Madhacker 3DR Solo Battery Charging Adaptor and Diagnostics Tool

they come wrapped in a white foam, I guess whatever happened to it tore it off.
 
If I recall Andre sends them via international letter from Norway, so keep the parcel thin to avoid very high international parcel costs. I think it mentions this on the madhacker page.

Obviously the packaging didn't work in your case - very unfortunate.

Have you let Andre know? He's always been pretty communicative when I've been in touch. I think initially he got overwhelmed a little with the demand for such a useful tool.

I did crack the screen myself on one I bought - it is pretty fragile. I got a little enclosure and dremelled a window for the display with a bit of clear plastic to protect it.

It is a great tool though and worth perservering with getting a working one.
 
Some others have mentioned this tool on the Solo forum (can't find the thread right now), but I wanted to give you my initial impressions.
The tool can be found here: 3DR Solo Battery charging adapter and diagnostics tool. – Madhacker.org

I believe in addition to the $45 price, the seller charges $4 shipping to the USA. Item was shipped the following business day, and a notification was sent to my PayPal email address what the package will look like - impressive!
The tool arrived today, about a week later. I've included several photos of the install, and the data screens. Sounds like the item also has the ability to update the firmware in the future if needed. So far it looks great!

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I've had one for several weeks. Works great and service was excellent. I have 16 batteries and view this tool as essential for anyone doing frequent flights for clients. I now use a label maker to place a number on each battery, with the "Abs Chg %" when last "fully charged". I use the lower-percentage batteries for bench and short field tests.
 
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I've had one for several weeks. Works great and service was excellent. I have 16 batteries and view this tool as essential for anyone doing frequent flights for clients. I now use a label maker to place a number on each battery, with the "Abs Chg %" when last "fully charged". I use the lower-percentage batteries for bench and short field tests.

I now have both the madhacker.org and solotool.org—both really nice.

Where does the actual capacity figure come from?

I didn’t realize that on an older battery 100% doesn’t mean 100% of 5200mAh...
 
I now have both the madhacker.org and solotool.org—both really nice.

Where does the actual capacity figure come from?

I didn’t realize that on an older battery 100% doesn’t mean 100% of 5200mAh...
"Actual capacity is shows the actual capacity as the pack ages." from madhacker.org. Another clue for me: Some of my batteries would only charge to a % less than 100% (and flight times were less). I have no information about the calculation that results in a % value when the Solo charger stops charging a battery.
 
"Actual capacity is shows the actual capacity as the pack ages." from madhacker.org. Another clue for me: Some of my batteries would only charge to a % less than 100% (and flight times were less). I have no information about the calculation that results in a % value when the Solo charger stops charging a battery.
Yes I have the same observation with one of my batteries. Issue is that the BMS for whatever reason "forgot" the remaining capacity of the pack and requires recalibration.
Even when it stops charging at less than 100%, the battery is actually full to the extend what is registered under "actual capacity"in the madhacker or solotool.
Resolution: see here: 3DR Solo - Smart Battery Calibration — Copter documentation
 
Got my tool in foam in 12 days and love it. It shows that three batteries I just bought from different sellers for about $30 each were indeed all new. One bad battery I had from a ways back shows 44 cycles so that might have been abused before I got it.
 
These tools are great, both.

Comparing the Solo charger male connector blades to the ones on the tools, it seems the tool blades are thicker (Made from PCB material).

I wonder if over time this could cause the battery connector (female) to loosen up?
 
Has any heard from the madhacker? I bought one about a week ago and now the site seems to be down. The email address on the paypal account seems to be invalid, does anyone have his email address?
 
site is up, I don't even know how an email on paypal account can be wrong (as he would not be able to receive notifications) - but he's highly responsive on the email, just reply to the "shipped" email he sent you.
 
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It might have been something with my provider for his website as it appears to be back up thanks
 
if anyone is interested in a group buy from madhacker, there are some left on his site:

SCAM BEWARE !
I checked with madhacker.org
There is no such group buy, the original device was never sold in such big bulk, so noone can have 100 of them!

Nor is it the same device with all the features, so it may be a trademark infringement as well.
 
sry, my mistake - it is not from madhacker, but it is NOT SCAM - it´s real

and no - this is not my site - someone just build another battery reader - like 100 other people with an arduino....
 
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Mine was in the batch that was delayed due to a lack of displays so I just got mine yesterday... Andre's communication was great and it works perfectly. One note is the display and text is very small for my 50 year old eyes (about the size of a postage stamp). I think the most useful item is the cycle count, however I am curious to know what exactly constitutes "a cycle"?

How much trouble is it to implement a larger display?
 
Well mine was delivered today. Totally smashed, cracked screen and all. Maybe b/c there was no packing material in the plastic shipping bag. It was't even wrapped in bubble wrap...


Did seller make good without any hassle?
 

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