Comparing Opus, Liitokala, Zanflare and Megacellcharger

What charger you think it's best for you?


  • Total voters
    29

alex1560

New member
Joined
Jan 25, 2019
Messages
5
Hi there guys!

I am Alex, I would like to let you know that we have managed to get a stable software for our
megacell charger that's able to cycle 16 cells at a time.

I have made a video presentation discussing about all the features that are present.

Chargers comparison:
Our crowdfunding video:
.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or reply to this thread.

All the best!

Alex
 
I have a bunch of expensive RC chargers already and I really prefer to use those over anything else, but for single cell 18650 capacity testing I went with the Lii-500 for no other reason than cost/volume.

I was getting the Lii-500 for $13 each delivered from AliExpress without any of the power adapters or accessories. Wasnt worried about the adapters as barrel jacks are super cheap and I easily made my own 12v supply from a server PSU. At this price it allowed me to buy more chargers and do more 18650 test volume.

Worked out pretty good for me.
 
Charger?
TP4056!

-super cheap
-leaves more expensive charger/capacity testers free to capacity test

Capacity testers?
ZB206
-Each device is only 1 slot, so if a device dies you only lose 1 slot
-separates heat source (heat sink) from the cell, so less affect on the cell/test results
-separates device from the cells, so if a cell leaks, It does it damage the device

Having said that, when I started there was no mega cell charger.
I think if I was starting out now, I would be getting the mega cell charger.
I am almost avoiding looking at all details of the mega cell charger because I suspect I will want them and I don't want to change, when I have only just got a proper board set up for the ZB206s.
The idea of everything being logged by software is great.
 
I use Opuses, so far I'm satisfied except the over-heating-pausing part, better than Li.
Did not test the other 2.
 
OK here is a running chart of the most popular testers running a test on the same battery.
All tester where set to the highest C/D/C setting.
Results are:

The Foxnovo set to 1000mA capacity test does a charge at 1A but a discharge at only .5A Temperature was quite steady and the discharge and charge lines where very clean. Results 2633mAh

TheOPUSset to 1000mA capacity test does a charge at ~1A and a discharge at ~1A(more like ~1.5A) I ran this test twice on 2 different chargers on different slots as the results vere very odd. But as you can see the curves are the same on both chargers in different slots so I guess that is the algorithm that that charger/tester uses.The temperatureas expected was slightly elevated (about 5C above ambient) during the discharge cycle.
Results 2723mAh

The LittoKala set to 1000mA does a discharge at 500mA and a charge at 1000mA The discharge trace looked to be a bit noisy but charge was relatively clean.
Not much as far as temperature variation. maybe 1C to 2C from ambient.
Results 2598 mAh

The Zanflair set to max which is only 500mA for charge and discharge. Very clean discharge trace but charging is very noisy.
Also temperature is negligible
Results 2830 mAh

The SKYRC is infinitely adjustable so I set it at 1A charge and 1A discharge. Very clean trace on both charge and discharge Temperature rise was expected at a 1A discharge and the cell did not disappoint ~3C above ambient.
Results 2561mAh

The iCharger x6 was set to 1A charge and 1A discharge kind of a noisy discharge and charge trace. I may do this one again.
Temperature as expected at a 1A discharge
Results 2277mAh

If I had the money SKYRC all the way.
IF I want to stress the cellsOPUSdoes a good job hence all the complaints about the heat.
I do like the Foxnovo as it is very clean but does not stress the cells at 1A so I count on IR of the cell to guide me in this scenario.
LittoKala and Zanflair are on the bottom of my list not worth the money even at half the price. IMHO.

There you go and all the graphs to back up the conclusion.

If Megacellcharger wants to sell me a unit at cost or better yet donate so that I can run an analysis on it and report back to the board how I feel about it please PM me.

Wolf
 
Just some additional info to add to Wolf's post; the Zanflare and Lii-500 use direct PWM on the gate of a FET (no filtering) for the discharge. The Zanflare has up to 8A pulses (at very low duty cycle, to achieve 500mA average) on the cell if I recall correctly, and the Lii-500 wasn't quite as bad, at around 5A I think. The Opus uses resistor/higher voltage PWM for discharging/charging, with ~3A peak (with a duty cycle to achieve 1A average). The Opus can't manage CC all the way up to 4.2V, and tapers early, especially noticeable if you use the 2A setting on the outer 2 slots. I've compiled some info here (sorry for the ugly formatting and irrelevant info on the pages, I have yet to clean them up, but technical info is there in text format at least):
http://rev0.net/index.php?title=Opus
http://rev0.net/index.php?title=Lii500
http://rev0.net/index.php?title=Zanflare

My go-to charger for 18650 testing is a MiBoxer C2 4000, which is no longer made, but I bought it after seeing the good review of it on lygte-info.dk (great site btw, lots of technical info on all manner of chargers and cells). It's got a proper 1.5A charge/discharge with true constant current. And of course for more technical experiments, I use my custom built 0-6A 2-slot cycle tester ;)
 
Opus all the way. Unless i finish my own tester system i started. The idea is the cost per cell cannot be to high and Opus is generally to high per cell in terms of cost when you need t larger system.
 
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@Oz18650
And with those i build testing equipment that could do 100 at a day.
I could easy scale it up to 300 500 2500 cells or how much you need...whatever...as long your psu can handle it and it must be stable!!!!
I even built trays with old fashioned rs connectors to handle and store(two week rule) ten cells at the time


And very accurate when you sorted out the zb's
 
For all the cells I have tested, I've only got 3 OPUS's and rev0's prototype tester. I've abused the Opus's and they are still kicking. The first one I bought still has the original fan! The second one I've been using over a year for my 1,000 cycle capacity testing project, and I used that one for at least a year before that. I've processed at least 5,000 cells through the last one I bought (I'm exclusively testing my generics through the SAME OPUS for consistency). Despite it's quirks and fan issues, for a commercially available relatively cheap tester, it's Opus, hands down.
 
I could not resist and purchased a mega cell charger.
Looking forward to receiving it!
 
Oz18650 said:
Charger?
TP4056!

-super cheap
-leaves more expensive charger/capacity testers free to capacity test

Capacity testers?
ZB206
-Each device is only 1 slot, so if a device dies you only lose 1 slot
-separates heat source (heat sink) from the cell, so less affect on the cell/test results
-separates device from the cells, so if a cell leaks, It does it damage the device

Having said that, when I started there was no mega cell charger.
I think if I was starting out now, I would be getting the mega cell charger.
I am almost avoiding looking at all details of the mega cell charger because I suspect I will want them and I don't want to change, when I have only just got a proper board set up for the ZB206s.
The idea of everything being logged by software is great.
Yes I believe the functionality of the megacell will make it worth the cost of the unit alone. Being able to log all that info is key to processing mass amounts of cells.
 
Oz18650 said:
I could not resist and purchased a mega cell charger.
Looking forward to receiving it!
Me 2

Lets see if it lives up to the hype!!
Wolf
 
I purchased one too and this after I swore no more 18650's..
later floyd
 
It took a chunk out of my savings for a solar/battery inverter, but it looks like a pretty good thing.
 
I'm seriously thinking about buying one as well, using it for a month and then sharing a review on it. I love the idea of it and I'm early enough in my project to restart my testing if it's good. Being able to record max temp as well as performance is really appealing
 
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