Hi all!
Bella from acebeam asked me if i would "field test" their improved battery carrier - i said yes!
Some days later a box arrived with a X60 taken from the warehouse (with the "old" carrier installed) and 2 additional "improved" carriers. also in the box were 6 acebeam 2600mAh cells.
Using 6 identical cells is very important!
(The light was not free, but the new carriers and the batteries were...)
The screws on the carriers are glued and i did not open it (but maybe i will ;)) to check the difference between both versions...
but beside the words "TD4055" and "LTC4054" written with a sharpie i cant see any difference.
Bella told me that the new charging ICs have several advantages:
~ gives wrong polarity protection
~ delivers 500mA to each battery
~ intelligent CC and CV charging
~ charging accuarcy is 4.2V±1%
~ ensures protection against over-charging
~ if it detects shorts,defect or low discharged batteries it stops charging
nothing new - but the real difference is that the 4054 seems to be made with higher quality than the 4055 - which results in a much more accurate charging.
and thats what we are looking for!
How i tested:
the charger used was the EU-version (230V); the USB-plug was not used
i marked the cells 1-6 and also the carriers bays (#1-3 upper row, #4-6 lower row; facing the head)
before each charging run the cells where cyceled 1 up - cell in bay #6 went in bay #1
all values are taken with the same DMM
temperatures seemed always to be in normal range - but no big variance of single cells
The test as “a story”:
The cells arrived all carged to 3,65 Volts and had an isolating sticker on both poles. Since the 4055 carrier was already in the X60, i started with that one to see what happens to delivered units….
After around 5 hours the charging indicator went from red to green - i pulled the cells and meassured between 4,17 and 4,22V. After 1 hour letting rest the cells outside the readings were the same.
I put the cells back in the light and took it outside the first time (impressive btw!) - some playing later i meassured 4,02 - 4,07V (each cell dropped 0,15V). then i left it on for some time at different brightness levels and next meassurement gave me 3,89V to 3,93V ( again - each cell lost nearly the same amount of voltage).
Then i used the new 4054 carrier to charge and the cells leveled to 4,19V - 4,21V when the light turned green - another charging for 6 hours did not really make a difference (some cells went up 0,01V, some 0,01V down)
To see how good the balancing works i used a BT-C3100 to discharge 3 cells to ~3,45V and 3 cells to ~3,68V - a difference of 0,25V…
Back in the 4054 the cells where charged to 4,19 - 4,21V again
Then i used a fan to cool the head and let it run very hot until i saw that the output was noticeable lower - the cells dropped to 3,77 - 3,78V rotating them and recharging resulted in 4,20 - 4,21V
Then i “regulary” used it down to 3,76 - 3,78V
Now i used the 4055 carrier again to see what happens to this well balanced cells - result: 4,17 - 4,22V
Using them down to 3,70 - 3,73 shows the same behaviour again: the cells drop the same voltage…
Now the second 4054 carrier had to show if it was as good as the first one: 4,19 - 4,20V
a hot run later the cells came out with 3,64V each and have been recharged to 4,19 - 4,20V.
i let the light on on a medium level (cold basement) and when i meassured the where down to 3,6 - 3,62V
last charge resulted in 4,20 - 4,21V
I think the new charging chips do a pretty good job!
numbers!
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
#6 |
|
at delivery |
3,65 |
3,65 |
3,65 |
3,65 |
3,65 |
3,65 |
charge with 4055 run #1 |
4,21 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
4,22 |
4,20 |
4,17 |
rested 1h |
4,21 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
4,22 |
4,20 |
4,17 |
used |
4,06 |
4,04 |
4,05 |
4,07 |
4,05 |
4,02 |
used more |
3,92 |
3,90 |
3,91 |
3,93 |
3,90 |
3,89 |
charge with 4054 #1 |
4,19 |
4,21 |
4,19 |
4,21 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
charged 6 more hours |
4,19 |
4,21 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,19 |
discharge 2x3 |
3,45 |
3,45 |
3,44 |
3,69 |
3,68 |
3,68 |
charge with 4054 #1 |
4,19 |
4,21 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
heavy use |
3,77 |
3,78 |
3,77 |
3,78 |
3,78 |
3,78 |
charge with 4054 #1 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,21 |
4,20 |
use |
3,76 |
3,77 |
3,77 |
3,77 |
3,77 |
3,78 |
charge with 4055 run #2 |
4,20 |
4,22 |
4,17 |
4,18 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
use |
3,72 |
3,73 |
3,70 |
3,70 |
3,72 |
3,72 |
charge with 4054 #2 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
4,19 |
4,20 |
used heavy |
3,64 |
3,64 |
3,64 |
3,64 |
3,64 |
3,64 |
charge with 4054 #2 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,19 |
use |
3,61 |
3,62 |
3,60 |
3,60 |
3,61 |
3,62 |
charge with 4054 #2 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
4,21 |
4,20 |
4,20 |
in the graph i tried to show how close the voltages of the 6 cells are...
i hope you can follow my thoughts…
all numbers can also be reviewed under this link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NqEK5P26aju8lBWRXHXR2RG71KYsdGJM2e4A7BUGf78/edit?usp=sharing
what i plan to do (as my time allows):
i will charge (not use!) some unmatched cells to see if the paralell charging works fine with that setup too
maybe a modify the carrier to be able to measssure the voltages of each cell while in discharge
i will update the google table from time to time to monitor the long term quality
i ordered a infrared thermometer to get more info for my reviews and tests
if i missed a test or measurement you are interested in i try to do it - just tell me!