Test/review of Xtar PB2 Charger & power bank

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
1

Xtar PB2 Charger & power bank











This is a 18650 charger and power bank from Xtar.







It arrived in a white cardboard box with a window in and some specification on it.







The box contained the charger, a usb cable and a instruction sheet.







The charger is usb powered with a micro usb input and a usb output for the power bank function.







This button is used to turn the power bank on, this is only needed when checking the power level, it will automatic turn on when a load is connected.







The display shows from 00 to 100, depending on how much capacity is in the power bank. While charging one of the digits will flash. When powered on or reset is will show a counting sequence: 00-11-22-33-44-55-66-77-88-99- for external usb power and 99-88-77-66-55-44-33-22-11- for internal battery power.







The lid uses magnets, this makes it fairly easy to open when you stick you nail into a small slot. The magnets are strong enough that you can easily lift the box in the lid, when it is filled with batteries.





















This charger only supports unprotected 18650 batteries.







Measurements

  • Power consumption from usb when idle with no batteries is 9mA

  • Will charge one battery with 2A

  • Will charge two batteries with down to 1A on each (Lowest voltage will get more current)

  • Will discharge a full battery with about 0.5mA when powered.

  • Will discharge a full battery with about 0.1mA when not powered.

  • Below 0.5V the charger will report error

  • Between 0.5 and 3V the charger will charge with low current (200-300mA)

  • Above 3V the charger will use full current.

  • Will not restart charging if voltage drops.

  • Will restart charging if battery is inserted.




A nice CC/CV charge curve with termination around 100mA



Second slot looks similar.




These two other batteries is also charged nicely.



With two batteries the charge current drops to 1A to keep the usb input current at 2A.



Adding 0.5ohm resistance in series with the power supply to simulate a long cable or weak supply shows that the charger will reduce usb and charge current, but the charging works fine.



M1: 34.6°C, M2: 43.9°C, HS1: 45.0°C
There is some electronic inside the charger that gets a bit warm, but the battery box do not look warm.



M1: 37.2°C, M2: 37.3°C, HS1: 46.5°C
Batteries are below 40°C while I am charging with lid on, this is fine.



M1: 40.7°C, HS1: 51.7°C
And the hottest part of the charger electronic do not look very hot.



The charger is very fast to start, it only needs about 1 seconds.



Power bank

  • Will discharge a full battery with about 0.1mA when not powered.

  • Usb output turns off after 45 seconds with load below 290mA, with no load it turns off after 10 seconds.

  • Usb input and output is not directly connected, no output voltage leaks to the usb input.

  • Cannot be used as a UPS, output turns off when usb power is removed.

  • Usb output is coded with usb charger (DCP)




With one battery the charger is rated for 1A and overload trips at 1.3A, this looks fine.
All load sweeps make a measurement at 0 then jumps to a bit above 300mA to avoid auto turnoff.



With two batteries the rating is 2A and it can deliver a bit above 2.4A.



With no batteries in the charger, but usb power connected it passes the power through, but there is some voltage drop.



With one empty battery the charger will charge the battery, but keep the usb power draw at 2A, this is the reason for the low efficiency at low current.

Below efficiency curve is only valid with one battery in the charger



As a power bank it can easily deliver 0.5A until the battery is down to about 3.2V, where it turns off.



Second channel looks the same.



With two batteries the time is slight more than double up.



One battery can also handle 1A load and the voltage stays stable (more or less) until the battery is empty.
There is no overload protection here, charger depends on overload protection in the usb charger used to power it.



With two batteries the time is again more than double.



For 2A output two batteries are required.
The output voltage jumps up and down on all the curves, but stays within the required usb range.



There is 24mV rms noise and 287mVpp noise.



There is 157mV rms noise and 405mVpp noise.



There is 72mV rms noise and 869mVpp noise.



Conclusion

This charger and power bank has a good size for a two battery device and the magnetic lid is easy to open. The charging looks good, but batteries must be able to handle 2A charge current.
The power bank has enough power to maintain output voltage, until the batteries are empty, the coding is also fine, but I could have wished for lower noise on the output, this jumping up/down in voltage may force some devices to a lower charger current.

I will rate is as a fairly good power bank and charger.



Notes

The charger was supplied by XTAR for a review.

Here is an explanation on how I did the above charge curves: How do I test a charger
2

Thank you HKJ!
Do you find the texture of the hard matte finish to have a slippery feel?

3

It is smooth, but the fell is a bit like rubber (It is some sort of coating).

4

Thanks, that sounds good. Was hoping for a rubbery coating (better grip) for travel.

5

Is the 0.1 mA and 0.5 mA discharge you listed the drain from the batteries when stored in the charger? i.e. if I throw this in a bag with cells in it for the weekend, it will slowly lower the charge at 0.1 mA?

6

Thanks for review.
It has output voltage problem, huh? I hope Xtar will fix it.

7

The 0.1mA means it will empty 2800mAh batteries in about 3 years. In praxis it will take longer than that, because the draw will be lower at lower voltage, this means you will get 1 year more before the batteries are completely discharged (Assuming no self-discharge in the batteries).

As you can see it takes a bit more than a weekend before it is significant.

I will not directly call it a problem, but a more stable voltage is better.

8

Thanks for the review HKJ. Entertaining and informative as usual. I’m waiting for 2 these babies.

9

Thanks for the nice review. Mine should be arriving soon but I never knew it could not fit protected batteries, which all mine are!

10

How dangerous/bad for electronics is 287mVpp and 405mVpp noise? This is nearly 4-5x the noise levels of the similar Tomo M2 18650 powerbank.

My typical use case will simply be charging my iPhone.

11

Nothing dangerous really.

There will simply be a bit higher power loss going to the phone, making it charge slowler.

12

It is not dangerous. Voltages above 5.25V may be dangerous, it depends on the phone (I would not expect any danger below 5.5V). High noise levels may interfere with the touch screen and with receiving, but it will depend on the frequency content and level of the noise and how sensitive the phone is for noise. It is not dangerous for the phone.

13

This looks like an excellent charger/powerbank combination for travelling light. Thanks for the review.

14

Hi HKJ

Any chance you will disassemble the powerbank to take a look at the internals? Anyone seen the PCB before? No idea why the PB is designed so large with so much space wastage on battery bays (the sides). It could be very much smaller.

15

What does this mean?

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I would want it a bit longer in the bay to accommodate button top cells. And the worst flaw of all is its inability to charge low draw items, ie: Nitecore TIP/TINI/Tube, Sansa/Sony MP3 players, UltraTac K18 mini charger, MecArmy SGN5, and anything drawing less than 300mA.

Not handy at all on a long trip. Why did they limit it so?

17

UPS is “uninterruptible power supply” and means the device will switch smoothly between input power and battery and back again to always supply output power.

18

No, I do not want to break it open. The width of the sides are probably to support the magnets.

19

Okay, I understand what a UPS is. What I don’t understand is where you said it turns off when USB power is removed. Do you mean that it turns off briefly or turns off completely, and something has to be done to turn it back on?

20

If input to the Xtar drops, then recovers, the Xtar will carry on charging as before, but the output of the Xtar to a connected device will drop, and not resume until the Xtar button is pressed.