Thanks Martin - good timing since my Nitecore D2 has started giving me rather disconcerting electric shocks!
So, I am definitely in.
Mine just arrived today to NH. Ordered on the 11th—fastest Banggood delivery yet! Mine came with a storage pouch, and 2 cables (Type C and micro USB). I’ve got a 18650GA in there now, and everything looks good so far. Gives the choice of .5A, 1A or 2A, and that’s about it. Great little charger for the money.
Thanks for the feedback.
please let us know if something goes wrong, im still on the fence as there is no review out there
I got mine last night. I like it! Especially the option to change charging amperage. It will be a great alternative to my XTAR VC4S, which has automatic amperage and has no qualms charging my 18350s and AAA NIMH at way too high of an amperage.
Honestly the only thing I’ll continue to use my VC4S for is the storage feature.
Still we dont know if the charging algorithm is good. Hope HKJ test the new astrolux chargers
Also just received the Astrolux VC04... and only did some very quick tests
slot height/width:
- protected 21700 will fit the slot (tried using a Rofis 5000mAh protected 21700 that came with the Rofis MR30 flashlight)
- can fit 4x 21700, although the middle 2 slots of 21700 may "nudge" each other when placing/removing batteries.
- 4x 20700 will fit nicely, in terms of width
- 2x 26650 on outer slots + 2x 18650 on 2 middle slots also fit nicely
buttons:
- left button (marked 'A') is for switching charge current (0.5A -> 1.0A -> 2.0A), but will depend on how many batteries are used (3-4 occupied slots will use 0.5A even if set to 2A ; 2 slots can use max 1A, and if only 1 slot can use 2A charging), provided the USB power source can provide 5v/2A. The manual says NiMh always use 0.5A only (regardless of setting)
[ note: above info is based from the manual only - I am not and did not test actual charging current ]
- right button (marked 'C') is for switching the display info (slot 1/2/3/4)
info displayed: charged capacity OR charged time ; voltage ; percentage charged
(voltage & percentage are always displayed for the selected slot ; but the charged capacity and charged time shares screen time - it will automatically switch from time to capacity every 8 seconds, non-user-configurable -- it's a bit of a hassle to wait 8 seconds to check how much capacity has been charged since it shares the same portion of the screen)
- display is always "lit up" (not "dimming" after some time unlike some chargers that dim the display after specified amount of time of not being touched)
- when I connect the VC04 to USB meter without batteries, the idle power consumption is 0.03A @ 5.03v (0.15watts) (5.03v is my USB power source voltage).
- tested charging some li-ion batteries (nearly full), just to check at which battery voltage the charger will end -- when I removed the batteries after finish charging, the batteries measured around 4.19-4.21v with my DMM (this is quite good result). Although this may not be that meaningful, since battery voltage was measured almost immediately after indicating full.
- the display has 4 bar indicators so it's easy to know which slot has finished charging (no charging animation).
other comments:
- the included USB cables (USB-A to USB-C and USB-A to micro-USB) seem to be poor quality - at first I need to wiggle the cable or sometimes it's not detected, same is true for both my cables. I used my own known-good quality USB cable when I tested, which worked better.
is it JUST the cable or does the port also look cheaply made? can you take a picture?
Interested
Interested!
Interested.
If the offer is still valid, of course.
Thanks in advance.
Interested
It’s on sale on BG at the moment
Thanks for the heads up. Ordered.
Interested!
Interested.
No reviews of this charger besides this very brief one?
https://tech.scargill.net/astrolux-vc04-versatile-charger/
I posted some of my findings about this charger in the comment above:
What would you like to know about this charger?
I think you can also try checking reviews (if any) for the Yonii D4S charger, as the Astrolux VC04 appears to be the exact same charger (likely a rebrand of the Yonii D4S)
HKJ doesn’t seem to be doing much charger reviews lately, otherwise, I’d also like to see a more in-depth tech review of this charger.