*2016-09-15* New Charger: XTAR QUEEN ANT MC6

I love that name for a battery charger :party:
Perhaps the suggestion is that the ‘queen ant’ is taking care of her many batteries, which biologically makes little sense, it is more the opposite: a queen ant is a big fat egg-laying machine doing not much else than that, and she is totally dependent on the food and care of the rest of the colony.

I think that’s exactly what one ant told her. No one has since seen that ant again… Speaking of ants, they sure could use a flashlight in their dark ant hole or not? That would improve productivity, and that would make big fat ant queen happy.

i like it…i wonder if it shows battery voltage.

Doesn’t look like it.

It seems like they joined 4x MC1+ and 2x MC1 together! I wonder why they didn’t made all 6 slots the same.

Still waiting for Xtar to release a charger with 4 slots, 2-amp charge rate and individual voltage reading. Just that. No any other gimmick such as percentage, charge time, fake current meter, or powerbank function. But I guess that wouldn’t be pleasing for the general consumer.

Like a beefed up VP4. I’m all for that. I’m not talking about the new VP4 Dragon. Too expensive, and too many features.

So I have the older wp6 (2 maybe?)
And I think it’s limited to 600ma per battery…
This one will do 4 at 1 amp, and 2 at 500 ma…?

is a 6 up charger pretty much the limit? At work I could probably charge 8-12 at the end of a busy day with a couple guys in the shop…
Thanks

+1

My most used chargers are two XTAR VP2’s and two XTAR SP2’s. :slight_smile:

Same here. The VP2’s are the best LiIon chargers made as far as I’m concerned. I have 2 SP1’s just in case I want to charge my 26650’s at two amps

does it live up to the name?
as in pull sliders to length of cell desired and it lays cells instead of eggs?
i see this going like the nitecorn charger.photoshop at the ready.

I’m waiting for that myself, I’ve taken interest in the sv2 for the two bay 2 amp charging for my growing 26650. Takes a long time in my vc2. But I like I can see the batteries take roughly the same mah in. It can’t be that hard to make a 4 bay 2 amp charger with voltage display and mah input. They can make a power supply that can input 8 amps. Won’t be USB powered but its possible. The new dragon charger seems to have these features and discharge testing but for $90 I’ll pass. $50 tops.
I do like xstars quality though. And they have good termination currents for lithium. Usually 60-70. Even down to 35 for .5 amp charging. Compared to others at 100+ so your batteries are completely charged. I’d rather get a sv2 and a single bay analyzer for $50 then pay $100 for a charger with shipping. It does seem though in my charging with the vc2 the input mah is fairly accurate. Its shown me degradation in some older cells. But a discharge mah would be better. I don’t understand why xstar makes a charger with a percentage or a voltage, or a timer. Gives us the voltage and input voltage that’s what’s needed

no adaptor included?

It definitely does not. It has six four-segment back-lit displays.

Also, the display is not defeat-able. If you want it (the blue screen) completely off, you have to unplug the charger.

I prefer the select-able amperage on the VC2 Plus, but that’s an entirely different type of charger (the ANT is strictly a lithium ion charger, with no buttons or switches anywhere on the unit.

For the price, it’s hard to complain, but I’m still getting used to the interface. As with the ANT MC1 Plus units I have, if you have a mostly-charged battery, you have to install the battery, before plugging in the power on this unit (exactly the opposite of what the instructions say, for this model); otherwise, it shows the battery as being fully-charged, and the charge, terminated.

There is no mention of that in the MC6 instructions, (where as the MC1 was very specific about it), which I find very strange, but not entirely a deal breaker. It has a few other quirks, but nothing major, so far.

Still fiddling with the charger. More comments to follow, in the coming weeks.

Thus far, of all of my XTAR chargers, this is my least favorite to use; but I’m not sorry I bought it.

Here is my current line-up of chargers.


On the top shelf, just below the monitor, working left to right: are an older La Crosse BC-700, and four XTAR VC2 Plus units.
Down below, to the right of my laptop, way in the back, are a pair of VC4s; then, working towards the front, a pair of VP2s, and a pair of SV2s (one is out of the frame).

In the foreground, a pair of ANT MC1 Plus units.


Left to right:: an older Nitecore i4 V2, which sees very rare use, folowed by a pair of D4 units, which are mainly relegated to AA NiMh and RCR123 LiFePO4 charging duties.

Not pictured, is the newly acquired Queen ANT unit.

David, do you handle lighting equipment for a small army? I am always astounded by people with so many chargers. I would have to have multiple lights running 24/7 to need to charge that much.

What Pilotdog said, what a (beautiful!) arsenal of chargers! Pretty jealous to be honest :wink: David, may I share your picture on social media? It’s an amazing desk and I’m sure my followers like it :laughing:

It’s not that hard to run down a lot batteries, if you use lights that have multiple batteries, or if you use multiple lights at a time. I really prefer using flashlights (ceiling-bounced), in my room, at night, rather than conventional lighting. I can get any kind of tint I want, and I far prefer indirect lighting, overall, over harsh, direct lighting - especially when using my computer. It’s much more pleasant to the eye.

But yes - I am, admittedly, a bit fanatical about having as many chargers as possible, to charge as many batteries as possible, simultaneously (Now there’s an understatement). It’s a thing, with me lol.

Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated! I posted the picture in a public forum, so I don’t claim any exclusive rights to the pictures. We’re all family, here, and sharing photos and experiences is what we do. Please feel free to share them. They’re kind of incomplete, though. The MC6 isn’t pictured, yet. I’ll be taking and posting new photos, once I get the chance, showing the new layout (which seems to be ever-changing).

Interesting story - Last night, I was charging a 26650 battery in one of my SV2 units, when I heard this loud snap. I immediately looked down and noticed that the spring had snapped, and there was no longer any tension on the battery, so it stopped charging. The other well worked fine, so I completed the charge, then packed up the charger.

The Lumens Direct (previously called XTAR Direct) store is maybe a five minute drive from where I live, and I had the day off today; so I took a quick drive over there, after having messaged them on Facebook Messenger), explaining my dilemma. These SV2s are probably some of my most used chargers of the bunch. A lot of my EDC stuff gets charged on them, daily, when I arrive home, no matter what the hour.

Anyway, I spoke with Allan (as I almost always do, while in the store. Great guy/friendly, first rate service, always), and no sooner had I begun to explain that I had this problem with that charger, when he immediately told me he could just exchange it, and he walked to the back, pulled a brand new one, and that was that. No questions asked, no forms to fill out. Just an instant, hassle-free exchange.

That’s A1, top shelf customer service. That’s why I will always gladly buy XTAR products.

And….I broke down and immediately purchased an VP4 Plus Dragon unit (another charger I have yet to photograph, in action) - their top of the line analyzing charger, that I’ve been wanting, ever since it was released. It’s really an amazing charger (with a built-in multi-meter and analyzing functions). I’m going to have to re-think how this army of chargers are all laid out, to get them to all fit in that same desk area lol. I’ll probably end up placing the MC6 over by the 2 D4s. I’ve already had to do away with my desk lamp to accommodate the chargers that are there currently. (No worries. It gives me an excuse to use a pair of Convoy XM-L2 T6 4C lights, ceiling bounced, of course :stuck_out_tongue: )

It’s a really huge charger (by comparison), but has so many nice features. I couldn’t pass it up.

New pictures to come. Stay tuned!

Thanks again for the kind words, you guys.

Aggressor,

Is this the one that needs 2 USB cables to function fully?

Cheers,
Splott-Light :slight_smile:

This was never responded to, so I’m going to chime in:

Yes, with this model, you do need to use both USB inputs to fully power this unit.

The left input, marked “Input 2”, powers banks 2 thru 5.
The Right input, marked “Input 1”, powers banks 1 and 6.

You’ll also want be sure to use a suitable power source to provide the full 2.1 Amps to each of the two USB inputs on the charger, to fully utilize its abilities.

Just out of curiosity, where did you end up posting my pictures? I’d love to see the post(s), if it (they) has(ve) anything to do with flashlights, EDC, or electronics, at all :slight_smile:

Thanks for your interest!