Discussion 10S 10A 300W charger/discharger ( iCharger 1010B+) --206B, 208B release!

[saarisalo]

Originally Posted by badger-b

In one case the pack voltage showed 8.59V and the cells showed 4.17v each

Nothing is wrong. This is how it should be.

Looking at your pictures this is telling that the wires carrying the current from charger to your pack does have total resistance of about 0.19 ohms.

Voltage drop = 8.59V - 8.34V = 0.25V
Current = 1.3A
Resistance = U/I = 0.25V/1.3A = 0.19 ohms.



-mikko

[write2dgray]

Originally Posted by natterjak

I believe I've asked this question before and didn't receive an answer, so I'll try again.

My 1010B+ is now out of warranty, it was bought in October '08. Where do I stand if it fails? With the number of users suffering failures on these units I'm not anticipating years of trouble free operation, so if the unit fails - how do I get it fixed?

Perhaps Junsi will comment?

Natterjak,

I've often been told I ask too many questions too!

By the sounds of it you have a perfect charger at home, but I understand your concern.

The life of any consumer electronics product is finite, variable, and very difficult to determine given the large number of components involved.

I can't speak with certainty as to your warranty, given that the future mode and date of failure are unknown, and much of this support is driven by the distributor and the assistance which you may or may not receive from them.

There is little doubt that iCharger users are some of the most vocal and passionate hobby charger users out there. They do their homework, use the products hard, and report any issues they experience. Issues with other name brand chargers are much more likely to be addressed directly to the manufacturer rather than voiced in an open forum. But it is this very feedback which has led to the runaway success of this charger line and allowed for rapid product upgrades and improvement.

I think you will find that any issues brought to the manufacturer will be quickly and satisfactorily addressed. And if your charger purchase from was from me, rest assured that any issue will be resolved rapidly and professionally.

On thing I've noted over the years is: issues spring up, but a manufacturer is defined by how they address and resolve these problems. I think you will be hard-pressed to find a disappointed iCharger user in the end. Problems have always been satisfactorily addressed with all customers, and you won't see people at the flying field muttering under their breath that they will "never use an iCharger again because ___."

Cheers,
David

[badger-b]

Originally Posted by write2dgray

Natterjak,

I've often been told I ask too many questions too!

By the sounds of it you have a perfect charger at home, but I understand your concern.

The life of any consumer electronics product is finite, variable, and very difficult to determine given the large number of components involved.

I can't speak with certainty as to your warranty, given that the future mode and date of failure are unknown, and much of this support is driven by the distributor and the assistance which you may or may not receive from them.

There is little doubt that iCharger users are some of the most vocal and passionate hobby charger users out there. They do their homework, use the products hard, and report any issues they experience. Issues with other name brand chargers are much more likely to be addressed directly to the manufacturer rather than voiced in an open forum. But it is this very feedback which has led to the runaway success of this charger line and allowed for rapid product upgrades and improvement.

I think you will find that any issues brought to the manufacturer will be quickly and satisfactorily addressed. And if your charger purchase from was from me, rest assured that any issue will be resolved rapidly and professionally.

On thing I've noted over the years is: issues spring up, but a manufacturer is defined by how they address and resolve these problems. I think you will be hard-pressed to find a disappointed iCharger user in the end. Problems have always been satisfactorily addressed with all customers, and you won't see people at the flying field muttering under their breath that they will "never use an iCharger again because ___."

Cheers,
David

Thats all well and good if you are in a country that has a distributor / agent for these chargers - we in the UK do not have a single stockist. The one and only importer of the Junsi chargers stopped dealing with them because of the high volume of returns - and his cost and trouble of returning said items to China was simply not worth the negligible margin he made. Now don't get me wrong - I like the chargers ( I have a 106B+ and a 1010B+ ) but between the 2 units, I have had to return them 4 times now to China - at cost and considerable time. This I am sure you will agree is un-acceptable, despite the excellent no quibble service received from Junsi. The UK is a potentially large market with a realtively huge electric flyer population, and I really think that if Junsi want to profit from that market, then they should have, by now, arranged a proper distributor in the UK.

[Julez]

In one case the pack voltage showed 8.59V and the cells showed 4.17v each
Somethings not right here.

As Mikko wrote, this is perfectly ok. A long time ago, someone requested (maybe it was even me, I don't remember) that the pack voltage can be allowed to be a little higher than the sum of the cell voltages, thus allowing to compensate the voltage drop across the charge leads.
Do a charge with 50mA only, and you will see that the voltages are much closer this time.

Juanjo:

The total cell number is irrelevant when the charge is terminated with delta peak. Here, only the total voltage counts.
I always charge in manual mode, and I try not to charge faster than 0.5C. Lower charge currents are better for a long cell life, but 0.5C is still high enough to ensure a proper delta peak at the end.

[JUANJOARCHILLA]

Originally Posted by Julez

Juanjo:

The total cell number is irrelevant when the charge is terminated with delta peak. Here, only the total voltage counts.
I always charge in manual mode, and I try not to charge faster than 0.5C. Lower charge currents are better for a long cell life, but 0.5C is still high enough to ensure a proper delta peak at the end.

Hi Julez, thanks for the answer, i still think in terms of my big and old Victor Engineering, good stuff but unable to update to new tecnology

Regards
Juanjo

[gumpee]

Originally Posted by write2dgray

.... And if your charger purchase from was from me, rest assured that any issue will be resolved rapidly and professionally.....

Cheers,
David

I'm sure happy that i bought my 208b from you David The rapid service and concern for my specific needs was most appreciated

[fugega]

Hi

Any news about the fixed firmware?

Originally Posted by fugega

Hi

Is there any news about the new version of the software to fix the firmware corruption issue?
I have seen several 208B chargers in the past months with corrupted fw, some of them won't even accept the re-flash until many retries
(even with Stop button pressed boot)

Another interesting thing is that my friend recently brought a 208B witch comes with the v3.11b firmware.

Thanks
Gabor

Last week i have to reflash one of my 208B again because the firmware broken.
The charger worked fine but some text in the charger's menu not displayed correctly.
Example: "Settings" changed to "Sedtings"

Yesterday my charger smoked when discharging some 3 cell A123 pack.
I'm a little upset about this because i never used the discharge function of this charger and it is only 3 months old (needed 4 reflash so far).


Thanks
Regards
Gabor

[chewytm]

One interesting thin: I have purchased my charger a year ago and have been using it to:

1. charge/discharge Lipos, NiMH
2. charge A123, Lead acid

The only problem I have had was the occasional battery voltage high/low which was fixed with a firm push on the balance connector. Other than that, not a problem.

Does that tell us something about the new firmware complicating things up? There is something (I forgot exactly how it goes) about the "Law of Unintended Consequences".

Btw, I am NOT updating my firmware until MOST of the bugs have been worked out and the firmware is stable without complaints for at least a couple of months. Hope the charger lasts that long. If not, too bad. I am perfectly happy with it as it is.

chewy

[junsi]

Originally Posted by fugega

Hi

Any news about the fixed firmware?




Last week i have to reflash one of my 208B again because the firmware broken.
The charger worked fine but some text in the charger's menu not displayed correctly.
Example: "Settings" changed to "Sedtings"

Yesterday my charger smoked when discharging some 3 cell A123 pack.
I'm a little upset about this because i never used the discharge function of this charger and it is only 3 months old (needed 4 reflash so far).


Thanks
Regards
Gabor

Hello Gabor,

We are so sorry to hear that. As for the firmware, our engineer is still improving it.

Later, we will send you a PM, pls check it.

Regards,
Junsi

[GeorgeC]

Originally Posted by junsi

As for the firmware, our engineer is still improving it.

Regards,
Junsi

This worries me. Having spent a career in systems and involved in quality control for export around the world, I can't understand why the "product" which includes the firmware, is being delivered to the market when "our engineer is still improving it".
I have watched this thread for a long time and I am waiting, as some one else posted, for the errors to cease for a few months before I commit and recommend the iCharger to anyone. Having said that, I am waiting because I believe this charger and the manufacturers commitment to meeting the needs of the buyers, is second to none that I have seen. I currently have an Orbit Pro and an Elprog Pulsar 2 but I like what I see in the iCharger and will buy once the stability returns.

George

[badger-b]

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

This worries me. Having spent a career in systems and involved in quality control for export around the world, I can't understand why the "product" which includes the firmware, is being delivered to the market when "our engineer is still improving it".
I have watched this thread for a long time and I am waiting, as some one else posted, for the errors to cease for a few months before I commit and recommend the iCharger to anyone. Having said that, I am waiting because I believe this charger and the manufacturers commitment to meeting the needs of the buyers, is second to none that I have seen. I currently have an Orbit Pro and an Elprog Pulsar 2 but I like what I see in the iCharger and will buy once the stability returns.

George

I think this feeling just about sums it all up. Excellent potential, but still TBH not fully developed, and we users will continue to be the BETA testers for some time to come.

[chewytm]

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

This worries me. Having spent a career in systems and involved in quality control for export around the world, I can't understand why the "product" which includes the firmware, is being delivered to the market when "our engineer is still improving it".
I have watched this thread for a long time and I am waiting, as some one else posted, for the errors to cease for a few months before I commit and recommend the iCharger to anyone. Having said that, I am waiting because I believe this charger and the manufacturers commitment to meeting the needs of the buyers, is second to none that I have seen. I currently have an Orbit Pro and an Elprog Pulsar 2 but I like what I see in the iCharger and will buy once the stability returns.

George

Actually,

That's not quite fair to Junsi. As evidenced by my merrilly working charger, which has not been updated by all these new-fangled features, the original charger works quite well.

The reason Junsi came up with all these buggy firmware in the first place was because the users asked for additional features and Junsi tried to comply and accommodate. They have done very well in most cases, but the firmware is not yet 100% good. Bear with it, if you want the new features! If you don't need them, then the original firmware works well enough to charge my batteries, and that's what I bought it for in the first place!

chewy

[flarssen]

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

This worries me. Having spent a career in systems and involved in quality control for export around the world, I can't understand why the "product" which includes the firmware, is being delivered to the market when "our engineer is still improving it".

George

Have you ever owned an ESC from Castle Creations or an EagleTree logger?

Fred

[Mera'din]

Well I am getting nervous. I sent my 106b+ back to Hobby City about 2 weeks ago. The post office attendant told me since it was broken that I shouldn't have to insure it. I have no idea where it is! I emailed HC and they don't have it or don't know where it is and it should be there by now.

[marc1]

Or an Audi for that matter ...