Review: Xtar WP2 Mark2 - 18650 2 bay charger

Thanks, thats good to hear. Do you have the older version or the new one?

It is nearly the same, but my review copy had a higher termination voltage.

I have the new one.

I've been very pleased with the charger so far. I picked up a couple of 3x 18650 lights recently, and didn't feel good about balance charging cells on 2 different chargers....even though both chargers (Solarforce and cheapie DSD) would charge the batteries to within 0.03v of each other.

The Xtar charger is a good-quality unit, almost as nice as my lower-end MAHA chargers. The included screw-in adapters for other batteries is a great touch - I'd be surprised if others didn't follow their lead on this design.

I've charged everything from RCR123s to the extra-long Callies Kustoms 3100s on it so far, and cells with identical chemistry charge to within 0.01v- 0.02v of each other repeatably.

Sizewise, it's about two of the cheapie chargers side-by-side, yet does six cells.

Input is 12v 2A, so if you have a beefy car cord, you can probably charge cells on-the-go.

My only complaint would be that the negative springs feel a bit cheap/weak, but then again, not much spring pressure is needed to maintain contact....the charger is usually used on a stable surface. If I were to upgrade anything on the charger, it would be this - and I'm probably being a bit harsh, as the thing has performed as advertised so far.

Conclusion? This is a RECOMMENDED BUY !

Another great review as always, i like the fact that it is small and compact and the usb feature could be a plus.......i know, i know it has been a long time since i have been on here but i recently got a chance to talk lights with a buddy of that moved to the Dominican Republic and i was fortunate enough to give him a light that i rarely used an ITP SA1. The charger looks rock solid and i am glad that it will charge other sizes as well.

Mine does not charge the 18350 Bestinone IMR when they are empty.

Resting voltage at 3,5V. Light stays green.

At a slightly higher voltage it will recognize the battery and charge it.

Both channels are affected.

Is this a defect ?

Wont charge from 3.5v = Yes , something is not right ...

I ordered one without thinking about the input voltage. I'm in the UK, so will it work OK with a 3 pin travel adapter?

Question for old4570

I just got this charger and charged a set of brand new Hi-Max 18650 2600MAH to green as fully charged on each cell. Voltage reading were 4.18 and 4.23 volts. Is that 4.23 volts too high of voltage or is that ok?

Generally speaking , max accepted voltage is 4.25v before considering to stress about it .. [ though your aiming for 4.2v ]

Q. Is it the battery ? or the Charger ...

In other words does that bay overcharge ? or do you just have a battery with lower than normal internal resistance ? [ obviously it takes two to tango ]

If the bay overcharges , ?? you may want to put the battery with lower voltage in that one so it takes a little longer to charge , so when the other side is done , you can pull both .

Its up to you , some people freak out when there battery charges to 4.21v

Thanks. What I did was fell asleep and they set in the charger fully charged longer than what I would have hoped for. I will typically watch them closer once they become fully charged and pull them out of the charger at the precise time.

I just got done talking to 2100 about this. But I thank both of you.

Brad

Mine won't charge in the left slot. The leds blink red/green. Emailed Xtar however there's been no reply so far.

I think mine did what yours did. But here's what I did. I think it was the port on the same side as the plug in so if you are looking at the charger it would be the left bay. I noticed mine would do the same thing when battery was almost fully charged but not quite. Just switch the batteries around. Then it will work fine.

Now that was on my Xtar WP2 original version charger.

And I too emailed Serena about this but never got a response back.

They need to address this issue.

Thanks for the tip. Mine seems to be the opposite. I put two new flames in and the left slot blinked red/green. I charged them both in the right hand slot. Once charged if I put them in the left slot the led goes solid green. My guess is when the battery is below a certain charge the charger has a problem with the left hand slot.

I need to doublecheck again what port it was that I was having the flashing issues. But like I said, no one has addressed this issue since I emailed Serena. And that's not good.

I found what I originally said about the Xtar WP2 first version charger.

Here it is below.

What I have seen that both mine and my son's Xtar WP2 charger does is when I put a battery that has been used a little but almost fully charged in the battery port opposite of the plug in side and the light will always show green as fully charged a lot of the times. I can then take that same battery that I know could be charged a little to top it off as a fully charged battery and put it on the other battery port(plug in side and it will show red and charging and it will charge for say an hr or so. Now why is that? Something tells me this charger is not set up right on the battery port opposite the plug in.

I hate to say this , but your spamming ....

Mine also does the weird flashy thing with the left hand slot, so I messed around unplugging it and swapping batteries until it started charging. My solution to the problem? I leave it switched on all the time! Ok so that’s not ideal but i figure it doesnt take more than 1W in standby, no more flashing leds so far and i top up my 18650’s and 14500 just about every day (i use them to power electronic projects as well as flashlights) cuts off at 4.16 everytime. Wish there was a switch to lower the cut off current to around 10ma instead of 80ma so i could charge 10440’s.

It should just work though. There is clearly some sort of fault with a batch of them.

Has this been sorted out? Are the ones shipping now identifiably any different?