Hi everyone. I am looking for a new battery charger. I only run 10440, 14500 and 18650 cells for li-ions so it would be nice to have a charger that will charge those sizes. What would the pro's here recommend? So far I am looking at the following:
Trustfire tr003p4
xtar wp2 II
Trustfire charger from MF
Unfortunately the Sysmax i4 charger has a recall, otherwise i'd be going with that one.
All and any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks again blf'ers!
Go for the Xtar
About 2 months ago, I was also looking for that kind of charger. But I couldn't find one that would charge both 18650s and 10440s, without supplying too much current for the 10440s. I eventually settled on buying 2 chargers, one for everything except 10440s, and one specifically for the 10440s. I forget the model number but the one I settled on for the 10440s was an Ultrafire or Trustfire I think, and it had switchable charge current. The low-current setting was around 300 mA.
Then I changed my mind and gave away my one 10440-powered light, so I didn't need to buy that second charger anymore, and I chose the Xtar WP6 II charger, and I like it a lot.
Where did you order the WP6 II from? Thanks for the input!
I was already planning to buy a pair of those highly regarded Xtar 2600 batteries through the BLF group buy, so I bought the charger along with it. (from Serena at Shenzhen Wholesale, www.szwholesale.com, in case you don't already know)
If you buy this charger, try to guess which types of batteries you might be charging in it in the future, and order enough of the spacers to accommodate them. For me, I figured I would charge up to three 18650s, which don't need spacers, but for the remaining three bays I thought I might charge one 14500 and two 16340s simultaneously. A 16340 requires 4 spacers, and a 14500 requires 2, so I needed 10 spacers in total. The charger comes with 6, so I ordered 4 more. I leave the 10 spacers always connected to bays 2, 4, and 6, and I charge the 18650s in bays 1, 3, and 5.
I just received the xtar wp6 II charger that I had ordered from an ebay seller. You can get them for about $35 to $38 if you look around . Also, be sure to buy from a seller that has the kit with the car charger adapter with it, some do not have it. Also, make sure you get the 'xtar wp6- II' version with the screw in spacers, there are sellers on there trying to get rid of the old version and charge the same price, so be observant when you read the listing. I'll just say that this charger that I received is nice and solid, charges to proper voltage, and when the light turns green it doesn't sit there and charge your cells up, it's off. I've went back after a couple of hours and checked the finished cells and they stayed the same voltage as when it originally turned green(off). I've charger four cells, 2 Tenergy 2600mah 18650(with pcb), and 2 ultrafire 2400mah 18650(blue unprotected.) Fresh off the wp6-II voltage is 4.22v / 4.21v Tenergy, and 4.17v / 4.18v ultrafire. I'll let them rest a while off the charger and see what they are then. Also, there was absolutely no heat from the charger, the wall power pack, or the cells during the charging cycle. This puppy seems to tick all the right boxes so far. I'll report back in an hour on the rested voltage. ( Hopefully I remember)
Ok, so after the cells sat off the charger for about 45 minutes the voltages are still the same, Tenergy 2600mah w/pcb 4.22/4.21 and ultrafire 2400 blue unprotected 4.17/4.18v. I will put them all back on the charger and leave them there overnight while I sleep ( I know you shouldn't do that with any lithium battery/charger, but I now feel confident that this charger is safe and intelligent). I want to see how much, if any the voltage changes over night. I should mention, that even after you put the fully charged cells back on the charger, the indicator lights go red on each individual cell bay(as if charging) for a few minutes, then they all turn back to green in whatever order the charger determines to be correct. Now, since all the indicator lights are once again green, I'll just leave them on the wp6-II overnight and see what I get in the morning. Wish me luck
Alright, as i said I would do, I left all 4 cells on the charger overnight. These cells were fully charged by this very charger, and then placed back on the charger to sit overnight.(about 9 hours) After re-checking the voltage,the Tenergy 2600mah 18650's (protected) read 4.21/4.21 and the ultrafire 2400mah unprotected 18650's read 4.16/4.18v. So...there was no voltage increase, only a leveling off of the voltage as the cells rested. Excellent. There was no heat/funny smells anywhere to be found either. I should add, that the Tenergy cells I have are brand new, only charged twice before this on a different charger. The ultrafire cells are 'new' also, but how new can an ultrafire cell really be? Anyway, this is a good charger with 6 charging bays. The charging bays are grouped in two's, but each of the 6 bays is individually controlled. The charger pulse charges at 1200ma or cc/cv charges at 600ma. For example, if you want fastest results, you can charge 3 cells at cc/cv at a time with this charger(wp6 II),by using bays 1,3,and 5 or bays 2,4,and6. If you use both bays in a group, then that group will pulse charge at 1200ma. Once one cell in that group is finished, that group then goes from pulse charging at 1200ma to cc/cv charging at 600ma. I'm glad that a company finally came out with a reliable and safe charger for these lithium cells. Yes, you should take the cells off the charger and unplug the charger as soon as possible, but if you don't, with the 'xtar wp6 II' charger, you will be A.o.k. I hope this helps anyone interested in chargers, and I don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but I just want to be clear on the model number and the brand of charger. Don't get a wp6 'original' version, get the 'xtar wp6 II' version with the screw-in spacers. You should be able to find one with: the charger, 6 screw-in spacers, a car power adapter, and the wall power plug, for $38 or less(shipped). If you don't get all that in your deal, then you didn't get the best possible deal(as of November 2011). I got mine for $35 shipped. Thank you, hope this helps out.