XTAR VC2 decent charger?

Saw it cheap on ebay so had to give it a go, but its a decent charger for 18650 and 26650 or whatever i asume?

I have used my VC2 for more than a year, it can charge 18650 and 26650 fine. But with its max. charging current at 0.5A, it just took a long time to charge them.

same here, overall a good charger though, - wife use’s it now.

I would go for a Miboxer C4-12 or C2-6000

4 or 2 slots with 3A each

if analyzing charger with discharge
C2-4000
1.5A charge each and 1A discharge

Imo worst of the Xtar bunch, bar the 4 bay version.

I’d go for a Xtar rocket if possible, much better product with a real power supply and decent charge levels.

Better again imho are the newer MiBoxer chargers.

I think it’s an excellent charger. The .5 amp charging rate is slow by some standards, but it is more importantly safe for all the cells you are likely to charge and I have never seen a cell come off reading higher than 4.20 volts. Most of us have more than one cell for our lights, so you simple pop another one in while you charge the depleted one if you need the light immediately, otherwise you charge overnight. Slower charging rates are a bit better for cell longevity. The display is excellent (better than the “plus” version which is faster) since it shows you a pretty accurate indication of the cell voltage and when the charging is done it reports how many milliamps went into the cell. No adjustments mean no “Whoops, I forgot to change that setting”. It doesn’t do NiMH, but I use a Panasonic for that anyway. The VC2 is a charger I would recommend to someone starting out.

okay thanks for answers :slight_smile: i dont mind if its slow if it charges good and safe!

I use the VC2 every day. Like everybody else says, low-powered and slow but does the job just fine. Good charger.

I have the VC4 variant and I love it. Also the Xtar SV2 Rocket 2 amp charger. The Xtar brand is pretty decent quality for not allot of money.

I also would like to add I’ve been using them for a while and have not had any issues.

I think it’s because those users are using crap USB transformers. You have to have a high quality USB transformer with at least 2.1 amps.
Also, there are counterfeits out there.

I didn’t buy my chargers on Amazon because of it. I get all of my chargers from Richard @ mtnelectronics

Crap. Have an Xtar vc2 charger coming from Nkon.
Should I buy another charger? Don’t want to burn my house down. (And out neighbors)

Sorry I meant to offer my opinion on the USB transformer issue. It’s possible but I have no facts.

To verify if you have a legitimate product from Xtar, there are anti counterfeit stickers or cards placed with the products. You can verify if the product is legit by scratching off the silver lable to reveal your verification number. You check it at

http://www.xtar.cc/support/&i=1&comContentId=1.html

Apparently Xtar feels the need to cover their butts and go the extra mile for verification as the potential for counterfeiters is high.

I’ll check out the thread. Thanks for the link.

Thanks for the link. I was able to verify that my VC2 is not a fake one. Otherwise been using it for at least a year (it’s my primary charger, although I don’t charge batteries daily) without any problem.

Interesting read on the Xtar link.

I own a VC4/SV2 Rocket/2 MC1 Plus’s and all of them have been flawless, fully functioning chargers. I use them frequently. I’ve had absolutely no issues with them so far and it’s been over a year.

I think it sucks that some people got the raw deal with quality issues, but thankfully I’m not one of them.

For my VC4 and MC1 Plus’s, I use good quality USB transformers. 2.4 Amps for the VC4 and 1 amp for the MC1+’s.

The Rocket has it’s own transformer and is not USB as it’s a 2 amp charger each slot.

I also use a XTAR Vl01 USB Current/Voltage Detector to verify current draws. The VC4 does draw 2 amps total when charging 2 cells (the far most left and right banks) @ 1 amp with fully discharged batteries. It gradually decreases as the batteries take on more charge.

Richard at mtnelectronics carries allot of Xtar chargers so he must think they are worth carrying.

I hope you have no issues.

Yes I meant the VC4. I’m not sure why you posted that aimed at me, as my post mentioned, I believe the VC2 is the worst Xtar you can buy except the VC4 which is even worse. You don’t need to convince me with a couple of online reviews, I own them, I wouldn’t buy them again. That’s my personal opinion after owning several older Xtars that were great. My opinion is now that the MiBoxer is the best brand I own, but I’m no fanboy so if I have any problems or the chargers get worse rather than better then I will mention it.

One off failures are seperate, even if the Xtar was reliable I still wouldn’t like it. In its defence, I guess it’s one of the better selling Li-ion chargers so there will be more reported failures. All equipment, especially budget Chinese, will have a failure rate, the actual rate would be more interesting.

The great thing about this forum is that so many users share experiences with so many products. I’m sure any charger I can think of will have mixed reviews if you look hard enough.

I totally agree with what you are saying.

Had my VC4 for over 12 months. Charges my 26650.18650 .NiCads. and 14500’s all together.
2 x bays at 1a. 2 x bays at .5A. (With a 3 or 4A power supply).
The lower ampages for charging. Take longer.
BUT.
Are gentler on your battery’s, IE Longer life.etc.
Plus I have it plugged into my Computer power supply.

When computers off. Charger off.
Only running while one of us in Comp room.
Safe as.

Some people are soooo impatient. Slow is good.
Ask any old bull…

Lets walk down there and f* em all.

I have the annoying “digital hiss” from this charger, with or without batteries charging

Any users have this? I use to return all the electronics that make “hiss”, as it’s a sign of “bad design” or at least bad electronics…

I bought it from the XTAR OFFICIAL store on ALI Express: https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/32830649369.html