Review: XTAR DRAGON VP4 Plus Charger

If you have an MC3000 then you probably don’t need the DRAGON, unless you like collecting expensive chargers. By the way, the springs on the DRAGON are nice and smooth, with just the right amount of tension.

Stephen, just want you to know your reviews are great as well as your fantastic pictures. My opinion on this charger is no reflection on you at all. Keep up the good work :slight_smile:

I’ve uploaded a short video showing the XTAR DRAGON VP4 Plus in action.

Nice review, its no doubt a great charger. Way out my price range. $30-40 is my max. Maybe in a couple years they will half the price. I don’t like you can’t charge in one slot and discharge in the next. And no voltage readout. But I would still buy it for 30-$40 I think they should make a dragon lite version. With no 3s charging, no dmm probes, no data logging and charge half the price. Until then opus with a replacement fan on hand it is

I should make it clear that it can only run test, or refresh, or charge mode on all slots at the same time. It can be charging and discharging during test or refresh mode in different slots. I think this “limitation” is part of XTAR’s aim to make this charger simpler.

I’d agree that dropping the 3S charging and data logging to decrease the price of a further model would be good. The test probes are actually quite useful to measure cells voltage and iR without having to put them in the charger (e.g. to know whether a cell needs charging after use, or to test resting voltage) . However I would prefer voltage, and (as accurate as reasonably possible) iR readings in the slots as well.

As mentioned before, I expect that this charger will sell very well to the non-charging hobbyists, an thus I don’t expect to see any major changes for a long while. I would expect that XTAR know there own market better than us?

I don’t quite understand this? What is the maximum discharge current? Thought it could charge at 2A so if you mean amps, can it do a 1A discharge? 0.5A would be painfully slow on a 32650 or even a 5200mAh 26650!

Yes, at 1A or 2A charge rate it will discharge at 0.5A. This is due to the amount of heat that is generated during the discharge process. Discharge rate seem to be similar to its peers.

do you own the Opus C3100 ?

Seriously, that’s 2 watts on a fully charged Li-ion, my sc-608 does 1.4A and that’s not exactly great for a real comparison to what capacity you would get at modern LED drive levels.

The fan missing is not a positive, if it’s required to dissipate even a measly 5W then so be it, 10W+ is really required. Granted the silent running is a plus whilst charging or low discharge but it could cut in only when necessary.

Please don’t think I’m attacking you, the review is great, I just think the product could be better is all.

I’d be interested to know if XTAR dropped the fan in the design process due to the high level of complaints about the (?? low quality) fan in the Opus? I quite like the silent running of the DRAGON, but saying that, I barely notice when the fan in my MacBook Pro is running.

I own the opus its my main charger it discharges all 4 slots at 1 amp to 2.8 volts it has a internal fan to stay cool. Its not bs. They are only $30 now go try it out

Putting biases, personalities and vested interests away from this thread, THIS. :beer:

OP has been updated with a bit more clarity around discharge rates, modes, and another % charge anomaly.

Instead of rereading the whole review what is the charge % anomaly?

If they design the charger why not give it on the side where the plugs are external aluminium fins with 4x4x7cm
Or design parts of the body from aluminium for cooling

That would be fine to get enough heat dissipated for 4 times 2A discharge current

They design the plasic body to look as it cools, but it is useless

It could be designed like this home media PC

I actually like both brands. I have a couple of Xtr VC2's and recently got the smaller Opus BT-C100. My only complaint for the Xtar's is they don't seem to like charging 14500 cells. You have to get them in just right. The Opus I'm still experimenting with. It does seem to take a very long time testing quality 18650's. I do like the option of 1.6 Amp charging if I need one on the run.

I would still purchase either brand at the right price.

I will add a couple of things. Not seeing voltage would stop my buying if it is a charger designed for testing cells. However, even with on screen voltage once I remove a cell showing full at say 4.2. They never meter at that. I have more DMM's than I can keep up with and all get a reading of closer to 4.1. On the flip side I attribute this to using the standard leads that any given DMM came with. So I'm probably easily loosing that tiny amount due to the length of the lead wire.

Either way excellent review. Adding video was a great touch.

That as 1% charge is somewhere in the region of 3V (exact figure unknown) that the charger shows 1% for quite some time when discharging, which is done to 2.6V. A test yesterday saw around 400mAh discharged from a 2 protected GAs whilst on 1%.

yikes, thats crazy, i have not tested any discharging on this charger, just charging of various brands of li ion and NiMH cells.
When i first tried it i like the percent charge but having used it a few times i realized voltage is far superior, and i realized the percent can never be perfected in a one size fits all solution :frowning:

I would agree, too many idiosyncrasies for the % charge to be truly useful. Though, it would not stop me recommending this otherwise excellent charger. As mentioned in my review, I would much prefer voltage reading, and the bar graph graphic for approximate % full indication.

Have you noticed that chargers with digital readouts of charged voltage does not stop charging right away when 4.20v appears? My Opus and my iCharger shows that.

It’s because even if the voltage show 4.20v, I observed that about one-fourth of the mAh energy pumped into the cell is still in this stage, so while the voltage stays at 4.20v, you will notice that mAh is still pumped in while the ma or the rate of the charging slowly goes down to 1/10th of the chosen charging rate, eventually filling up the cell and showing Done or Full.

In others words, when 4.20v shows, we don’t take the cell out right away but still wait for the charger to detect a ‘full’ cell.

In short, a charger with voltage readout has no inherent advantage over a percentage one because we still have to wait ‘Full’ or ‘Done’ or the green led to show for a fully-charged cell.