I believe my 5v 2.5A plug pack has a 5.5x2.1mm plug. I found a 5.5x2.1mm adaptor on ebay for about $1 AUD
Other sellers have it too.
Just did some more research and found my plug pack has a 5.5x2.1 DC plug, so I bought one of the adaptors from ebay that I list in the post above.
The plug pack is from one the many spare routers I have.
That’s useful, thanks Rolz. I have found an old style TomTom sat nav wall supply that is 5v 2a but is 5.5 x 2.1 so I may grab an adaptor if I can find in UK. Edit, found one but over £2, annoying but ordered.
> adapter
You can find them at DX as well.
http://www.dx.com/p/5-5-x-2-1mm-female-to-5-5-x-2-5mm-male-adapter-2-pcs-348789
http://www.dx.com/p/5-5-x-2-5mm-male-dc-adapter-cable-10-pcs-302590
Happy to help 
hank thanks for those details too.
LCD is worst thing in this charger. Well, not LCD itself but data displayed on it. Not really friendly and that button required to switch between 2 vs next 2 batteries is crazy idea. LCD is big enough to show data for all 4 cells at once. Disappointed.
Does this report make sense as normal behavior?
This may potentially be my dumbest question yet, but
About the VC4 charger
I find it’s doing fine charging two D size NiMH cells, in the outer two (1 amp) slots.
Those overlap the middle slots so I can’t put in another D cell unless
um, do the two middle slots sum up to equaling a single 1 amp slot, if I put a single D cell in that space (and bridge across the gap at the + end)?
I do not know if the charge can handle that, but if you but anything in the center slots the two outer slots will reduce current to 0.5A, i.e. you will not get more charge current.
Where can I find a teardown or some inside view of the electronics and construction of this charger.
Any idea why when I charge two 32650’s in the outside slots it drops to 0.6A charging?
The power adaptor is an Apple 2.1A.
EDIT — after sitting overnight, on a different power supply, the VC4 is behaving normally again.
The first day after it got flaky, on a different power supply, it just showed red LEDs.
But I rested it overnight — and it’s back to normal!
It was one channel of the BlitzWolf USB power supply that died (and stayed dead)
VC4 just died.
I’ve been using it regularly for just over 2 years.
Just now it died.
I put in a set of four NiMH cells that I’d been using as a group.
The 4th channel display started cycling between minimum and maximum voltage and NiMH or LiIon.
I tried the button to change from displaying 1&4 to 2&3 — no response, didn’t change.
(The channel 1 display looked correct, showed about 1.2v as expected)
Removed and replaced the NiMH cell in slot 4 — no change, problem continued
Removed all four cells and reinserted them — display didn’t light up, just four red LEDs. Button not responsive.
Removed all four cells again
Power cycled (removed the USB power, waited a while, reconnected it)
Four red LEDs, nothing else
Tried putting cells in. None of the cells were recognized in any of the channels.
Dead, dead, dead.
I bought it from Gearbest a while back so have asked them if they have any warranty on it.
Not holding my breath here.
Xtardirect warranties purchases directly from their US/web store, but I’ve inquired about sending it to them at my own cost.
https://xtardirect.com/pages/warranty
Time will tell.-_
If you got two years of constant daily use probably got your moneys worth out of it. Bummer it broke I use my vc2 daily almost 24/7 actually. Have no clue about the warranty. I doubt gearbest will do anything after two years. Xstar will probably repair it for you. But if theu won’t fix it free or you have to pay shipping both ways might be better to get another. But I guess it could fit in one of those 6.95 flat rate boxes. $14 vs $25?
2 year of usage is not that bad in my opinion. Most things these days seem to have a short life-span and are made to be disposable. It’s the price we pay for demanding rock bottom prices on what we buy.
I try not to buy landfill, so if this is in fact typical, I’ll be looking for something that will last longer.
But I haven’t seen others mention this sort of failure, so I’m curious to know whether it’s unusual.
I’ll gladly pay Xtar for their repair, if this is an odd failure.
I would think xstar will repair even if you paid like you said. Don’t see why they wouldn’t. But stuff happens sometimes. I don’t know how much you use your batteries. I charge about 4 batteries a day. Other people might charge 1-2 batteries a week. The more you use something the more wear and tear on it. It could ve a simple as a wire came loose or maybe the board inside went bad. Either way it doesn’t sound like a very expensive fix even if your willing to pay for it. Its shipping cost that add up. I may have missed it there have you emailed the xstar company? Or send a pm to the rep on here. The rep would probably help you. Being w blf member seems to have some pull with certain companies.
Yep, I emailed XtarDirect Support (link I posted above), and told them I’ll be glad to pay shipping since I didn’t buy this charger from them. (I’ve bought other Xtar chargers from them and also from MtnElectronics)
Long labor day weekend is just starting, so I won’t be able to send it for a few days, no matter how fast their reply, so no worry.
I told XtarDirect I’d also inquired of the Chinese site where I bought this particular charger, but that I didn’t plan to send it to China.
I used the charger probably every day for one or several cells, so it was plugged into USB power almost all the time. It’s one of three Xtar chargers I have in regular use.
Well best of luck to you bud, keep us updated how it goes. Hopefully they have a U.S. service center.
At least you have a couple back up chargers to use. A 4 bay charger will be my next one. I like xstar shows the input mah and it seems fairly accurate with the battery capacities. I would like a charger with discharge capabilities and ir reading. So kinda leaning to liito 500 or opus. But to xstar credit if I fully drain a cell to near 2.5 the input capacity is spot on with the cell rating.
Edited above (since what I wrote was quoted in full, I’m also noting the change here)
After sitting overnight, on a different power supply, the VC4 is behaving normally again. The first day after its 4th channel got flaky, when I’d tried it on a different USB power supply, it just showed red LEDs. But I rested it overnight — and it’s back to normal! It was one channel of the BlitzWolf USB power supply that died (and that one channel has stayed dead)
When charging nimh & it’s said that it terminates on voltage then does a two hour top off ,
Are the batteries full after the charger say full ,or do you have to wait 2 hours after the charger says full?