You mean BT-C3100 does this?
In general, what is your preference between BT-C3100 and Lii-500, when it comes to Li-Ion charging specifically?
Thanks!
The charge current is around 2.5A, but at low current it is only applied for about 0.01second at a time.
I prefer chargers without pwm regulation, that means the Lii-500. I uses the SkyRC MC3000 and the LiitoKala Lii-202 (I have it at work). Before the MC3000 I used Xtar chargers.
I think maybe I got a bad BT-C3100 or I’m just a dumb ass. It works fine in all modes for all my 18650 batteries. With my 10440 and 14500, not so much. I tried testing an Olight 14500 protected cell and it won’t even read it. It blinks and will allow me to select any of the modes but then won’t complete any of them, it just goes back to null. I can put same cell in Nitecore SC4 and it will it charge fine. Opus won’t charge, discharge, or test the cell at all. I have some other 10440 and 14500 that will quick test resistance but will not complete a discharge. I tested about 40 18650 cells for capacity (charge, discharge) without a hitch but these other cells this charger does not like. Dunno if this charger is defective or I am defective.
The problem is probably the protection, the Opus always uses a few amps in current, it then turns it on and off to get a average that matches the selected current. If the protection trips at the current Opus uses, it will not work with the cell.
Got a replacement from Amazon and this one does exactly the same as I posted above. So looks like charger is fine. Just doesn’t want to read the Olight 14500 protected cell. As far as the behavior on those other 14500s I had in the Opus not discharging them, I trashed all those batteries. I think the Opus was trying to tell me something when it refused to discharge them below 3.9 volts! They had a resistance of between 300 and 800, they were all a few years old and they were all Trustfire. Yeah I know, right. No more batteries with the word “fire” in the name for me. I learned my lesson. Junk is still junk no matter how you color it.
I have both the 3100 and the 3400 —- with protected cells it’s a crap shoot when testing discharge with the opus— some will go low enough to read / some won’t—- I have several Sanyo (EVVA labeled) protected 14500 cells —- half will complete a test cycle—- I kind of watch the charger while testing these — you can get a rough capacity before it resets the charger