not sure which sub-forum this fit
anyway, looking for my 1st battery resistance meter for 18650, 21700 liion etc
any recommendation(s)?
saw few people on this forum mention using YR1035, SM8124
and I looked on ali and saw RC3523, their product info seems more detailed and “convincing” next to a “branded” hioki than these 2 models (YR1035, SM8124)
thoughts?
@raptorx
Welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay.
I`m no expert at anything and use my Vapcell S4 plus charger to show battery resistance,it may not be good enough for your needs however it does a fantastic job for me.
Just click on it to have a look, I just got one a couple of weeks ago to replace my old one.
hi thanks
am currently using this exact charger V3.0 !
just wanted to have something to cross-check on the IR values of this charger
It’s nice of you to join us, raptorx!
I have a couple of Vapcell S4 Plus chargers as well.
They’re not perfect, but they’re tough to beat, especially if you have longer (up to 76.9mm) cells.
I have version of the YR1035 – It has brought my testing a pack building to a new level – I bought the set with all 3 attachments, but I only use the small probes – you have to calibrate to each attachment
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S7NKZ45/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Welcome,!!
AND, good question. I have been toying with getting something good, reliable, accurate and repeatable for measuring bell IR.
Most of the cylindrical cell chargers with slide spring loaded contacts really don’t meet the repeatable requirement. But they can be OK for coarse relative measurements. Just reposition the cells a few times and check. You will see what I mean.
I got an XTAR Dragon VP4L Plus Charger due to it having a separate function with dedicated leads and ports for IR Measurement.
It is a bit better at consistency if you are real careful to place the probes properly. SO it may be an option for you. But other than IR, I am not impressed with the device…plus it is expensive as this kind of charger goes.
Probably not worth it unless you are just in love with the other features of the charger. At the cost you can likely find a decent dedicated device to measure IR.
So I continue to look for something to do the job well.
I am hoping people come up with some good suggestions based on positive first hand experience.
I have a related question regarding the Vapcell S4+. I’m aware that when HKJ originally tested that charger, he found that the ‘internal resistance’ measurements it provided were “only about half of actual resistance” (which can be seen in the charts he provided in his test). In his ‘conclusion’ section, one comment listed was: “I found one error: The internal resistance calculation is wrong.”
Does anyone know whether or not that issue has been addressed in subsequently released versions? I don’t think he dates those test reports, but I didn’t find a later re-test than the one referenced here.
Rather than paste that chart info here, you may reference it in the published test report on his site at:
That second quote is from ‘Comments’ at the conclusion of his test writeup, the main link for which is:
https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20Vapcell%20S4%2B%20fast%20charger%20UK.html
Thanx!
I’m out of time at the moment, but just wanted to post a quick note to say that I think you should hold off, just for the moment, on purchasing one of the battery testers in your original post. I need to look at them all (only pulled up info for the RC3563), but I think there’s a good chance than none of them will enable you to come close to meeting that objective, as stated.
I’ll post back when I get time in the next day or 2 and explain / elaborate further, but in case you were ready to ‘pull the trigger’ on one of those immediately, you might want to reconsider and hold off temporarily. I’d hate to see you end up disappointed with what you get - and specifically with regard to comparability of data from one of those with data from most ‘charger/analyzers’ that many / most of us are using. I think there would be a fundamental issue with that.
The values on the charger are just a rough estimate, it’s not super accurate, so if you’re looking for something that’ll confirm those values there’s no point really, the numbers aren’t accurate. But that’s ok. They aren’t meant to be.
???
I agree with what you said, in the main, but… do you think that they deliberately build in error? Or is it just intrinsic to the measurement method? In which case they could change the firmware to try to compensate. SO you think they mean to give bad results?
The second one? Lol
I think it just inherently can’t be accurate. Intrinsic, ya. I don’t think they build in error.
Yup, that is a good description too! 
If you think no ‘charger/analyzer’ can reasonably accurately measure cell internal resistance, don’t tell HKJ that, because he thinks some can. If you’re not familiar w/ his writing, he reserves the phrase ‘very good’ for only very sparing use:
That image is the property of lygte-info.dk, and can be found in this test report:
https://lygte-info.dk/review/Review%20Charger%20SkyRC%20MC3000%20UK.html
I have two Mc3000s . I love what HKJ does and have used his reviews to decide on purchases a bunch. But remember he tried one instance that was probably brand new… and a long time ago.
But neither of my Mc3000s give repeatable readings. Often changing by 10% to 15% just by repositioning the cell or adding tension manually to the slider. I love my Mc3000. I use one of them daily. The one that says plugged in is over 12 years old and still works perfectly.
Oh yeah SkyRC issued a firmware up date that seems to have changed IR readings by a large amount… (some say 50%) ,
So now what do I believe is correct?
So yeah, I while the Mc3000 is the best of what I have used… it still doesn’t meet my requirements for measuring IR. Nor have any of the other dozen or so brands and models of analyzing chargers that I have tried over the years.
so do you reckon that as long as the charger IR measurement is “consistent” , one can establish a baseline for new cells and monitor the IR drifts with ageing/charging cycles ?
thanks for the welcome guys! and for all your replies and insights
I wanted to…that MC3000s…is a buy once cry once? lol
coz I can get 4 units of S4 plus V3.0 vs just 1 piece of MC3000 on AX
I haven’t used other IR meters, but I’ve been quite happy with the YR1035+. It provides high resolutions in voltage and resistance with decent repeatability. While I don’t possess reference-quality equipment to comment on absolute accuracy, the measurements and tests I conducted across my batteries seemed reasonable. For example, when measuring the internal resistance (IR) of batteries with similar voltage levels and testing their maximum lumen outputs, the IR measurements aligned well with the measured max output. I’ve also used it to measure the voltage drop of batteries during storage. It displays four decimal digits in voltage (in the voltage range of batteries for flashlights), allowing you to observe the voltage drop over multiple days.
I believe the YR1035+ is an upgraded version of either the YR1030 or YR1035, both of which were reviewed on lygte-info.dk.
https://lygte-info.dk/review/InternalResistanceMeterYR1030%20UK.html
https://lygte-info.dk/review/InternalResistanceMeterYR1035%20UK.html
Yes, absolutely. I consider that a primary use for these testers.
As for consistency and repeatability, those are also achieveable, and are still desirable because they increase practical usability, regardless of ‘absolute’ accuracy (to a ‘standard’). I’ll post the results of a little test I did w/ my MC3000 a few weeks ago which may be of interest to some, and demonstrates such ‘consistency and repeatablilty’ pretty conclusively - as soon as I can catch up with things and get some typing time!
That’s a whole different animal. I’m still short on time, but it won’t take me long to give you my personal answer to that question. With some (like @d_t_a ) reporting that they updated their firmware rev (from Ver 1.15), re-tested the same cells on the new rev that they’d just tested on the prior rev, and saw values ~20-25% or so of those measured on the previous release; that was not some reasonable ‘step’ change - that went off a bloody cliff. I’m pretty confident that the answer is not V1.18 firmware (or V1.17, if that’s the rev which broke it).
The design / product was conclusively proven / documented to be relatively accurate at product release. If no one is aware of another such excursion / abnormal change which has occurred during the intervening time since release (which I am not) up until Rev 1.15 (which reports sane, reasonable data on mine), then the answer is clear to me: Rev 1.15, unless and until proven to be otherwise. That’s an easy question for me.
Regarding consistency / repeatability of measurements, I’ll post my own results as mentioned in my last post, and you can see what you think of those. If my results aren’t consistent with yours, then the real question becomes: what’s the difference between my unit and yours, what might be responsible for that difference, and what, if anything might possibly be done to eliminate that difference if yours is indeed inconsistent by comparison. I’ll post that and you can tell me what you make of it.
