All right another morning, first things: first, let's check to see how our cells are doing this morning. As you know, us uh diy battery builders have some kind of charger wall like this right mike consists of 20 or 10 uh sand, flares and 10 liter collar chargers, and what i do here is i take all these boxes from cells that i am currently testing. So that i can then use them in a diy powerwall right, but i'm testing them. So here we go.

These are all the ones that i loaded up yesterday and now they have the numbers right so 26.58 and then 42, the internal resistance right so um. I usually what i do is just i write on here and then take them off and put them in this box. Then off load, all these and then load up some new ones right. So that's the workflow there, it's okay, there's, probably some things that i wish.

These things would do like, for example. Sometimes i get a new batch of batteries and i'm like are these gon na be good enough? It would be great if these things would have a setting where you can cycle them. It would just cycle discharge charge discharge charge. This for hundreds of times until it would be depleted right or completely shot the battery, and then you would know if it's worth to even use those batteries or not right.

Wouldn't it be great if there was something that we can use, that will do all of this and do all this other stuff. Well, what if i were to tell you that such a thing exists? It already exists, and it's diy and started by someone in the community here it is introducing the mega cell charger. This thing right here is one single charger. It will do 16 cells at a time powered by a 5 volt power supply.

So, of course you know it's charging at 1 amp, it does 1 amp max charge and discharge of these guys. It's got nice little fans in here, and the cool thing is that you can do batches. You can do macros, which means like you. You do basically like set a bunch of instructions for this thing like as soon as you install like a battery here, you can program it to do a bunch of things to discharge the cell and check capacity or to charge the cell and then discharge it and Check for capacity uh charge or discharge whatever the battery is at, so that you can store them right to set them at a at a storage voltage right of 3.4 volts, or something like that.

Another feature is that, of course, you have an app that you can control many of these. I think you know up to like hundreds of these, if you wanted to uh but like here like, i have two of them. These are connected via wi-fi to my network, and let me show you what the app looks like right all right. So here we go.

This is the app the only negative thing that i'd have to say about. It is that you have to be on a windows machine, which i truly truly hate with a passion. But of course i do have to use it for a few apps that are not available on the mac side, and this will be one of them, but most likely you guys are on a pc anyways most people are, and so that won't be a problem for You, but here you go uh. The cool thing is that this uh has a simple mode or simple view where you just get to see the thing.
So very cool thing here is the graphical interface here you could essentially have a screen open up and have all of the chargers just displayed graphically like this, and you can see what each one of these cells is doing. This one, for example, here, is cycling or is the capacity test uh this one is the same thing then the last one over here is, i think, it's supposed to be cycling up to 100 cycles. I have it set up for that right and then um. All these are not loaded with cells, but if you load them up with cells, you can independently set them to do different things like wake them up.

If they're low voltage right - and there is a thing uh like i said - you can set up workflows right here, um on this one, for example, i want to show you how you can do the thing here: right, charger settings, new cell, insert actions. Look at this right, so here's the new cell actions as soon as you introduce a cell to a charger here. It is what's going to do. Lvc right, low voltage, uh recovery then start m cap.

So you know the cell capacity test. Then it will hold for five minutes timer and then it will print a label. That's right! This thing has the ability to for you to set up a little thermal printer that will print out labels and you can set them up with job descriptions and you can pre uh set all that's a bunch of fields that it will. You know job names and you know, and numbers and or probably even well, some kind of alphanumeric uh code that you can put for all of these ones right and then after that, then you can set the cells aside and then once you're building your pack.

This thing even has a feature where it does the repacker thing it tells you which cells of all the cells that you've tested for that one job to use on which groups right and so you'll, basically just go through the little labels that it gives you to Print and to stick them on each cell once it's done, testing them and stuff. So it's very, very, very powerful and it's, i think, what we would all been waiting for for us that we are doing this stuff uh this hobby and we're building some series. You know battery packs using recycled cells right. So, of course, i think this will sell for about 150 bucks or something like that.

It is currently on a crowdfunding campaign right. Actually, the mega cell charger is now available for sale on deepcyclepower.com and alex. The creator of this has made a presentation that i'm going to show you right now. Hi, i'm alex the founder of deep cycle power in this video.

I want to present our testing equipment for lithium cells. We started this project back in 2019, while working on a power wall battery project. First, we bought a few regular cell testers that we found on the market and got to work. We quickly realized how tedious it is to measure the capacity of the cells you want to reuse from laptop batteries, e-bike packs hand, drill batteries and other lithium batteries.
The workflow was to insert the cells press a bunch of buttons and get the capacity test starting wait. A few hours until the price is complete, then write by hand on each cell. The capacity, rinse and repeat this process might sound easy and it is when you do it to a couple of cells. But if you plan on testing hundreds or thousands of cells, you will realize how much time you waste by writing down those numbers being in the software development business.

For over eight years and having a colleague with hardware development experience, we decided to implement a solution to speed up the process. It took us two weeks to get a prototype board ready and software to test the basic functionality. We then shared the idea on a few diy groups to see what people think about it, and i was astonished to see how many people were interested in such a device. The prototype's main features were to test the cell and automatically print a label using a label.

Printer such as a dymo 450, and store the results in a stock management database, but after we built the prototype and put it to work, we found so many more advantages of using the system. Here is the list of features that we ended up. Building into the production megacell charter, it now has 16 cells capacity, software that allows controlling each cell independently. You can set different cycle count, charge or discharge state choose a manual workflow or automate it.

The software uses a database to store the cell test data. It can display graphs of the entire charge and discharge cycle cell internal resistance and plotted data of each cell's temperature. During the process, you can calculate the packs directly from the software and it will display which cells to use when building a battery pack. It helps you manage the stock as well.

The software is integrated with dymo 450 and brother label printers speeding up the workflow for tagging, your cells. It has a variable discharge rate from 100 to 1000 milliamp. It detects low voltage cells starting from one volt and attempts a slow recovery. The implemented workflow allows setting the number of cycles and a store voltage.

This feature is excellent for those that want to rest the cells at a different voltage than minimum to maximum to comply with the newest dot and yada regulations. You must have the cells discharged to 30 percent of their capacity before shipping and that's impossible to achieve using conventional devices. You can have multiple devices connecting to the software. We have an enterprise interface mode developed, especially for some of our large clients that control more than 50 devices simultaneously from the same computer temperature, sensors for each cell and the ability to automatically stop a process per cell.
In case the temperature goes over the set threshold monitoring the cell temperature continuously and accurately has been a key feature added to improve the testing process's safety. It has two low noise, 50 millimeter cooling fans with individual heat sinks, to dissipate the heat from the discharging and charging process. It uses a specialized integrated circuit for each cell. This allows independent and safe charging conditions.

The new megacell charger allows the installation of eight connectors for testing different kinds of cells, ce and fcc certified. As you can see, there are significantly more features than we first thought about implementing, but we got these ideas by working closely with the diy community. We spent a lot of time improving the pc monitoring software and the firmware running on the mega cell charger by doing lots of testing and gathering feedback from our users. The first version of the mega cell charger was a bare bone pcb with cell holders and 3d printed shrouds for fans.

After we saw that there are people interested in such a solution, we took the next step. We created a crowdfunding campaign to get pre-orders and afford to pay for injection molding to make a professional case for the new version of the mega cell charger. It was an exciting journey with ups and downs throughout the whole process. It was quite a challenge, but we got this project funded by the diy community through the indiegogo platform back in 2020.

So far we have shipped over 900 devices from pre-orders. Now we are ready to further push this project and sell the devices directly from stock. Lowering the time it takes to receive the final product right now we ship worldwide from romania. We have obtained fcc and ce certifications, so you can rest assured that the devices are safe to use start testing your lithium ion cells using the megacell charger.

Now it would offer you the same 16 cell capacity at the same price as four regular testers, but the features and benefits don't come even close to what you obtain by using the megacell charger. All the orders are shipped within a three-day interval. From the day we receive the payment place. Your order by clicking on the buy now button software license comes included with each mega cell charger.

You purchase to make this a deal you cannot refuse. I will give you as a bonus, detailed video guides and how to replace the battery of a hand, drill a toy motorcycle and powerful flashlight. Once you wrap your head around the small projects, you will be ready for our second bonus, which is a complete video guide on how to build a one kilowatt, smart, powerwall, capable of scheduling for night charging from the grid and dumping energy during the day or work. As a backup source charged by solar panels, here are some frequent questions we get from our customers that might help you when deciding question.
What's this device doing answer it tests lithium cell's capacity to help you find the right cells to use when building a battery pack question how's this different from the cheaper testers available on the market answer. It has a 16 cells capacity, comparing with the usual four cell testers out there, and it has software full of features that helps you save hundreds of hours of tedious work, writing labels and sorting through cells to find the right combination question. How soon do i get it answer? We usually ship within three days with ups or dpd, clients typically have it anywhere in the world. Within a week in europe, it takes two to three days with ups and five to seven days with dpd outside europe.

It usually takes three to five days with ups question. How do i pay answer? Click on the buy now button and follow the checkout steps. We are using stripe, one of the largest payment processors in the world and paypal as well. We also support wire transfers for larger orders, but you will have to contact us for more info thanks again for watching this video until the end - and i hope i gave you all the information you need to make a wise choice - you.


12 thoughts on “MegaCellCharger – best way to test thousands of cells”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dennis Staats says:

    With today's Euro conversion (1.16 $ to 1) it's almost $300 once you "get out the door". Perhaps the Euro to dollar conversion was figured in reverse? Regardless, the device is not essentially four times that of a typical four cell, eBay-sourced charger as the manufacturer claims. This appears to be a well-engineered, great device. However, it doesn't "sell well" to promote a business with what appears to be a "questionable" pricing claim. Jehu, please correct this.

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars James Holbrook says:

    It says it's $255 on your site that's to high for me I get if you are looking for a supplier to test them from and have them keep cycling but the rest isn't much of a useful feature to me over they like $20 litokala

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars yeshuasavedme says:

    I just bought 32 3.2 volt lithium iron phosphate batteries. Setting up as 2 sets of 16 in series totalling 48 volts ( they are 260 amphour cells). The 2 rows are in parallel … the 16 are in series. I was sent 2 150 amp BMS's. 2 questions (1) is this the correct size BMS, if not what size do I need? (2) do I charge them first? I'm booking up to a Solar Inverter. The Inverter is a 48volt system. Does the inverter charge the batteries or do I need a separate charger? Please help, I'm new to this. Thanks!!!

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars rodstartube says:

    Abusive pricing for an "opensource" device. For that price i'll keep developing my project with individual cell databse logging, robotized label sticking and robotized cell replacement from socket

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Karl Weber says:

    Hello, I have a specific question that I'm sure you can answer thanks to your experience. I have built an electric quad with an 8000W motor. Unfortunately, the battery I bought is not designed for this purpose because the cells (LG cells with 7A discharge current in a 20S9P configuration) cannot supply the necessary current without damaging them.
    Is it possible to install a second battery (20S~10P) with high current cells (Sony US18650VTC4) in parallel to increase the performance or would the internal currents between the high current battery and the "normal" battery not be controllable? Thank you for your answer in advance.

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Sparky Hart says:

    Only thing this is missing for me is I wish this would dissipate the extra energy into a battery bank and charge from it. Hard I know but I feel not impossible. Would need to use buck converters and a much wider input voltage.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars TurboTechieSystems says:

    I have had 2 of these for almost a year now. Bought one directly from them when they had some extra stock and second I bought off a guy on Facebook that couldn't get it to work. Ended up being a bad flash that Megacell fixed for me. Both chargers have tested over 1k cells each and besides the power supply that was sent with one of them going up in a puff of smoke one day they keep running. I would recommend getting a 30A 5V power supply instead of 20A as they recommend. The 20A gets hit pretty hard when all cells are charging. Also the 30A also runs cooler. I would still put fans on each power supply like I did to keep them cool. I use an old I5 gen 3 laptop for the charger software. Prints directly to a Dymo 450 Turbo when the cycle completes. Each label by default has a QR code that you can scan using a webcam or 2D barcode scanner in the software and it will take you to each cells data and graph. Also when deleting cells out of the database the scanner makes it easier. Also there is a web-based interface as well for basic functions and has a nice dial gauge view. I keep the webpages open on separate monitors so I have a constant view of whats going on. It also looks cool.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars GiddeonG says:

    How about the option of discharging to a battery bank or a big lead acid so you could recycle (pardon the pun) the power instad of heating up the room with it during capacity tests?
    I was designing something very similar to this myself a while ago but I can't really get into a power-wall project for some time yet.

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars hi-tech-guy-18 says:

    – A "printable" Database would be good
    Printed to the Battery Sleeve (UV Laser or UV Cure Resin Ink – Custom UV Wide format Printer (Direct-to-Object UV Printing) ) QR Code – DATA matrix + Human Readable Values

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars xmtxx2 says:

    Wow this looks great. Too bad I haven't enough batteries to need it. ๐Ÿ™‚

    On detail that would have been awesome, is an output power outlet for discharging. So that you can charge other batteries with it, you'd use less power overall.

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars John Emmert says:

    You could always run Windows as a virtual machine, but with the price Apple charges for memory you can buy a cheap Windows machine. I use a headless i3 NUC and remote desktop. Very useful product if you have a lot of 18650 cells to test.

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RickieRickRack says:

    Nice build Alex,I need to build a set charger from pcbs to test out my storage recycled โ™ป๏ธ 18650's the capacity and charge numbers,this is a cool build .that printer cuts out the label and Repaker .๐Ÿ˜Ž

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