middle and having to back up to go forward. :wink:

The parts you forgot why you ordered? Those are for me, just forward them on over here and I’ll sort em out for you…

New:

  • Convoy M1 Host
  • 4 x 18650 DIY USB Battery Box (no charging circuitry)
Re-Stock:
  • Convoy S2 Host
  • 20mm Partition Board / Contact MCPCB
Monday 12/23:
  • Lots of Noctigon Stuff (everything except for more T6-4C)
  • Qlite Drivers
  • Nitecore i4 Chargers

Ok guys, beyond the adjustable LM2596 I have been on a small quest to find an inexpensive and simple charger (under $3.25) for the 4.35v cells. I have played with a few different ideas and have finally settled on something that meets those goals. You might think it's goofy, but it works well! I have tested it several times with the LG D1 cell, measuring charge current and voltage along the way. Charge starts at around 0.3A at 3.9 volts and gradually works it way down to nothing when the cell hits 4.36v, where it has consistently terminated, a decent CC/CV charge curve. The best way to use this charger if you're in a hurry is to charge the cells to 4.2v in a faster charger then finish it off with this. Any guesses as to what it is? A YiboYuan Samsung Galaxy Note 2 external battery charger! That phone comes with a 4.35v battery from the factory. No need to open up the internals of the charger, you can use alligator clips or solder directly to battery contact prongs. Cheap enough to have a couple :)

Did you crack one open to check what chip its using?
:ghost:

Re-stock time for Protected Panasonic 3400mAh 18650s? Estimate?

thx

Hopefully by next weekend.

As to the chip, I did take it apart and couldn't find anything identifiable in there. I was going to adapt the MCP73831 chip to one of the existing boards, but the parts alone are more expensive than this entire charger. Sure, it's a bit slower but really not too bad. The faster solution is still the LM2596 buck board, but this works with no adjustment and no external power supply.

Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend cheap AC powered chargers sold direct from china. :~ Often they just don’t obey any laws or regulations concerning safety.

There is a usb powered 4.35v external battery charger for the Samsung Galaxy S3. Its $6 but it doesn’t carry the danger of cheap chinese AC powered devices. Wouldn’t need to go through the adjustment of the LM2596 boards. With a usb charger like this Galaxy S3 one or a MCP73831/2 you can add a tp4065 or other usb charger in parallel to boost its current. One of cottenpicker’s chargers does the same, using a 4.2 chip in parallel with a 4.35v chip.

Good idea RMM. When I started looking at the 4.35v cells I got hung up on the fact that there must be charging ICs for use within phones which use 4.35v cells. A retrofit with an MCP73831 was all I could think of, cost made me give it up. External chargers never crossed my mind!

For more current, maybe we should try the Yiboyuan SS-1 AC, which states 600mA. Yiboyuan has at least 3 different 600mA 4.35v chargers, but the SS-1 seemed least expensive.

I’ve seen others doing that charger swap you mention to speed things up, but I wonder what effect it has. It seems to me that doing a complete CC/CV charge to 4.2v and then starting over with CC/CV to 4.35v might do something undesirable?

Doing a full cc/cv 4.2v charge then switching to a 4.35v cc/cv won’t do any harm. Its just slower & sort of annoying.

I’ve never fully understood exactly what makes a CC/CV charge cycle so good in the first place, so I wasn’t sure.

Is it simply that the CC phase protects the cell from overcurrent and CV kicks in once we reach the maximum voltage for the cell? Would a pure CV charger result in anything undesirable other than a slow charge?