Xtar Dragon Plus VP4 - Impressions

I am considering this charger.

I am sure Those of you fine gentlemen who have this can answer these Two[2] questions:

1.Does it give your batteries a FULL charge, 4.20V? I have Two[2] chargers that can do this,only exception are some very old batteries!

2. From what I see it only displays Two[2] bays at a time?

Thanks,Wolfdog1226 AKA Capolini :wink:

i am considering this charger now too. the regulation makes it stand out over the BC700

Looks like the Temp. REGULATION stands out in a NEGATIVE way!

Thanks everyone for ALL your input. the more I read this the LESS I want this charger!

-No Voltage read out

-No current readout

- From what I see only displays 2 channels at a time on the LCD screen, 1 & 4 OR 2 & 3! WHY not 4, unless I am missing something. I have yet to see a photo of ALL four bays displayed w/ info.

-Of course the price!

-$69 was the cheapest I saw it on Fast Tech w/ BLF code [USA Power supply version]

-Ordering from China not something I have done too much. I much prefer the customer service in my country,no worries!

Those are more than enough reasons for me!

Mine does up to 4.15V, though it says 4.2V in the voltage tester, the calibration is off, and is not adjustable AFAIK. If you buy you may or may not have better luck.
Two bays is correct, there is a scroll button

Its better then the BC700 because it does LiIon in addition to NiMH and can go up to 2A, but it has no temperature regulation (or it doesn’t work)

Thanks!

That drives me nuts! My K/power L2 and Efest LUC V4 NEVER give a full charge either! they come off @ 4.15/16v. Same thing in regards to the chargers voltage meter over estimating the charge. I know 3 or 4 hundredths of a volt is no big deal,it is just that I want a full charge!Another thing is that if it is an older, it may come off at 4.14v and then settle @ 4.10/11v.

My Fenix ARE-C2 and a Trustfire 003-P4[my first charger!] are the only ones I have that give a full charge. the Trustfire takes forever [about 12 hours for a 18650 3400mAh going in at 3.60Volts! The Fenix is under 2 hours!I use the T’fire as an emergency charger or for very old batteries.I am certainly not fond of their batteries[do not have any!],but this charger is almost 5 years old. Although it takes forever, it does its job!

One thing I am not totally clear on. The mAh readout it shows while charging.That is the Capacity of the battery, Right?

The “D” Ni-MH battery they show on Xtar website is 90% full w/ 5023mAh. It obviously can NOT be charging just over 5A when 2A is the max!!!

I guess I just answered my own question!

EDIT: I just thought of something! They must be talking about the EXACT charge current because .5a/1a/2a is always displayed.

Speaking of that type of display. The Fenix ARE-C2+ has the current display, but in my mind it is useless! The charge current is ALWAYS 1Amp[bad design] so the only time you see the charge status change is when you first put the battery in and at the end of the charge before termination. Other than that it displays 1002mAh in bay 1/2 and 1004mAh in bays 3/4!! lol

the mAH reading is how much juice it has put in the battery, it counts up from zero until the battery is fully charged. Its not the capacity unless you drained the battery to zero before charging which is not a good thing for battery health to do.

Ok,thanks,that is even More useless than what I thought it meant!

Actually its very useful, by knowing how much went in you know how much of the battery you used.
IIRC this charger does have a capacity measurement ability

Thanks for posting your observations. I, for sure, will not be forking over big $ for a unit that falls short on charging.

Undercharging is a pet peeve of mine. I had a Nitecore D2 that typically stopped at 4.16 to 4.17, (even though it showed 4.20 on display), replaced it with a Xtar VC2 plus Master, and it terminates at 4.198 - 4.21.

Capacity in can be useful as bort said. If I usually put my cells in at 3/5/3.6 let’s say a NCR b and it takes 2500mah to charge. Well then I know when I put it in about how long its going to take and how much it should take in. If it takes a lot more I should look and see of the ir is increasing. Voltage is very helpful. Once you charge a certain type of cell so many times you can estimate how drained it is by just the voltage.

This charger would have to be $40 for me to consider it. I can’t see any reason to choose it over the opus. I don’t need 3 series charging. And have a dmm. And with the opus I can run a test in once slot and run a regular charge in the next can’t do that on the dragon. And I can still charge at 2 amps in 2 slots or 1 amp in 4.

But I do like my vc2 and would get this charger for sub $40 shipped. Considering I can get another opus shipped under $30 on sale

This is my simpleton way of knowing my batteries[and lights ] very well!

When I get a new light I do a run time test on max. in ~ 10 minute increments. When I get near 3.60v I stop. Say the cumulative time is 40 minutes. Then I know I can use my TK75vn/K40vn ect on MAX for 40 minutes on the trail. Honestly,when I got home, I have guessed the EXACT voltage numerous times!

So, Obviously over time those run times are going to change.I know exactly how healthy and the capacity of my battery as it relates to run time by constantly staying in a routine and measuring voltage after use, out of charger and resting voltage.

That is my method! Actual use method and adjusting along the way!

Maybe I will start a thread[have not done one in a while] that I posted on CPF regarding simplifying my choice of chargers ect! lol!

I’ll add a few points.
My XTAR DRAGON VP4 Plus charges to 4.19V.
It displays 2 bays at a time, which you can toggle with a button press, but it has some smarts (i.e. if you are only using slots 1 and 2, it will display 1+2, if you are using all slots, it will toggle between 1+4 and 2+3).
I’m still pretty happy with mine. Works perfectly and solid construction (unlike my Lii-500 which has a dodgy LCD display). Useful analysing functions. I like the ability to test voltage with the probes without charging, instead of having to get out the DMM. Just a shame about the lack of voltage during charging!

i didn’t know that Fasttech has it for 69USD, that’s a great price imo

I got this charger recently and have tried the voltages/IR feature on a few new and old LiIon cells. On one of the older cells I get a 4.11 voltage reading but the IR does not give a reading and just has the 3 - marks. Other cells I’ve tried give actual number readings. How do I interpret this ” 3 dash ” reading or can one interpret this? Also, is there any magic IR level after which you should not use the cell or is it is if it just gets too hot to the touch upon charging, recycle it? Hope these are not stupid questions. Still have a VP4 that I really like but it won’t charge at 1A level anymore, just .5 and .25A. Thanks!

You will have to contact XTAR

—- means that the measured IR is more than 150mOhm. This may be due to the battery having a high internal resistance, or it could be dirty contacts, or not pressing hard enough with the probes.

Thanks stephenk! IR must be over 150 mOhm since I ruled out other two options. Makes sense too since this is an old 16340. Like the additional info you can get out of this unit. Usually check voltage with more accurate Volt Meter. Thanks again for your response! Really helps!