New version (6.0) NOW 7.0 of the miller ml-102 charger...

It would be really great if it provides 2A output. I’m sure many would be interested. I’d get one.

Do version 6 and up allow the use of the much longer protected (unbranded) 3100/3400mAh Panasonic cells?

In my v7.0 unprotected pana 2900mah (65mm) has very tight fit, so without modification it will be impossible to firt protected cells. IIRC only older versions had coils springs and allowed for longer batteries.

On other forum there was a person who modded v6.0 to fit WOW protected cells. Google: “ml-102 charger wow battery”
and you should find some images :slight_smile:

No need to go to the other side…

Hello again,

I’ve used pc power supply, cheap multimeter, sanyo 2600mah batteries and Nexus 5 with fastcharge enabled.

It hard for me to believe, but multimeter shows 2.2A when charging my Nexus,
I checked also old TomTom navigation and it shows 0.58A

I don’t have this little thingy to test usb current directly and I used this method:

So, now I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or there is huge imprecision because of method or cheap multimeter…

Any ideas?

gbates, it is expected that the TomTom pulls less current than the Nexus.

Where did you insert the multimeter into the circuit? At the battery or at the USB connector? This is significant.

At negative end of the battery like on the photo I’ve linked

another device, Nexus 7, shows 1.25A

I have also older version 5 of ML-102, I will check what it’ll show…

Unfortunately this method of measurement is not really 100% sufficient. What you are finding is input current for the MT5032A, not output current over USB. If you have a USB cable you can cut you can do a similar thing to the VCC wire. Typically that should be the red wire - just cut the wire and put the multimeter in the middle.

Ok.

I’ve cut the USB cable and connected multimeter between the red wire

I have 3 x ML-102 (2x v7 with microUSB, 1x v5 with miniUSB)
Now results are much different.

v7 (no1):
0.64A for Nexus 7
0.95A for Nexus 5

v7 (no2):
0.64A for Nexus 7
0.98A for Nexus 5

v5
0.64A for Nexus 7
1.02A for Nexus 5

So it looks v7 isn’t more powerfull then v5

As a bonus there is also Coolook PB-2000 Power Pack
0.45A for Nexus 7 on port OUT A
0.83A for Nexus 7 on port OUT B

1.08A for Nexus 5 on port OUT A
1.03A for Nexus 5 on port OUT B

I’ve switch the chargers after some time to see if results are repeatable and they were in ~0.02A range

I will compare charging of batteries later

Thank you gbates. Good work!

It may still be possible to get 2A out of the MT5032A, but as you can see it will be hard on the 18650. If you are measuring 2.2A @ the battery (~4v?) and 0.95A on the USB output (~5v) then we are only seeing approximately a 50% efficiency! So maybe like 4-5A at the battery once it sags… that will not be good.

it’s way more than 50% efficiency as the Voltage is boosted to USB Specs.

Do you understand my assumptions and my math?

I just received my ml-102 V7. I measured the current of USB output at the battery (Sanyo UR18650FM) and I got 1.31A to my Nokia 520 which has a very small battery (1430mAh). I know this is not accurate, I should have followed the method suggested by ‘wight’ but the charging process is much faster than the stock Nokia charger which rated at 750mA. So I did another test using a USB extension and the current is significantly lowered to around 700mA. The charging time is now much slower and closer to the stock charger. On another note my unit cut off at 4.16V.

I got 4 V6’s from FT

I replaced the RProg resistor to 2.2K, all mine now charge at 500mA~ sure it takes a few hours, but I know it won’t overheat the TP4056 and won’t over stress the batteries

The V7 looks nice

I ordered a 10 micro USB and diodes (was going to put the micro in parallel to the mini usb) wouldn’t you know it, it got the V6’s that have only the micro…

If anyone has the V5 and would like micro usb put on there shoot me a PM and I can solder em on for you so you can have micro usb inputs not just mini

What is the size of the resistor you swapped? 0805?

Yes 2.2K ohm 0805 size

LOL
I had to get out the calc: (5×0.95)÷(3.7×2.2)=0.58.
If way more is around 8% more than Pöbel is right…

The funny thing is inside the phone there is another buck circuit which leads to additional losses….greenhouse effect we are comin…

Guys I have a question, regardless of version of be ML-102: can I store a 18650 cell in it REVERSED (positive on spring, negative on tab) to prevent draining the cell?

No (putting them in backwards could damage the electronics), if you want to store them…just slip a small piece of plastic or strip of paper over the + terminal when you slide it in the charger to break the electrical circuit…then pull it out when you want to use it, of course it breaks the circuit so it won’t charge either

Simple solution but the reverse draw is usually very minimal compared to some internal self drain…

Thank you! I left it reversed for 1hr and hope not to have damaged it (it lights up normally anyway).