Thanks @phouton for quote-summoning me. I’ve been away from BLF for far too long!
Just finished it in the wee hours of this morning, and here it is for everyone’s previewing pleasure: s8000tty.py: DMenezes telemetry script for the Enova Gyrfalcon battery chargers // records initial configuration and all measurements during operation in a separate CSV file for each battery · GitHub; to use, just install dependencies (basically just python3-pyvisa and its dependencies which should be installed automatically), and run the script with no arguments to see a help screen.
For now it’s just a single-file “gist”; I plan on doing a full release sometime in the future.
In advance of my full review, here are a few points that come to my mind (quickly because I have to go out of the door in a few minutes):
- at least with firmware 3.0.38 on, but getting even better with newer firmware versions, the touchscreen buttons are a joy to use: as precise and responsive as a high-quality touchscreen (as in a smartphone) and gets rid of all the clickety-clackety unavoidable with the MC3000 mechanical keys; moreover, it’s bound to last a lot longer and there’s no mechanical parts to wear out and fail.
- Much better (larger, higher resolution and more visible) display than the one on the MC3000;
- Its IR measurements are much more precise and reliable/repeatable, and the numbers it reports are in-line with the manufacturer datasheets for the batteries and for my expectations considering each battery age and wear; In comparison, the MC3000 IR numbers were not consistent with either, and varied sometimes even depending on firmware version (so upgrading the firmware sometimes turned all your IR battery data on its head).
- Its USB interface uses a standard usb-serial chip (a CH341) which makes it much more compatible than the standard-breaking USB implementation on the MC3000 (which, among other horrors, uses Vendor|Device IDs of zero, which are not allowed by the USB standard and result in many incompatibilities, eg Virtualbox being unable to pick them up and pass on to a virtual machine – which means that us folks can’t run the SkyRC software under VB virtualization on non-Windows environments like Linux).
- It uses a standard serial ASCII (TTY-like) interface and commands and responses, and on top of it, standard VISA syntax/semantics, which is much much better than the totally proprietary and undocumented binary interface on the MC3000;
- It’s fully compatible with @HKJ’s TestController aka TC software, including slot programming, starting operations, and capturing data, which is not only multiplatform but feature-wise heads-and-shoulders above the crappy, limited and Windows-only SkyRC software.
- has a highly responsive vendor behind it, which not only listens to the community but implements our suggestions for enhancing their products; case in point, in these 4 months I’ve been using my S8000, and sent about a dozen different suggestions to WFJ from @enova18650.com and most were implemented (sometimes in a matter of hours which is almost miraculous considering I’m about 10 timezone hours away from them), resulting in a much better product. Incomparable with SkyRC which takes literally years between firmware releases and has simply ignored all the complaints and bug reports I sent their way.
- Didn’t need any spare parts for my S8000 yet, but when my MC3000 display stopped working, it was a real struggle to get a spare one from SkyRC: they simply wouldn’t respond, had to involve the seller I bought it from and wait months to have it shipped to me and at great expense as it first had to be shipped to the seller and then to me. I’m pretty sure given my experience with Enova so far, and what I’ve read from the experience of others, that it would be much simpler to get spare parts and support from them if I ever need it.
That’s it for now, wife is calling and I have to go. Hope what I was able to post above so far is useful.