Sky RC MC3000 Review and Teardown

[@JayP7.62]

Think I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger and buy one. I've been thinking about it for like a month. I have a xtar vc4sl right now and hate that I can't adjust setting for each slot separately. Plus all the testing features are pretty low quality. I really only use it as a charger. I need another charger and would like one that can run the tests better. I've been researching for a month and nothing really compares to the mc3000. So I will more than likely order it later today. Has anyone that has one run into any issues with it?

[@SuperBrainAK]

WOOO! Congrats man! So far no issues with mine, I did take it apart and lubed the sliders right away but I bet they have something from the factory these days. Let me know any questions you have!

[@JayP7.62]

​@SuperBrainAK Thanks for the reply. Since you're into electrical. Is there an AC/DC clamp multimeter for someone on a budget that you would recommend or brand? We use fluke multimeters in my labs. Went back to school for instrumentation. But fluke is a little to expensive as I don't plan on using it all the time. Basically for hobby and home use. Thanks.

[@SuperBrainAK]

@@JayP7.62 You're welcome. Fluke is certainly way overpriced lol. I myself only own a really cheap TackLife clamp meter that I can't recommend but with the help from the guys on the DiY Energy Pack Discord they recommend the EEV Blog BM036 if you have some budget but not enough for a Fluke. A cheaper alternative is the UniT UT210 which can only go up to 100A (vs 600) and might not be as accurate. So it really depends on what you are going to be doing as your hobby. EEV Blog BM036: eevblog.store/products/eevblog-bm036-ac-dc-clamp-meter UniT UT210: www.amazon.com/dp/B0188WD1NE

[@JayP7.62]

@@SuperBrainAK I'll look into those. Appreciate it!

[@ravenstone01]

I just bought one, my Opus CT-3400 is dying. It seemed complicated, but once you get use to everything it is actually very easy. Program some settings in the 30 possible memory locations and every time you charge a battery you just select the program. Just as easy as the Opus at this point, but gives you WAY more control, like stopping voltage on 18650 at 4.1V which helps keep the batteries in better shape. You will like it. It is very accurate and the phone and computer software are great to.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Mike Crumby yep good choice thanks for your comment!!

[@ravenstone01]

@@SuperBrainAK You should show some tutorials to show people the graphs and other features, youtube is lacking in this for the MC3000. I would do it, but don't have any real camera or recording equip. Thanks for the video though, yours was the best i have seen in a while.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Mike Crumby yep that will be part 2 after I get back from holiday

[@Ikouy]

Recently got this charger and compared to the C9000 and my old and failing lacrosse BC-900 I find it more straightforward to program. There’s no hurry to put in parameters and it fills out like a questionnaire so I’m not having to bounce around the screen figuring it all out. Excellent video btw.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Yea all the parameters to change are all in one menu and you can go back and forth between them, also it has rather adequate defaults it starts at, like changing the charge/discharge current based on the capacity cutoff. It really is a great charger! Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it!

[@Ikouy]

@@SuperBrainAK You're welcome. Only hurdle I've encountered is that there's not a lot of information about Delta Peak, though the manual suggests 0dv unless you're topping off the battery.

[@Thomas_P_aus_M]

Program setting with the buttons is possible, but relatively cumbersome. It is much easier with the android app via bluetooth.

[@SuperBrainAK]

yes there are alot of settings to program in but once the settings are set write down the program number (or remember it) and set it for the slots you want, if all you do is charge the same cell then you dont need to ever change anything, just put cells in check the program and press start! sure the phone app is simpler but the buttons are not that bad just make sure you have the latest firmware

[@bobcatt2294]

Searching a review on Epoch X4 Touch vs Mc3000. Thumbs up.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Hey bud, My initial impression is that it lacks all the support and features that make the MC3000 great. Bluetooth, PC connectivity, accuracy. The only thing good it might have is a touch screen, which if you want that just use the phone app with the MC3000. There are reviews of that charger on Amazon and one of them mentions the MC3000, which I agree with. Don't waste your money on that random chinesium product, get what is known to work. Cheers and good luck bro!

[@algkep]

@SuperBrainAK - did they upgrade the pins holding the springs? They used to simply snap after little use on earlier revisions.

[@SuperBrainAK]

they changed what type of plastic they used, so it is not so brittle anymore, my unit is still working perfectly.

[@thetechgenie7374]

They use better plastics. I had issues with the old single fan version Posts breaking, which I fixed with just looping springs through PCB holes and mounted two fans in the rear for better cooling. New version doesn't have the issues as had a couple for over a year now and holding up and using large 21700's.

[@saiiiiiii1]

My "1" button stopped working. You know where I can get replacement?

[@good_deeds_always_get_punished]

That PCB art is good.

[@SuperBrainAK]

yea it is a nice PCB. I had a couple pictures of it as the wallpaper on my tablet. Those got replaced with pictures of an amplifier built by BBI, that has a lot more copper 😁

[@good_deeds_always_get_punished]

@SuperBrainAK I just got mine today evening and cost around $110 here in India. Just opened mine up and checked and that art is still there. Seems like the overenthusiastic PCB designer hasn't been fired yet, so a good sign. I noticed that a few passives have changed a bit. The Bluetooth module is in a can now. Also, while the 'Snowfan' is 12v, the other runs on 15v. 🤔 My hardware version is 2.2 and firmware version 1.15. Many thanks for the informative video, especially the teardown part. Helped me compare the quality. Here we get duplicates of duplicates so was a bit sceptical. And yes, shiny copper on PCBs give such a warm feeling...

[@Scourr]

Is it possible to discharge NiMH with more than 1A? And if, with all slots?

[@SuperBrainAK]

Yessir! 2A on all 4 slots. 😁I just ran a test with my D-Cell NiMH's I could only barely get 3 on so I put a AA in the center, poor little guy. I ran a discharge test on 2A for all 4 slots and it was fine, 47℃ max. So if there is any question if this machine is a beast or not hopefully this proves it! 🦾😂

[@Scourr]

@@SuperBrainAK Big Thanks for your answer, Sir :) .

[@Overonator]

Hey why does it distinguish Eneloop battery chemistry from NiMH? I thought Eneloop batteries were NiMH batteries.

[@SuperBrainAK]

There isn’t much info as to why they added it. Eneloops are a standard low self discharge Ni-Mh chemistry, not much different than what you can buy everywhere today. Though they were one of the first companies to make low self discharge variants of the Ni-Mh chemistry. So there has been a following that they are the best quality rechargeable battery on the market, which they really are good. From the settings I can see in the advanced menu when creating a program I see no difference in a 2000mAh Ni-Mh cell and a AA Eneloop. It might just be there because they themselves like them and there are people who are picky about how they charge their Eneloops. Another conspiracy is that in the product pictures of it holding a 26650A li-ion cell, 18650A li-ion cell and a cleverly turned Eneloop AA and AAA so it isn’t too obvious that they are but ALL those cells are Panasonic branded cells

[@Overonator]

@@SuperBrainAK I see so it's like Jello vs generic gelatin dessert it's the same thing but Jello popularized it so everyone calls it Jello even if it's not the Jello brand. Just marketing confirming to a uninformed customer. I can see customers asking "does it charge my Eneloops" and the engineers rolling their eyes and saying " yes it charges Eneloops because they NiMH and we charge NiMH dummy" and the marketing team saying "let's put an explicit Eneloop setting and write it on the box to put customers at ease"

[@ilovefreeski]

Any idea how to get the discharge AND charge capacity with this charger for aa nimh and 18650s?

[@SuperBrainAK]

well you first have to run a cycle, set it to C-D-C for the chemistry, then once it has finished you press the slot button to bring up the results, then use the arrow keys and it will scroll through the different capacities in a loop on that one line that gives you the capacity result.

[@ilovefreeski]

@@SuperBrainAK Great thanks! I spent a lot of time getting familiar with this amazing charger finally and I would recommend checking out gnu data explorer. It gives detailed information completely graphed out for you on a computer via the usb port. You can save all the data to view at any time which includes: voltage, avg voltage, battery temperature, system temperature, internal resistance, capacity, power, energy , current. www.nongnu.org/dataexplorer/

[@jon123423]

Build quality is only average for $150?

[@SuperBrainAK]

Yes unfortunately they did not go all out for the price point. Most of the cost was sunk into the hardware and development. With that being said as long as you do not take it apart regularly and abuse it with vibrations or dropping it. It should last a long time. This video is 3 years old and I am still using this charger. In my opinion there is still nothing that can beat it.

[@njfulwider5]

Nice video!!!

[@SuperBrainAK]

njfulwider5 thanks bud!

[@gewglesux]

This needs to charge more than 4 at one time.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Buy 2 🤷

[@gewglesux]

@@SuperBrainAK hey there, I just got home with the one that i was able to find. gonna read up on it and try it out. The local shops are low on stock so it seems that Amain might be the place to get another one.

[@Overonator]

I'm concerned about the build quality. I have seen a video where a guy put in zip ties on the springs because the plastic that kept the springs in place because they broke. Also the screw thread holes were cracking as well so he But he had an older hardware version and the one you are reviewing is a the new 2.2 version. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKuyf3hqjtFgnNk Any comments about that and your 2.2 version?

[@SuperBrainAK]

I believe the 2.2 version has much better build quality, so far none of the plastic spring posts have broken, though an idea I had is if they do break just loop the spring loop into that small hole on the PCB, no need for zip ties. The plastic of the casing seems softer than that early version, so far mine has not cracked, though brass inserts are always the best. The fans are held in by the clips like they are supposed to, I show how to pop them out in this video @19:52 For the slides, a small amount of conductive grease will certainly help, he did not use conductive grease so that can lead to issues of high resistance and dust buildup. I used a dry lubricant used for bike chains on mine. Sorry for the late response, Thanks for your comment and concerns I hope this sheds some more light on the subject. Normally very early hardware versions are not very polished, it just depends on how rushed it was produced, like a kickstarter or review sample.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Oh I just remembered, the only thing about it that does not have good build quality is the included 15v power supply. It is not grounded, it has no noise supression on the mains, and the output capacitors are cheap, so it is noisy on the DC rail. However it is adequate enough to work well for the charger, but I would recommend if you have a different power supply lying around use that instead.

[@Overonator]

@@SuperBrainAK I see thanks for the information.

[@Ideal1980]

The sniffling... Sir.. should have been edited out

[@GEORGE-jf2vz]

Has WAY too many options. Too easy to make a mistake and possible cause a fire by charging incorrectly.

[@SuperBrainAK]

You need to know what your chemistry, charge voltage and current are. Once you set that in a program use that program for that type of battery. Yes you need to know how to charge your batteries. But if you have enough types of batteries that you need this charger then you know how to properly charge each type of battery. If not learn quick. As long as you know how to charge the cells this is far safer as you can easily review all of the charging parameters where most chargers just do what it was set to in the factory, so you have to guess or experiment. Thanks for watching. I hope this helps

[@Ikouy]

It’s why 4.35v lithium ion is hidden by default.

[@Boz1211111]

Its bit complicated at first. If you dont like it after some use its not charger for you. I really like mine after few days use and its easy to program