Cadex C5100 POS Battery Analyzer Review

0 Flares 0 Flares ×

Cadex battery testers have always been boss but they’ve mainly been used in large repair and refurbishing operations. These analyzers weren’t reasonable for repair shops mainly because the devices had multiple bays allowing users to test multiple batteries but costing upwards of several thousands of dollars.

In addition, you needed multiple expensive add-ons to test different battery types. New high capacity batteries in Samsung and Apple devices routinely out paced Cadex’s ability to test the latest models on already purchased machines. Annoying!

CTIA 2016 showed a huge jump in the number of retail vendors and products and Cadex seems to have recognized this trend and developed a nearly perfect solution for testing batteries with the Cadex C5100 POS Battery Analyzer.

Keep reading to find out what this device does, how much it cost and how you could use this in your repair operation to increase revenue and customer satisfaction.

Retail Demands

Cadex listened to retailers and consistently heard the following “must-haves”.

A quick thorough test (30 seconds or under).
Ability to test a wide range of batteries configurations without the need to buy additional expensive modules.
Capable of testing high mAH capacity batteries found in all of today’s cell phones, tables and other gadgets.
Ability to “rejuvenate” dead/cell locked batteries in the same device.
Easy to configure and use for the end user.
Affordable

They seemed to have listened fairly well and knocked out the demands in their newly released C5100 model.

Product Spec & Features

Rockford from Cadex was kind enough to explain and demonstrate the C5100’s abilities in their booth at CTIA 2016.

The C5100’s primary goal is properly identify or eliminate a battery related issue when a customer suggest that their battery won’t hold a charge. Secondly, Li-ion packs often fail due to over-discharge. At about 2.8V/cell, the protection circuit opens and the battery appears dead. The C5100’s Boost function activates the circuit and brings the pack back to life. The service lasts a few minutes, but the battery should be full charged.

Tests using the C5100 found the following results:

Of 294 returned batteries, 91% reached 80% and higher capacities; 30% needed Boost.

Sort Good/Poor Batteries

The core of the Cadex C5100 is the patented QuickSort™ functionality. A quick test that categories the state of health into 3 major categories

Good – 80–100%, can be reused
Fair -70–80%, replacement recommended
Poor – 70% and less, faulty; discard

QuickSort™ is based on electrochemical dynamic response; it achieves 90–95% sort accuracy* even with a partial charge. As modern Li-ion keeps low resistance with use, measuring the internal resistance no longer provides reliable health estimations. A 2010 independent study of 5000 batteries determined that QuickSort correctly classified battery SoH, 96.4% of the time

The technology behind QuickSort™ achieves 90-95% accuracy even with a partial charge. Previous testing methods measured internal resistance which is no longer a reliable health estimation.

Simple Operation

The Cadex devices I’ve used in the past were pretty complex and typically took a half day of training for a technician to understand how to properly setup battery metrics and run a proper test. The C5100 makes this idiot proof with only 3 main buttons

Test – Checks the battery life in 30 seconds.
Charge – Fills a battery in under 3 hours.
Cycle – Provides a full charge/discharge/cycle with capacity readouts.

Battery mAH ratings vary my model so two additional up/down arrow buttons are present to select this setting.

Desktop Software

You can also use the PC-BatteryStore™ software to store customer information, record testing results and print service reports for yourself or a customer. You can also control the C5100’s settings from the desktop application to quickly enter in mAh settings before each use. You can also import battery information from Cadex’s Battery Database.

Flex Extender

Rockford showed us a prototype of a flex extender that’s not yet released but suggested that it should before the end of the year. This feature allows you to connect a battery to the C5100 without having to remove the battery from the device. This feature will save tons of time for those batteries that require lots of disassembly before it can be accessed and removed.

The flex will have connections for all major brands and models including Samsung and Apple devices.

Price & Final Thoughts

Cadex had a promotional price of $599 during the show. This includes everything you need to get going and includes a 2 year parts and labor warranty.

You can test batteries quickly that you buy from suppliers and RMA within their warranty period. Accurately diagnose battery symptom issues with repair jobs. You’ll also be able to save on replacement parts cost when you’re able to bring such a high percentage of batteries back to life and less likely to end up in the trash. Repair shops can include a battery test in their other repair services or use it as a loss-leader to drive customers through the door.

The price can seem a bit on the high side, especially for a small repair business but the benefits over time more than pay for itself if you make full use of it’s capabilities.

Not all battery testers are created equally. Having the ability to test a wide range of high capacity batteries and being able to rejuvenate and charge in one device makes for a very nice product. Cadex is the leader in this niche and I don’t see why every repair shop couldn’t justify and benefit from having the C5100.

Related Links: