Thank you for an excellent review. After watching it, I've decided to buy the Tenergy branded version of this same design. I will be using it with 18650 packs made using Vruzend connector caps for early detection of any individual cells within parallel groups that may lose their connection to the pack. I'm also going to use it to evaluate parallel group IR. I have a balance function on my charger and that is rated for 50W so I probably won't use that function to avoid the situation TheGhung Fu describes in another comment. Thanks to your video, I won't even have to read the manual when mine arrives. Great job !
Beware: I just got this meter and tried to balance a 7S pack of 18650s (about 28 volt pack). The meter overheated. The resistors beneath the screen got so hot the screen began to go black. I quickly disconnected the battery pack and the screen went back to normal once the unit cooled down. Seems to be functioning normally, but I use care now when trying to balance my battery packs. I wouldn't even think of using the discharge function. Too much heat. I may try hacking the unit with a fan for balancing - one of the reasons I bought this unit. All other functions seem to work fine, including internal resistance.
yes this meter is best to use to check volts and IR , any discharge or balancing will generate heat of course. This meter has no cooling so be careful. External cooler is good idea.
Obviously . All that power do you think it would just vanish in thin air.? I have some bubble wrap and place the lipo and metre while discharging in refrigerator. I would use if discharging 0.1 or 0.2 v. Else I would run a motor to discharge and just balance when the lipo get closer to storage voltage
Nice find! (I know this is 1 year old already, but I see they are still available) Was looking for a cheaper alternative for IR checking, and checking in field, since my Turnigy chargers are too old to support it.
Yes this meter is good but not perfect for IR check. Definitely not good for discharge and balancing. I have used this meter for very long time perfect for battery voltage check and as I said good for IR check too. You can also check servo and esc but for that I use my servo checker.
@@jamich1 Just needing the IR checker really. Balance and discharge I have covered with other electronics. I think I'm going to just bite the bullet and order a newer 2 bay charger too, maybe the htrc d240
I use this to discharge 2200mah 3s from 4.2 to 3.85 v. I completely wrap it with bubble wrap to prevent water to get in. It does the job well. Also balances well
Very nice meter, but at batteries is not only important voltage, but also mAh, or better to say capacity of mAh battery still have inside. But unfortunately I didn't find such meter yet. It's also reason for that, cause measuring Amps or mAh is more complicated method, even can damage battery or meter if not using on the right way. But still some more simple such meters should exists, cause mAh is the same important as voltage. (Y)
OlliKreuder hi, its f3 mod , internal resistance. Higher the ir close to the end of the battery. You count all cells together. New batteries have less then 10 ir for each cell. There is no absolute number to tell you exactly. Also bear in mind that this is cheap device so the measurement is not perfect.
Hello, thank you for your video If you do several times the check of internal resistance on the same lipo, you cannot fond the same value ? Should we take the max of each cell, or the total and compare this total with the next test ? Tank's
I always do more tests and see the average value. This tester is not made for exact IR measurements. It will give you some values but do not take them as exact. I have tested old batteries and brand new ones and I have always got low reading on new ones and high on old ones. So I know tester does some job and this is good enough for me to see if battery is still good or going to its end life.
Too cheap to be true. It DOES NOT measure internal resistance. It show some numbers that are not close to the internal resistance. I measure with this and an internal resistance meter - out by a factor of at least 10. Also servo PPM does not work. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.
I have been using this meter since I made this video and still going strong. I manly use it as volt meter, cell checker and IR meter too sometime. I never go out without it. This is not processional IR meter and nobody ever claimed this. However it does measure IR. Maybe its not exact but give you idea about battery life. Its not good for you and waste of your money but you bought it anyway. When you see something cheap do you expect it to do exactly what it says on the tin? Why did you buy it if you have professional IR meter? Those are quite expensive. I actually thought this buy was waste but it was not. My friends use this meter and love it. This opinion of yours is of course only subjective one. Yes you are right about its not perfect but not everybody have lots of money to buy such expensive equipment specially when you start with your hobby and dont know how long you gonna be in. I say this meter is good to buy but do not expect miracles. I would not use it for discharging or balancing even it does the job(has to be cooled when discharging). As volt meter , cell checker. IR meter is good enough.
KonaChuck22 to be honest I have no idea. I would not try this anyway. Any good balance charger will do this for you much better. I only use this meter to measure battery voltage and IR. For discharging and balancing this unit would need some external cooler.
André Lange I never tried this function I only use this device to measure voltage in my batteries. I will have to try this function though as I am also curious about it. I will let you know hopefully very soon.
Currently I own another batt meter that also doesn't work with single cell LiPos. Looks like it uses the voltage between the first (most negative) and third pins to power itself and 3.7-4.2V is not enough for it to power up. That's why it needs at least 2S to work. I'm gonna build a small adapter cable for connecting the 1S battery as the first cell plus a CR1632 or CR2032 3V coin battery as the second cell (series association). If it works as I expect, the sum of the voltages should be enough to power the meter while the single cell LiPo voltage will be displayed as cell #1. It would be a nice thing to have in the toolbox for being able to measure single cell LiPos or cylindrical 18650 cells with meters that otherwise would not power up.
It worked with this meter: hobbyking.com/media/catalog/product/cache/7/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/legacy/catalog/82850_1_high.jpg I think it will work with the meter which is described in this video too, unless it draws too much current for powering itself that the coin batt cannot supply. The parts used were: - 1S battery connector compatible with the battery I want to measure: www.banggood.com/10-Pairs-1S-Battery-Charging-Cable-Male-Female-p-1044078.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=USA This connector should have black (negative) and red (positive) wires attached. - CR2032 3V coin battery. The same that is used in PC motherboards. - 2S JST-XH connector or any other connector that will fit the first 3 pins of the meter (a servo connector may also fit). This connector should have black, yellow and red wires attached so that black matches the first (negative) pin on the meter, yellow is the middle voltage tap (next pin) and red is positive (third pin). Now you have to solder together these points: 1) Black wire from the balancing connector with back wire from the 1S connector. 2) Yellow wire from the balancing connector AND red wire from the 1S connector to the negative side of the CR2032 batt. 3) Red wire from the balancing connector to the positive side of the CR2032 battery. I protected all the joints and the whole CR2032 battery with heat shrink tubes, plus hot glue near the connectors and coin battety to make it stronger. Usage and observations: 1) Connect the 1S battery you want to measure to the 1S connector. 2) Connect the balancing connector to the meter as if you wanted to measure a 2S battery. 3) The metter should display the 1S battery voltage as cell #1. 4) Cell #2 voltage display is the coin battery voltage, which is not important unless it is so discharged that the metter cannot work correctly. 5) The total voltage display is not meaningful since it would be mixing information from the two different batteries. Just focus on cell #1 which is what matters. 6) Charge level in percentage is only meaningful if the meter can calculate and display it for the first cell individually. 7) Disconnect the balancing connector from the meter after taking the measurement to avoid unnecessarily discharging the coin battery for too long. The coin battery lifetime is unknow and will depend on the particular meter power consumption and how much time you spend between steps 2 and 7. As long as the measurements are done quickly it should last several usages.
I have very good balance charger so I never needed this tool to balance my battery. I tried one today but since there was not more then 0.02v between cells it would not balance it. I think the difference would have to be 0.3 and bigger for it to start balancing.
thejas n no sorry I have charger for this I would not use this meter to discharge batteries. I only use this for reading battery voltage and sometime for battery IR
I saw another version of this meter that comes with a separate dummy load made of small lamps. I think it can only balance if you have this accessory connected. But to be honest, the whole setup with the lamps looks pretty messy. It's much better to have a balance charger in the first place so you won't need a balance function inside a meter.
